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Ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin has become a major national strategy, and the coupling coordination of economic growth, industrial development and ecology in this area is becoming a research hot spot. This paper analyzed the coupling coordination mechanism of economic growth, industrial development and ecology in the Yellow River Basin and constructed an evaluation index system of coupling coordination degree. Using the coupling coordination model, the spatial autocorrelation model and grey relational model, this paper analyzed the space differences and time differences of the coupling coordination degree of 62 cities in the Yellow River Basin and their driving factors from 2012 to 2018, And the GM (1, 1) gray prediction method was used to predict the coupling coordination degree in the short term. The results showed that：① The overall level of economic growth, industrial development and ecology in the Yellow River Basin had shown a steady trend, and there were no significant differences in the speed of development. However, the coupling coordination of them was seriously out of coordination, and the coupling coordination of ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin had not yet reached a coordinated level,② The coupling coordination degree demonstrated significant global and local spatial autocorrelation features. The global spatial auto-correlation was positive and the convergence features were obvious. (3) The forecast results showed that the coupling coordination degree remained generally stable and coordination had not been reached during the forecast period in this area. The rate of improvement was relatively slow. Finally, a support system incorporating organizational guarantee, spatial governance, policy guarantee and institutional mechanism was established for economic growth and ecological protection in the Yellow River Basin. It is expected that this paper can provide a theoretical basis and lay a certain scientific decision-making foundation for the ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water is a major limiting factor of human survival and social economic development. Water security is also important for the ecological system. In this paper, the water security assessment index system of the Yellow River basin was developed based on three subsystems: the water resources subsystem, the water environment subsystem and the social economic subsystem. The integrated assessment of water security was developed based on the combination of set pair analysis (SPA) and fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) as well as technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), gray relational analysis (GRA), vague sets (VS) and matter element (ME) models. First, fuzzy cluster analysis method was used to check the consistency of all the models before and after implementing the integrated assessment. Secondly, the ranking values of four single assessment models (i.e., TOPSIS, GRA, VS and ME models) were analyzed by SPA method to get the consistency connection degree. Then FAHP was constructed to describe the relative importance of the four different single models when determining the weight coefficient in the integrated assessment model. And lastly, the integrated assessment model of water security was developed based on the ranking values and weight coefficients of the selected single assessment models. The conclusion of the developed integrated assessment model which was applied in the Yellow River basin showed that Sichuan province was at security level; Henan, Shandong, Qinghai and Shaanxi provinces were at the threshold security level; Shanxi, Gansu and Inner Mongolia provinces were at the relative insecurity level; Ningxia province was water no secure. The integrated assessment results showed that the improved integrated model presented in this paper had relatively better performance than single assessment models. The intention of this paper was to provide an integrated assessment model, propose potential countermeasures, and achieve sustainable water utilization in the Yellow River basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In this paper, the trends of the annual streamflow and precipitation and cross correlations between them were analyzed in nine large river basins of China during 1956–2005. The results indicate that: (1) the annual mean streamflow decreases in arid and semi-arid regions of north China; however, increasing trends occur in south and Southwest China; (2) the annual streamflow and precipitation exhibit reasonable correlation in nine large river basins except those located in inland areas. The annual streamflow over most areas of China is fed by precipitation; however, the decline in streamflow is faster than the decreases of precipitation since 1970s in the arid and semi-arid regions of north China. The relationship between the annual precipitation and streamflow presents a non-stationary state in north China. This non-stationary relationship is strongly influenced by both human activities and precipitation changes; (3) a significant increase of water use might be the major factor responsible for the steeper decline in streamflow than in precipitation in Haihe River, Yellow River and Songliao River basins in north China. In inland river areas, increase of water use and actual evapotranspiration might result in decline in streamflow although precipitation has an increase tendency. This paper sheds light on the non-stationary relationship between annual precipitation and streamflow and possible underlying causes, which will be helpful for a better understanding of the changes of precipitation and streamflow in China at large scale and in other regions of the world. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Based on remote sensing data and investigations, this paper focuses mainly on a general evaluation of environmental quality in the middle-upper areas of the Yellow River region using GIS technology, Arc/Info, and ArcView. In this paper, the upper areas of the Yellow River regions are divided into three parts: the north-east Qinghai-Tibet Plateau ecosystem areas, the Erdos Plateau-Hetao Plain ecosystem areas, and the Loess-Plateau ecosystem areas. The study analyses the current environmental situation and the overall environmental quality in each ecosystem area and determines the law of distribution of environmental quality in the three areas. Finally, the paper provides some suggestions to improve the ecological environment in each area, in the hope of yielding a scientific foundation based on planning ecological environment protection in the Yellow River basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing recognition of the problems facing China in meeting the growing water demand in the Yellow River basin, the ’cradle of Chinese Civilization’ and a critically important agricultural and industrial region. Meaningful debate on the range and relative costs of options available to policy-makers in addressing the problem depend fundamentally on an accurate understanding of basin water resources. Unfortunately, the ability of outsiders to participate in the debate and for Chinese, with their long history of water management, to contribute to similar discussions elsewhere in the world is hindered to some extent by a lack of understanding of differences in water accounting systems and concepts. This paper attempts to address this problem by describing the water accounting system used in the Yellow River basin and elsewhere in China. The paper shows that the primary difference between water accounting methodologies in the Yellow River and those typically applied elsewhere is related to supply accounting in general and groundwater accounting in particular Although not currently included in its water accounting system, Chinese concepts of environmental water use, when included, will also differ substantially from those familiar to outside researchers. In terms of factual Yellow River balances, the paper highlights the apparent declining trend in basin rainfall and runoff and the dramatic growth in industrial and domestic water use. Together declining supply and rising demand will increasingly cause policy-makers to face hard choices in assessing their water planning options. These choices will only become more difficult as managers in the Yellow River, as elsewhere in the world, try to incorporate ecological needs in the water accounting equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aeolian–fluvial interplay erosion areas with complex dynamics and physical sources are the main suppliers of coarse sediment in the Yellow River. Understanding the composition, distribution, and sources of deposited sediments in such areas is of great importance for the control of sediment transport in rivers. In this paper, a typical aeolian–fluvial interplay erosion watershed – the Dongliu Gully – was studied and the frequency distribution curves of sediments deposited in the stream channel were fitted using the Weibull function. Sources of deposited sediment in the stream channel were analyzed based on the law of the conservation of matter. Results showed that the hilly zone accounted for 78% of deposited sediments, which were dominated by material with a median grain size (d 50 ) of 0.093 mm, and the desert zone accounted for 22% of deposited sediments, which were dominated by material with a d 50 of 0.01 mm. Wind erosion dynamics accounted for 72% of deposited sediments, while water erosion dynamics accounted for only 28%. This research provides a theoretical basis for the control and management of rivers with high sediment content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Water discharge and sediment load have changed continuously during the last half century in the Yellow River basin, China. In the present paper, data from 7 river gauging stations and 175 meteorological stations are analyzed in order to estimate quantitatively the contributions of human activities and climate change to hydrological response. Coefficients of water discharge (C w ) and sediment load (C s ) are calculated for the baseline period of 1950s–1960s according to the correlations between the respective hydrological series and regional precipitation. Consequently, the natural water discharge and natural sediment load time series are reconstructed from 1960s–2008. Inter-annual impacts are then separated from the impacts of human activities and climate change on the hydrological response of different regions of the Yellow River basin. It is found that human activities have the greatest influence on changes to the hydrological series of water discharge and sediment load, no matter whether the effect is negative or positive. Moreover, the impact of human activities is considerably greater on water discharge than sediment load. During 1970–2008, climate change and human activities respectively contribute 17% and 83% to the reduction in water discharge, and 14% and 86% to the reduction in sediment yield in the Upper reaches of Yellow River basin; The corresponding relative contributions in the Middle reaches are 71% and 29% to reductions in water discharge, and 48% and 52% to reductions in sediment load. Moreover, it is observed that the impacts of human activities on the whole basin are enhanced with time. In the 2000s, the impact of human activities exceeds that of climate change in the 2000s, with human activities directly responsible for 55% and 54% of the reductions in water discharge and sediment load in the whole basin. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Baotou City is a representative heavy industrial city in the drainage basin of the Yellow River. This paper studies the pollution of a contaminated section (Baotou section) of the Yellow River, China, with a known anthropogenic heavy metal input from the industrial discharge. The distribution of heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn and Cd) in the overlying water, filtered water (overlying water filtered through a 0.45-µm filter membrane) and sediments was determined in the Baotou section of the Yellow River. The results of this research indicate that heavy metal pollutants transport mostly through the carriers of suspended particulates and sediments in the fluvial environment. Baotou City's industrial discharge draining into the Yellow River from the tributaries (the Kundulun River and the Sidaosha River) increases the concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn and Cd in the mainstream and influences heavy metals speciation. Speciation analyses show that the Cd is easily enriched in the secondary phase (bioavailable form), followed by Pb. Furthermore, based on the acute water quality criteria (WQC-Acute) and chronic water quality criteria (WQC-Chronic) set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the acute sediment quality criteria (SQC-Acute) and the chronic sediment quality criteria (SQC-Chronic) are calculated respectively using the developed equilibrium partitioning approach (EqP). By comparing heavy metal contents in sediments with SQC-Acute and SQC-Chronic respectively, we note that Pb and Cd have posed a high risk to the quality of water environment and to the aquatic ecosystem health of Baotou section of the Yellow River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of annual natural runoff recorded at eight hydrological stations in the Yellow River basin (YRB) and distributed at the main channel and two sub-basins (Weihe basin and Fenhe basin) are studied during the period from 1951 to 1998. The trends and the beginning points (or abrupt changes) of these series are detected with Mann-Kendall test (M-K test) and its progressive application. The results show that there are similar trends for different stations. The annual natural runoff series, except for stations of Lanzhou, Hekouzhen, and Longmen, have a downward tendency at some stations whose beginning points of the trend or abrupt changes occurred in the early or mid 1990s. However, their initial years of decrease are different. The decreasing trend of runoff has led to drying-up in lower reaches of the YRB, a water resources scarcity crisis, and a deterioration of the ecosystem. The reasons for the trends have been analyzed in this paper The trends of precipitation in the corresponding regions are similar to those of annual natural runoff It is an important aspect for runoff decrease. In addition, human activities have changed the hydrological cycle and lead to a reduction in runoff to a certain degree. Finally, two countermeasures for the runoff decrease are put forward. One is to develop water savings in irrigation regions, and the other is to plan South-to-North water transfer projects for the YRB. However the conflict between supply and demand will still exist for a long time because of the water scarcity in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transjurisdictional water pollution problems are increasing in number and are becoming a significant governance problem in China. A large number of transjurisdictional water pollution disputes that have far-reaching social effects are occurring between provinces and are also frequent between municipalities, counties, towns, and villages. In this paper, several transjurisdictional water pollution cases in China, particularly in the Yellow River Basin, are discussed. The problems and causes for transjurisdictional water pollution are addressed. There are many causes for transjurisdictional water pollution problems although the key reasons are the rapid economic development, the failure of local authorities to enforce the existing laws and to implement administrative decisions, as well as inadequacies in the legal framework. Other factors include poor technology, shortage of funds, the institutional division of jurisdiction and management over water quantity and quality both administratively and legally, the lack of transparency in the decision-making process, insufficient public participation and information disclosure, poor communication, and lack of involvement of stakeholders in basin or sub-basin organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is important to estimate land surface evapotranspiration (ET) for water resources evaluation, drought monitoring and crop production simulation. In this paper, a relationship between annual ET, integrated Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Relative Moisture Index (RMI) was established. Based on this relationship, the spatial distribution and dynamic change of annual ET were estimated for the Yellow River Basin, China from 1982 to 2000. Our analyses involved the use of integrated NDVI data, monthly mean air temperature, and precipitation. Our results showed that the integrated AVHRR NDVI can be used to effectively estimate annual ET in the Yellow River Basin, with an accuracy over 90% for the whole basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]