IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i13p8004-d852737.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Driving Factors of Heavy Rainfall Causing Flash Floods in the Middle Reaches of the Yellow River: A Case Study in the Wuding River Basin, China

Author

Listed:
  • Pan Zhang

    (Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation on the Loess Plateau of Ministry of Water Resources, Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research, Zhengzhou 450003, China
    Research Center of Soil and Water Conservation and Ecological Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Education, Yangling 712100, China)

  • Weiying Sun

    (Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation on the Loess Plateau of Ministry of Water Resources, Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research, Zhengzhou 450003, China)

  • Peiqing Xiao

    (Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation on the Loess Plateau of Ministry of Water Resources, Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research, Zhengzhou 450003, China)

  • Wenyi Yao

    (Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation on the Loess Plateau of Ministry of Water Resources, Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research, Zhengzhou 450003, China)

  • Guobin Liu

    (Research Center of Soil and Water Conservation and Ecological Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Education, Yangling 712100, China)

Abstract

In the context of climate change, extreme rainfall events have greatly increased the frequency and risk of flash floods in the Yellow River Basin. In this study, the heavy rainfall and flash flood processes were studied as a system. Taking the driving factors of the heavy rainfall causing the flash floods as the main focus, the key factors of the heavy rainfall causing typical flash flood processes were identified, and the driving mechanism by which the heavy rainfall caused flash floods was revealed. Through comparative analysis of the rainfall related to 13 floods with peak discharges of greater than 2000 m 3 /s since measurements began at Baijiachuan hydrological station, it was found that different rainfall factors played a major driving role in the different flood factors. The factor that had the largest impact on the peak discharge was the average rainfall intensity; the factor that had the largest impact on the flood volume was the rainfall duration; and the factor that had the largest impact on the sediment volume was the maximum 1 h rainfall. The ecological construction of soil and water conservation projects on the Loess Plateau has had obvious peak-cutting and sediment-reducing effects on the flood processes driven by medium- and low-intensity rainfall events, but for high-intensity flash floods, the flood-reducing and sediment-reducing effects of these projects have been smaller. Therefore, despite the background of continuous ecological improvement on the Loess Plateau, the possibility of floods with large sediment loads occurring in the middle reaches of the Yellow River still exists.

Suggested Citation

  • Pan Zhang & Weiying Sun & Peiqing Xiao & Wenyi Yao & Guobin Liu, 2022. "Driving Factors of Heavy Rainfall Causing Flash Floods in the Middle Reaches of the Yellow River: A Case Study in the Wuding River Basin, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-11, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:13:p:8004-:d:852737
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/13/8004/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/13/8004/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chiara Vallebona & Elisa Pellegrino & Paolo Frumento & Enrico Bonari, 2015. "Temporal trends in extreme rainfall intensity and erosivity in the Mediterranean region: a case study in southern Tuscany, Italy," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 139-151, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xinlan Liang & Lei Zhang & Shuqin He & Ke Song & Zicheng Zheng, 2023. "Characteristics and Projection of Rainfall Erosivity Distribution in the Hengduan Mountains," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-21, July.
    2. Tanja Micić Ponjiger & Tin Lukić & Biljana Basarin & Maja Jokić & Robert L. Wilby & Dragoslav Pavić & Minučer Mesaroš & Aleksandar Valjarević & Miško M. Milanović & Cezar Morar, 2021. "Detailed Analysis of Spatial–Temporal Variability of Rainfall Erosivity and Erosivity Density in the Central and Southern Pannonian Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-31, December.
    3. Leonardo V. Noto & Giuseppe Cipolla & Antonio Francipane & Dario Pumo, 2023. "Climate Change in the Mediterranean Basin (Part I): Induced Alterations on Climate Forcings and Hydrological Processes," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 37(6), pages 2287-2305, May.
    4. Nejc Bezak & Martina Kovačević & Gregor Johnen & Klaudija Lebar & Vesna Zupanc & Andrej Vidmar & Simon Rusjan, 2021. "Exploring Options for Flood Risk Management with Special Focus on Retention Reservoirs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-20, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:13:p:8004-:d:852737. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.