PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES - PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA BILATERAL SYMPOSIUM ON DROUGHTS AND ARID-REGION HYDROLOGY SEPTEMBER 16-20, 1991, TUCSON, ARIZONA Compiled by W. H. Kirby and W. Y. Tan U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Open-File Report 91-244 Reston, Virginia 1991 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MANUEL LUJAN, JR., Secretary U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Dallas L. Peck, Director For additional information Copies of this report can write to: tie purchased from: Chief, Office of Surface Water iJ.S. Geological Survey, Books U.S. Geological Survey and Open-File Reports Section 415 National Center Box 25425, Federal Center Reston, Virginia 22092 Denver, Colorado 80225 PREFACE The United States - People's Republic of China Bilateral Symposium on Droughts and Arid-Region Hydrology was organized under the auspices of the Protocol for Scientific and Technical Cooperation in the Study of Surface-Water Hydrology, between the U.S. Geological Survey of the Department of the Interior of the United States of America and the Department of Hydrology of the Ministry of Water Resources of the People's Republic of China. The objective of the symposium is to provide a forum for exchange of scientific information on surface- water hydrologic aspects of droughts and arid regions. Large portions of both the United States and China have arid or semi-arid climates or are subject to recurrent droughts; thus the subject of the symposium is of practical importance as well as scientific interest. The contributions to the symposium show that hydrologists in both the United States and China have devoted much effort to the study of droughts and arid-region hydrology, but in many cases have approached their work from somewhat different points of view. This symposium provides an opportunity for hydrologists from the two countries to share these points of view and thus improve the breadth as well as the depth of their understanding. The contributions to the symposium were organized into the following major categories: o Characterization and Quantification of Droughts o Characteristics of Arid-Region Hydrology o Monitoring and Forecasting o Frequency Analysis, Regionalization, and Stochastic Analysis o Water-Resource Modeling and Management We would like to acknowledge the contributions made by the Organizing Committee, consisting of M. E. Moss and R. D. Mac Nish (U.S. Geological Survey), D. A. Woolhiser (U.S. Agricultural Research Service), and B. Bartocha, M. Hughes, and R. A. Clark (University of Arizona), and the keynote speaker, D. R. Dawdy. W. H. Kirby U.S. Geological Survey W. Y. Tan Nanjing Institute of Hydrology and Water Resources 111 DISCLAIMER The U.S. Geological Survey agreed to publish the proceedings of the United States - People's Republic of China Bilateral Symposium on Droughts and Arid-Region Hydrology because the subject matter is related to the mission of the Geological Survey. These proceedings have been published in the Open-File series pending approval to publish them as a Water-Supply Paper. The usual standards for this series have been modified to accommodate the variety of styles used by the participants in this symposium. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein by non-Geological Survey authors do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Geological Survey. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Geological Survey. iv CONTENTS Page Chinese contributions to hydrologic drought studies: by W.Y. Tan and S.Y. Hu ......................................... 1 U.S. contributions to studies of droughts and arid-region hydrology: by W.H. Kirby ....................................... 9 TOPIC A CHARACTERIZATION AND QUANTIFICATION QF DROUGHTS A discussion on drought in arid regions of China: by S.K. Li ...................................................... 17 The 1988-89 National Water Summary A summary of floods and droughts in the United States: by R.W. Paulson, E.B. Chase, J.S. Williams, and R.S. Roberts ................................. 23 Examination of dryness in agriculture with moisture balance indices: by Z.Y. Guan and Z.W. Feng ............................ 31 Transformation between hydrological drought and industrial and agricultural drought in semi-arid areas: by Z.Z Chen ....... 39 A national drought atlas for the United States of America: by G.E. Willeke, Nathanial Guttman, and W.O. Thomas, Jr. ........ 45 Prediction of regional soil water and drought: by B.C. Li ...... 51 TOPIC B CHARACTERISTICS QF ARID-REGION HYDROLOGY Flood hydrology of arid basins in southwestern United States: by H.W. Hjalmarson .............................................. 59 Hydrological characteristics of the semi-arid Haihe River basin, China: by Y. Feng ....................................... 65 Preliminary investigation for characterization of drought and streamflow in the Western Great Basin Distinguishing climate change from natural variability: by Alex Pupacko ............... 73 Rainstorm characteristics in the arid area of China: by J.Q. Wang .................................................... 79 Effects of global climate change on erosion stability in arid environments using WEPP: by R.H. Hawkins, V.L. Lopes, R.A. Parker, and M.A. Weltz .......................................... 85 Hydrology of aquifer recharge in arid regions: by H. J. Morel-Seytoux, C.M. Zhang, C. Miracapillo, and H. Khadr ......... 91 v CONTENTS (continued) Page Analysis and forecast of the water-quality state of main rivers in Xinjiang: by Y.L. Hao ....................... 97 Irrigation induced water-quality problems in the western United States: by H.R. Feltz ......... 103 Surface-water chemical changes due to human activities in the Tarim Basin: by Z.Y. Wei ............. 105 Concentration and distribution of selenium associated with irrigation drainage in the western United. States: by R.A. Engberg ................................................ 113 Impact of water-resources utilization on the ecological environment in the Xinjiang arid region, China: by T.X. Zhou and M.D. Tang ........................................ 125 Measurements of vapor pressure over natural vegetation at a high desert site in southeastern Arizona: by A.M. Sturrock, Jr., and W.D. Nichols 131 Evaporation properties and estimates in the landlocked arid region in Xinjiang, China: by G.W. Zhang and Y.C. Zhou ........ 139 Estimating evapotranspiration by phreatopthytesi in areas of shallow ground water in a high desert jvalley: by W.D. Nichols ........................ 145 TOPIC C MONITORING AND FORECASTING A simplified approach for evaluating evaporation using satellite-based remotely sensed data: by; M.S. Moran and R.D. Jackson ................................................... 155 Remote sensing and evapotranspiration estimates: Influence of ground-based meteorological data: by P.W. Brown and S.J. Owen-Joyce ................................................ 161 Climatological analysis of seasonal snow resources in the Qilian Mountains of North China: by Q. Chen and T.Y. Chen .............................. 167 Developing an index of hydrologic drought for the Gunnison River basin, Colorado: by R.S. Parker . 175 Forecasting dry-season drought and runoff in China: by F.Y. Zhang .................................................. 183 VI CONTENTS (continued) Page Low streamflow forecast model for Longyangxia hydropower station on the Yellow River: by B.Y. Yang and H.X. Sun ........ 189 TOPIC D FREQUENCY ANALYSIS r REGIONALIZATIQN AND STOCHASTIC ANALYSIS Estimating low-flow characteristics at gaging stations and through the use of base-flow measurements: by W.O. Thomas, Jr., and J.R. Stedinger ........................ 197 Frequency distribution for hydrologic samples with zero events: by S.X. Wang .......................................... 207 Estimating low-flow characteristics of streams at ungaged sites: by G.D. Tasker ......................................... 215 Stochastic analysis of drought properties of the main rivers in China: by R.F. Yang, J. Ding, and Y.R. Deng ......... 221 Streamflow drought statistics by stochastic simulation: by J.D. Salas and M.W. Abdelmohsen ............................. 227 Synthetic streamflows for global climate change: by W.L. Lane ...................................................... 235 Preliminary analysis of streamflow drought characteristics in the middle reach of the Yellow River: by C.X. Li, J. Shen, and R.S. Fan .......................................... 241 An event-based model of precipitation for analyzing occurrence and severity of summer droughts in southern Arizona and New Mexico: by V.L. Lopes, M.M. Fogel, L. Duckstein, and B.M. Imam .................................... 247 Droughts and floods in North and East China, 1380-1989 A.D.: by S.W. Wang, G.X. Wang, and Z.M. Zhang ........................ 255 Tree rings and the severity of hydrologic drought: by David Meko .................................................. 261 Annual runoff series extension and runoff variations in Lanzhou-Sanmenxia reach of Yellow River, China: by X.F. Ma, Y.Z. Wang, and S.Q. Huo ............................ 267 Recurrence probability of 11-year continuous low water period (1922-1932 A.D.) in the Yellow River: by F.C. Shi, G.A. Wang, P. Mu, G.A. Ma, and Z.D. Gao ........................ 273 vii CONTENTS (continued) Page Analysis of persistence of hydrological drought on the Upper Yellow River, China: by W.D. Wang, H.X. Sun, and J.B. Shi ................................................... 281 TOPIC E WATER-RESOURCE