The Hanjiang River (or Han River) is the largest tributary of the Yangtze River and offers a large amount of both biological and hydropower resources. The river originates in the south of Qinling Mountains, runs from west to east between Shaanxi, Hubei and Henan Provinces, and then flows into the Yangtze River in Wuhan.
The Hanjiang River (or Han River) is the largest tributary of the Yangtze River and offers a large amount of both biological and hydropower resources. The river originates in the south of Qinling Mountains, runs from west to east between Shaanxi, Hubei and Henan Provinces, and then flows into the Yangtze River in Wuhan.
The basin is located within 106°2~114°3′E and 30°1′~34°2′N with an area of about 159,000 km2. Located in the transitional zone, it is dominated by a subtropical East Asian monsoon climate. The average annual temperature of this watershed varies in a range of 12-16 °C. The mean annual rainfall is 700-1000 mm, of which 70-80% occurs in the flood season from May to October. Hanjiang river basin is an important grain production area, and plays an important economic role in China’s “One belt and one road” construction.
Due to the influence of the subtropical monsoon, the precipitation and runoff in the basin have great seasonal variability, resulting in great summer floods from late May to July, and the autumn floods from August to October. In the middle of the river, there stands Danjiangkou Reservoir, which is the divide of the upper and mid-lower reaches of the Hanjiang River basin (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Map of the upper Han River basin. Meteorological stations and rain gauges as well as discharge control stations are indicated.
Danjiangkou Reservoir serves as a main water source of the Middle Route of South-to-North Water Transfer Project in China. The Transfer Project effectively alleviates water shortage in several Northern provinces. Meanwhile, Danjiangkou Reservoir plays a significant role in flood control, power generation, water supply and irrigation for the downstream of Hanjiang River basin. Figure 2 shows the inflow variations during 1980 to 2003.
Figure 2. Inflow of upper stream Han River into the Danjiangkou Reservoir during 1980 - 2003.
Considering the influences of both human activities and climate changes, water availability and water resource management in this basin is a key issue for sustainable development as well as flood control. In this project, we will focus on the forecasting of inflow to the Danjaingkou Reservoir. Combined with ground-based observations, we will explore the added value of EO data sets to enhance the forecasting skills and reliability.