Ren, Z.; Feng Z.; Li, P.; Wang, D.; Cheng, S., and Gong J., 2017. Response of runoff and sediment yield from climate change in the Yanhe watershed, China. In: Zhi, Y. and Guido Aldana, P.A. (eds.), Sustainability of Water Resources and the Development of Coastal Environments: Select Proceedings from the 2016 International Conference on Water Resource and Environment (WRE2016). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 80, pp. 30–35. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.

Changes in temperature and precipitation in the Loess Plateau, China have been studied for many years. The runoff and sediment yield in the Loess Plateau are sensitive to global climate change. Understanding the characteristics of runoff and sediment will be of great importance in the future. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to simulate the runoff and the sediment yield in the Yanhe watershed, a typical water basin with soil erosion in the Loess Plateau. The resulting statistics of the SWAT simulation of the runoff and sediment yield were acceptable. The rainfall for the period from 2010 to 2099, as predicted by the Statistical Down Scaling Model (SDSM), was used to simulate the runoff and sediment yield in the future, using SWAT. Compared with the period from the 1980 to 2000, the annual precipitation increased by 9.2% to 16.4%. Under simulated future climate change, the annual runoff of the Yanhe watershed changes averaged −2.6% to 52.7%, compared with the baseline period. In the context of future climate change, in general, the runoff distribution was more even within the year when it increased significantly from March to May and decreased from July to August. The variations of the sediment yield for the watershed were −31.3% to 62.5% compare with the period from the 1980 to 2000. Overall, the trends of the sediment yield for the watershed were consistent with the runoff.