Impacts of recent climate change on the hydrology in the source region of the Yellow River basin

• Runoff tended to decrease during 1961–2013.
• Great decadal variations exist in runoff changes during 1961–2013.
• Evapotranspiration played a dominant role in runoff reduction in the 2000s.
• Spring melt-induced peak flow tended to occur earlier in the past 30 years.

Study regionThe source region of the Yellow River (SRYE) in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau.Study focusThe spatial-temporal changes of hydrological and meteorological variables and their linkages over the SRYE were investigated for 1961–2013. Meanwhile, we quantified the impacts of precipitation and evapotranspiration on hydrological changes through climate elasticity by applying a land surface hydrological model. Furthermore, the impacts of warming climate on the seasonal snow cover and spring flow over the SRYE were examined.New hydrological insights for the regionDecreased precipitation and lightly increased evapotranspiration both contributed to reduced runoff in the 1990s, with the decreased precipitation playing a more important role (70%) than the increased evapotranspiration (30%). In the 2000s, precipitation contributed 3% to the runoff reduction, while the increased evapotranspiration accounted for 97%. Along with rapid warming, evapotranspiration is playing an increasingly important role in affecting runoff changes in the SRYE. During 2001–2012, snow cover in May decreased over the region. Spring peak flow mainly caused by snowmelt occurred earlier for about 15 days at the Jimai hydrological station due to an earlier snow melt associated with the climate warming in the past 3 decades.