The Impact of Climate Change and Changes in The Runoff of The Yellow River in Recent Years

At 5,464 kilometers, the Yellow River is the second-longest river in China. It supports domestic, industrial, and agricultural water demands while passing through nine provinces, acting as northern China's lifeline. This paper's goal is to examine how net flow has changed recently in the Yellow River Basin and how climate change has affected it by examining data from earlier studies. This paper finds that the basin's sustainable growth and water security are significantly impacted by variations in the Yellow River's flow. According to the study, the Yellow River's flow generally exhibits a declining tendency, particularly in the upstream region and during the period of ample water, even though precipitation has increased. The primary cause is climate change, which has a substantial impact on runoff due to altered precipitation patterns (a decrease of around 11.29% in the percentage of snowfall) and temperature increases (up to 30% in some places). While vegetation degradation made water scarcity worse by lowering soil water storage capacity and wetland management, decreased snow and ice melt contributions, and increased evapotranspiration further weakened runoff. Future scenario projections indicate that runoff depth in the Yellow River Basin will generally grow, but the source area and the northwest region are probably going to experience increasingly severe water resource stress. Therefore, it is advised that ecological preservation, efficient water resource allocation, and adaptive management techniques be used to improve the basin's sustainable water resource use.