Changes of Terrestrial Water Storage in River Basins of China Projected by RegCM4

In this study, a historic simulation covering the period from 1951 to 2000 and three projected scenario simulations covering 2001-2050 were conducted employing the regional climate model RegCM4 to detect the changes of terrestrial water storage (TWS) in major river basins of China, using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES): A1B, A2, and B1. The historic simulation revealed that the variations of TWS, which are dominated by precipitation in the basins, rely highly on their climatic features. Compared with the historic simulation, the changes of TWS in the scenario simulations showed strong regional differences. However, for all scenarios, TWS was found to increase most in Northeast China and surrounding mountains around the Tibetan Plateau, and decrease most in eastern regions of China. Unlike the low seasonal variations of TWS in arid areas, the TWS showed strong seasonal variations in eastern monsoon areas, with the maximum changes usually occurring in summer, when TWS increases most in a year. Among the three scenario simulations, TWS increased most in Songhua River Basin of B1 scenario, and de- creased most in Pearl River Basin of A2 scenario and Hai River Basin of A1B scenario, accompanied by different annual trends and seasonal variations.