Gao et al. (2026) A new watershed regulation capacity assessment approach based on scale theory and its applications

Identification

• Journal: Journal of Hydrology Regional Studies
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-09-18
• Authors: Yuqin Gao, Yijia Li, L. Xu, Zhenxing Zhang, Changjun Liu, Jingang Zhang, Chenyu Yuan, Yan Wang
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103984

Research Groups

• Hohai University, China
• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, United States
• China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, China

Short Summary

This study presents a basin regulation capacity assessment model based on scale theory to examine the processes and patterns of regulation capacity changes in highly urbanized watersheds under varying rainfall conditions. The results show that the Qinhuai River Basin exhibited a declining trend in regulation capacity from 1990-2020, with pronounced interannual variability.

Objective

• Develop a novel watershed regulation capacity assessment model based on scale theory.
• Examine the processes and patterns of regulation capacity changes in highly urbanized watersheds under varying rainfall conditions.
• Reveal the impacts and mechanisms of extreme storms on watershed regulation capacity under projected urbanization scenarios.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Watershed scale, with a focus on the Qinhuai River Basin in China.
• Temporal Scale: 1990-2020, with analysis of annual and interannual changes in regulation capacity.

Methodology and Data

• Models used:
  • HEC-HMS hydrological model for simulating daily flow processes.
  • PLUS model for simulating land use-cover change.
  • K-Means algorithm for rainfall pattern recognition.
  • Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) algorithm for rainfall pattern classification.
• Data sources:
  • Hydrological data from the Hydrological Yearbook of the Yangtze River Basin.
  • Land use/cover data from Zenodo and other sources.
  • Topographic elevation data from the Geospatial Data Cloud platform.

Main Results

• The Qinhuai River Basin exhibited a declining trend in regulation capacity from 1990-2020, with pronounced interannual variability.
• The scale parameter (β) of the basin was concentrated between 0.85 and 0.92, indicating strong regulation capacity when responding to short-term rainfall events.
• Regulation capacity suppressed flow growth at different stages, with all regions exhibiting certain regulation functions.

Contributions

• This study provides a novel watershed regulation capacity assessment model based on scale theory, which can be applied to other watersheds worldwide.
• The results highlight the importance of considering urbanization and extreme rainfall events when assessing watershed regulation capacity.

Funding

• This research was funded by projects from Hohai University, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, and other sources.

Citation

@article{Gao2026new,
  author = {Gao, Yuqin and Li, Yijia and Xu, L. and Zhang, Zhenxing and Liu, Changjun and Zhang, Jingang and Yuan, Chenyu and Wang, Yan},
  title = {A new watershed regulation capacity assessment approach based on scale theory and its applications},
  journal = {Journal of Hydrology Regional Studies},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103984},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103984}
}