Study area and hydrological data

A large river basin in semi-arid area, the Yellow River basin, was selected in this study. The Yellow River is the second longest river in China. The river flows 5464 km in distance in the main course and has a drainage area of 752443 km². Discharge of six hydrologic gauges at the main stream of the Yellow River, Tangnaihai, Lanzhou, Toudaoguai, Sanmenxia, Huayuankou and Lijin stations (Figure 1) were collected from Hydrological Year Book by the Hydrological Bureau of the Ministry of Water Resources of China.

Figure 1: The study area

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