Journal of Hydrology-Regional Studies最新文献

{"title":"Identifying precipitation gradients and revegetation ages combined effects deep soil moisture variability in the typical loess region","authors":"Yonggang Ma ,&nbsp;Dang Wei ,&nbsp;Junmei Liu ,&nbsp;Bingbing Li","doi":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103193","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103193","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Study region</h3><div>A Typical Loess Region (TLR) in the Chinese Loess Plateau</div></div><div><h3>Study focus</h3><div>Water scarcity is the primary constraint on ecological sustainability in the Typical Loess Region (TLR), where large-scale revegetation efforts have been implemented to combat severe soil erosion. However, the sustainability of these restored ecosystems is highly uncertain. This is because the water consumption of introduced vegetation often exceeds precipitation input, leading to progressive depletion of deep soil moisture (DSM) that supports plant survival during drought. While both spatial precipitation gradients and temporal revegetation age are known to influence DSM independently, their synergistic effects on DSM variability remain poorly quantified. Thus, to assess regional influences on DSM variability, we assembled 81 DSM profiles extending to depths of 10 m in TLR, spanning revegetation ages from 0 to 40 years. A polynomial function framework coupled with error propagation analysis was used to assess the combined effects.</div></div><div><h3>New hydrological insights for the region</h3><div>The results reveal that soil moisture and water storage generally increase with depth in shallow-rooted systems, reaching maximum levels at 5–10 m. However, under deep-rooted plants, they are highest at depths of 5–10 m, intermediate in 0–2 m, and the lowest in 2–5 m. With prolonged revegetation, soil moisture deficits intensify progressively across all soil layers, especially within the active and stable layers. Soil moisture conditions exhibit pronounced spatial heterogeneity, with mean moisture content and storage revealing increase gradient from northwest to southeast of the TLR. A transition from sufficient to stressed DSM conditions occurs when annual rainfall falls between 381.4 ± 130.5 and 450.5 ± 171.6 mm year⁻¹, triggered by a critical revegetation age of 25.7 ± 3.6 years. These findings highlight the need to integrate such thresholds into water resource management and ecosystem restoration strategies, especially in water-scarce and degraded regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48620,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology-Regional Studies","volume":"64 ","pages":"Article 103193"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146173849","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Arid climate and seawater intrusion amplify the threat of sulfate rather than nitrate in the coastal aquifer of China's Yellow River Delta","authors":"Li Zhang ,&nbsp;Jinli Cui ,&nbsp;Xueqing Zhang ,&nbsp;Xingxing Du ,&nbsp;Suhua Meng ,&nbsp;Xiangxiang Cui","doi":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103169","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103169","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Study region</h3><div>The Yellow River Delta located in Shandong Province, northern China.</div></div><div><h3>Study focus</h3><div>The contamination dynamics and potential sources of groundwater SO₄^2- and NO₃^- are potentially affected by two worldwide issues: climate change-induced precipitation and seawater intrusion. This study investigated how seasonal precipitation and seawater intrusion impact SO₄^2- and NO₃^- in the coastal groundwater of the Yellow River Delta.</div></div><div><h3>New hydrological insights for the region</h3><div>The results indicated significant degradation in the groundwater quality, with 95 % of the samples exceeding China's drinking water standard for SO₄^2- (mean concentration: 829 mg/L), and 27 % exceeding the standard for NO₃^- (mean concentration: 55.0 mg/L). Health risk assessment confirmed nonnegligible noncarcinogenic risks, which were exacerbated by an arid climate. Notably, the risk was attributed primarily to overlooked SO₄^2- rather than NO₃^-. Isotopic analysis using a Bayesian isotope mixing model revealed that SO₄^2- was derived mainly from evaporite dissolution (47.3 ± 19.7 %), followed by sewage (14.8 ± 6.9 %) and seawater (12.3 ± 3.9 %). This contamination was further promoted by seawater intrusion via stronger evaporite dissolution processes, particularly during the early rainy season. In contrast, NO₃^- was less sensitive to rainfall variation and seawater intrusion and was primarily affected by anthropogenic activities, including those related to sewage (57.9 ± 10.9 %), soil nitrogen (29.0 ± 8.7 %) and fertilizers (8.3 ± 3.1 %). Our work confirmed that the flocculation of SO₄^2- and NO₃^- in coastal groundwater is influenced by natural processes and surface anthropogenic activities driven by seasonal precipitation, more strongly affecting on SO₄^2- than NO₃^- from seawater intrusion. The spatiotemporal findings establish a quantitative framework for managing vulnerable coastal groundwater systems in deltaic regions worldwide that face simultaneous challenges of seawater intrusion and anthropogenic pressure.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48620,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology-Regional Studies","volume":"64 ","pages":"Article 103169"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146079810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A modeling approach for canal water distribution considering one-leader-multi-follower gaming structure and cooperative relationship of water users — A case study of Hetao Irrigation District, China","authors":"Shan Zhou ,&nbsp;Hangang Wang ,&nbsp;Fang Yang ,&nbsp;Wei Zhang ,&nbsp;Tiesong Hu ,&nbsp;Rui Zhu ,&nbsp;Wu Ding ,&nbsp;Shuai Yao","doi":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103199","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103199","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Study region</h3><div>Conducted in China's Hetao Irrigation District, a large-scale irrigation area heavily reliant on canal-based water distribution. The application of canal water distribution models is hindered by the mismatch between optimization frameworks and actual hierarchical institutional arrangements.</div></div><div><h3>Study focus:</h3><div>This study proposes a one-leader-multiple-followers (OLMF) canal water distribution model with managers and water users as upper and lower level decision-makers to make decisions on water distribution schedules and water use plans, respectively. Under this framework, a quantification method of cooperation payoff and payoff allocation for water users is proposed based on the relations of water amount, water-conveying pattern and irrigation effect, and the cooperation mechanism of jointly making water use plans by users is explored.</div></div><div><h3>New hydrological insights for the region:</h3><div>Soil texture, requirements to reduce water conveyance loss and water availability are key factors influencing the water users cooperation modes. To improve the cooperation payoff, it is better for canals irrigating clayey areas to adopt the water-conveying pattern in which the peak flow comes later in the water-conveying process. The payoff for water users achieved by the OLMF model is 18 % higher than that of the traditional one-leader-one-follower model. In the OLMF model, the soil moisture contents (SMC) of canals’irrigation areas exceed the lower limit of suitable SMC range to a less extent, thus 1.243 million m³ irrigation water is saved.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48620,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology-Regional Studies","volume":"64 ","pages":"Article 103199"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146173784","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Isotopic characterization and recharge dynamics of Karst aquifers in a mediterranean basin","authors":"Sonia Valdivielso ,&nbsp;Marta Turull ,&nbsp;Sergio Carrero ,&nbsp;Benjamín Crisóstomo ,&nbsp;Deby Jurado ,&nbsp;Joan Botey i Bassols ,&nbsp;Enric Vázquez-Suñé ,&nbsp;Sergi Díez","doi":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103209","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103209","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Study region</h3><div>Headwater of the Llobregat River, Spain.</div></div><div><h3>Study focus</h3><div>This study advances the understanding of hydrological and hydrogeological processes in fractured and karstified carbonate massifs by characterizing the isotopic composition of precipitation, surface water, and groundwater. A total of 115 water samples collected between April 2024 and February 2025 were analysed to assess temporal and spatial isotopic variability, examine relationships between stable isotopes and meteorological variables, reconstruct backward trajectories of moisture sources, and delineate recharge zones.</div></div><div><h3>New hydrological insight</h3><div>(1) An isotopic gradient linked to moisture conditions was identified, indicating that thermodynamic processes and air-mass origin exert primary control on d-excess. (2) Moisture sources contributing to precipitation were identified as the Atlantic Ocean (44 %), the Mediterranean Sea (24 %), France (18 %), and the Cantabrian Sea (14 %). Backward trajectory analysis highlights the relationship between moisture provenance and isotopic signatures; however, accumulated precipitation samples represent integrated mixtures of multiple sources. (3) Groundwater and surface water isotopic signatures suggest dominant winter recharge occurring above 1800 m a.s.l., consistent with regional topography and the highly karstified structure of the Moixeró massif. Seasonal precipitation signals preserved in groundwater further suggest short residence times and rapid recharge responses. (4) These findings support improved water-resource management and highlight the sensitivity of alpine karst systems to climatic variability, underscoring the need for continued isotopic monitoring.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48620,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology-Regional Studies","volume":"64 ","pages":"Article 103209"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146173877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Experimental investigation of root mass density and vegetation discontinuity effects on riverbank erosion","authors":"Jin-Fu Li ,&nbsp;Yen-Ching Chiang ,&nbsp;Su-Chin Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103202","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103202","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Study area</h3><div>Steep mountainous rivers in subtropical Taiwan</div></div><div><h3>Study focus</h3><div>Riverbank erosion is a critical issue in Taiwan’s steep river systems, where intense rainfall, high sediment loads, and frequent channel disturbances promote rapid bank instability. This study examines how riparian vegetation presence and spatial discontinuity influence riverbank erosion processes through controlled flume experiments. Five riverbank configurations were tested, including a non-vegetated bank, a fully vegetated bank, and intermittently vegetated banks with bare gaps of 10, 20, and 30 cm. Bank erosion ratio, retreat length, bank slope variation, vortex length, and root mass density (RMD) were used to quantify morphological and hydraulic responses under identical flow conditions.</div></div><div><h3>New Hydrological Insights for the Region</h3><div>Fully vegetated riverbanks exhibited a mean erosion ratio 12.9 % lower than non-vegetated banks, indicating a clear stabilizing effect associated with root reinforcement. Across all vegetated configurations, bank erosion ratio decreased exponentially with increasing RMD (R² = 0.86), highlighting the importance of belowground biomass in resisting fluvial erosion. Vegetation discontinuity strongly altered near-bank flow structures: when bare gaps exceeded approximately one-third of the bank length, erosion ratios and vortex development approached those observed in non-vegetated banks. Narrow gaps promoted localized erosion through flow concentration, whereas wider gaps weakened root connectivity and reduced overall bank resistance. These results demonstrate that both vegetation presence and its spatial continuity play a key role in regulating bank erosion mechanisms in steep subtropical rivers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48620,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology-Regional Studies","volume":"64 ","pages":"Article 103202"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146173876","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Holocene warm-humidification trends recorded in lacustrine sediments in Arid Central Asia: Synthesis insights from climate reconstruction, carbonate carbon-oxygen isotopes and n-alkanes","authors":"Xiaojun Wang ,&nbsp;Qianqian Yang ,&nbsp;Hantao Ni ,&nbsp;Chunxia Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103206","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103206","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Study region</h3><div>Arid Central Asia (ACA).</div></div><div><h3>Study focus</h3><div>The contradictory understanding of Holocene climate change trends in ACA remains unresolved. This study compiled Holocene temperature and moisture changes from 23 lacustrine sediment sites in the ACA region based on quantitative proxies (reconstructed temperature and precipitation), physico-chemical proxies (carbon and oxygen isotopes of carbonates), and biological proxies (<em>n</em>-alkanes).</div></div><div><h3>New hydrologic insights</h3><div>Holocene climate patterns characterized by early Holocene cold-dry, mid-Holocene cool-humid, and late Holocene warm-humid conditions in the ACA region. Multiple tipping points have been identified by different proxies during 10<img>8 and 6.5<img>3 cal ka BP, indicating inconsistencies among compilations of different proxy records. The long-term fluctuating warm-wetting trend in ACA is generally consistent with records from the westerly region, where Holocene climate changes are complex, in contrast to the relatively synchronized patterns in monsoonal Asia. Phase shifts of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), driven by summer and winter insolation variations, caused latitudinal oscillations of westerly moisture transport. During mid-to-late Holocene, NAO negative phases shifted westerly moisture southward, dominating the warming-humidification trend in ACA region. However, the water resources in this region will exhibit complex spatiotemporal differentiation in the future, with wet regions becoming wetter and arid regions drier. This study demonstrates that multi-proxy compilation enhances understanding of regional climate change, but requires discerning environmental signals from different proxies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48620,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology-Regional Studies","volume":"64 ","pages":"Article 103206"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146173850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Re-thinking levee strategies for aggradation-driven flood risk in the Waiho River, New Zealand","authors":"Zhengmin Wu ,&nbsp;Yifan Yang ,&nbsp;Junqiang Xia ,&nbsp;Zhonghou Xu ,&nbsp;Dong Shao ,&nbsp;Wentao Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103143","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103143","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Study region</h3><div>The Waiho River is a rapidly aggrading, levee-confined, glacier-fed braided river on the West Coast of New Zealand, crossing a steep proglacial alluvial fan where stopbanks protect the State Highway 6 lifeline corridor and adjacent community.</div></div><div><h3>Study focus</h3><div>This study quantifies how riverbed aggradation alters flood behaviour and levee performance and evaluates alternative levee strategies for the Waiho River. Using multi-temporal topographies (2016–2023), terrain-change analysis, and spatially distributed floodplain roughness derived from remote sensing, we apply a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model to simulate (1) breach sensitivity on both riverbanks under varying bed elevations and (2) levee reconfiguration options from partial to complete removal of the southern levee system.</div></div><div><h3>New hydrological insights for the region</h3><div>Results show that incremental levee heightening yields only short-term benefits; under continued aggradation, it elevates water levels against protected margins and exacerbates breach consequences. Breach behaviour is strongly conditioned by riverbed elevation, indicating that aggradation control and freeboard management must be planned jointly. Partial south-levee removal provides limited relief, whereas complete removal (or an equivalent setback) substantially lowers hydraulic loading on the opposite bank and redistributes flow and shear across the southern floodplain, promoting wider conveyance and sediment dispersion consistent with a reconnected system. Overall, the findings support an adaptive pathway prioritising restored floodplain connectivity, complemented by targeted reinforcements and risk-informed operations near critical assets (e.g., lifeline highway infrastructures).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48620,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology-Regional Studies","volume":"64 ","pages":"Article 103143"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145981837","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Monitoring the river ice phenology along the Inner Mongolia reach of the Yellow River using time-series images from landsat and Sentinel-2","authors":"Bin Liu ,&nbsp;Honglan Ji ,&nbsp;Haifeng Xu ,&nbsp;Yu Deng ,&nbsp;Hongchun Luo ,&nbsp;Zhongshu Xue ,&nbsp;Wenhao Ren","doi":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103140","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103140","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Study region</h3><div>Inner Mongolia section of the Yellow River in northern China.</div></div><div><h3>Study focus</h3><div>This study developed a segment-based area-ratio framework for the automated extraction of river-ice phenology utilizing multi-source optical remote sensing data from Landsat-8/9 and Sentinel-2A/B. Random Forest models were employed to differentiate between ice and water, and time-series variations in the ice-cover ratio facilitated the identification of freeze-up, break-up, and ice-covered duration along standardized river segments. Six complete ice seasons (2018–2023) were analyzed to characterize the spatiotemporal dynamics of river-ice formation and decay under the combined effects of temperature, flow, and reservoir regulation effects.</div></div><div><h3>New hydrological insights for the region</h3><div>The results demonstrated a distinct spatial regularity in river-ice evolution: freeze-up was initiated earlier downstream and progressed upstream, whereas break-up proceeded in the reverse direction. The duration of ice cover increased progressively downstream, reflecting the combined influence of thermal conditions and hydrodynamic regulation. River-ice processes are primarily controlled by temperature, with flow dynamics and reservoir operations exerting secondary effects that amplify spatial heterogeneity. The proposed segment-based phenology extraction framework provides a transferable methodology for large-scale river-ice monitoring, supporting hydrological research, climate assessment, and ice-flood hazard management in seasonally frozen basins.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48620,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology-Regional Studies","volume":"64 ","pages":"Article 103140"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145981490","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Interactive driven force analysis of blue and green water for Yalong River Basin of southwest China based on a hybrid modeling approach","authors":"Yanan Liang ,&nbsp;Yanpeng Cai ,&nbsp;Junjie Niu ,&nbsp;Xuan Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103133","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103133","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Study region</h3><div>Yalong River Basin, southwest China</div></div><div><h3>Study focus</h3><div>Hydrological cycle has been affected by environmental changes, leading to serious freshwater crisis. In this research, hydrological modeling along with detrend techniques were advanced to address the blue and green water components responses to climate change and anthropogenic disturbances.</div></div><div><h3>New hydrological insights for the region</h3><div>Blue and green water exhibited upward trends from 1967 to 2017. In two studying periods (P1: 1981–1996; P2: 1997–2017), land use/land cover change exerted a slight effect of −2–2 mm variation in blue and green water in most subbasins. Climate change exhibited the dominant role in hydrological variations, in which the contribution of precipitation was the highest for blue and green water storage and temperature for green water flow. Rising precipitation led to an increase in blue water of overall 5–25 mm in P1 and 25–80 mm in P2. Rising temperatures caused increased green water flow, from 0–15 mm in P1 to 2–30 mm in P2. From P1 to P2, climate change’s effect on green water storage showed a negative trend in certain subbasins due to intensified warming. Spatially, regulated by catchment distributions and land cover types, the responses of blue water and green water storage to climate change presented higher heterogeneity than green water flow. This study illustrates how interactive factors modulate blue water availability and ecological water requirements in heterogeneous environments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48620,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology-Regional Studies","volume":"64 ","pages":"Article 103133"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145981424","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Research on the flood drainage rights allocation method incorporating the dynamic response of floods to climate change","authors":"Kaize Zhang ,&nbsp;Leyi Zhang ,&nbsp;Zengchuan Dong ,&nbsp;Li Guo ,&nbsp;Carlos R. Mello ,&nbsp;Xiangyang Sun ,&nbsp;Bihang Fan","doi":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103186","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.103186","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Study region</h3><div>Yiluo River Basin, China.</div></div><div><h3>Study focus</h3><div>Under the influence of climate change, China has seen an increase in flood frequency, resulting in substantial flood damage. However, current flood drainage rights (FDR) allocation methods are hindered by incomplete assessments of driving factors and methodological limitations.</div><div>To address these challenges, this study first adopts a resilience strategy as a guiding framework, incorporating the dynamic regional flood response to climate change as a key hydrological driver, and establishes a comprehensive qualitative indicator system. Second, a β-Variational Autoencoder (β-VAE) is introduced to address the high-dimensional, non-linear, and non-normal characteristics of FDR data. Subsequently, applying this model to the Yiluo River Basin using 2004–2023 data yields the following FDR allocation among five cities, aiming to develop a scientifically sound and efficient FDR allocation scheme.</div></div><div><h3>New hydrological insights for the region</h3><div>The results indicate that the FDR allocation ratios for the five cities in the Yiluo River Basin should be: Zhengzhou (29.60 %), Luoyang (23.67 %), Shangluo (16.31 %), Sanmenxia (15.61 %), and Weinan (14.81 %). Comparative analysis shows that the β-VAE model achieves faster data convergence and lower fluctuations, thereby improving the computational efficiency of the allocation scheme. Moreover, incorporating the dynamic regional flood response under climate change enhances the rationality and scientific rigor of the allocation scheme. This approach offers a viable pathway to support more effective flood management in China.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48620,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology-Regional Studies","volume":"64 ","pages":"Article 103186"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146079806","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}