Impacts of Recent Climate Change on Runoff of Keriya River South of Xinjiang, Northwest China

It is obvious fact that water resource is very important for eco-environment and sustainable development of arid area. Climate change threatens water resource availability through affecting components of hydrological cycle. It also has an impact on the safety and quality of social and natural environment through an increase of floods, droughts and erosions, and a decrease of water quality and ecosystem diversity. However, the major purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact of climate change on surface runoff for Keriya Oasis by analyzing the characteristics of changing temperature and precipitation, as well as that of hydrological variables, such as runoff, evaporation, glacier and snow which is responding to regional climate change with various statistical methods. The results show that both of temperature and precipitation of the region have been increasing in the last 50 years, the hydrological processes of Keriya river had altered with the changing climate, the glacier and snow accelerated in melting responding to the climate change.