Response of sediment flux in headwater of the Yangtze River to climate and environment changes

Sediment fluxes of headwater areas that are crucial for downstream reservoirs, landscape and aquatic ecology are under the influence of climate and environment changes in high mountain regions. This study investigated the variation of sediment flux in headwater of the Yangtze River in the Tibetan Plateau in response to changes of temperature, precipitation, NDVI, and runoff etc. Temperature, precipitation, runoff, suspended sediment concentration (SSC) and sediment flux all showed increasing trends during 1986-2014, while non uniform seasonal increases of temperature and precipitation introduced altered relationships of runoff vs precipitation and SSC vs runoff after 1997. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) illustrated the dominant influence of warming and wetting on both runoff and SSC, while warming plays more noteworthy role on the enhanced soil erosion and sediment transport than the boosted runoff generation, potential via changes of glaciers and permafrost.