Correlations between Summer Discharge and South Asian Summer Monsoon Subsystems in Mekong River Basin

Abstract

Hydrological conditions are strongly regulated by monsoon systems in the Mekong River Basin (MRB), while relevant studies investigating the intensity of the rainy season are still insufficient. This study employed the Mann-Kendall (M-K) test, Sen’s slope estimator, and innovation trend analysis to detect the variation of summer discharge in the MRB. Wavelet analysis is used to investigate the correlation between discharge and two South Asian summer monsoon subsystems (SAMI1 and SAMI2). Results show that the summer discharge in the MRB generally shows significant downward trends during 1970–2016 with a Z value range of −3.59–−1.63, while the high discharge at Vientiane, Mukdahan, and Pakse increases after 1970. The mutation years of the summer discharge series are around 2010 for Chiang Sean and Vientiane, and in 2015 for Luang Prabang, which resulted from the newly built large dams, Xiaowan and Nuozhadu. The wavelet analysis shows that the SAMI1 can be used to predict the summer discharge at Chiang Sean at a ~8-year timescale, while the SAMI2 correlates with the summer discharge well at a 1–8-year scale, especially at Mukdahan and Kratie during 1980–2016.