Status and Ponder of Climate and Hydrology Changes in the Yellow River Basin

The Yellow River is known as China’s Mother River, which fosters the great and profound Chinese civilization. However, the frequent flood and drought disasters have also brought serious disasters to the people who live in the Yellow River Basin. At present, significant changes have taken place in the climate and hydrological processes of the Yellow River Basin due to global warming and human activities. The warming and drying climate and increase of human water use in the Yellow River Basin have led to an increase in hydrological drought. Although the Grain for Green program has greatly improved the vegetation coverage on the Loess Plateau and effectively inhibited severe soil erosion, but also enhanced the soil desiccation and enlarged the dry soil layers in this area. These phenomena are not only the major challenges for ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin, but also the basic scientific issues which related to the coordinated development of climate-water-ecology-society.