Baseflow estimation in typical catchments in the Yellow River Basin, China

Baseflow is crucial to maintaining river flow during low-rainfall periods. The baseflow estimation is important to water supply and ecological environmental protection in the Yellow River Basin (YRB), China. This paper comprehensively assessed the applicability of four single-parameter digital filtering, recursive digital filtering, and HYSEP (streamflow hydrograph separation) methods across four typical catchments in the Yellow River Basin: the Zuli River Basin, the Kuye River Basin, the Tuwei River Basin, and the Jingle sub-basin. We also investigated annual and monthly variations in baseflow. We found the standard deviation and coefficient of variation of baseflow index through recursive digital filter were relatively small. And the baseflow process line was smoother and more reasonable in typical year and typical storm-flood events, which conformed to the damping and hysteresis effect of the underlying surface. Thus the recursive digital filter method had the best performance, which was recommended for baseflow separation in the YRB. The estimated baseflow index of typical basins were between 0.354 and 0.502. In addition, inter-annual baseflow showed a decreasing trend and intra-annual baseflow was characterized by uneven distribution, which was subject to the characteristics of each basin. HIGHLIGHTS The evolution of baseflow in the typical catchments in the YRB was investigated by various methods.; The recursive digital filter method is an effective method for baseflow separation in the YRB.