Hydrological processes both in rural and urban areas might be severely impacted by climate change and human activities, and modelling the hydrological processes and changes has long been the goal of the international hydrological community. Challenges still exist, such as the lack of in situ observation data to accurately document these changes, as well as models to effectively reproduce and predict the changes themselves. The Panta Rhei working group on modelling hydrological processes and changes (MHPC) is set up to address these challenges. The working group is led by Prof. Yangbo Chen at Sun Yat-Sen University of China, and currently has 68 members from eight countries. After its inaugural workshop held in Guangzhou, China in September of 2014, the working group has been targeting its goals in three connected research areas: in situ and remote sensing observations, hydrological models and tools, and changes of hydrological regimes. A series of workshops has been held in China (Guangzhou in 2015 and 2016, Zhuhai in 2017, and CUGG in 2018), and international events, including meetings of the American Geophysical Union (2017, 2018, 2019) and the 2019 congress of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), which provided opportunities for its member and other professionals to report their latest research outcomes, exchange research experiences and explore further research directions.
The workshop held in Zhuhai, China, on 12–15 October 2017 targeted mainly the change in hydrological processes of Chinese rivers. This change is obvious and strong due to increasing anthropogenic impacts coupled with the effects of climate variability and change. The presentations were carefully reviewed and selected authors were invited to submit extended articles based on their presentations to this special issue of Hydrological Sciences Journal. In total 16 articles were peer-reviewed and, following revision, were accepted for inclusion in this special issue. The papers address observation and modelling of several hydrological processes (evapotranspiration, precipitation), as well as soil water, river flow and floods. The case studies show a good balance between geography and climate in China, and allow the reader to explore the effects of both climate change and human activities on hydrological changes. This special issue provides an insight into the latest studies on the hydrological changes in Chinese rivers.
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