Analysis of water resources variability in the Yellow River of China during the last half century using historical data

The river discharges have decreased continuously during the last half century in the Yellow River, the second‐largest river basin in China. In particular, a drying up of the main river along the lower reach has occurred since 1972, and the situation has become more and more serious during the 1990s. Using 50 years of meteorological data from 108 stations together with a collection of irrigation data, the long‐term changes in the river discharge...