Surface water resource attenuation attribution and patterns in Hai River Basin

From 1956 to 2016, Hai River Basin suffered the most severe surface water resource attenuation among the 10 first-class river basins in China. Based on the surface water circulation process, and evolving characteristics of precipitation and underlying surface in Hai River Basin, this study attributed the causes of surface water resource attenuation to six primary impact factors, analyzed each factor’s quantitative contribution, and revealed four patterns of surface water resource attenuation in Hai River Basin. The pattern of the dominant factor: comparing the 1980–2000 period with the 1956–1979 period, the variation of precipitation is the dominant factor of which contribution is 7 billion m3, accounting for 59