Risks of snow drought and impacts on streamflow in Tajikistan

doi:10.1016/j.regsus.2026.100298

Abstract

Abstract:

Tajikistan, a mountainous country and a vital water tower for Central Asia, is becoming increasingly vulnerable to snow drought under climate change, threatening its snow- and glacier-fed streamflow. Yet, the impacts of snow drought on the regional hydrology remain insufficiently understood. In this study, we integrated multisource data, including the Fifth Generation European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Atmospheric Reanalysis for Land Applications (ERA5-Land) data and hydrological station data, to systematically assess the snow drought patterns and their impacts on streamflow during 1950-2023. We identified snow drought events based on precipitation and snow fraction anomalies relative to climatological means and classified them into warm snow drought, dry snow drought, and warm&dry snow drought. The results revealed that snow drought was a recurrent phenomenon, occurring in 51.70% of the years during the study period, with warm&dry snow drought accounting for 21.90% of the total events. Both the frequency and severity exhibited pronounced spatial variability, largely governed by the elevation and snowfall fraction. Specifically, the frequency of warm snow drought was negatively correlated with the snowfall fraction, decreasing on average by 0.20 per unit increase in snowfall fraction, whereas the frequency of dry snow drought was positively correlated, increasing by 0.07 per unit increase. The streamflow analysis results demonstrated that snow drought typically reduced the warm-season discharge by 5.00%-18.00% in certain rivers, thereby exacerbating the water stress during the dry season. The results of this study advance our understanding by explicitly linking the types of snow drought to hydrological responses in Central Asia’s high mountains, providing a scientific basis for climate adaptation and sustainable water resource management in Tajikistan.

Key words: Snow drought, Snow water equivalent (SWE), Snowfall fraction, Climate change, Streamflow, ERA5-Land, Tajikistan

LI Yupeng, CHEN Yaning, WANG Fei, ZHANG Xiang, ZHANG Qifei, SUN Fan, FANG Gonghuan, Safarkhon SHAROFIDDINOV, Jafar NIYAZOV. Risks of snow drought and impacts on streamflow in Tajikistan[J]. Regional Sustainability, 2026, 7(1): 100298.

Figures/Tables 8

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GRDC station number	River	Station	Latitude	Longitude	Altitude (m a.s.l.)	Time span	Snowfall fraction
2517500	Yaghnob	Takfon	39°10′48ʺN	68°31′48ʺE	1760	1978-1986	0.73
2517550	Varzob	Dagana-Ata	38°45′36ʺN	68°48′36ʺE	969	1978-1986	0.64
2517600	Kofirnihon	Chinor	38°34′48ʺN	69°03′00ʺE	980	1978-1986	0.61
2517800	Langar	Mouth	38°12′00ʺN	72°39′36ʺE	3240	1978-1986	0.90
2517920	Vakhsh	Garm	39°00′00ʺN	70°19′48ʺE	1316	1950-1986	0.75