The paper expounded t he problems on the w atershed water cycle research under the conditions of intensive develop2 ment and utilization of w ater resources. On the basis of these problems, the paper discussed the research met hods of w atershed water cycle to cope w ith the development and utilizat ion of w ater resources f rom four aspects, including the perception, experi2 ment, theory, and method. A mult i2objective model was developed based on t he coupling of w ater resources al ocation model and water cycle model, and it took the w atershed w ater supply and demand analysis and the comprehensive evaluation of watershed e2 cology, environment, and economy as the responses. The model was used to perform reasonable w ater resources allocation in the Yel ow River Basin. The results suggested that under the Yellow River suffers a serious water shortage under the current conditions, and water shortage can become more serious in future. Therefore, water saving can alleviate the serious water shortage problem.
Natural2 artificial composite water cycleWACM modelwater resources allocationwater cycle modelThe Yellow River Basin