Abstract: The Liaohe river basin is one of seven major basins in China, and it has always a serious shortage of water resources. Based on the hydrological and meteorological data from 1961 to 2009, the evolution characteristics were analyzed. The optimal relationship between meteorological elements and hydrological elements were established by the same period and lagged correlation analysis. The results indicate that the warming is obvious in the Liaohe river basin and its amplitude is higher in this basin than in the globe and in China. The variation of precipitation is not obvious in the Liaohe river basin. In general, precipitation is in a slightly decreasing trend. However, there are five obvious fluctuated phases for precipitation variation, i.e. less-more-less-more-less. Evaporation amount is also in a slightly decreasing trend, and so is the runoff in the Liaohe river basin. Evaporation amount is high in spring and summer. There are four fluctuated phases for runoff variations i.e. more-less-more-less. The annual runoff is the least during 1996 to 2009, and the average is only 1.62×108 m³, which is 58% of the mean annual runoff and 32% of  the largest inter-decadal runoff. Runoff concentrates in July and August and amount of which accounts for 50.24% of the amount in whole year. There is a good relationship between precipitation and runoff in the Liaohe river basin. For the annual scale, their correlation coefficients in Tieling and Faku both reach 0.60. For the diurnal scale, the correlation relationship is significant between the current precipitation and runoff on the second day. For all levels, both correlation coefficients exceed 0.70. The highest correlation coefficient could reach 0.85 when the diurnal precipitation is equal or exceeds 25 mm.

Key words: Climate change, Water resources, Impacts, The Liaohe river basin