Use of climate scenarios to aid in decision analysis for interannual water supply planning

This work addresses the issue of climate change in the context of water resource planning on the time scale of a few years. Planning on this time scale generally ignores the role of climate change. However, where the climate of a region has already shifted, the use of historical data for planning purposes may be misleading. In order to test this, a case study is conducted for a region, the Australian Capital Territory, where long term drought is raising concerns of a possible climate shift. The issue is cast in terms of a particular planning decision; the option to augment water supply in the next few years to hedge against the drought persisting. A set of climate scenarios are constructed for the region corresponding to the historical climate regime and to regimes where progressively greater levels of change are assumed to have already taken place (5%, 10%, 20% reductions in mean rainfall). Probabilities of the drought persisting are calculated for each of the scenarios. The results show substantial increases in the probability of the drought persisting for even moderate reductions in mean rainfall. The sensitivity of the decision to augment supply to the scenario results depends ultimately on the planners tolerable thresholds for the probability of the drought persisting. The use of different scenarios enables planners to explore the sensitivity of the decision in terms of their risk tolerance to ongoing drought and to their degree of belief in each of the scenarios tested.     

Streamflow Drought Severity Analysis of Betwa River System (India)

Streamflow appraisal in time and space particularly in semi arid and dry sub humid regions has vital importance in the formulation of round the year plan of water uses comprising domestic & industrial water supply, irrigation scheduling, reservoir operation, in-stream flow maintenance etc. Drought severity analysis including the estimation of flow availability, drought duration, and deficit volume etc. was carried out using the 20–42 years (1960–2001) 10-daily streamflow data of five sites on the Betwa River system and. independent streamflow drought events were described by pooling the data, and severity of an independent drought event classified using a new drought severity index (DSIe) defined as a function of (1) the ratio of deficit flow volume to corresponding volume at the truncation level and (2) the ratio of duration of deficit flow to the maximum possible duration of the independent streamflow drought event. The study found that the upper reaches of river course were more prone to severe droughts than were the lower reaches. The drought events starting during August−November were more likely to be severe drought events than those in the other months.     

Spatial Patterns and Temporal Variability of Drought in Western Iran

An analysis of drought in western Iran from 1966 to 2000 is presented using monthly precipitation data observed at 140 gauges uniformly distributed over the area. Drought conditions have been assessed by means of the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). To study the long-term drought variability the principal component analysis was applied to the SPI field computed on 12-month time scale. The analysis shows that applying an orthogonal rotation to the first two principal component patterns, two distinct sub-regions having different climatic variability may be identified. Results have been compared to those obtained for the large-scale using re-analysis data suggesting a satisfactory agreement. Furthermore, the extension of the large-scale analysis to a longer period (1948–2007) shows that the spatial patterns and the associated time variability of drought are subjected to noticeable changes. Finally, the relationship between hydrological droughts in the two sub-regions and El Niño Southern Oscillation events has been investigated finding that there is not clear evidence for a link between the two phenomena.     

Indicators and Aspects of Hydrological Drought in Lebanon

Change in climate conditions has become a global issue that has given a serious concern by many researchers. However, the availability of data in this regard is considered as a major element for optimum comparative analysis. The Mediterranean region is influenced by climate change, which is reflected mainly by its impact on water sources supply and flow regime. In Lebanon, these water sources are witnessing obvious quantitative decrease, thus affected the supply side, the so-called “hydrologic drought”. Therefore, many studies have been made to figure out a comprehensive understanding on water resources in Lebanon and their interrelation with climatic trends, but they often analyze one component of the water cycle. This study involves different indices of surface and subsurface water, thus, followed a comparative analysis of different hydrologic records. This was achieved by applying graphical illustrations of the numerical values adopted from available records. In this regard, different tools of analysis were used, and more certainly remotely sensed data were helpful for monitoring approaches. Therefore, results of the obtained comparative analysis revealed a clear regression in the amount of available water from different sources in Lebanon. These sources, which are under the impact of human like rivers and groundwater, showed a 23–29% decrease in the amounts of water since the last four decades. While sources, with less human interference, like snow cover and precipitation have been decreased by 12–16%. However, in both cases, the status is quite alarming and needs immediate water management plans to conserve water resources in Lebanon.     

基于SWAP和SRI的汉江流域旱涝急转时空特征分析

汉江流域受亚热带季风影响,易旱易涝,旱涝急转事件时有发生,灾害突发、抢险难度大,对社会发展易造成重大威胁。以汉江流域为研究对象,采用SWAP和SRI指数分析和研究汉江流域的旱涝演变及旱涝急转变化规律。结果表明:①SWAP和SRI指数均能对旱涝急转事件作出合理诊断,具有良好的适用性。②干旱及旱涝急转事件频次均呈现从汉江上游的西北地区到下游的东南地区先逐渐减少后增加的趋势;洪涝事件频次呈从北到南逐渐增加的趋势;旱涝急转事件平均强度呈现从上游的西北地区到下游的东南地区逐渐增大的趋势。③干旱事件在任意时间段均可能发生,洪涝事件和旱涝急转事件主要集中在夏季,且旱涝急转事件发生的时间短且急,强度较高,更具威胁性。     

鄱阳湖干旱多尺度特征及其与月均水位的相关性

以鄱阳湖13个气象站1957~2013年的逐月降水量、平均气温、各站点纬度和同期水位站逐月平均水位为实验数据,分别计算1、3、6、12、24、48个月尺度下标准降水指数(SPI)和标准降水蒸散指数(SPEI)时间序列,并利用Morlet小波分析理论,分析了该序列多时间尺度变化特征。基于Mann-Kendall检验,分析了鄱阳湖气象干旱趋势特征;利用Spearman秩相关系数,研究了不同时间尺度SPI和SPEI序列与月平均水位的相关关系。研究表明,鄱阳湖流域SPI和SPEI序列存在约68个月变化的主周期,两个主要特征时间尺度变化的强分布;气象干旱与湖水位的相关关系随时间尺度的增大而减弱。     

Impacts of Climate Change and Human Activities on the Surface Runoff in the Tarim River Basin over the Last Fifty Years

The impacts of climate change and human activities on the surface runoff were analyzed by the Mann–Kendall and trend analysis methods based on the hydrological, meteorological and socioeconomic data over the last 50 years in the Tarim River basin. Results show that the runoff in the headstreams increased but that in the mainstreams decreased significantly during the past 50 years. The former is a response to climate change, and the later is due to human activities. The surface runoff in the mainstreams decreased by 41.59, 63.77 and 75.15% in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, respectively, as compared to that without being disturbed by human activities in the same period. The main human activities are the irrigated agriculture combined with population increase in the region. As a consequence, the ecosystem in the lower reaches of Tarim River has degenerated, largely owing to inappropriate allocation of water resources.     

The effects of climate change on the water resources of the Geumho River Basin,Republic of Korea

Assessments of the variation and vulnerability of water resources due to climate change are essential for future planning in agriculture. In this study, the impacts and uncertainty associated with climate change on water resources in the Geumho River Basin were measured based on the relative change in the mean annual runoff and the aridity index. Statistically adjusted and downscaled multi-ensemble General Circulation Model (GCM) predicted rainfall and temperature data for three representative concentration pathways (RCPs) (RCP2.6, 4.5 and 8.5) were applied to two lumped parameter conceptual rainfall runoff models. The results revealed considerable uncertainty in the projected temperature, rainfall, potential evapotranspiration (PET), runoff and aridity index (AI). Additionally, temperature and rainfall were predicted to increase significantly in the future. The PET was projected to increase by a mean (range) of 9% (7–12%), 18% (9–30%) and 25% (8–49%), while the mean annual runoff was projected to change by a mean (range) of 1% (−33 to 40%), −9% (−47 to 27%) and −4% (−44 to 35%), in the 2030s, 2060s and 2090s, respectively. The AI was projected to decrease in the future, particularly for the RCP8.5. Overall, the results of this study indicate that climate change will most likely lead to lower water resource levels than are currently present in the Geumho River Basin.