Journal article
Hydrological Shifts Threaten Water Resources
K Fowler, M Peel, M Saft, R Nathan, A Horne, R Wilby, C McCutcheon, T Peterson
Water Resources Research | AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION | Published : 2022
DOI: 10.1029/2021WR031210
Abstract
Recent shifts in the hydrological behavior of natural watersheds suggest acute challenges for water planning under climate change. Usually triggered by a multi-year drought, these shifts involve a tendency for less annual streamflow for a given annual precipitation, and this behavior has now been reported on multiple continents. Future drying under climate change may induce similar unexpected hydrological responses, and this commentary discusses the implications for water planning and management. Commonly used hydrological models poorly represent these shifts in behavior and cannot be relied upon to anticipate future changes. Thus, their use may result in underestimation of hydroclimatic ris..
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Grants
Awarded by Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, State Government of Victoria
Funding Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC) under LP170100598 Vulnerability of Environmental Water Management to a Variable and Changing Climate. AH acknowledges funding from ARC DE180100550. MS and TP acknowledge support from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning of the State of Victoria, Australia, under the "Victorian Catchment Drought Response and Recovery: Understanding where and why" project. MS also acknowledges support from the ARC under LP180100796 Observed streamflow generation changes: better understanding and modeling. For model simulations, this research was supported by The University of Melbourne's Research Computing Services and the Petascale Campus Initiative.