Rivers climate change impacts

The dependence of the oxygen content in reservoirs on the hydrological input to the system opens the interesting possibility of using long-term hydrological data to quantify the impact of recent climate change. Since precipitation and river runoff... 

Zambrano-Bigiarini M, Majone B, Beilin A, Isabella Bovolo C, Blenkinsop S, Fowler HJ (2010) Hydrological impacts of climate change on the Ebro River basin. Hdb Env Chem DOI 10.1007/698 2010 85... 

Hydrological Impacts of Climate Change on the Ebro River Basin... 

Here, we discuss these issues within the context of the Ebro river basin and one of its sub-catchments, the Gallego. We present climate change scenarios for the basin and discuss the integration of climate change scenarios in general with several aspects of the Ebro s hydrology and also discuss potential impacts of climate change on pollution. 

Climate change will impact on water quality and quantity and hydromorphology and may thus remobilise historic pollutants from river bottom sediments and/or floodplain soils. However, the extent of this impact is still largely unclear and there is also a lack of feasible measures to mitigate the (potential) impacts. 

Part 1, Alpine Water Resources, examines the hydrological basics, the impacts of climate change in the Swiss Alps, and human interventions in mountain waters. Part 11, Biogeochemistry and Pollution of Alpine Waters, deals with the chemistry of mountain rivers, the effects of acid deposition on high elevation lakes, the glaciers as archives of atmospheric deposition, and the occurrence of persistent organic contaminants. 

The need for a catchment-scale approach to freshwater ecosystem management is recognised by the EU Water Framework Directive, where the basic unit of management is referred to as the river basin district (European Commission, 2000). The complexity of the interactions between aquatic and terrestrial systems at the catchment scale necessitates a modelling approach also at the catchment scale. With respect to climate change, existing or new models need development to represent climate, soil, land use, lakes, rivers and coastal waters, so that the responses of whole catchment systems can be simulated and the models used to assess the impacts of alternative catchment management decisions. 

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