Your search found 7 records
1 Garg, Kaushal K.; Gaur, A.; Immerzeel, W. W.. 2007. Integrating spatial dynamics for sustainable water management at the river basin scale: identify areas to improve agricultural water productivity in upper Bhima Catchment of South India. Paper presented at the Workshop on Water: spatial dynamics, competitive claims and governance: how to reduce stress on the resource in urban, peri-urban and rural areas?, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, India, 29-31 August 2007. 11p.
River basin management ; Catchment areas ; Water transfer ; Irrigation water ; Water power ; Crop management ; Evapotranspiration ; Hydrology ; Water balance ; Simulation models ; Water allocation / India / Bhima Catchment / Krishna Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI 631.7.1 G635 GAR Record No: H040874)
(0.1 MB)
2 Immerzeel, W. W.; Gaur, Anju; Zwart, S. J. 2008. Integrating remote sensing and a process-based hydrological model to evaluate water use and productivity in a south Indian catchment. Agricultural Water Management, 95(1):11-24.
Remote sensing ; Simulation models ; Hydrology ; Water balance ; Crop production ; Productivity ; Evapotranspiration / India / Upper Bhima catchment
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI 631.7.1 G635 IMM Record No: H041183)
3 Immerzeel, W. W.; Pellicciotti, F.; Bierkens, M. F. P. 2013. Rising river flows throughout the twenty-first century in two Himalayan glacierized watersheds. Nature Geoscience, 6:742-745. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO1896]
River basins ; Flow discharge ; Runoff ; Glaciers ; Watersheds ; Climate change ; Precipitation ; Temperature ; Snow cover / Asia / Himalayan Watersheds
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046051)
(1.86 MB)
Greater Himalayan glaciers are retreating and losing mass at rates comparable to glaciers in other regions of the world 1–5. Assessments of future changes and their associated hydrological impacts are scarce, oversimplify glacier dynamics or include a limited number of climate models6–9. Here, we use results from the latest ensemble of climate models in combination with a high-resolution glacio-hydrological model to assess the hydrological impact of climate change on two climatically contrasting watersheds in the Greater Himalaya, the Baltoro and Langtang watersheds that drain into the Indus and Ganges rivers, respectively. We show that the largest uncertainty in future runoff is a result of variations in projected precipitation between climate models. In both watersheds, strong, but highly variable, increases in future runoff are projected and, despite the different characteristics of the watersheds, their responses are surprisingly similar. In both cases, glaciers will recede but net glacier melt runoff is on a rising limb at least until 2050. In combination with a positive change in precipitation, water availability during this century is not likely to decline.We conclude that river basins that depend on monsoon rains and glacier melt will continue to sustain the increasing water demands expected in these areas.
4 Khanal, S.; Lutz, A. F.; Kraaijenbrink, P. D. A.; van den Hurk, B.; Yao, T.; Immerzeel, W. W.. 2021. Variable 21st century climate change response for rivers in high mountain Asia at seasonal to decadal time scales. Water Resources Research, 57(5):e2020WR029266. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR029266]
Climate change ; River basins ; Mountains ; Hydrology ; Models ; Time series analysis ; Water availability ; Precipitation ; Glaciers ; Snow cover ; Rainfall-runoff relationships ; Temperature ; Monsoons ; Discharges / Asia / Amu Darya Basin / Balkash Basin / Brahmaputra Basin / Ganges Basin / Helmand Basin / Indus Basin / Irrawaddy Basin / Mekong Basin / Salween Basin / Syr Darya Basin / Tarim Basin / Yangtze Basin / Yellow River / Tibetan Plateau
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050398)
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2020WR029266
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050398.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050398.pdf
(4.00 MB) (4.00 MB)
The hydrological response to climate change in mountainous basins manifests itself at varying spatial and temporal scales, ranging from catchment to large river basin scale and from sub-daily to decade and century scale. To robustly assess the 21st century climate change impact for hydrology in entire High Mountain Asia (HMA) at a wide range of scales, we use a high resolution cryospheric-hydrological model covering 15 upstream HMA basins to quantify the compound effects of future changes in precipitation and temperature based on the range of climate change projections in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 climate model ensemble. Our analysis reveals contrasting responses for HMA's rivers, dictated by their hydrological regimes. At the seasonal scale, the earlier onset of melting causes a shift in the magnitude and peak of water availability, to earlier in the year. At the decade to century scale, after an initial increase, the glacier melt declines by the mid or end of the century except for the Tarim river basin, where it continues to increase. Despite a large variability in hydrological regimes across HMA's rivers, our results indicate relatively consistent climate change responses across HMA in terms of total water availability at decadal time scales. Although total water availability increases for the headwaters, changes in seasonality and magnitude may diverge widely between basins and need to be addressed while adapting to future changes in a region where food security, energy security as well as biodiversity, and the livelihoods of many depend on water from HMA.
5 Steiner, J. F.; Gurung, T. R.; Joshi, S. P.; Koch, I.; Saloranta, T.; Shea, J.; Shrestha, A. B.; Stigter, E.; Immerzeel, W. W.. 2021. Multi-year observations of the high mountain water cycle in the Langtang Catchment, Central Himalaya. Hydrological Processes, 35(5):e14189. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14189]
Hydrological cycle ; Mountains ; Catchment areas ; Observation ; Precipitation ; Snow cover ; Glaciers ; Temperature ; Meteorological stations / Nepal / Langtang Catchment / Central Himalaya
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050411)
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/hyp.14189
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050411.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050411.pdf
(1.22 MB) (1.22 MB)
The Langtang catchment is a high mountain, third order catchment in the Gandaki basin in the Central Himalaya (28.2°N, 85.5°E), that eventually drains into the Ganges. The catchment spans an elevation range from 1400 to 7234 m a.s.l. and approximately one quarter of the area is glacierized. Numerous research projects have been conducted in the valley during the last four decades, with a strong focus on the cryospheric components of the catchment water balance. Since 2012 multiple weather stations and discharge stations provide measurements of atmospheric and hydrologic variables. Full weather stations are used to monitor at an hourly resolution all four radiation components (incoming and outgoing shortwave and longwave radiation; SWin/out and LWin/out), air temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, and precipitation, and cover an elevational range of 3862–5330 m a.s.l. Air temperature and precipitation are monitored along elevation gradients for investigations of the spatial variability of the high mountain meteorology. Dedicated point-scale observations of snow cover, depth and water equivalent as well as ice loss have been carried out over multiple years and complement the observations of the water cycle. All data presented is openly available in a database and will be updated annually.
6 Li, D.; Lu, X.; Walling, D. E.; Zhang, T.; Steiner, J. F.; Wasson, R. J.; Harrison, S.; Nepal, Santosh; Nie, Y.; Immerzeel, W. W.; Shugar, D. H.; Koppes, M.; Lane, S.; Zeng, Z.; Sun, X.; Yegorov, A.; Bolch, T. 2022. High Mountain Asia hydropower systems threatened by climate-driven landscape instability. Nature Geoscience, 15(7):520-530. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00953-y]
Hydropower ; Climate change ; Mountains ; Landscape ; Glaciers ; Snowmelt ; Extreme weather events ; Floods ; Rain ; Sediment load ; Erosion ; Resilience ; Dams ; Reservoirs ; Lakes / Asia / High Mountain Asia / Himalaya
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H051234)
(2.58 MB)
Global warming-induced melting and thawing of the cryosphere are severely altering the volume and timing of water supplied from High Mountain Asia, adversely affecting downstream food and energy systems that are relied on by billions of people. The construction of more reservoirs designed to regulate streamflow and produce hydropower is a critical part of strategies for adapting to these changes. However, these projects are vulnerable to a complex set of interacting processes that are destabilizing landscapes throughout the region. Ranging in severity and the pace of change, these processes include glacial retreat and detachments, permafrost thaw and associated landslides, rock–ice avalanches, debris flows and outburst floods from glacial lakes and landslide-dammed lakes. The result is large amounts of sediment being mobilized that can fill up reservoirs, cause dam failure and degrade power turbines. Here we recommend forward-looking design and maintenance measures and sustainable sediment management solutions that can help transition towards climate change-resilient dams and reservoirs in High Mountain Asia, in large part based on improved monitoring and prediction of compound and cascading hazards.
7 Lutz, A. F.; Immerzeel, W. W.; Siderius, C.; Wijngaard, R. R.; Nepal, Santosh; Shrestha, A. B.; Wester, P.; Biemans, H. 2022. South Asian agriculture increasingly dependent on meltwater and groundwater. Nature Climate Change, 12(6):566-573. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01355-z]
Meltwater ; Groundwater ; Agriculture ; Irrigated farming ; Climate change ; Forecasting ; Hydrological modelling ; Socioeconomic aspects ; Water availability ; Water supply ; Water demand ; Irrigation water ; Water extraction ; Rain ; Runoff ; Glaciers ; River basins ; Monsoon climate ; Crops / South Asia / Indus River Basin / Ganges River Basin / Brahmaputra River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H051247)
(4.42 MB)
Irrigated agriculture in South Asia depends on meltwater, monsoon rains and groundwater. Climate change alters the hydrology and causes shifts in the timing, composition and magnitude of these sources of water supply. Simultaneously, socio-economic growth increases water demand. Here we use a high-resolution cryosphere–hydrology–crop model forced with an ensemble of climate and socio-economic projections to assess how the sources of irrigation water supply may shift during the twenty-first century. We find increases in the importance of meltwater and groundwater for irrigated agriculture. An earlier melt peak increases meltwater withdrawal at the onset of the cropping season in May and June in the Indus, whereas increasing peak irrigation water demand during July and August aggravates non-renewable groundwater pumping in the Indus and Ganges despite runoff increases. Increasing inter-annual variability in rainfall runoff increases the need for meltwater and groundwater to complement rainfall runoff during future dry years.
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