Streamflow sensitivity of glacierized catchments
Background and aim
Mountains are among the regions that are most sensitive to climate change, due to the many temperature dependent processes (e.g. melt). Changes in precipitation and temperature cause changes in hydrological processes and streamflow. In glacierized catchments, the many hydrological processes complicate the analysis of the effect of these climatic changes, e.g. changes in temperature can increase melt, reduce snow cover and increase ET – with different effects on streamflow. Therefore, the aim of this research is to disentangle these different processes and systematically analyze and quantify the climatic elasticity of streamflow and the sensitivity of these glacierized hydrological systems.
Data and methods
HBV-light model set-up of a set of glacierized catchments in the Swiss Alps is available (ASG Rhein Projekt). The idea is to change the input to these models (P and T) and to analyze effect on streamflow. Different scenarios will be tested, changing only P, only T, changing them together, for annual and monthly timescales, specific years. Looking at precipitation shift from snow to rain. Besides streamflow, also the effect on streamflow components (rain, snow, ice melt) and SWE/snow cover and glacier area will be investigated. Streamflow sensitivities can be compared between the catchments. Optional: compare model based elasticities with empirically derived elasticities and/or change model parameters (e.g. Jenicek et al. 2018).
Herausforderung
Arbeiten mit größeren Datensätzen, Modellierung, Programmierung der Analysen
Betreuung
Marit van Tiel, Kerstin Stahl
Kontakt
Dr. Marit van Tiel marit.van.tiel@hydrology.uni-freiburg.de
Language
English
Literature
Andréassian, V., Coron, L., Lerat, J., & Moine, N. L. (2016). Climate elasticity of streamflow revisited–an elasticity index based on long-term hydrometeorological records. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 20(11), 4503-4524.
Jenicek, M., Seibert, J., & Staudinger, M. (2018). Modeling of future changes in seasonal snowpack and impacts on summer low flows in alpine catchments. Water Resources Research, 54(1), 538-556.
Stahl, K., Weiler, M., Freudiger, D., Kohn, I., Seibert, J., Vis, M., Gerlinger,K., Böhm, M. The snow and glacier melt components of the streamflow of the River Rhine and its tributaries considering the influence of climate change. Final report to the International Commission for the Hydrology of the Rhine basin (CHR). English version, March 2017.