Objective
The overall objective is to develop simulation models for water yield and quality of complex drainage basins, to the point where they can be used to account for and to predict the effects of climate change and other environmental changes, notably land use, on surface waters. Specific aims are the identification of trends and fluctuations in quantity and quality of surface flows in response to recent climate variation, the integration of catchment models using geographical information system (GIS) techniques, and the application of models to investigate the consequences of water management options on drainage basin performance.
Data from three drainage basins (the Rivers Severn and Wye in the UK and the Zala in
Hungary, each of area about 2000 sq.km) including long term data from smaller experimental
catchments, will be evaluated for trends, periodicities and abrupt changes that can be attributed
to climate, land use change etc. Critical assessment of the precision of rain- and flow-gauging
will be an essential part of this phase, which aims at the separation of climatic from land-use
effects, and at the creation of a GIS database with terrain and land-use information in addition
to hydrological and water quality data, to ensure a consistent approach to the analysis of the three
catchments.
A system of hydrological and water quality models will be developed and adapted to interface
with the GIS: a steady-state model of a river system with point and non-point source pollutant
inputs, based on the SENSMOD system, a monthly flow model relating climate to runoff, based
on the large-scale RHINEFLOW model, and a rainfall-runoff model to analyze the impact of
intense runoff events, especially on water quality in rivers.
Problems and critical issues of zones affected by climate change will be identified, with particular
attention being paid to the significance of drought in the Great Plains of Hungary,
where evapotranspiration already exceeds precipitation, and in the UK, where recent years have
seen prolonged drought periods and pressure on the water industry. Management strategies, both
to combat water shortages and to alleviate anthropogenic environmental impacts, will be
investigated and examined in the light of results obtained from the model studies. A closing
workshop will be held in Hungary, to help to disseminate the results of the study, and to promote
the use of the results and techniques in other European countries.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdatabases
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesphysical geographycartographygeographic information systems
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental scienceshydrologydrainage basins
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringnatural resources managementwater management
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Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
SY19 7DB Powys
United Kingdom