Abstract
Sustainability of fresh water ecosystems and human activities in Mediterranean watersheds under future climate change can be supported with integrated hydrological modeling. The Lake Kinneret Watershed (LKW), which spans over 2730 km2, is divided between three Mediterranean countries, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria; and incorporates four different hydrogeological units: Mt. Hermon in the north, the Golan Heights in the east, the eastern Galilee Mountains in the west, and the Hula Valley in the central part of the watershed. In this study, we used several modeling tools together with a detailed observed database to assemble, test, calibrate and predict simultaneously the water availability within the entire LKW. The hydrological tools that we used compounded of two built-in catchment modules in the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) tool, a model of karst hydrology (HYMKE), lake water balance calculations and artificial rain series based on a stochastic rainfall generation tool. With this setup we defined the “coverage” parameter for water availability and identified vulnerable partial areas inside the watershed, which are more sensitive to extreme draught conditions. The heterogeneity of the LKW water system and the tools we operated enabled the separation of the watershed into regions affected by “climate change” scenarios (mainly reduced amounts of annual rainfall) compared to regions impacted mainly by operational decisions.
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Acknowledgment
This article is dedicated to the memory of our colleague and friend Dr. Rana Samuels, an excellent climate researcher who died at the age of 42. Dr. Samuels had a significant contribution to the climate modeling of the Eastern Mediterranean in general, and the climate—hydrology modeling of the Lake Kinneret basin in particular. The study was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Science and Education (BMBF) within the GLOWA Jordan River Project.
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Sade, R., Rimmer, A., Samuels, R., Salingar, Y., Denisyuk, M., Alpert, P. (2016). Water Management in a Complex Hydrological Basin—Application of Water Evaluation and Planning Tool (WEAP) to the Lake Kinneret Watershed, Israel. In: Borchardt, D., Bogardi, J., Ibisch, R. (eds) Integrated Water Resources Management: Concept, Research and Implementation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25071-7_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25071-7_2
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