Abstract
This chapter describes the use of a conceptual hydrological model to investigate the potential impacts of climate change on runoff and soil moisture in Australia. The potential hydrological responses are estimated by comparing the model simulations driven by historical data and changed input data representing scenarios of climate change. The changed input data series are generated hypothetically as well as using two methods based on results of general circulation model simulations of the climate. The merits and limitations of the methods used here are highlighted and the climate change impact scenarios for Australia based on the current state of science are presented. The results indicate that climate change has the potential to bring about runoff modifications that may require a significant planning response.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bates, B.C., Charles, S.P., Sumner, N.R., and Fleming, P.M. (1994) Climate change and its hydrological implications for South Australia, Transactions Royal Society South Australia 118, 35–43.
Bates, B.C., Jakeman, A.J., Charles, S.P., Sumner, N.R., and Fleming, P.M. (in press) Impact of climate change on Australia’s surface water resources, in Greenhouse 94, CSIRO Publications, Canberra, Australia.
CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research (1992) Climate Change Scenarios for the Australian Region, Climatic Impacts Group, Report available from the CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research, Mordialloc 3195, Australia.
Chiew, F.H.S., and McMahon, T.A. (1994) Application of the daily rainfall-runoff model MODHYDROLOG to twenty eight Australian catchments, J. Hydrology 153, 383–416.
Chiew, F.H.S., Whetton, P.H., McMahon, T.A., and Pittock, A.B. (1995) Simulation of the impacts of climate change on runoff and soil moisture in Australian catchments, J. Hydrology 167, 121–147.
Coleman, R.A., McAvaney, B.J., and Wetherald, B.T. (1994) Sensitivity of the Australian surface hydrology and energy budgets to a doubling of CO2, Australian Meteorological Magazine 43,105–116.
Houghton, J.T., Jenkins, G.J., and Ephraums, J.J. (1990) Climate Change — The IPCC Scientific Assessment, Report prepared for IPCC by Working Group 1, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 364 pp.
Houghton, J.T., Callander, B.A., and Varney, S.K. (1992) Climate Change 1992 — The Supplementary report to the IPCC Scientific Assessment, Working Group 1, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 200 pp.
McGregor, J.L., Gordon, H.B., Watterson, I.G., Dix, M.R. and Rotstayn, L.D. (1993) The CSIRO 9-Level Atmospheric Circulation Model, CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research, Technical Paper 26, 89 pp.
Morton, F.I. (1983) Operational estimates of actual evapotranspiration and their significance to the science and practice of hydrology, J. Hydrology 66, 1–76.
Richardson, C.W., and Wright, D.A. (1984) WGEN: A Model for Generating Daily Weather Variables, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Report ARS-8, 83 pp.
Whetton, P.H., Fowler, A.M., Haylock, M.R., and Pittock, A.B. (1994) Implications of climate change due to the enhanced greenhouse effect on floods and droughts in Australia, Climate Change 25, 289–317.
Wigley, T.M.L., and Raper, S.C.B. (1992) Implications for climate and sea level of revised IPCC emissions scenarios, Nature 357, 293–300.
Wilks, D.S. (1992) Adapting stochastic weather generation algorithms for climate change studies, Climate Change 22, 67–84.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chiew, F.H.S., Wang, Q.J., McMahon, T.A., Bates, B.C., Whetton, P.H. (1996). Potential Hydrological Responses to Climate Change in Australia. In: Jones, J.A.A., Liu, C., Woo, MK., Kung, HT. (eds) Regional Hydrological Response to Climate Change. The GeoJournal Library, vol 38. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5676-9_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5676-9_19
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-6394-4
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-5676-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive