The potential impact of global warming on water resources is of major national and international concern. This book draws together for the first time research work aimed at providing global and regional syntheses of the likely hydrological effects of climate change over the coming century.
The chapters in this volume range from pioneering assessments at continental and sub-continental scale, to the development of new methodological approaches for down-scaling climatic predictions, analyses of recent trends in hydrometric data, and reviews of ongoing research on regional hydrological impacts. Although it is still early days for climatic impact prediction, the book demonstrates considerable unaniminity in its general conclusions.
Audience: This book will be of major interest to water resource planners and researchers involved in assessing the impact of climate change. It also provides valuable material for lecture courses in hydrology, water resources and climatic impact.

Inhalt

1. Predicting the Hydrological Effects of Climate Change; J.A.A. Jones. Section I: Sensitivity of the Global Hydrosphere. 2. An Introduction to Global Water Dynamics; I. Kayane. 3. Biospheric Aspects of the Hydrological Cycle: Approaches to Upscaling and Downscaling; B. Bass, et al. 4. Trends in Historical Streamflow Data; F.H.S. Chiew, T.A. McMahon. Section II: Regional Implications of Global Warming. 5. Hydrology of Northern North America Under Global Warming; M.-K. Woo. 6. Current Evidence on the Likely Impact of Global Warming on Hydrological Regimes in Europe; J.A.A. Jones. 7. The Impact of Climatic Warming on Hydrological Regimes in China: An Overview; C. Liu, G. Fu. Section III: Precipitation: Change and Variability. 8. The Influence of Topography, Season and Circulation on Spatial Patterns of Daily Precipitation; P.J. Robinson. 9. The Use of Artificial Neural Networks to Predict Temporal Precipitation Patterns; H. Kung, et al. 10. Generation of Sequences of Air Temperature and Precipitation for Estimation of the Hydrological Cycle in Changing Climatic Conditions over Poland; M. Gutry-Korycka, P. Wetner. 11. Some Aspects of Climatic Fluctuation at Four Stations on the Tibetan Plateau During the last 40 Years; M. Yoshino. 12. The Influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation, the El Nino/Southern Oscillation and the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation on Winter Precipitation in Ireland; S. Daultrey. Section IV: Impacts on Snow, Ice and Meltwaters. 13. Runoff Formation and Discharge Modelling for a Glacierized Basin; E. Kang, et al. 14. Impact of Eventual Climatic Change on Glacier Runoff and the Possibilities of Artificial Increases in the Aral Sea Basin; A.N. Krenke, G.N. Kravchenko. 15. Glaciers and Snow Cover of Central Asia as Indicators of Climatic Changes; V. Aizen, E.M. Aizen. 16. Global Warming and the Trend Toward Dryness in the Frigid High Mountains and Plateau of Western China; L.-S. Zhang. Section V: The Water Balance and Changing Regional Resources. 17. A Method to Assess the Effects of Climatic Warming on the Water Balance of Mountainous Regions; C. Liu, M.-K. Woo. 18. Sensitivity and Analyses for the Impact of Global Warming on Water Resources in Wales; C.P. Holt, J.A.A. Jones. 19. Potential Hydrological Responses to Climate Change in Australia; F.H.S. Chiew, et al. 20. Dynamics of Stage Fluctuation in Yangzhouyongcuo Lake, Tibet; T. Liu. 21. Use of Satellite Data for Modelling Regional Climatic Change: A Case Study - Surface Temperature, Albedo and Heat Budget over the Tibetan Plateau; L. Shi. 22. Climatic Warming and Its Impact on the Water Resources of the Yalong River, Sichuan, China; Y. Deng, Y. Hou. 23. The Probable Impact of Global Change on the Water Resources of Patagonia, Argentina; R.M. Quintela, et al. 24. A Long Term Trend in the Water Balance in Japan; K. Mori. Conclusions. 25. The Impact of Global Warming on Regional Hydrology and Future Research Priorities; J.A.A. Jones.