DocumentCode :
1249229
Title :
Climate change effects on the snowmelt hydrology of western North American mountain basins
Author :
Rango, Albert ; Van Katwijk, Victor F.
Author_Institution :
USDA-ARS Beltsville Agricultural Res. Center, MD, USA
Volume :
28
Issue :
5
fYear :
1990
fDate :
9/1/1990 12:00:00 AM
Firstpage :
970
Lastpage :
974
Abstract :
Several effects of increasing atmospheric CO2 content on climate are considered-namely, increasing atmospheric temperature, changing snowmelt equivalent at the beginning of the snowmelt, and changing precipitation during the snowmelt runoff season. The effects that these changes would have on runoff from mountain basins were evaluated by use of the snowmelt runoff model (SRM). The major effect on runoff was caused by increasing temperature. An increase in total seasonal runoff resulted, but the more interesting and significant effect was a redistribution of runoff to the months April and May. Depending on whether snowmelt season precipitation and winter snow accumulation increased or decreased, the temperature effect on the hydrograph was magnified or diminished. The model results indicated a potentially serious problem in western North America where climate changes could widen the gap between water supply and water demand as well as causing existing water storage and distribution systems to be ineffective
Keywords :
atmospheric precipitation; atmospheric temperature; climatology; hydrology; snow; water supply; 509 to 3150 m; April to September; August; Canadian Rocky Mountains; Illecillewoet basin; July; June; May; Rio Grande basin; S Colorado Rocky Mountains; W Canada; W United States; atmospheric temperature; climate changes; increasing atmospheric CO2 content; runoff redistribution; snow cover depletion curves; snowmelt equivalent; snowmelt hydrograph; snowmelt hydrology; snowmelt runoff model; snowmelt runoff season; snowmelt season precipitation; total seasonal runoff; water demand; water distribution systems; water storage systems; water supply; western North American mountain basins; winter snow accumulation; Atmosphere; Atmospheric modeling; Clouds; Hydrology; North America; Predictive models; Snow; Temperature dependence; Temperature distribution; Water storage;
fLanguage :
English
Journal_Title :
Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE Transactions on
Publisher :
ieee
ISSN :
0196-2892
Type :
jour
DOI :
10.1109/36.58987
Filename :
58987
Link To Document :
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