Assessing the Hydrological Significance of the World's Mountains

Viviroli, Daniel; Weingartner, Rolf; Messerli, Bruno

doi:10.1659/0276-4741(2003)023[0032:athsot]2.0.co;2

Cited by 207 publications

(148 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Altitudinal gradients in temperature and precipitation ensure that headwaters receive more precipitation and have lower evapotranspiration rates than adjacent lowlands (Viviroli et al, 2004;De Jong et al, 2009;López and Justribó, 2010). Moreover, in mountain regions at high and mid latitudes a large amount of precipitation falls as snow, which is stored frozen in winter.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of climate evolution and land use changes on water yield in the ebro basin

López‐Moreno

Vicente‐Serrano

Morán-Tejéda

et al. 2011

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

185

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Abstract. In this study the climatic and hydrological trends across 88 sub-basins of the Ebro River basin were analyzed for the period . A new database of climate information and river flows for the entire basin facilitated a spatially distributed assessment of climate-runoff relationships. It constitutes the first assessment of water yield evolution across the whole Ebro basin, a very representative example of large Mediterranean rivers. The results revealed a marked decrease in river discharges in most of the subbasins. Moreover, a number of changes in the seasonality of the river regime was found, resulting from dam regulation and a decrease in snowpack in the headwaters. Significant and positive trends in temperature were observed across most of the basin, whereas most of the precipitation series showed negative coefficients, although the decrease in magnitude was low. The time evolution of the residuals from empirical models that relate climate and runoff in each sub-basin provided evidence that climate alone does not explain the observed decrease in river discharge. Thus, changes in water yield are associated with an increase in evapotranspiration rates in natural vegetation, growth of which has expanded as a consequence of land abandonment in areas where agricultural activities and livestock pressure have decreased. In the lowlands of the basin the decrease in water yield has been exacerbated by increased water consumption for domestic, industrial and agricultural uses. Climate projections for the end of the 21st century suggest a reduced capacity for runoff generation because of increasing temperature and less precipitation. Thus, the maintenance of water supply under conditions of increasing demand presents a challenging issue requiring appropriate coordination amongst politicians and managers.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of climate evolution and land use changes on water yield in the ebro basin

López‐Moreno

Vicente‐Serrano

Morán-Tejéda

et al. 2011

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

185

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“…Several very dry years in sequence are often observed in the Mediterranean region (Cudennec et al, 2007), and their frequency could increase due to climate change (Ceballos-Barbancho et al, 2008). In these regions, mountains may obviously play an important role in the regional water balance (Pitlick 1994;Flerchinger & Cooley, 2000;Khazaei et al, 2003;Viviroli et al, 2003), but the contribution of snow and rain to the annual and multi-annual water balance is still largely unknown. This is the case in the centre of Morocco, where the High Atlas mountain range represents the most important water resource for the neighbouring arid plains through liquid but also solid precipitation (Matthews, 1989, Chaponniere et al, 2005Boudhar et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the Snowmelt Runoff Model in the Moroccan High Atlas Mountains using two snow-cover estimates

Boudhar

Hanich

Boulet

et al. 2009

Hydrological Sciences Journal

104

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In the centre of Morocco, the High Atlas mountain range represents the most important water storage for the neighbouring arid plains through liquid and solid precipitation. In this context, we evaluated the performance of the Snowmelt Runoff Model (SRM) on the five main tributary watersheds of the High Atlas range. Due to the very low density of climate stations in the High Atlas, snowfall and snowmelt processes are difficult to monitor using meteorological data alone. In order to compensate for the lack of in situ data, snow maps are also derived from remotely-sensed data. We compared the streamflow forecasting performance when the model is driven by one or the other estimate of snow-covered area. Both estimates are generally comparable in all watersheds, and satisfactory streamflow simulations were obtained at seasonal time scales using both snow-cover products. However, significant differences can be observed for selected storms, with more accurate streamflow predictions being obtained when the remotely-sensed data are used. Evaluation du Modèle Snowmelt Runoff dans le Haut Atlas Marocain en utilisant deux estimations des surfaces enneigéesRésumé Au centre du Maroc, la chaîne montagneuse du Haut Atlas constitue un véritable château d'eau pour les plaines arides avoisinantes, et ce grâce aux précipitations liquides et solides. Dans ce contexte, nous avons évalué les performances du modèle Snowmelt Runoff (SRM) dans les cinq principaux sous-bassins versants du Haut Atlas. En raison de la très faible densité des stations climatiques dans le Haut Atlas, les processus de chute et de fonte des neiges sont difficiles à contrôler avec des données météorologiques seules. Afin de compenser l'absence de données in situ, des cartes d'enneigement sont également dérivées de données issues de la télédétection. Nous avons comparé les performances de SRM pour la prévision de l'écoulement en cours d'eau à partir des deux types de carte. Les surfaces enneigées déduites par ces deux méthodes sont généralement comparables dans tous les sous-bassins versants, et des simulations d'écoulement satisfaisantes ont été obtenues à l'échelle saisonnière à partir des deux estimations de surface de neige. En revanche, des différences significatives peuvent être observées pour certains événements avec des prévisions d'écoulement plus précises lorsque les données issues de la télédétection sont utilisées.

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“…Mountains fulfill important ecological and economic functions for the surrounding lowlands, including the sustenance of ecological minimum flows, water resource for agriculture, food production and hydropower generation ). The runoff from many mountainous regions is characterized by a disproportionately large contribution with regard to the catchment area and high reliability and low variability (Viviroli et al 2003;Messerli et al 2004;Viviroli and Weingartner 2004). In arid regions, the total contribution of mountainous areas to catchment discharge may be as much as 95% of the total flow (Liniger et al 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent climate trends on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, Xinjiang, China

et al. 2009

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Abstract:In arid regions, mountains fulfill important ecological and economic functions for the surrounding lowlands. In the scenario of global warming, mountain ecosystems change rapidly, especially in the arid region of northwestern China. This paper provides an assessment of the changes in temperature and precipitation in the historical records of climate on the northern slopes of the eastern Tianshan Mountains. A Mann-Kendall nonparametric trend and Sen's tests are employed to analyze the interannual changes and innerannual variability in temperature and precipitation in the regions of low to high altitude. The present study finds that the largest increases in annual temperature are observed at stations in the low altitude regions. The significant increasing trends in temperature tend to occur mainly in late winter and early spring at stations from middle to high altitude, but in summer and autumn at stations of low altitudes. The increasing trends in annual precipitation are found from the middle to high altitude areas, but decreasing trends are found in the low altitude areas. The significant increasing trends in precipitation occur mostly in winter and earlier spring at stations from the middle to high altitudes, while the increasing and decreasing trend coexists at stations of low altitude with most of the significant trend changes occurring in March, June and August.

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Assessing the Hydrological Significance of the World's Mountains

Cited by 207 publications

References 2 publications

Impact of climate evolution and land use changes on water yield in the ebro basin

Impact of climate evolution and land use changes on water yield in the ebro basin

Evaluation of the Snowmelt Runoff Model in the Moroccan High Atlas Mountains using two snow-cover estimates

Recent climate trends on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, Xinjiang, China

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