Modelling the Mekong: hydrological simulation for environmental impact studies

Kite, Geoff

doi:10.1016/s0022-1694(01)00396-1

Cited by 153 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Station-based daily precipitation and temperature data (used to define the coefficient of variation for disaggregated daily precipitation data and standard deviation of daily temperature data) were obtained from the US National Climate Data Centre (NCDC) global surface summary of the day (GSOD) meteorological stations used to drive the Kite (2001) Mekong hydrological model. As acknowledged by Kite (2001), the availability of station meteorological data in the Mekong Basin is far from ideal, with a total of 17 stations available for the entire 1961-1990 period, most of which are located in China and Thailand.…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The impacts of hydrological changes resulting from projected changes in climate may be particularly severe for the Mekong River system given its role as a vital regional resource, providing food, water, transport and livelihoods (Kite, 2001). The Mekong also supports unique and varied ecosystems, with a number of endemic species and large and diverse fisheries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Mekong is also being impacted by large-scale hydraulic interventions with a focus on hydropower. Four large dams have already been constructed on the Chinese section of the river and further dams are either under construction or planned throughout the river basin (Kite, 2001;Li and He, 2008;Stone, 2010;Wang et al, 2011). These dams have already been controversial in terms of their downstream impacts with uncertainty over their influence on recent variations in flow volumes, sediment loadings and fisheries Li and He, 2008;Wang et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Uncertainty in climate change projections of discharge for the Mekong River Basin

Kingston

Thompson

Kite³

2011

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

157

140

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Abstract. The Mekong River Basin is a key regional resource in Southeast Asia for sectors that include agriculture, fisheries and electricity production. Here we explore the potential impacts of climate change on freshwater resources within the river basin. We quantify uncertainty in these projections associated with GCM structure and climate sensitivity, as well as from hydrological model parameter specification. This is achieved by running patternscaled GCM scenarios through a semi-distributed hydrological model (SLURP) of the basin. Pattern-scaling allows investigation of specific thresholds of global climate change including the postulated 2 • C threshold of "dangerous" climate change. Impacts of a 2 • C rise in global mean temperature are investigated using seven different GCMs, providing an implicit analysis of uncertainty associated with GCM structure. Analysis of progressive changes in global mean temperature from 0.5 to 6 • C above the 1961-1990 baseline (using the HadCM3 GCM) reveals a relatively small but non-linear response of annual river discharge to increasing global mean temperature, ranging from a 5.4 % decrease to 4.5 % increase. Changes in mean monthly river discharge are greater (from −16 % to +55 %, with greatest decreases in July and August, greatest increases in May and June) and result from complex and contrasting intra-basin changes in precipitation, evaporation and snow storage/melt. Whilst overall results are highly GCM dependent (in both direction and magnitude), this uncertainty is primarily driven by differences in GCM projections of future precipitation. In contrast, there is strong consistency between GCMs in terms of both increased potential evapotranspiration and a shift to an earlier

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Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Uncertainty in climate change projections of discharge for the Mekong River Basin

Kingston

Thompson

Kite³

2011

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

157

140

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The lower Mekong River is situated in the tropics and is dominated by two distinct monsoons: the southwest monsoon from the Indian Ocean from mid-May to mid-October with frequent rainfall, and the northeast monsoon from China from mid-October to April, with a dry spell. The mean annual rainfall in the lower Mekong River ranges from 1000 mm in northeast Thailand to more than 3200 mm in the mountainous regions in Laos (Kite, 2001), and around 85-90% of the rain falls during the rainy season.…”

Section: Study Region Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evapotranspiration in the Mekong and Yellow river basins / Evapotranspiration dans les bassins du Mekong et du Fleuve Jaune

Zhou

Ishidaira

Takeuchi

et al. 2009

Hydrological Sciences Journal

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Estimates of potential evapotranspiration (PET) and reference evapotranspiration (RET) were compared over the Mekong and Yellow river basins, representing humid and semi-arid Asian monsoon regions. Multiple regression relationships between monthly RET, PET, LAI (leaf area index) and climatic variables were explored for different vegetation types. Over the Mekong River basin, the spatial average of RET is only 1.7% lower than PET; however, RET is 140% higher than PET over parts of the Tibetan Plateau, due to the short and sparse grassland, and 30% lower than PET in parts of the lower basin due to the tall and well-developed forests. Over the Yellow River basin, RET is estimated to be higher than PET, on average about 50% higher across the whole basin, due to the generally sparse vegetation. A close linear relationship between annual RET and PET allows the establishment of a regional regression to predict monthly PET from monthly RET, climatic variables and/or vegetation LAI. However, the large prediction errors indicate that the Shuttleworth-Wallace (S-W) model, although it is more complex, should be recommended due to its more robust physical basis and because it successfully accounts for the effect of changing land surface conditions on PET. The limited available field data suggest that the S-W estimate may be more realistic. It was also found that vegetation conditions in summer are primarily controlled by the regional antecedent precipitation in the cold and dry seasons over the Loess Plateau in the middle reaches of the Yellow River.

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“…However, these information are only limited to few districts level. Furthermore, some investigation in LMB area can be found only on flood inundation and hydrological analysis 1), 5) and satellite based flood inundation 6) .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of Flood Vulnerability Indices for Lower Mekong Basin in Cambodain Floodplain

Shrestha

Okazumi

Tanaka

et al. 2013

J. JSCE

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Floods frequently occur in the world, which cause serious damage of properties and loss of lives. It is thus important to identify flood vulnerability in flood-prone area. This study identified flood vulnerability in the Lower Mekong Basin of Cambodian floodplain and developed flood vulnerability indices for the average and extreme floods in order to avoid big damages and cope with flood in their life. The flood vulnerability was defined as amount of potential damages. The agricultural and house damages were considered to develop flood vulnerability indices, because both are major income and stocks. The agricultural damage was defined as the function of flood water depth during the cultivation period and its duration. The house damage was defined as the function of maximum flood water depth.

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Modelling the Mekong: hydrological simulation for environmental impact studies

Cited by 153 publications

References 5 publications

Uncertainty in climate change projections of discharge for the Mekong River Basin

Uncertainty in climate change projections of discharge for the Mekong River Basin

Evapotranspiration in the Mekong and Yellow river basins / Evapotranspiration dans les bassins du Mekong et du Fleuve Jaune

Development of Flood Vulnerability Indices for Lower Mekong Basin in Cambodain Floodplain

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