Abstract
Abstract. The impacts of climate change on the seasonality of low flows were analysed for 134 sub-catchments covering the River Rhine basin upstream of the Dutch-German border. Three seasonality indices for low flows were estimated, namely the seasonality ratio (SR), weighted mean occurrence day (WMOD) and weighted persistence (WP). These indices are related to the discharge regime, timing and variability in timing of low flow events respectively. The three indices were estimated from: (1) observed low flows; (2) simulated low flows by the semi-distributed HBV model using observed climate as input; (3) simulated low flows using simulated inputs from seven combinations of General Circulation Models (GCMs) and Regional Climate Models (RCMs) for the current climate (1964–2007); (4) simulated low flows using simulated inputs from seven combinations of GCMs and RCMs for the future climate (2063–2098) including three different greenhouse gas emission scenarios. These four cases were compared to assess the effects of the hydrological model, forcing by different climate models and different emission scenarios on the three indices. Significant differences were found between cases 1 and 2. For instance, the HBV model is prone to overestimate SR and to underestimate WP and simulates very late WMODs compared to the estimated WMODs using observed discharges. Comparing the results of cases 2 and 3, the smallest difference was found for the SR index, whereas large differences were found for the WMOD and WP indices for the current climate. Finally, comparing the results of cases 3 and 4, we found that SR decreases substantially by 2063–2098 in all seven sub-basins of the River Rhine. The lower values of SR for the future climate indicate a shift from winter low flows (SR > 1) to summer low flows (SR < 1) in the two Alpine sub-basins. The WMODs of low flows tend to be earlier than for the current climate in all sub-basins except for the Middle Rhine and Lower Rhine sub-basins. The WP values are slightly larger, showing that the predictability of low flow events increases as the variability in timing decreases for the future climate. From comparison of the error sources evaluated in this study, it is obvious that different RCMs/GCMs have a larger influence on the timing of low flows than different emission scenarios. Finally, this study complements recent analyses of an international project (Rhineblick) by analysing the seasonality aspects of low flows and extends the scope further to understand the effects of hydrological model errors and climate change on three important low flow seasonality properties: regime, timing and persistence.
Highlights
The rivers in Western Europe have a seasonal discharge regime with high flows in winter and low flows in late summer
The results of this study about climate change impacts on the seasonality of low flows are based on a simulation approach using the outputs of an ensemble of climate models to drive a hydrological model
Our analysis focuses on the effects of the hydrological model and its inputs, the use of different General Circulation Models (GCMs) and regional climate models (RCMs) and the use of different emission scenarios
Summary
The rivers in Western Europe have a seasonal discharge regime with high flows in winter and low flows in late summer. Floods and low flows in these rivers may cause several problems to society. Demirel et al.: Impacts of climate change on the seasonality of low flows authorities often focus on flood issues. E.g. water scarcity for drinking water supply and power production, hindrance to navigation and deterioration of water quality, have already been seen during low flow events in the River Rhine in dry summers such as in 1976, 1985 and 2003. Understanding low flows and its seasonal to inter-annual variation has both societal and scientific value as there is a growing concern that the occurrence of low flows will intensify due to climate change (Grabs et al, 1997; Middelkoop et al, 2001; Huang et al, 2013) and reduced summer runoff contribution from Alpine glaciers (Huss, 2011). We are interested in evaluating the effects of climate change on the seasonality of low flows, and in presenting corresponding uncertainty to provide low flow seasonality information under different climate projections
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