EQUILIBRIUM AND TRANSIENT GLOBAL WARMING SCENARIO IMPLICATIONS FOR WATER RESOURCES IN WALES1

ABSTRACT: A methodology has been developed to predict the responses of a range of water supply sources in Wales to global warming scenarios. Hydrologically effective rainfall is predicted from temperature and precipitation for each season based on site specific formulae developed using the Meteorological Office Rainfall and Evaporation Calculation System (MORECS) and UK Surface Water Archive databases. Comparisons are then made between the effects predicted for the scenarios established from equilibrium simulations and the new Hadley Centre High Resolution Model (UKHI) transient mode results. Though very different, both suggest increased stress on water resources late in the hydrological year.     

A PROPOSED METHOD FOR DROUGHT MONITORING1

ABSTRACT: Existing definitions of drought have focused on limited hydrologic indicators and are less effective for the purpose of drought monitoring. This study uses historical records of streamflow, precipitation, ground water, temperature, and lake elevation to define drought. Based on the method of truncation, drought durations and conditional probabilities of each indicator were estimated to define the drought severity levels, namely, 70 percent, 80 percent, 90 percent, and 95 percent. A drought monitoring method was developed by a combination of truncation level, duration, and conditional probabilities of five indicators. A six-month period of the 1988 drought in the central Ohio region was used to test the monitoring method. It was found that the developed method could effectively detect an occurrence of drought.     

中国内陆自然环境的干旱化与未来趋势

根据中国内陆陕西、甘肃部分地区５０９ａ旱涝资料和主要测站气象、水文实测数据,应用Ｗｏｒｄ９７图形处理系统,证明在５２６ａ序列中目前处在１１ａ、５０ａ滑动的干旱期。近４６ａ气温上升了０．３℃,年降水减少了８０ｍｍ,径流量减少了０．７８％,出现了明显的干旱化,环境变化趋势不容乐观。     

2001年我国主要气象灾害综述

2001年，我国气象灾害频繁，干旱，台风，暴雨，沙尘暴，高温，冻害，雪灾等都有不同程度的发生，特别是干旱尤为严重，各种气象灾害给国民经济造成较大损失，本文就几种主要气象灾害的发生特点及影响进行分析和评述。     

近50年来陕甘宁边区气候变化及致灾效应分析

通过对陕甘宁边区近50年气温记录的分析，认为陕甘宁边区正在变暖变干，20世纪90年代至今暖干趋势加剧；极端事件尤其是干旱的强度、频率正在增强。针对陕甘宁边区气候脆弱变化趋势提出了环境建设对策。     

2003年夏～2004年冬广西的旱灾及其防御对策

2003年夏～2004年冬,广西出现大范围、长时间的干旱.干旱给广西社会经济带来许多不利影响,为此,政府部门提出了相应的防御对策.     

华北地区干旱强度的表征形式及其气候变异

在分析1951-2001年华北地区降水量、气温及蒸发量变化特征的基础上,确定利用月降水量与蒸发量之差的Z指数表征干旱强度.该指数在时间及空问分布上的实际概率与理论概率均很接近,可以较好地表征华北地区干旱强度状况.分析表明,华北地区干旱强度不但具有显著的年代际变化特征,且年际振荡的信号也很强.华北地区四季的干旱强度变化在干旱期的开始时间、干旱持续时间和干旱强度等方面存在一定的差异.     

WATER EXCHANGES: TOOLS TO BEAT EL NIÑO CLIMATE VARIABILITY IN IRRIGATED AGRICULTURE1

ABSTRACT: Using a case study of the Yakima River Valley in Washington State, this paper shows that relatively simple tools can be used to forecast the impact of the El Niño phenomenon on water supplies to irrigated agriculture, that this information could be used to estimate the significantly shifted probability distribution of water shortages in irrigated agriculture during El Niño episodes, and that these shifted probabilities can be used to estimate the value of exchanges of water between crops to relieve some of the adverse consequences of such shortages under western water law. Further, recently devised water‐trading tools, while not completely free under western water law to respond to forecasted El Niño episodes (ocean circulation patterns), are currently being employed during declared drought to reduce the devastating effects of water shortages in junior water districts on high valued perennial crops. Additional institutional flexibility is needed to take full advantage of climate forecasting, but even current tools clearly could prove useful in controlling the effects of climate variability in irrigated agriculture. Analysis shows the significant benefit of temporarily transferring or renting water rights from low‐value to high‐value crops, based on El Niño forecasts.     

COLUMBIA RIVER FLOW AND DROUGHT SINCE 17501

ABSTRACT: A network of 32 drought sensitive tree‐ring chronologies is used to reconstruct mean water year flow on the Columbia River at The Dalles, Oregon, since 1750. The reconstruction explains 30 percent of the variability in mean water year (October to September) flow, with a large portion of unexplained variance caused by underestimates of the most severe low flow events. Residual statistics from the tree‐ring reconstruction, as well as an identically specified instrumental reconstruction, exhibit positive trends over time. This finding suggests that the relationship between drought and streamflow has changed over time, supporting results from hydrologic models, which suggest that changes in land cover over the 20th Century have had measurable impacts on runoff production. Low pass filtering the flow record suggests that persistent low flows during the 1840s were probably the most severe of the past 250 years, but that flows during the 1930s were nearly as extreme. The period from 1950 to 1987 is anomalous in the context of this record for having no notable multiyear drought events. A comparison of the flow reconstruction to paleorecords of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) support a strong 20th Century link between large scale circulation and streamflow, but suggests that this link is very weak prior to 1900.     

MEASURING DROUGHT IMPACTS: THE ILLINOIS CASE1

ABSTRACT: Drought is an interaction between physical processes and human activities. This study quantified the impacts of precipitation deficiencies on streamflow, reservoirs, and shallow ground water supplies. An in-depth analysis of newspaper accounts of droughts between paired cities, one in drought and one not in drought, were used to measure the differences in the types of drought impacts, and in the time of onset of impacts as related to developing precipitation deficiencies. Precipitation deficiencies related to the onset and the magnitude of surface water supply adjustments, and to shallow ground water problems, were established. Thus, monitoring and prediction of the onset and magnitude of drought problems can now be done from readily available data on precipitation deficiencies. Newspapers were found to be reliable indicators for the timing of drought impacts and adjustments as precipitation deficiency develops. A review of local and state adjustments during two recent droughts revealed most decision makers lacked information and experience in dealing with drought.