Critical Zone Hydrology Group

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Hydrological impacts of global change

"Global change" is a broad term which encompasses many natural and artificial change processes that are of global significance. Climate changes and land cover/use change are important elements of global change, both of which affect near-surface and subsurface hydrological conditions and processes across the latitudinal spectrum. In view of the rapidly changing role of aquifers from the traditional suppliers of naturally recharged groundwater to such 'new' aquifer functions as: (i) the storage of artificially recharged surface water for subsequent recovery; (ii) the storage and recovery of heat or cold; and (iii) the long-term or permanent storage of waste water/fluids such as CO2 and brines, these new functions are explicitly included in the CZHG's concept of "global change" under sustainable aquifer use .
The Group's research programme on the hydrological impacts of global change (sensu stricto) is comprised of the following four sub-themes: (i) the changes in subsurface hydrology in areas affected by permafrost degradation in response to climate warming; (ii) improving predicted changes in peak runoff response to rainfall (flood forecasting) associated with changes in climate and catchment land use and land cover at the operational scale; (iii) changes in the hydrological behaviour of tropical montane cloud forests due to climatic change and forest conversion; and (iv) the hydrological consequences of land-use change (deforestation and reforestation), primarily under (sub)tropical conditions.

research on hydrological impacts of global change Permafrost hydrology Flood forecasting Cloud forest hydrology Tropical deforestation Reforestation

Last modified: Mon Dec 28 13:49:09 CET 2015