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This paper examines the performance of three climate re-analysis datasets in Angola, namely the ERA-40, NCEP-r1 and JRA-55, by comparing annual and seasonal estimates of precipitation, surface air temperature and evaporation with ground observation measurements. The observational dataset describes a region poorly covered by international climate databases and it is believed that most of its data have not been used in the data assimilation procedures of the climate models. This paper therefore provides a fresh look at the performance of these climate re-analysis datasets in a vast area where distance and civil war have hindered ground monitoring efforts. The re-analysis exercises offer better temperature estimates than precipitation estimates. When offered, the evaporation estimates from all three products are very poor. The three products are able to describe the main features of the spatial distribution of average annual precipitation and temperature, but struggle to reproduce the temporal changes of these variables. The results from a set of performance criteria show that the correlation between the observed ground measurements and re-analysis estimates is poor overall and the NSE values indicate that the average measured value at each location is usually a better estimate than the re-analysis estimate.EDITOR A. CastellarinASSOCIATE EDITOR S. Kanae [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State-of-the-art hydrological climate impact assessment involves ensemble approaches to address uncertainties. For precipitation, a wide range of climate model runs is available. However, for particular meteorological variables used for the calculation of potential evapotranspiration (ETo), availability of climate model runs is limited. It is preferred that climate model runs are considered coupled when calculating changes in precipitation and ETo amounts, in order to preserve the internal physical consistency. This results in constraints on the maximum ensemble size. In this paper, we investigate the correlation between climate change signals of precipitation and ETo. It is found that, for two medium-sized catchments in Belgium, uncoupling climate model runs used for calculation of change signals of precipitation and ETo amounts does not result in a significant bias for changes in extreme flow. With these results, future impact studies can be conducted with larger ensemble sizes, resulting in a more complete uncertainty estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identification of homogeneous precipitation regions is essential in the planning, design and management of water resources systems. Regions are identified using a technique that partitions climate sites into groups based on the similarity of their attributes; the procedure is known as regionalization. In this paper the ability of four attribute sets to form large, coherent precipitation zones is assessed in terms of the regional homogeneity of precipitation statistics and computational efficiency. The outcomes provide guidance for effective attribute selection for future studies in Canada. The attributes under consideration include location parameters (latitude, longitude), distance to major water bodies, site elevation and atmospheric variables modelled at different pressure levels. The analysis is conducted in two diverse climate regions within Canada including the Prairie and the Great Lakes–St Lawrence lowlands regions. The method consists of four main steps: (i) formation of the attribute sets; (ii) determination of the preferred number of regions (selection of thec-value) into which the sites are partitioned; (iii) regionalization of climate sites using the fuzzyc-means clustering algorithm; and (iv) validation of regional homogeneity usingL-moment statistics. The results of the attribute formation,c-value selection, regionalization and validation processes are presented and discussed in a comparative analysis. Based on the results it is recommended for both regions to use location parameters including latitude, longitude and distance to water bodies (in the Great Lakes region) to form precipitation regions and to consider atmospheric variables for future (climate change) applications of the regionalization procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Planning adaptation strategies in response to climate change (CC) can be a daunting task, especially in regions such as the Koshi Basin in the Himalayas, where CC impacts are still uncertain. This paper recommends targeting adaptation strategies by focusing on changes in variability between the past and future climates at smaller scales. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and the Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration (IHA) are used for analysis. The results show: (a) higher maximum precipitation during monsoon and post-monsoon, and lower maximum precipitation during winter; (b) increase in precipitation and flows in the Trans-mountain region during all seasons, except for flows during monsoon; (c) increase in post-monsoon precipitation and routed flow volumes; (d) decrease in precipitation during winter and routed flow volumes in all the regions, except the Trans-mountain region; and (e) increase in frequency of high peak flows and decrease in baseflows.Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz Associate editor S. Kanae; [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant decrease in mean river flow as well as shifts in flood regimes have been reported at several locations along the River Niger. These changes are the combined effect of persistent droughts, damming and increased consumption of water. Moreover, it is believed that climate change will impact on the hydrological regime of the river in the next decades and exacerbate existing problems. While decision makers and stakeholders are aware of these issues, it is hard for them to figure out what actions should be taken without a quantitative estimate of future changes. In this paper, a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model of the Niger River watershed at Koulikoro was successfully calibrated, then forced with the climate time series of variable length generated by nine regional climate models (RCMs) from the AMMA-ENSEMBLES experiment. The RCMs were run under the SRES A1B emissions scenario. A combination of quantile-quantile transformation and nearest-neighbour search was used to correct biases in the distributions of RCM outputs. Streamflow time series were generated for the 2026–2050 period (all nine RCMs), and for the 2051–2075 and 2076–2100 periods (three out of nine RCMs) based on the availability of RCM simulations. It was found that the quantile-quantile transformation improved the simulation of both precipitation extremes and ratio of monthly dry days/wet days. All RCMs predicted an increase in temperature and solar radiation, and a decrease in average annual relative humidity in all three future periods relative to the 1981–1989 period, but there was no consensus among them about the direction of change of annual average wind speed, precipitation and streamflow. When all model projections were averaged, mean annual precipitation was projected to decrease, while the total precipitation in the flood season (August, September, October) increased, driving the mean annual flow up by 6.9% (2026–2050), 0.9% (2051–2075) and 5.6% (2076–2100). At-test showed that changes in multi-model annual mean flow and annual maximum monthly flow between all four periods were not statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The increasing water demand is a concern affecting many regions in the Mediterranean Basin. To overcome this situation rim countries resorted during the last decades to a massive mobilization of their water resources, often resulting in excessive water exploitation. In such a context, understanding the effects of present recharge and aquifer salinization is crucial for correct water management. Understanding the present hydrogeological situation of coastal plains requires the knowledge of both their past morphologic conditions and their recent geological evolution. Within this framework, this paper presents a review of water related problems in the Mediterranean Basin. It suggests a conceptual model for groundwater resources in Mediterranean coastal plains, deriving from the present and past recharge processes. Special attention is paid to providing a better understanding of climate change impacts on water quantity and quality, and conservation of ecological diversity. Citation Re, V. & Zuppi, G. M. (2011) Influence of precipitation and deep saline groundwater on the hydrological systems of Mediterranean coastal plains: a general overview. Hydrol. Sci. J. 56(6), 966-980. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]