Application of downscaled precipitation for hydrological climate-change impact assessment in the upper Ping River Basin of Thailand.

This paper assesses the impacts of climate change on water resources in the upper Ping River Basin of Thailand. A rainfall-runoff model is used to estimate future runoff based on the bias corrected and downscaled ECHAM4/OPYC general circulation model (GCM) precipitation scenarios for three future 5-year periods; the 2023-2027 (2025s), the 2048-2052 (2050s) and 2093-2097 (2095s). Bias-correction and spatial disaggregation techniques are applied to improve the characteristics of raw ECHAM4/OPYC precipitation. Results of future simulations suggest a decrease of 13-19 % in annual streamflow compared to the base period (1998-2002). Results also indicate that there will be a shift in seasonal streamflow pattern. Peak flows in future periods will occur in October-November rather than September as observed in the base period. There will be a significant increase in the streamflow in April with overall decrease in streamflow during the rainy season (May-October) and an increase during the dry season (November-April) for all future time periods considered in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]