Modelling impacts of climate change on water resources in ungauged and data-scarce watersheds. Application to the Siurana catchment (NE Spain)

Gaining knowledge on potential climate change impacts on water resources is a complex process which depends on numerical models capable of describing these processes in quantitative terms. Under limited data or ungauged basin conditions, which constrain the modelling approach, a physically based coherent methodological approach is required.The traditional approach to assess flow regime and groundwater recharge impacts, based on coupling general atmosphere–ocean circulation models (GCM) and hydrologic models, has been investigated in the Siurana ungauged catchment (NE Spain). The future A2 (medium-high) and B1 (medium-low) greenhouse gas scenarios and time slices 2013–2037 (2025) and 2038–2062 (2050), developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2001), have been selected. For scenario simulations, coupled GCM ECHAM5 scenarios, stochastically downscaled outputs and surface–subsurface modelling to simulate changes in water resources were applied to the catchment. Flow regime analysis was assessed by HEC-HMS, a physically based hydrologic model to assess rainfall–runoff in a catchment, while recharge was estimated with VisualBALAN, a distributed model for natural recharge estimation. Simulations show that the projected climate change at the catchment will affect the entire hydrological system with a maximum of 56% reduction of water resources. While subtle changes are observed for the 2025 time slice, the temperature and precipitation forecast for 2050 shows a maximum increase of 2.2 °C and a decreased precipitation volume of 11.3% in relation to historical values. Regarding historical values, runoff output shows a maximum 20% decrease, and 18% decrease of natural recharge with a certain delay in relation to runoff and rainfall data. According to the results, the most important parameters conditioning future water resources are changes in climatic parameters, but they are highly dependent on soil moisture conditions.

► Hydrologic climate change impact forecasts require coupling of numerical models.
► Limited dataset or ungauged basins need an interdisciplinary and multiscale approach.
► Outputs are constrained by model definition and climate projections uncertainties.