Consistent increase in High Asia's runoff due to increasing glacier melt and precipitation

802Citations
Citations of this article
699Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.
Get full text

Abstract

Rivers originating in the high mountains of Asia are among the most meltwater-dependent river systems on Earth, yet large human populations depend on their resources downstream1. Across High Asias river basins, there is large variation in the contribution of glacier and snow melt to total runoff 2, which is poorly quantified.The lack of understanding of the hydrological regimes of High Asias rivers is one of the main sources of uncertainty in assessing the regional hydrological impacts of climate change3. Here we use a large-scale, high-resolution cryospheric-hydrological model to quantify the upstream hydrological regimes of the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Salween and Mekong rivers. Subsequently, we analyse the impacts of climate change on future water availability in these basins using the latest climate model ensemble. Despite large differences in runoff composition and regimes between basins and between tributaries within basins, we project an increase in runoff at least until 2050 caused primarily by an increase in precipitation in the upper Ganges, Brahmaputra, Salween and Mekong basins and from accelerated melt in the upper Indus Basin. These findings have immediate consequences for climate change policies where a transition towards coping with intra-annual shifts in water availability is desirable. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Lutz, A. F., Immerzeel, W. W., Shrestha, A. B., & Bierkens, M. F. P. (2014). Consistent increase in High Asia’s runoff due to increasing glacier melt and precipitation. Nature Climate Change, 4(7), 587–592. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2237

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free