The development of a glacio-hydrologic model in the river basin context: Applicability for climate change risk assessment

Abstract:

In high latitude and altitude regions of the world, melting water from snow and glacier is critical for domestic, agricultural and industrial water supply. These water supplies depending on the melting water are particularly vulnerable to changing climate caused by temperature increases and precipitation variation. A better understanding of how water availability change due to climate change impact in these regions is essential for water resources management. To achieve this goal, a recent research trend highlights the need of advancing hydrologic modeling tools with enhanced snow and glacier modeling capability. This study demonstrates a recently developed distributed glacio-hydrologic model that specifically targets the Himalayan region. We describe the model’s development background, underlying concepts, and some typical applications of the model and test it as a tool for assessing climate change risk for snow and glacier-fed river basins. Enhanced snow and glacier modules based on temperature-energy index are the primary feature of the model. We demonstrate the model’s applicability in case studies for the Upper Trishuli River Basin and the Koshi River Basin in Nepal and detailed climate change impact on water resources in these snow and glacier dominated are presented.