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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 10, NUMBER 1, JANUARY 1997

REPORTS...
CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS: WATER SUPPLY AND DEMAND

Item #d97jan94

Precipitation in the Southern Great Plains: Observations and Model Simulations of Present-Day and Doubled Atmospheric CO₂ Concentrations, D.R. Legates, T.L. DeLiberty, May 1996 (Bur. Reclamation or NTIS).

If the precipitation climate of a hydrologically sensitive region, such as this region, were to change by even a small amount, significant and potentially adverse effects could be seen in several hydrologic parameters. Two general circulation models, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies Model and the Canadian Climate Centre Model, were used to simulate the impact on the precipitation climate of this region. Although the GCMs contradict one another in some respects, they suggest an increase in mean precipitation driven by an increase in intensity in precipitation events.

Item #d97jan95

Water Yield in Semiarid Environment Under Projected Climate Change, J.P. Riley (Utah State Univ., Logan, Utah), A.K. Sikka et al., 67 pp., Feb. 1996 (Bur. Reclamation or NTIS).

Examines projected scenarios of climate change and their possible impacts on water supply, quality and demand in arid and semiarid regions. A distributed parameter climate vegetation hydrologic model (CVHM) was used to simulate hydrologic response under existing conditions and under a CO₂-induced climate and vegetation change for the Weber River basin. Significant impacts are suggested, but less severe on water yield than previous studies in the Western U.S. have indicated. Increase in winter and early spring runoff may lead to increased flooding. Limitations and uncertainties of the study are discussed. (See also a related report, Development and Application of a Physically Based Distributed Parameter Rainfall Runoff Model in the Gunnison River Basin, T. Ryan, 64 pp. plus attachments, Mar. 1996 (NTIS or Bur. Reclamation).