EGU2020-2189
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-2189
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Changes of groundwater recharge at different global warming levels: A global-scale multi-model ensemble approach

Robert Reinecke1, Hannes Müller Schmied2, and Petra Döll2
Robert Reinecke et al.
  • 1International Centre for Water Resources and Global Change, Koblenz, Germany
  • 2Institut für Physische Geographie, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany

Billions of people rely on groundwater that is an accessible source for drinking water and irrigation especially in times of drought. This importance will likely increase with a changing climate. It is still unclear, however, to what extent climate change will globally impact groundwater systems and thus the availability of this important resource. Groundwater recharge is a central indicator for groundwater availability but projections vary. In this talk we will present global-scale results of a multi-model ensemble approach incorporating eight global hydrological models and four global circulation models to show the impact of global warming (GW) on global groundwater recharge. Preindustrial and current (at 1 °C GW) groundwater recharge is compared with recharge for different GW levels as a result of different representative concentration pathways (RCPs). Results suggest that the uncertainty range is large and predictions with confidence can be only made for specific regions worldwide. Furthermore, because most hydrological models do not include CO2 driven vegetation processes we investigate how including the effect of changing CO2 into the calculation of future groundwater recharge impacts the results. In some regions, inclusion of these processes leads to differences in groundwater recharge changes of up to 100 mm/yr in case of 3 °C GW.

How to cite: Reinecke, R., Müller Schmied, H., and Döll, P.: Changes of groundwater recharge at different global warming levels: A global-scale multi-model ensemble approach, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-2189, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-2189, 2020

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