Hydrologic sensitivities of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River basin, California, to global warming

Technical Report · Sun Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:5674752

Lettenmaier, D P; Gan, T Y

The hydrologic sensitivities of four medium-sized mountainous catchments in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River basins to long-term global warming were analyzed. The hydrologic response of these catchments, all of which are dominated by spring snowmelt runoff, were simulated by the coupling of the snowmelt and the soil moisture accounting models of the U.S. National Weather Service River Forecast System. In all four catchments the global warming pattern, which was indexed to CO2 doubling scenarios simulated by three (global) general circulation models, produced a major seasonal shift in the snow accumulation pattern. Under the alternative climate scenarios more winter precipitation fell as rain instead of snow, and winter runoff increased while spring snowmelt runoff decreased. In addition, large increases in the annual flood maxima were simulated, primarily due to an increase in rain-on-snow events, with the time of ocurrence of many large floods shifting from spring to winter.

• Research Organization: Washington Univ., Seattle, WA (United States). Dept. of Civil Engineering
• OSTI ID: 5674752
• Report Number(s): PB-91-177279/XAB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
AIR-WATER INTERACTIONS
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
CALIFORNIA
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FEDERAL REGION IX
GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS
GLOBAL ASPECTS
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
HYDROLOGY
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NORTH AMERICA
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RAIN
RIVERS
RUNOFF
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
SIMULATION
SNOW
STREAMS
SURFACE WATERS
USA
VARIATIONS