Journal
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
Volume 38, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
DOI: 10.1029/2011GL049660
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- California Energy Commission through California Climate Change Center
- NOAA
- Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington
- DOE [DOE DE-SC0002000]
- Office of Science, US Department of Energy (DOE)
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Warm season climate warming will be a key driver of annual streamflow changes in four major river basins of the western U.S., as shown by hydrological model simulations using fixed precipitation and idealized seasonal temperature changes based on climate projections with SRES A2 forcing. Warm season (April-September) warming reduces streamflow throughout the year; streamflow declines both immediately and in the subsequent cool season. Cool season (October-March) warming, by contrast, increases streamflow immediately, partially compensating for streamflow reductions during the subsequent warm season. A uniform warm season warming of 3 C drives a wide range of annual flow declines across the basins: 13.3%, 7.2%, 1.8%, and 3.6% in the Colorado, Columbia, Northern and Southern Sierra basins, respectively. The same warming applied during the cool season gives annual declines of only 3.5%, 1.7%, 2.1%, and 3.1%, respectively. Citation: Das, T., D. W. Pierce, D. R. Cayan, J. A. Vano, and D. P. Lettenmaier (2011), The importance of warm season warming to western U. S. streamflow changes, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L23403, doi: 10.1029/2011GL049660.
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