Assessing future availability of water resources in Taiwan based on the Budyko framework

Assessing water resources availability in a changing climate is a determinant of promoting sustainable devel-opment in a region. Such assessment should better be inter-basin in order to unveil a region's overall risk, so a time-varying Budyko framework is developed and adopted in this study. Gauge-based gridded precipitation and temperature, in company with runoff data, were used to derive the Budyko curves for 75 catchments over Taiwan. Downscaled precipitation and temperature data from selected global climate models and Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) were then used to calculate the shifts in the Budyko space of each catchment. It was found that the Budyko-related variables (e.g., evaporative and aridity indices, and catchment-specific parameter) exhibited considerable variability island-wide, with a few outliers in certain catchments being modulated by distinct landscape features and/or human activities. Under all RCPs analyzed, the majority of catchments showed the magnified movement vectors pointing at the 1st quadrant in the Budyko space in the late -21st century, suggesting a predominant and aggravating drying trend over Taiwan. Cluster analysis of the movement vectors under RCP8.5, which entailed the least inter-model differences, identified three major clus-ters, two of which (64 catchments included) indicated a drying trend of varied significancy. According to our findings, without effective mitigation of climate change, an increased likelihood of the worst-case scenario will substantialize the reduced availability of Taiwan's water resources.

Automated summary

Assessing water availability in the context of climate change is crucial for promoting sustainable development. A time-varying Budyko framework was used to assess 75 catchments in Taiwan, revealing an aggravating drying trend in most catchments in the late 21st century.