Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141366
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Ensemble warming projections in Germany's largest drinking water reservoir and potential adaptation strategies
Author Mi, C.; Shatwell, T.; Ma, J.; Xu, Y.; Su, F.; Rinke, K.
Source Titel Science of the Total Environment
Year 2020
Department SEEFO
Volume 748
Page From art. 141366
Language englisch
Supplements https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0048969720348956-mmc1.docx
Keywords Rappbode Reservoir; Thermal structure; Climate change; CE-QUAL-W2; Selective water withdrawal
Abstract The thermal structure in reservoirs affects the development of aquatic ecosystems, and can be substantially influenced by climate change and management strategies. We applied a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model to explore the response of the thermal structure in Germany's largest drinking water reservoir, Rappbode Reservoir, to future climate projections and different water withdrawal strategies. We used projections for representative concentration pathways (RCP) 2.6, 6.0 and 8.5 from an ensemble of 4 different global climate models. Simulation results showed that epilimnetic water temperatures in the reservoir strongly increased under all three climate scenarios. Hypolimnetic temperatures remained rather constant under RCP 2.6 and RCP 6.0 but increased markedly under RCP 8.5. Under the intense warming in RCP 8.5, hypolimnion temperatures were projected to rise from 5 °C to 8 °C by the end of the century. Stratification in the reservoir was projected to be more stable under RCP 6.0 and RCP 8.5, but did not show significant changes under RCP 2.6. Similar results were found with respect to the light intensity within the mixed-layer. Moreover, the results suggested that surface withdrawal can be an effective adaptation strategy under strong climate warming (RCP 8.5) to reduce surface warming and avoid hypolimnetic warming. This study documents how global scale climate projections can be translated into site-specific climate impacts to derive adaptation strategies for reservoir operation. Moreover, our results illustrate that the most intense warming scenario, i.e. RCP 8.5, demands far-reaching climate adaptation while the mitigation scenario (RCP 2.6) does not require adaptation of reservoir management before 2100.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=23590
Mi, C., Shatwell, T., Ma, J., Xu, Y., Su, F., Rinke, K. (2020):
Ensemble warming projections in Germany's largest drinking water reservoir and potential adaptation strategies
Sci. Total Environ. 748 , art. 141366 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141366