Water and global change
This Integrated Project Water and Global Change (WATCH),
funded under the EU FP6, will bring together the hydrological, water
resources and climate communities to analyse, quantify and predict the
components of the current and future global water cycles and related
water resources states; evaluate their uncertainties and clarify the
overall vulnerability of global water resources related to the main
societal and economic sectors.
The list of the WATCH participants
| Project number |
036946-2 |
| Subject(s) |
HYDRAULICS - HYDROLOGY
,
MEASUREMENTS AND INSTRUMENTATION
,
METHTODOLOGY - STATISTICS - DECISION AID
,
POLICY-WATER POLICY AND WATER MANAGEMENT
,
RISKS AND CLIMATOLOGY
|
| Acronym |
WATCH |
| Geographical coverage |
United Kingdom, Netherlands, Denmark, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Norway, Spain, Austria, Portugal, Spain, Slovak Republic |
| Budget (in €) |
12969729 |
| Programme |
INCO MED (FP6) |
| Web site |
http://www.eu-watch.org/ |
| Objectives |
- To integrate modelling of the water cycle into global and regional climate models
- To better quantify possible changes in the water cycle due to
human influences and climate change in the period 2000-2100 - esp.
floods and droughts
- To assess impacts of the changes on agriculture, industry, energy, drinking water supplies and the environment
- To analyse and describe the current global water cycle
- To evaluate how the global water cycle and its extremes respond to future drivers of global change
- To evaluate feedbacks in the coupled system as they affect the global water cycle
- To develop a modelling and data framework to assess the future vulnerability of water as a resource
|
| Results |
-
analyse and describe the current global water cycle,
especially causal chains leading to observable changes in extremes
(droughts and floods)
-
evaluate how the global water cycle and its extremes
respond to future drivers of global change (including greenhouse gas
release and land cover change)
-
evaluate feedbacks in the coupled system as they affect the global water cycle
-
evaluate the uncertainties in the predictions of
coupled climate-hydrological- land-use models using a combination of
model ensembles and observations
-
develop an enhanced (modelling) framework to assess
the future vulnerability of water as a resource, and in relation to
water/climate related vulnerabilities and risks of the major water
related sectors, such as agriculture, nature and utilities (energy,
industry and drinking water sector)
-
provide comprehensive quantitative and qualitative
assessments and predictions of the vulnerability of the water resources
and water-/climate-related vulnerabilities and risks for the 21st
century
-
collaborate intensively with the key leading research groups on water cycle and water resources in USA and Japan
-
collaborate intensively in dissemination of its scientific results with major research programmes worldwide (WCRP, IGBP)
-
collaborate intensively in dissemination of its
practical and applied results with major water resources and water
management platforms and professional organisations worldwide (WWC,
IWA) and at a scale of 5 selected river basins in Europe.
- WB1 will consolidate
gridded data sets, improve the hydrological representation of hydrology
in hydrological models and investigate the 20th century global water
cycle using a combination of models and data.
- WB2 will provide
gridded estimates of population, land use and water requirements for
the 20th and 21st centuries for use in the other Work Blocks.
- WB3 will produce multi-model based projections for the terrestrial components of the global water cycle for the 21st century. This will include projections globally and for two contrasting regions. A full uncertainty analysis will be provided.
- WB4 will advance
our knowledge on the impact of global change on hydrological extremes,
including spatial and temporal patterns of droughts and large-scale
floods.
- WB5 will provide
a global and regional analysis of feedbacks between the land surface
and climate system using a fusion of models and data.
- WB6 will develop
a unified water resources modelling and risk assessment framework, and
use that generate more reliable, consolidated, quantitative assessments
of the past and future states of water resources.
- WB7 will deliver the management and
organizational structures and processes to ensure the effective
delivery of WATCH integrated and to maximize the benefits of this
research to all stakeholders, by using the most effective knowledge
transfer through the project's training and dissemination activities.
|
| Period |
[01/02/2007 - 31/12/2009]
|
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