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Impacts of Climate Change on Water Resources: Assessment and Modeling, 3rd Edition

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water and Climate Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026 | Viewed by 1308

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Hydrology and Water Management, Adam Mickiewicz University, 61-712 Poznań, Poland
Interests: flow regime; flow seasonality; thermal conditions; water chemistry; ice phenomena; climate change; human activity; methods of detecting changes and classifying river regimes
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Water resources are a national source of wealth, and their availability is essential to sustain life and human activities. The amount and availability of water resources in the world vary spatially and temporally, with an increasing number of places facing severe water shortages.

It is predicted that climate change will significantly affect the spatiotemporal distribution of water resources, leading to the transformation of the water cycle in the catchment and changes in the structure of the water balance. An increase in deep low flows in rivers is expected, which may reduce surface water and groundwater resources. In lowland catchments, evapotranspiration will increase at the expense of water resources, causing a reduction. The acceleration of the hydrological cycle may lead to increasingly frequent water-related extreme events, including droughts and floods. The expected changes in water resource availability may result in periodic deficits in the water supplied to the population, as well as shortages in agriculture and forestry, which could entail severe socioeconomic losses.

Being aware of these threats and taking action to mitigate their future effects is necessary.

Current forecasts of water consumption trends resulting from socioeconomic development and the climatic changes that overlap with them are subject to considerable uncertainty. Climate models (including global circulation of the atmosphere) and demographic and economic development models do not yet enable precise projections of changes in the hydrological cycle and water resource availability.

This Special Issue invites researchers to present their results of new findings from the assessment and modeling of hydrological processes and water resources under the conditions of climate change, regularities in their spatiotemporal variability in relation to water management, and the related threats.

Prof. Dr. Leszek Sobkowiak
Prof. Dr. Dariusz Wrzesiński
Guest Editors

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • water resources
  • water use
  • surface water
  • ground water
  • variability
  • projections of change
  • water regime
  • seasonality
  • changes in lake water resources
  • modeling changes

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 11722 KB  
Article
Modeling Spatiotemporal Streamflow Patterns in the Missouri River Basin Under Future Climate Scenarios
by Benjamin Donkor, Zhulu Lin and Siew Hoon Lim
Water 2026, 18(7), 858; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18070858 - 2 Apr 2026
Viewed by 470
Abstract
Understanding the spatiotemporal streamflow patterns under future climate scenarios is critical for sustainable water resource management in large river basins. This study applied the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), forced by five downscaled and bias-corrected CMIP6 global climate models, to evaluate historical [...] Read more.
Understanding the spatiotemporal streamflow patterns under future climate scenarios is critical for sustainable water resource management in large river basins. This study applied the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), forced by five downscaled and bias-corrected CMIP6 global climate models, to evaluate historical (2008–2024) and future (2025–2049) streamflow patterns in the Missouri River Basin in the continental United States. Model calibration and validation were satisfactory, with NSE > 0.5, KGE ≥ 0.5, R2 > 0.5, and PBIAS within ±25% at most USGS gauge stations. Future projections indicate spatially and temporally variable hydrological responses: The upper basin (Bismarck, North Dakota) is projected to experience lower flows across most percentiles and reduced extreme events, whereas the lower basin (Hermann, Missouri) shows decreased median flows but higher extremes. Recurrence interval analysis of 2-, 5-, 10-, 50-, 100-, and 500-year flows suggests that 100-year flows may decline by 11% at Bismarck and increase by 37.4% at Hermann. These results highlight the importance of integrating percentile-based and extreme event streamflow analyses with hydrologic modeling for assessing the spatiotemporal streamflow patterns under future climate scenarios in large-scale basins. Quantitative insights into future streamflow variability and its implications for flood risk mitigation, water resources management, and adaptive strategies were gained for one of North America’s largest river systems. Full article
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17 pages, 2662 KB  
Article
Seasonal and Spatial Variations in General Extreme Value (GEV) Distribution Shape Parameter for Estimating Extreme Design Rainfall in Tasmania
by Iqbal Hossain, Shirley Gato-Trinidad and Monzur Alam Imteaz
Water 2026, 18(3), 319; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18030319 - 27 Jan 2026
Viewed by 472
Abstract
This paper demonstrates seasonal variations in the generalised extreme value (GEV) distribution shape parameter and discrepancies in GEV types within the same location. Daily rainfall data from 26 rain gauge stations located in Tasmania were used as a case study. Four GEV distribution [...] Read more.
This paper demonstrates seasonal variations in the generalised extreme value (GEV) distribution shape parameter and discrepancies in GEV types within the same location. Daily rainfall data from 26 rain gauge stations located in Tasmania were used as a case study. Four GEV distribution parameter estimation techniques, such as MLE, GMLE, Bayesian, and L-moments, were used to determine the shape parameter of the distribution. With the estimated shape parameter, the spatial variations under different seasons were investigated through GIS interpolation maps. As there is strong evidence that shape parameters potentially vary across locations, spatial analysis focusing on the shape parameter across Tasmania (Australia) was performed. The outcomes of the analysis revealed that the shape parameters exhibit their highest and lowest values in winter, with a range from −0.234 to 0.529. The analysis of the rainfall data revealed that there is significant variation in the shape parameters among the seasons. The magnitude of the shape parameter decreases with elevation, and a non-linear relationship exists between these two parameters. This study extends knowledge on the current framework of GEV distribution shape parameter estimation techniques at the regional scale, enabling the adoption of appropriate GEV types and, thus, the appropriate determination of design rainfall to reduce hazards and protect our environments. Full article
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