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Title: A REVIEW OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND SOCIETAL IMPACTS ON GROUNDWATER: IMPLICATIONS FOR A UNESCO INITIATIVE

Author
item TANIGUCHI, MAKOTO - RES INST HUMANITY & NATUR
item Green, Timothy
item AURELI, ALICE - UNESCO, PARIS, FRANCE

Submitted to: American Geophysical Union
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/1/2004
Publication Date: 10/31/2004
Citation: Taniguchi, M., Green, T.R., Aureli, A. 2004. A review of climate change and societal impacts on groundwater: implications for a UNESCO initiative. Eos Trans. American Geophysical Union. 85(47), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract H21F-1085. 2004.

Interpretive Summary: Global change issues have gained widespread interests, but hydrologic studies of the effects have been largely limited to surface and very near-surface processes. Global climate change/variability and human activities may also have pronounced effects on groundwater systems, including groundwater storage and fluxes (recharge and discharge rates). A new initiative in collaboration with the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP) will address various subjects (groundwater fluxes, storage, and quality), methods (simulation, data analysis, remote sensing, and paleo-reconstruction), and regions of the world. The aim is to investigate a range of high-priority research areas, including: 1) spatial and temporal scaling issues; 2) quantitative plant physiology and succession for environmental stress responses; 3) hydrological boundary conditions, including sea-level and snow-pack changes; 4) coupled atmospheric-hydrologic-oceanographic processes and their feedbacks; and 5) feedbacks associated with societal adjustments in land/water resource management. In this presentation, we review published and ongoing investigations in these areas to identify knowledge gaps and potential for collaborative research under the umbrella of a proposed international project on Groundwater Resources Assessments under the Pressures of Humanity and Climate change (GRAPHiC).

Technical Abstract: Global change issues have gained widespread interests, but hydrologic studies of the effects have been largely limited to surface and very near-surface processes. Global climate change/variability and human activities may also have pronounced effects on groundwater systems, including groundwater storage and fluxes (recharge and discharge rates). A new initiative in collaboration with the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP) will address various subjects (groundwater fluxes, storage, and quality), methods (simulation, data analysis, remote sensing, and paleo-reconstruction), and regions of the world. The aim is to investigate a range of high-priority research areas, including: 1) spatial and temporal scaling issues; 2) quantitative plant physiology and succession for environmental stress responses; 3) hydrological boundary conditions, including sea-level and snow-pack changes; 4) coupled atmospheric-hydrologic-oceanographic processes and their feedbacks; and 5) feedbacks associated with societal adjustments in land/water resource management. In this presentation, we review published and ongoing investigations in these areas to identify knowledge gaps and potential for collaborative research under the umbrella of a proposed international project on Groundwater Resources Assessments under the Pressures of Humanity and Climate change (GRAPHiC).