Nature has remained in balance for a long time, but climate change due to modern human activities is disrupting the balance of the natural system.
Nature has remained in balance for a long time, but climate change due to modern human activities is disrupting the balance of the natural system. The disruption makes it more difficult for humans – who must work with nature to survive – to predict the future. Moreover, developing countries with limited understanding and preparation for climate change are more vulnerable to climate change-driven social and economic damage. Recently, a research team from POSTECH corrected the biases of future regional climate model projection data to better understand seasonal changes in the streamflow regime in Pakistan’s four main rivers in mid and late 21st Century.
POSTECH’S research team led by Professor Jonghun Kam (Division of Environmental Science and Engineering) and post-graduate researcher Shahid Ali assessed the past and future changes in streamflow timing of the four major river basins of Pakistan including Upper Indus, Kabul, Jhelum, and Chenab River basins. The research team used observational data and bias-corrected hydrological projections. This study was recently published in the Journal of Hydrology.
Hydrology mainly deals with the cycle of water on Earth and the use of surface water. As the science explores the complexity of the natural water flow, various assumptions, statistics, and mathematical techniques, instead of reproduction in the lab, are used to study precipitation, runoff, infiltration, and streamflow and provide basic knowledge and data for the use of water resources. However, climate change and human activities are changing the water cycle itself, rendering it difficult to solve future problems with past knowledge and data.
Read more at Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH)
Photo Credit: Abdullah_Shakoor via Pixabay
