Climate change induced modifications of hydro-meteorological extreme events and their impacts on water resources for agriculture in the Mediterranean
<p>It is common today to consider that climate is expected to change or even climate change is present and evident.&#160; A changing climate leads to changes in the frequency, intensity, spatial extent, duration, and timing of climate extremes, and may result in unprecedented events. Changes in extremes of a climate variable are not always related in a simple way to changes in the mean of the same variable or a hydrological variable, and in some cases may be of opposite sign to a change in the mean of the variable.&#160; Also, the changes vary from one geographical region to another.&#160;&#160; In this review paper, examples of climate change impact studies on hydro-meteorological extremes, i.e. extreme precipitation, floods and droughts, in the Mediterranean region, are presented and discussed.&#160; In this geographical area, agriculture is the main consumer of water, demanding 60-90% of the total water use. The impacts of the climate change induced modifications of hydro-meteorological extremes and water management practices on the availability of surface water and groundwater resources are also discussed.</p>