Studies on water resources salinization along the Italian coast: 30 years of work

The population density on the Italian coasts is twice the national average. Numerous urban, economic, and productive settlements lie along the coast, which in many areas have altered the natural characteristics of the territory. Moreover, recent climate change studies forecast large impacts on the hydrologic cycle in the Mediterranean. Thus, in the next years, coastal water resources will be gradually more stressed. This in turn may result in a progressive salinization, which is a widespread and worrying phenomenon worldwide. In this paper, the historical and geographical distribution of peer-review studies focusing on the salinization of water resources along the Italian coasts will be critically discussed.

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Evaluation of the Impact of Climate Change on Runoff Generation in an Andean Glacier Watershed

Water ◽

10.3390/w12123547 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (12) ◽

pp. 3547

Author(s):

Rossana Escanilla-Minchel ◽

Hernán Alcayaga ◽

Marco Soto-Alvarez ◽

Christophe Kinnard ◽

Roberto Urrutia

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Water Resources ◽

Emission Scenario ◽

Water Discharge ◽

Climate Change Scenarios ◽

Climate Trend ◽

Snow Storage ◽

South Central ◽

Recent Climate ◽

The Impact

Excluding Antarctica and Greenland, 3.8% of the world’s glacier area is concentrated in Chile. The country has been strongly affected by the mega drought, which affects the south-central area and has produced an increase in dependence on water resources from snow and glacier melting in dry periods. Recent climate change has led to an elevation of the zero-degree isotherm, a decrease in solid-state precipitation amounts and an accelerated loss of glacier and snow storage in the Chilean Andes. This situation calls for a better understanding of future water discharge in Andean headwater catchments in order to improve water resources management in glacier-fed populated areas. The present study uses hydrological modeling to characterize the hydrological processes occurring in a glacio-nival watershed of the central Andes and to examine the impact of different climate change scenarios on discharge. The study site is the upper sub-watershed of the Tinguiririca River (area: 141 km2), of which nearly 20% is covered by Universidad Glacier. The semi-distributed Snowmelt Runoff Model + Glacier (SRM+G) was forced with local meteorological data to simulate catchment runoff. The model was calibrated on even years and validated on odd years during the 2008–2014 period and found to correctly reproduce daily runoff. The model was then forced with downscaled ensemble projected precipitation and temperature series under the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios, and the glacier adjusted using a volume-area scaling relationship. The results obtained for 2050 indicate a decrease in mean annual discharge (MAD) of 18.1% for the lowest emission scenario and 43.3% for the most pessimistic emission scenario, while for 2100 the MAD decreases by 31.4 and 54.2%, respectively, for each emission scenario. Results show that decreasing precipitation lead to reduced rainfall and snowmelt contributions to discharge. Glacier melt thus partly buffers the drying climate trend, but our results show that the peak water occurs near 2040, after which glacier depletion leads to reducing discharge, threatening the long-term water resource availability in this region.

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Water Resources and Climate Change

Environmental Science ◽

10.1093/obo/9780199363445-0119 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Peter Gleick

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Water Resources ◽

Hydrologic Cycle ◽

Ice Dynamics ◽

Sea Levels ◽

Precipitation Patterns ◽

The Past ◽

Wide Range ◽

The World ◽

Snow And Ice

Natural and human-caused climate changes are strongly linked to the hydrologic cycle and freshwater resources. The hydrological cycle is a core part of climate dynamics involving all three common forms of water—ice, liquid, vapor—and the movement of water around the world. Changes in climate affect all aspects of the hydrologic cycle itself through alterations in temperature, precipitation patterns, storm frequency and intensity, snow and ice dynamics, the stocks and flows of water on land, and connections between sea levels and coastal wetlands and ecosystems. In addition, many of the social, economic, and political impacts of climate change are expected to be felt through changes in natural water resources and developed water systems and infrastructure. Extensive research extending back a century or more has been conducted around the world on all the subsection categories presented below. Despite many remaining uncertainties, major advances in basic scientific understanding of the complex processes surrounding freshwater and climate have been made in the past decadet. New ground- and space-based sensors collect far more water- and climate-related data in the 21st century than in the past. Improvements in both regional and global hydrological and climatological modeling have permitted far greater understanding of water and climate links and risks. And more water management institutions and managers are beginning to integrate information about past and future climatic variability into water system planning, design, and construction. Recent observational evidence indicates that the impacts of human-caused climatic changes can now be observed in some regions for a wide range of water resources, including changing evaporative demand associated with rising temperatures, dramatic changes in snow and ice, alterations in precipitation patterns and storm, rising sea levels, and effects on aquatic ecosystems.

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The Issue of Groundwater Salinization in Coastal Areas of the Mediterranean Region: A Review

Water ◽

10.3390/w13010090 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 90

Author(s):

Micòl Mastrocicco ◽

Nicolò Colombani

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Water Resources ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Numerical Models ◽

Mediterranean Area ◽

Coastal Areas ◽

Gis Mapping ◽

Aquifer Management ◽

Recent Climate ◽

The Mediterranean

The Mediterranean area is undergoing intensive demographic, social, cultural, economic, and environmental changes. This generates multiple environmental pressures such as increased demand for water resources, generation of pollution related to wastewater discharge, and land consumption. In the Mediterranean area, recent climate change studies forecast large impacts on the hydrologic cycle. Thus, in the next years, surface and ground-water resources will be gradually more stressed, especially in coastal areas. In this review paper, the historical and geographical distribution of peer-review studies and the main mechanisms that promote aquifer salinization in the Mediterranean area are critically discussed, providing the state of the art on topics such as actual saltwater wedge characterization, paleo-salinities in coastal areas, water-rock interactions, geophysical techniques aimed at delineating the areal and vertical extent of saltwater intrusion, management of groundwater overexploitation using numerical models and GIS mapping techniques for aquifer vulnerability to salinization. Each of the above-mentioned approaches has potential advantages and drawbacks; thus, the best tactic to tackle coastal aquifer management is to employ a combination of approaches. Finally, the number of studies focusing on predictions of climate change effects on coastal aquifers are growing but are still very limited and surely need further research.

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