Mountain hydrology, impacts of torrentiality of snowfall on fluvial regime in Mediterranean regions, and implications for reservoir operationality
María J. Polo
University of Córdoba, Andalusian Institute for Earth System Research
Tuesday, February 4th
h. 11:30
AULA TRASPORTI (viale Risorgimento 2, Bologna)
Abstract: Mountains are "water towers" that provide storage and supply services to downstream areas, and constitute the major source of water resources and streamflow in arid and semiarid regions. Mediterranean mountain basins share relevant features than make snow dynamics different from temperate and higher latitude areas, and the observed trend towards torrentiality mayo have a significant impact on snow-influenced rivers, on their seasonal, annual, and decadal regimes.
We will present these impacts and discuss already-assumed paradigms on snowpacks inputs to surface and groundwater, and provide a new sight on the expected shifts in the hydrology of snow-dominated basins in Mediterranean regions, and their implications for water resource planning and management on both the short and long term. For this, research and transfer of results to decision making stakeholders during the last 15 years in Sierra Nevada, southern Spain, are presented together with similarities throughout Mediterranean regions.