RESUMEN
India has been considerably affected by droughts in the recent past. Despite the considerable impacts of droughts on agriculture and water resources, long-term datasets to examine droughts and their consequences at appropriate spatial and temporal scales have been lacking in India. Datasets that provide drought information are mostly available for a short period and at coarser resolutions, therefore, these do not comprehend the information regarding the major droughts that occurred in the distant past at administrative scales of decision-making. To fill this critical gap, we developed the high-resolution (0.05°) and long-term monthly precipitation and temperature datasets for the 1901-2021 period. We used long-term high-resolution precipitation and temperature to estimate droughts using standardized precipitation and evapotranspiration index (SPEI). As SPEI considers the role of air temperature in drought estimation, it can be used to examine meteorological, agricultural, and hydrological droughts. Using high-resolution SPEI, we developed drought atlas for India (1901-2020) that can provide comprehensive information on drought occurrence, impacts, and risks in India.
RESUMEN
Streamflow is a vital component of the global water cycle. Long-term streamflow observations are required for water resources planning and management, hydroclimatic extremes analysis, and ecological assessment. However, long-term streamflow observations for the Indian-Subcontinental (ISC) river basins are lacking. Using meteorological observations, state-of-the-art hydrological model, and river routing model, we developed hydrological model-simulated monthly streamflow from 1951-2021 for the ISC river basins. We used high-resolution vector-based routing model (mizuRoute) to generate streamflow at 9579 stream reaches in the sub-continental river basins. The model-simulated streamflow showed good performance against the observed flow with coefficient of determination (R2) and Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) above 0.70 for more than 60% of the gauge stations. The dataset was used to examine the variability in low, average, and high flow across the streams. Long-term changes in streamflow showed a significant decline in flow in the Ganga basin while an increase in the semi-arid western India and Indus basin. Long-term streamflow can be used for planning water management and climate change adaptation in the Indian sub-continent.
RESUMEN
Hydropower is a significant contributor to clean global electricity generation; therefore, it plays a crucial role in climate change mitigation. Notwithstanding major hydropower dams in India are in diverse climatic regions and exposed to risks because of the warming climate, potential changes in hydroclimate remain largely unexplored. Using observations and climate projections, we demonstrate the hydroclimatic changes in the upstream catchments and their implications for the hydropower generation of 46 major hydropower dams in India. A warmer (up to 5.0°C) and wetter projected climate with a substantial increase (5.0-33%) in precipitation will lead to an increased (7-70%) inflow to reservoirs of major dams. Increased inflow will enhance (9-36%) the hydropower production for most dams in the future, with a more prominent rise in central India dams. A simultaneous rise in extreme inflow and high reservoir storage conditions is projected under future climate for most dams. However, future climate changes project a favorable hydroclimate for hydropower production, with the associated risks related to extremes.