SWAT and Wavelet analysis for understanding the climate change impact on hydrologic response

Abstract

Quantifying the hydrological response to an increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and climate change is important in a watershed scale particularly from the application point of view. The specific objectives are to evaluate the climate change impact on the future water yield at the outlet of Clinch River Watershed upstream of Norris Lake in Tennessee, USA and see how the frequency of extreme water yield (e.g. flood) changes compared to present condition. The predicted future climate change by climate change scenarios A2 from community climate system model (CCSM) is applied. The model was calibrated using monthly average stream flow data from 1970 to 1989 and validated using similar data from 1990 to 2009 collected at a USGS gauging station 03528000. Changes in monthly average stream flow were estimated for long term (around 2099). Results were also interpreted in the time-frequency domain approach by showing how frequency of occurrence changes based on A2 scenario.