Hydrological modelling of the glacierized headwater catchments in the Rhine Basin : : technical report

Abstract: Rain, snowmelt and glacier ice melt contribute to streamflow in the river Rhine basin. Due to climate change, these streamflow contributions are changing, affecting the amount of streamflow and its seasonal dynamics. In the ASG-II project, the daily streamflow components were quantified for the glacierized headwater catchments and the rest of the Rhine basin for the RCP8.5 future climate scenario, using a hydrological modelling framework. This report presents the methodology and the main modelling results for the glacierized headwater catchments in the Rhine basin. The synthesis report of the ASG-II project for the whole Rhine basin can be found here: https://www.chr-khr.org/en/publications. The HBV-light model was used to simulate streamflow of 66 glacierized catchments, 15 gauged and 51 ungauged (streamflow) catchments. The model was calibrated on streamflow, snow and glacier volume change data for the period 1973-2017 (depending on data availability), validated for the period 2018-2020, and used for the simulation of an ensemble of seven climate model projections for the RCP8.5 scenario for the period 1973-2100. The results show increasing flows in winter and decreasing flows in the summer. These changes have been occurring in the past but are projected to continue in the future. Snowmelt and rain are the most important streamflow contributors, and show strong decreasing trends in summer and autumn. The ice melt component shows an increasing trend for the past and has the highest relative contribution in August and September. The ice melt contribution is highest in the Aare headwaters (>20% in August), followed by Reuss, Linth and Alpenrhein headwaters. For the future, the total glacier area and volume are projected to steadily decline, and to almost completely disappear by 2090. This results in a diminishing ice melt component and together with earlier snowmelt and reduced snowpack, in strongly shifted hydrological regimes and declines in annual streamflow of 5.6% in the near future and 16.6% in the far future for all glacierized Rhine headwater catchments. The individual modelling of all streamflow components enables a differentiated planning and increased understanding of the changing hydrological processes due to climate change

Angaben zum Objekt

• Standort: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Umfang: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: Englisch

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wo): Freiburg
• (wer): Universität
• (wann): 2022
• Urheber: Tiel, Marit van ; Freudiger, Daphné ; Kohn, Irene ; Seibert, Jan ; Weiler, Markus ; Stahl, Kerstin
• Beteiligte Personen und Organisationen: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. Professur für Umwelthydrosysteme

Weitere Informationen

• DOI: 10.6094/UNIFR/226492
• URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:25-freidok-2264929
• Rechteinformation: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 15.08.2025, 07:26 MESZ