WATCH Water and Global Change. Newsletter no. 1

WATCH is an integrated project funded by the EU and is co-ordinated by CEH Wallingford. This project aims to unite researchers to evaluate the global water cycle's response to current and future drivers of climate change. In this first newsletter we describe the project objectives, the progress made in the first year and detail the outcomes of the model intercomparison workshop

Evaluation of the global water cycle's response to current and future drivers of climate change

Understanding the water cycle and how it will be modified by climate change is a real challenge. With increasing temperatures the hydrological cycle is expected to intensify and extreme event will become more widespread. Some expected outcomes are more intense rainfall events, which can lead to increased floods and increased erosion; as well as a more intermittent pattern of rainfall leading to droughts. These effects are anticipated to occur on a global scale and an integrated approach is needed to study them. Uniting the different research communities active in the area of climate and water is fundamental to improving our understanding of the current situation. Improving our modelling capabilities as well as the necessary driving data is needed to enhance our understanding of the processes involved in a changing water cycle. One mechanism is through the intercomparison of the current models used to describe the components of the water cycle. Another is to compare models with observations at the regional basin scale level. Our ability to develop a global evaluation of the changing water cycle and examine it at a regional level makes it “simpler” to interpret model predictions. A better quantification of current water cycle is needed to assess the vulnerability of global and European water resources

SPI-CIS WFD: Using knowledge exchange to improve end-user participation

Too often the knowledge resources of research scientists are under exploited, and there is a need for better engagement with policy makers, industry, and other stakeholders. Water scarcity, both quantity and quality, is an issue facing many end-users and the tools for prediction and management need to be based on the most recent and relevant science available. A strong cooperation between the research community and end-users is needed and this role can be filled by coherent knowledge exchange. This concept is at times poorly recognised but can be a quite powerful means to deliver science results to key users. There is a need for changing the perception of research outputs as peer review work and the correct language is important here. By providing the peer review journal results in a readily readable format opens the door for more general discussions on the needs of the end-users. At present we are fortunate to have a wide variety of communication tools to call on, from social media (YouTube, twitter etc.) to traditional print publications in order to communicate with diverse audiences. A recently finished 5 year project WATCH (Water and Global Change) has used a number of these media to communicate projects findings. This approach of summarising the findings in one report plus YouTube and specialised websites has greatly increased the visibility of the project and its impact. The result of this extra effort has led to a significant amount of global attention. This greater awareness of the project results and findings has facilitated dialogues between researchers and end-users. New partnerships have been established with industry that has previously not had a history of functioning with researchers directly. The benefits of more traditional meetings that unite different end-users in a common dialogue or workshop event should not be under estimated. Researchers are providing scientific information to underpin future policy however, industry and other key players in the chain need to work alongside researchers to integrate these findings. Bringing together policy makers, industry, retail and research communities in a single discussion aimed at establishing and promoting a constructive dialogue between these different sectors, can lead to greater understanding and generate lasting solutions. A recently completed workshop on Nitrogen pollution provides a case study of how such an event can drive action and highlight the research needs for industry, but also ensure relevance of future policy. Such an open dialogue is immensely valuable as its outcomes are based on the views from different sectors. Uniting these different sectors can be challenging but providing a platform where researchers, retailers and policy makers can discuss their points of view is indispensable for addressing the environmental challenges of today. The benefits of sound Knowledge Exchange should be recognised as a two way discussion with the research community providing data and understanding of the issues and stakeholder/managers helping to drive the future questions and new areas of research

Quick Guide: Water Quality and Climate Change

Guidance notes for teachers at GCSE level on the topic of water quality and climate change. Eutrophication (overloading of nutrients) to our water ways negatively impacts the ecosystem. Climate change factors are expected to compound the eutrophication problems of water bodies. These facts as well as classroom activities are described in the guidance notes

iLEAPS report on The WATCH IP: Water and Global Change. IGBP Annual Progress Report

WATCH is a integrated project bringing together the hydrological, water resources and climate communities to analyse, quantify and predict the components of the current (20th C) and future (21st C) global water cycle. The project aims to evaluate the uncertainties of, and clarify the overall vulnerability of, global water resources related to the main societal and economic sectors. Over the past year the WATCH project has brought together cross cutting activities, underpinned by the production of common data sets accompanied by increasing understanding across the community. The major output of the 20th century analysis has been the delivery of the WATCH Forcing Data (WFD). An important aspect of this data set has been the extensive testing programme, for example against FLUXNET data series. This landmark dataset has been well received across the WATCH community and is generating considerable interest from the wider community. It is being used as a basis of analysis in most of the other parts of the project, in particular within the WaterMIP project as well as by regional river basin modellers

Report on event supported by RCUK Office in China

This workshop, overall, was a success, it was well organised and was run smoothly. The participants were able to engage in discussions and the schedule and meeting facilities enabled discussions after each speaker. At the end of each session an indepth discussion was monitored by the chairpersons. The use of dual chair persons and reports encouraged the participants from China and the EU (who has never met before the workshop) to work together. A key aim of this event was to bring together the climate water communities of China, the UK and EU. Additionally we wished to highlight current and future projects operating in China and to identify funding organisations such as the EU, RCUK. These goals were, on the whole, fulfilled. An interesting outcome was the recognition by the Chinese participants that more dialogue between researchers in the field of climate and hydrology is needed; similarly this issue has only recently been recognised by the UK/EU community