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Climate change in northern Patagonia: critical decrease in water resources

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Abstract

The current study presents an assessment of the impact of climate change on water yield, one of the main hydrological ecosystem services, in northern Patagonia. The outputs of regional climate models from the CORDEX Project for South America were used to drive the InVEST water yield model. CORDEX regional climate models project for the far future (2071–2100) an increase in temperature higher than 1.5 °C and a precipitation decrease ranging from − 10 to − 30% for the study area. The projected warmer and dryer climate emerges as a robust signal based on model agreement and on consistent physical drivers of these changes. Moreover, both the projected increase in evapotranspiration and the decrease in precipitation contribute to a strong decrease in water yield of around − 20 to − 40% in the headwaters of northern Patagonian watersheds. Comparison of the results in the two basins reveals that the land cover may be considered a buffer of water yield changes and highlights the key role of protected areas in reducing the vulnerability of water resources to climate change.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks go to the CORDEX Project and partner institutions for making climate data available and to Dr. Jesus Fernandez and Dra. Rosmeri Porfirio da Rocha for providing WRF and RegCM4 outputs for South America, respectively.

Funding

This research was funded by FONCYT Grants PICT 2014–1890 and by the Network for the Conservation of Patagonian River Ecosystems (CONICET and The Nature Conservancy) (Resolution 3213/2).This research is framed also within the P-UE CONICET N° 22,920,160,100,044.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Patagónico para el Estudio de los Ecosistemas Continentales (IPEEC-CCT CENPAT CONICET), Puerto Madryn, Argentina

    Pessacg Natalia

  2. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco, Trelew, Argentina

    Flaherty Silvia

  3. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera (CIMA/CONICET-UBA), DCAO/FCEN, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Solman Silvina

  4. Instituto Patagónico para el Estudio de los Ecosistemas Continentales (IPEEC-CCT CENPAT CONICET), Puerto Madryn, Argentina

    Pascual Miguel

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  1. Pessacg Natalia
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Natalia, P., Silvia, F., Silvina, S. et al. Climate change in northern Patagonia: critical decrease in water resources. Theor Appl Climatol 140, 807–822 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-020-03104-8

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