Assessment and Monitoring Of Hydrometeorological Variables And Extreme Conditions for Present and Future Climate Change Scenarios

Abstract

Monitoring and assessment of Hydrological/hydrometeorological Variables (HVs) like streamflow, soil moisture, precipitation, and temperature are essential for various applications such as prediction/forecasting of natural hazards (e.g., droughts, floods, heatwaves, and landslides). Often impediments arise due to scarcity of gauges and/or records, which poses challenges for hydrological studies, especially in areas witnessing considerable spatiotemporal variability in climate conditions and regions with high heterogeneity in physiographical conditions (e.g., mountainous, hilly/undulating terrains). In recent decades, climate change has been deemed to be the cause of the intensification of natural hazards. Hence, effective monitoring of the associated HVs for the present conditions and assessing their future projections are essential for devising appropriate risk mitigation strategies and early warning systems. The thesis proposes novel methodologies for the optimal design of ground-based networks monitoring various HVs in univariate and multivariate frameworks (Chapters 2 to 4). Furthermore, to identify global hotspot areas that could be prioritized for establishing/developing monitoring networks, the spatiotemporal variability, and trends of wet, normal, and dry conditions are assessed, corresponding to various accumulation periods (Chapter 5). Additionally, analysis was conducted at global-, continental- and regional scales to assess the impacts of Meteorological Flash Droughts (MFDs) and changes in their trends and hotspot regions for present and five future CMIP6 climate change scenarios