Impacts of climate change on regulating nitrogen retention in the River Weiße Elster in Germany

Rode M., Boyacioglu H., Vetter T., Krysanova V.

Symposium HS04 on Water Quality: Current Trends and Expected Climate Change Impacts, Held During the 25th General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, IUGG 2011, Melbourne, Australia, 28 June - 07 July 2011, vol.348, pp.151-158 identifier

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Full Text
  • Volume: 348
  • City: Melbourne
  • Country: Australia
  • Page Numbers: pp.151-158
  • Keywords: Climate change, Denitrification, River water quality modeling, River Weiße Elster, Germany
  • Dokuz Eylül University Affiliated: No

Abstract

In this study, climate scenarios (dry, medium and wet) have been used to characterize changing climatic and flow conditions for the period 2050-2054 in the 4th order River Weiße Elster in Germany. Present and future periods of nitrogen turnover were simulated with the WASP5 river water quality model. Results revealed that, for a dry climate scenario, the mean denitriftcation rate was 71% higher during summer (low flow period between 2050 and 2054) and 51% higher during winter (high flow period) compared to the reference period. In the 42-km study reach, N-retention through denitriftcation amounted to 5.1% of the upper boundary N load during summer low flow conditions during the reference period. For the future dry climate scenario, this value increased by up to 10.2%. In our case study, the investigated climate scenarios showed that future discharge changes may have a larger impact on denitrification rates than future temperature changes. Copyright © 2011 IAHS Press.