TY - JOUR
T1 - Stable water isotopes as tools for basin-scale water cycle
T2 - Diagnosis of the Murray-Darling
AU - Henderson-Sellers, A.
AU - Airey, P.
AU - McGuffie, K.
AU - Stone, D. J M
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - We examine the hypothesis that isotopic techniques are applicable to hydrological predictions in difficult-to-simulate semi-arid basins, using the Murray-Darling Basin as an example. Isotopic data from three aquifers in the Murray-Darling characterize precipitation intensity for evaluation of GCMs. Applying these to 'good' (water conserving) and 'poor' (non-water-conserving) climate model simulations of the Murray-Darling gives rise to large differences in rainfall amount (30-62%). Selecting only 'good' models shows a greater than 150 mm annual groundwater recharge loss in El Niño cf. La Niña climates. 2002-2003 El Niño drought data are used to refine isotopic calculation of water lost in evaporation from rivers and irrigation, giving a cumulative loss of 64% of river water during 2002 (cf. 80% using a previous method). This substantiates recent identification of this El Niño drought as evaporatively most extreme and we conclude that stable water isotopes, used synergistically with hydro-climate models, have great potential in future water resource predictions.
AB - We examine the hypothesis that isotopic techniques are applicable to hydrological predictions in difficult-to-simulate semi-arid basins, using the Murray-Darling Basin as an example. Isotopic data from three aquifers in the Murray-Darling characterize precipitation intensity for evaluation of GCMs. Applying these to 'good' (water conserving) and 'poor' (non-water-conserving) climate model simulations of the Murray-Darling gives rise to large differences in rainfall amount (30-62%). Selecting only 'good' models shows a greater than 150 mm annual groundwater recharge loss in El Niño cf. La Niña climates. 2002-2003 El Niño drought data are used to refine isotopic calculation of water lost in evaporation from rivers and irrigation, giving a cumulative loss of 64% of river water during 2002 (cf. 80% using a previous method). This substantiates recent identification of this El Niño drought as evaporatively most extreme and we conclude that stable water isotopes, used synergistically with hydro-climate models, have great potential in future water resource predictions.
KW - GCMs
KW - Groundwater recharge
KW - River models
KW - Stable water isotopes
KW - Water resources
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77956672599&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S1569-4860(05)08024-1
DO - 10.1016/S1569-4860(05)08024-1
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:77956672599
VL - 8
SP - 307
EP - 316
JO - Radioactivity in the Environment
JF - Radioactivity in the Environment
SN - 1569-4860
IS - C
ER -