Global Change and the Hydrological Cycle - Danube (GLOWA-Danube)

Description:

The aim of GLOWA-Danube is to investigate with different scenarios the impact of change in climate, population and land use on the water resources of the Upper Danube and to develop and evaluate regional adaptation strategies. For this purpose the decision support system DANUBIA was successfully set up within the first and second project stage (2001-2006). DANUBIA is a coupled simulation model. It includes for the first time model components for natural science as well as socio-economic processes and their interactions. With the intention of being predictive DANUBIA uses results of regional climate models for predictions on Climate Change. Physical and physiological components describe natural processes (hydrology, hydro-geology, plant physiology, yield, and glaciology). For the simulation in the included sectors (farming, economy, water supply companies, private households and tourism) DANUBIA uses deep multi-actors models which represent the decisions of the involved actors based on the structure of societies, their framework as well as their interests. All components of DANUBIA run parallel on an inexpensive LINUX-cluster. DANUBIA was carefully and successfully validated with comprehensive data sets of the years 1970-2005 and is now available in the third stage of the project for common use for project researchers and stakeholders. DANUBIA will be made available as “Open Source” at the end of the third project stage in 2010 and will particularly serve decision makers from policy, economy, and administration as tool for a foresighted planning of water resources against the background of Global Change.

Project information

Lead

Department of Geography, Faculty of Geosciences, ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat, Munich, Germany

Partners

IFOK-Institute for Organisational Communication, Bensheim, Germany Institute for Meteorology, LMU Munich, Germany Institute for Informatics, LMU Munich, Germany Institute for Hydraulic Engineering, University of Stuttgart, Germany Institute for Geographie, University of Cologne, Germany Institute for Meteorology and Geophysics, University of Innsbruck and Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Austria Center for Environmental Systems Research, University of Kassel, Germany Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, Ifo Institute, Germany Institute for Farm Management, University of Hohenheim, Germany Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology, MPI Hamburg, Germany LfU-Environmental Protection Agency of Bavaria, Hof, Germany

Source of funding

German Federal Ministry of Education and Research