Climate change impact assessment of a river basin using CMIP5 climate models and the VIC hydrological model

Climate change has significant impacts on water availability in larger river basins. The present study evaluates the possible impacts of projected future daily rainfall (2011–2099) on the hydrology of a major river basin in peninsular India, the Godavari River Basin, (GRB), under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios. The study highlights a criteria-based approach for selecting the CMIP5 GCMs, based on their fidelity in simulating the Indian Summer Monsoon rainfall. The nonparametric kernel regression based statistical downscaling model is employed to project future daily rainfall and the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) macroscale hydrological model is used for hydrological simulations. The results indicate an increase in future rainfall without significant change in the spatial pattern of hydrological variables in the GRB. The climate-change-induced projected hydrological changes provide a crucial input to define water resource policies in the GRB. This methodology can be adopted for the climate change impacts assessment of larger river basins worldwide.