Climate Change and the European Water Dimension - Agri ...

environmental and socio-economic changes. There are eleven projects integrated to
the CatchMod cluster at the moment (Blind, 2004).
Climate impact is specifically analysed within the project CLIME (Climate and Lake
Impacts in Europe; EVK1- CT- 2002 - 00121). The CLIME project aims to assess the
direct and indirect effects of changes in the weather on the dynamics of lakes.
Particular attention is paid to water quality variables that are used as diagnostic
elements in the Water Framework Directive. Many water quality problems that were
once thought to be due to local factors are now known to be influenced by variations
in the weather that operate on a global scale. If present trends continue, changes in
the weather will have a major effect on the dynamics of lakes throughout Europe. In
winter, the most pervasive effects are those associated with the North Atlantic
Oscillation but some important summer effects are related to the north-south
movements of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic.
Another research programme especially relevant to the EU Water Framework
Directive is the EURO - LIMPACS (http://www.eurolimpacs.ucl.ac.uk/) project funded
by the EU and designed to assess the effects of future global change on Europe’s
freshwater ecosystems. The work program will include the direct impacts of climate
change as well as its interactions with hydromorphology, eutrophication, acidification,
and toxic substances. Some of the key hypotheses checked within this project are:
1. Global change may cause hydromorphological deterioration of a water body
through intensification of land-use or through a more variable discharge
regime that results in habitat modifications and losses;
2. Alternatively, global change may cause significant improvement if, for
example, human disturbances are withdrawn from floodplains due to more
frequent flood events or as a result of floods that generate a near-natural
habitat structure.
3. Increased temperature will interact with continued high nutrient loading to
lakes that will increase the severity of eutrophication symptoms to an extent
greater than that expected from natural fluctuations in climate.
4. Predicted prolonged low-flow periods for stream and floodplain systems will
increase denitrification and sedimentation rates and that increased winter
flows will enhance the deposition of sediment-associated nutrients and
nitrogen removal rates.
5. The impact of climate change on acidification recovery is dependent on
hydrological and hydrochemical processes at the catchment scale.
6. Future climate change will influence the distribution patterns and mobility of
organic pollutants and toxic metals (e.g., lead, cadmium, mercury) in
freshwater systems and lead to changes in the uptake and accumulation of
these substances in freshwater food chains. The cycling and fate of both
organic and inorganic pollutants is intrinsically linked to the C cycle and
trophic status. Climate change influenced eutrophication will alter the
biogeochemical cycles and bioavailability of these contaminants.
142