The Hydrologic Cycle in a Changing Climate

Dear Colleagues,

The hydrological cycle is the continuous movement of water in the Earth's hydrosphere. It is continuous process that consists of atmospheric, surface, and groundwater movement. The changing climate directly affects the drivers and components of the hydrological cycle (evapotranspiration, water vapor concentrations, clouds, air temperature, precipitation patterns, surface runoff, stream flow patterns, etc.).

The climate crisis has led to an increase in average global temperatures and an increase in high-temperature-related extreme events such as heat waves. Higher temperatures are also predicted to change the geographic distribution of climate zones. Higher temperatures accelerate evaporation, which increases the risk of severe drought in one region and causes unexpected flooding in another due to transported moisture. Already, as the climate changes, droughts are becoming more frequent and longer lasting in many regions of the World. Drought is an unusual and temporary lack of water resulting from insufficient rainfall and increased evaporation (due to high temperatures). Conversely, over the last century, an increase in evaporation and precipitation is intensifying the hydrological cycle. This is an undesirable consequence of global warming, as higher temperatures encourage evaporation, i.e., the evaporation from the land surface and sea is transporting the moisture as rain and snow to inland areas. Additionally, warmer air can hold more water vapor which can cause risk of heavy rainfall, extreme flooding, etc. Another example of changes in the hydrological cycle is the retreat of glaciers when the water supplied by solid precipitation is not sufficient to replenish the ice lost by melting or sublimation.

In this Special Issue, we invite all colleagues to contribute papers on new insights into any type of process of the hydrologic cycle, its response to climate change, interactions between its components, and many more topics. Research related to any aspect of observations or modelling of the hydrological cycle is welcome, including new or interdisciplinary approaches, feedback processes, various hydro-meteorological phenomena, the human role in the hydrologic cycle, or other topics that improve our understanding about changes in the hydrologic cycle. Review papers will also be considered.

Dr. Diana Meilutytė-Lukauskienė
Dr. Vytautas Akstinas
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• climate change
• hydrologic cycle
• droughts
• flooding
• water resourece management
• river runoff

Planned Paper 1

Tentative Title: Changes in Magnitude and Shifts in Timing of Latvian River Flood Peaks

Author: Dr. Elga Apsīte

Affiliation: Faculty of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Latvia

Planned Paper 2

Tentative Title: Suitability of statistically downscaled CMIP6 models based on GloH2O datasets over the E-OBS dataset in river basins of the southeastern Baltic Sea region

Authors: Vytautas Akstinas, Karolina Gurjazkaitė, Darius Jakimavičius, Diana Meilutytė-Lukauskienė

Affiliation: Laboratory of Hydrology, Lithuanian Energy Institute, Lithuania