Climate affects our life support system, notably water resources and the food and ecosystems services water supports. Our work aims to quantify the impacts of climate variability and change on surface and groundwater systems to inform sustainable water management. Our analysis integrates hydro-climate science, land use and cover change (LUCC) science with development studies to understand better the complex processes bound up in the water-food-energy nexus. We all complement our contemporary studies with historical (palaeo-) perspectives.
Hydrological engineering of the Inca, from the site of Tipon in the Andean highlands of Peru.
Key staff: Martin Todd, Dom Kniveton, Pedram Rowhani, Mick Frogley
Example projects
- Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa - part of the UpGro programme
- NERC QUEST Global Scale Impacts. This project aimed to provide an integrated assessment of climate impacts on a range of sectors. The Sussex team worked on water resources
Selected publications
Taylor, R.G., Todd, M.C., Kongola, L., Maurice, L., Nahozya, E., Sanga, H., and MacDonald, A. (2012). Evidence of the dependence of groundwater resources on extreme rainfall in East Africa. Nature Climate Change. doi:10.1038/nclimate1731.
Mtera dam in Tanzania. Water management interventions like this can benefit from climate information for operations and planning.
Wolski, P., Todd, M.C, Murray-Hudson, M. and Tadross, M. (2012). Multidecadal variability in hydro-climate of Okavango river system, southwest Africa, in the past and under future climate. Journal of Hydrology 475, 294–305.
ToddM.C. and co-authors (2011). Uncertainty in climate change impacts on basin-scale freshwater resources – preface to the special issue: the QUEST-GSI methodology and synthesis of results, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 15, 1035–1046.
Chepstow-Lusty, A.J., Frogley, M.R., Bauer, B.S., Leng, M.J., Boessenkool, K.P., Carcaillet, C., Ali, A.A. and Gioda, A. (2009). Putting the rise of the Inca Empire within a climatic and land management context. Climate of the Past 5, 375–388.
Gosling, S N, Taylor, R G, Arnell, N W and Todd, M C (2011) A comparative analysis of projected impacts of climate change on river runoff from global and catchment-scale hydrological models. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 15 (1). pp. 279-294. ISSN 1027-5606
Banner image and Incan waterworks image: Mick Frogley. Mtera dam in Tanzania image: ztopics