Climate change and its effects on environmental fluid systems

In Section 4.2, we will first outline how the anthropogenically induced global climate change affects large-scale and, in turn, regional and small-scale flows. While many of the detailed mechanisms in this chain of influences remain unknown, a consideration of the relevant spatial and temporal scales and the relevant processes corresponding to these scales will give us a head start. In Section 4.3, we will discuss some key features of large-scale climate change as predicted by IPCC-grade global climate models driven by GHG forcing. This sets the tone for the discussion in Section 4.4 on how these projected large-scale changes in flow pattern, temperature, stratification, etc., may be used to help predict regional environmental flows. This discussion will center on the emerging idea of climate downscaling, supplemented by the more speculative concept of upscaling. The remaining challenges in understanding and predicting the multiscale interaction from global to urban scales will be discussed in Section 4.5.