Future climate and its impact on streamflow: a case study of the Brahmaputra river basin

Using various GCM (general circulation model), the present study attempted to analyze the impact of climate change on the entire stretch of one of the major rivers in South Asia, the Brahmaputra river basin. Initially, we identified a suitable GCM based on some statistical measures of the interpolated and bias-corrected variables. The results of the trend analysis show a significant impact on the climatic variables during future periods. The Brahmaputra basin is likely to experience an increase in rainfall, maximum temperature, and minimum temperature at the rates of 2.5 mm/year, 0.062 °C/year and 0.05 °C/year, respectively, corresponding to representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5 scenarios till the end of the current century. Moreover, the climate change impact analysis on streamflow indicates a rise of up to 13.06% in annual discharge at Pandughat, India. The findings of this study will provide a basis for water resource management of the transboundary Brahmaputra basin in the coming decades.