Climate Variability and Change in Europe and the Middle East

This PhD research deals with the challenge that the contemporary water managers are faced with in incorporating climate change impact in their decision making. The overall objective of the research is to obtain a better understanding on the impact of climate change and variability on hydro-climatic variables to support water management decisions at local and regional scales. This study consists of two main parts: 1. decadal climate variability impact analysis and the link with large scale climatic drivers for the entire Europe and Middle East region; 2. climate change impact on water availability and precipitation extremes in Belgium and Iran. The results of this research are of high concern for specific regions of Europe and the Middle East that are particularly vulnerable to reduced water availability and hydrological extremes, e.g. dry areas or regions such as Flanders and Brussels that have high population density, and cities.