Spatiotemporal Trends in Near-Natural New Zealand River Flow

Abstract

Abstract Anthropogenic climate change is affecting rivers worldwide, threatening water availability and altering the risk of natural hazards. Understanding the pattern of regional streamflow trends can help to inform region-specific policies to mitigate and adapt to any negative impacts on society and the environment. We present a benchmark dataset of long, near-natural streamflow records across Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) and the first nationwide analysis of observed spatiotemporal streamflow trends. Individual records rarely have significant trends, but when aggregated within homogenous hydrologic regions (determined through cluster analyses), significant regional trends emerge. A multitemporal approach that uses all available data for each region and considers trend significance over time reveals the influence of decadal variability in some seasons and regions, and consistent trends in others. Over the last 50+ years, winter streamflow has significantly increased in the west South Island and has significantly decreased in the north North Island; summer streamflow has significantly decreased for most of the North Island; autumn streamflow has generally dried nationwide; and spring streamflow has increased along the west coast and decreased along the east coast. Correlations between streamflow and dynamic and thermodynamic climate indices reveal the dominant drivers of hydrologic behavior across NZ. Consistencies between the observed near-natural streamflow trends and observed changes in circulation and thermodynamic processes suggest possible climate change impacts on NZ hydrology.