Lake climate change scenarios CH2018

The dataset "Lake_climate_change_scenarios_CH2018" provides simulation-based climate change impact scenarios for perialpine lakes in Switzerland. These transient future scenarios were produced by combining the hydrologic model PREVAH with the hydrodynamic model MIKE11 to simulate daily lake water level (Lake_water_level_scenarios_CH2018.xls) and outflow scenarios (Lake_outflow_scenarios_CH2018.xls) from 1981 to 2099, using the Swiss Climate Change Scenarios CH2018. The future scenarios contain a total of 39 model members for three Representative Concentration Pathways, RCP2.6 (concerted mitigation efforts), RCP4.5 (limited climate mitigation) and RCP8.5 (no climate mitigation measures). These scenarios result from the study titled "Lower summer lake levels in regulated perialpine lakes, caused by climate change," authored by Wechsler et al. in 2023.

The dataset emphasizes four specific Swiss lakes, each subject to different degrees of lake level management: an unregulated lake (Lake Walen), a semi-regulated lake (Lake Brienz), and two regulated lakes (Lake Zurich and Lake Thun).

In addition, the file (Lake_characteristics.xlsx) includes data used in the modeling process, encompassing the stage-area relation for the four lakes, stage-discharge relations for the unregulated and semi-regulated lakes, and lake level management rules for the two regulated lakes.