This volume arises from the work of the International Geographical Union
Working Group on Regional Hydrological Response to Climate Change and
Global Warming under the chairmanship of Professor Changming Liu
(1992-96). The book consists mostly of peer-reviewed papers delivered at
the Working Group's first three scientific meetings held in Washington,
D.C. (1992), Lhasa, Tibet (1993) and Moscow (1995). These have been
supplemented by a few additional chapters that have been specifically
commissioned in order to give a well-rounded coverage of the global and
scientific aspects of the topic. As editors, we have sought to balance
state-of-the-art reviews of methodology and regional research with
detailed studies of specific countries and river basins. In the spirit
of the IGU, we have devoted particular effort to encouraging
contributions from scientists in the non-English-speaking world. These
chapters provide valuable evidence of recent climatic change and
predictions of future hydrological impacts from parts of the world where
little detailed work has been conducted hitherto. They provide much
valuable information that is new and interesting to an international
audience and is otherwise very difficult or impossible to acquire. It is
hoped that the present volume will be not only a record of current
achievements, but also a stimulus to further hydrological research as
the detail and spatial resolution of Global Climate Models improves. One
notable aspect that emerges from a number of the contributions is that
many, though by no means all, recent hydrological trends are in line
with global warming predictions.
