Journal of Water and Climate Change Call for papers:

Integrated assessment and adaptation to climate change impacts in cold regions

Cold regions, including polar and some parts of the temperate regions, have been an emerging research topic in recent years. This is mainly motivated by the unprecedented observed changes in different components of the ecosystems of these regions (e.g. temperature, rainfall, snow, heat and moisture advection, freezing and thawing processes, surface and groundwater flow regimes, water quality, gas fluxes, soil formation, ecological and biogeochemical processes, primary production, etc).  With rapid population and economic growth, and technological advancements in many of the countries located in these regions, assessing the responses of these regions to recent and future climate change has become increasingly important in order to support adaptation strategies and plan and design more efficient and reliable sustainable mitigation measures.

Targeting the challenges in hydrology and hydraulics processes and the impacts of climate change on the total environment in cold regions, this special issue aims to bring together the synergy of research and innovation, management and engineering experience in many disciplines (e.g. hydrology, meteorology, ecology, environmental sciences). These efforts are oriented toward assessing risk and vulnerability under present and future climate change, testing and exploitation of sustainable and efficient solutions for water sectors in cold regions, spanning different spatial scales (e.g. local, regional, and even broader spatial domains).

This Special Issue will cover the following topics:

• Data sources and acquisitions (e.g. observations, reconstructed, reanalysis, models, remote sensing data).
• Data calibration, verification and sensitivity analysis.
• Use of state-of-the-art research methods (e.g. machine learning, hydrological model, climate model simulations).
• Natural hazards and risk assessment (e.g. urban flooding, snow avalanches, rockfall, landslides, debris flows).
• Future climatic and hydrological simulations and projections.
• Changes in the hydrological cycle and heat and energy transfer.
• Water pollution control and quality management.
• Innovative wastewater treatment processes, waste management and resource reuse.
• Impacts of climate change on the total environment.
• Mitigation and adaptation options (e.g. blue-green solutions, nature-based solutions, and performance assessment, social-economic value and multi-benefits, etc). 
• Rehabilitation and repairing technologies of structural defects and the use of new materials and new construction methods.
• Other aspects of hydro-environmental research and innovation topics.

Submission Deadline and Expected Publication:

Deadline for submissions: 30th April 2021
Expected publication: October 2021 (accepted papers published online immediately ahead of issue publication)

Submission Instructions:

Authors should ensure their papers follow the Journal of Water and Climate Change Instructions for Authors, and upload their papers to the online peer review system using the Article Type “Special Issue Article” and category “Climate Change Impacts In Cold Regions Special Issue”.

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Guest Editors

Linmei Nie, Managing Director & Adj. Professor, Centre for Sustainable Development and Innovation of Water Technology, CSDI WaterTech, Norway

Jinmei Lu, Associate professor, UiT The Arctic University of Norway

Tiina Leiviskä, Senior research fellow, University of Oulu, Finland

Linus Zhang, Associate Professor, Lund University, Sweden

Tong Yu, Associate Professor, University of Alberta, Canada