Regional trends for six key hydrological indicators under RCP8.5 (Table)

This table gives modelled trends in six key water indicators by region across Aotearoa, if the climate keeps warming at a high rate.

The indicators come from a hydrological model that tracks how water moves through snow, plants, soil, and into lakes and rivers, giving figures for river flow and evaporation from the land. It does not account for irrigation, water takes or dams.

NIWA built the figures with the TopNet hydrological model, run on a national grid at roughly 5 kilometre resolution.