The influence of climate change on tourist use of inland waterways at a selected reach of the lower Vistula

Abstract

In recent years, many regions of Poland have attempted to revitalise their waterways. In these projects it is necessary to take account of both present climate impact and predicted climate changes and their influence on the hydrological regime. Spring floods at the analysed river reach are progressively less frequent. For over 30 years the annual distribution of water levels has been dominated by low water. Currently, ice phenomena tend to commence much later and end earlier.The only beneficial effect of the changes is more intense use of the waterway in the cold half-year.