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The method based on original metric called Hydromorphological Index for Rivers (HIR) was developed in 2017 for the purpose of the monitoring of the hydromorphological status of flowing waters in Poland. It fulfils the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). It allows the assessment of both lowland rivers as well as mid-altitude and highland streams. The proposed system can be used to assess the natural and heavily modified rivers as well as artificial channels. The basis of the proposed system is a field survey, which is supplemented by the analysis of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data and remote sensing materials. The analysis of the GIS data and remote sensing materials already enable to estimate preliminary classification of the hydromorphological status of the non-surveyed water bodies. On the basis of the field survey, the principal HIR value can be estimated for the considered river site and comparing with the reference conditions, the hydromorphological quality status in the five-class system can be calculated. The properly selected, representative survey sites (one or more depending on the heterogeneity of the environment), enable the classification and evaluation of entire surface water bodies in the framework of the national environmental monitoring. The GIS component of the HIR proved to be useful in verifying the determination of heavily modified water bodies and in assessing the needs of river restoration. It was also applied in the development of the National river restoration program for predicting the impact of the proposed restoration measure on the state of hydromorphology.

Evidence shows that soil moisture (SM) anomalies (deficits or excesses) are the key factor affecting crop yield in rain-fed agriculture. Over last decades, Poland has faced several major droughts and at least one major soil moisture excess event leading to severe crop losses. This study aims to simulate the multi-annual variability of SM anomalies in Poland, using a process-based SWAT model and to assess the effect of climate change on future extreme SM conditions, potentially affecting crop yields in Poland. A crop-specific indicator based on simulated daily soil moisture content for the critical development stages of investigated crops (winter cereals, spring cereals, potato and maize) was designed, evaluated for past conditions against empirical cropweather indices (CWIs), and applied for studying future climate conditions. The study used an ensemble of nine bias-corrected EURO-CORDEX projections for two future horizons: 2021-2050 and 2071-2100 under two Representative Concentration Pathways: RCP4.5 and 8.5. Historical simulation results showed that SWAT was capable of capturing major SM deficit and excess episodes for different crops in Poland. For spring cereals, potato and maize, despite a large model spread, projections generally showed increase of severity of soil moisture deficits, as well as of total area affected by them. Ensemble median fraction of land with extreme soil moisture deficits, occupied by each of these crops, is projected to at least double in size. The signals of change in soil moisture excesses for potato and maize were more dependent on selection of RCP and future horizon.