river systems

Rivers And Climate Change | Earth Wise

October 11, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Our planet is heating up. Scientists have concluded that the changing climate is primarily the result of increased greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. Some of the effects of global climate change include thawing permafrost, rising seas, intensifying storms and wildfires, and warming oceans.

According to a new study led by researchers from Penn State University, rivers are warming and losing oxygen even faster than oceans. The study, which was recently published in the journal Nature Climate Change, found that warming occurred in 87% and oxygen loss occurred in 70% of the nearly 800 rivers studied.

The research team projects that within the next 70 years some river systems, especially those in the American South, will experience such low oxygen levels that the rivers could “induce acute death” for some fish species and threaten the aquatic diversity of river ecosystems.

The research team used artificial intelligence and deep learning to analyze water quality data from nearly 800 rivers across the U.S. and central Europe. The researchers found that rivers are warming up and deoxygenating faster than oceans, which could have serious implications for both aquatic life and humans.

While climate change has led to warming and oxygen loss in oceans and lakes around the world, the researchers did not expect to find warming and deoxygenation in shallower, flowing rivers. Since life in water depends on temperature and dissolved oxygen, the researchers hope this study serves as a wake up call. Warming and deoxygenating rivers have significant implications for water quality and the health of aquatic ecosystems worldwide.

**********

Web Links

Rivers are rapidly warming, losing oxygen; aquatic life at risk

Photo, posted June 2, 2017, courtesy of Francisco Anzola via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Melting Himalayan Glaciers | Earth Wise

February 1, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The great mountain ranges of central Asia, including the Himalayas, contain the third-largest deposit of ice and snow in the world, trailing only Antarctica and the Arctic. The Himalayan range contains about 15,000 glaciers, and is part of a region widely referred to as the Third Pole due to its extraordinary reserves of freshwater.

But in recent years, scientists have observed an increase in the rate of Himalayan glacier loss. According to a new study led by researchers from the University of Leeds in the UK, the accelerating melting of the Himalayan glaciers threatens the water supply of millions of people in Asia.

In the study, researchers reconstructed the reach of the Himalayan glaciers during the Little Ice Age, which was the last major glacier expansion 400-700 years ago. They found that these glaciers began losing ice 10 times faster during the modern era. In fact, the glaciers have shrunk from a peak of nearly 11,000 square miles to around 7,500 square miles today.

This exceptional acceleration of melting of the Himalayan glaciers could have significant implications. Hundreds of millions of people rely on Asia’s major river systems for food and energy, and depend on these glaciers to feed rivers during the dry seasons. These rivers include the Brahmaputra, Ganges, and Indus. The changing global climate could disastrously impact water resources and livelihoods of the Greater Himalayan region.

According to the research team, people living in these regions have already seen changes that are unlike anything witnessed for centuries. This study is the latest to confirm that these changes are accelerating and pose a significant threat to entire nations and regions.

**********

Web Links

Himalayan glaciers melting at ‘exceptional rate’

Photo, posted March 13, 2018, courtesy of Sarunas Burdulis via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.