| 1. |
- Albert, James S., et al.
(author)
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Scientists' warning to humanity on the freshwater biodiversity crisis
- 2021
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In: Ambio. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 50, s. 85-94
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Freshwater ecosystems provide irreplaceable services for both nature and society. The quality and quantity of freshwater affect biogeochemical processes and ecological dynamics that determine biodiversity, ecosystem productivity, and human health and welfare at local, regional and global scales. Freshwater ecosystems and their associated riparian habitats are amongst the most biologically diverse on Earth, and have inestimable economic, health, cultural, scientific and educational values. Yet human impacts to lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands and groundwater are dramatically reducing biodiversity and robbing critical natural resources and services from current and future generations. Freshwater biodiversity is declining rapidly on every continent and in every major river basin on Earth, and this degradation is occurring more rapidly than in terrestrial ecosystems. Currently, about one third of all global freshwater discharges pass through human agricultural, industrial or urban infrastructure. About one fifth of the Earth's arable land is now already equipped for irrigation, including all the most productive lands, and this proportion is projected to surpass one third by midcentury to feed the rapidly expanding populations of humans and commensal species, especially poultry and ruminant livestock. Less than one fifth of the world's preindustrial freshwater wetlands remain, and this proportion is projected to decline to under one tenth by midcentury, with imminent threats from water transfer megaprojects in Brazil and India, and coastal wetland drainage megaprojects in China. The Living Planet Index for freshwater vertebrate populations has declined to just one third that of 1970, and is projected to sink below one fifth by midcentury. A linear model of global economic expansion yields the chilling prediction that human utilization of critical freshwater resources will approach one half of the Earth's total capacity by midcentury. Although the magnitude and growth of the human freshwater footprint are greater than is generally understood by policy makers, the news media, or the general public, slowing and reversing dramatic losses of freshwater species and ecosystems is still possible. We recommend a set of urgent policy actions that promote clean water, conserve watershed services, and restore freshwater ecosystems and their vital services. Effective management of freshwater resources and ecosystems must be ranked amongst humanity's highest priorities.
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| 3. |
- Althoff, Daniel, 1991-, et al.
(author)
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Global patterns in water flux partitioning : Irrigated and rainfed agriculture drives asymmetrical flux to vegetation over runoff
- 2023
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In: One Earth. - 2590-3330 .- 2590-3322. ; 6:9, s. 1246-1257
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The partitioning of precipitation water input on land between green (evapotranspiration) and blue (runoff) water fluxes distributes the annually renewable freshwater resource among sectors and ecosystems. The patterns and main drivers of this partitioning are not fully understood around the global land area. We decipher the worldwide patterns and key determinants of this water flux partitioning and investigate its predictability based on a global machine learning model. Available data for 3,614 hydrological catchments and model application to the global land area agree in showing mostly larger green than blue water flux. Possible expansion/intensification of irrigated and/or rainfed agriculture to feed a growing human population, along with climate warming, will tend to increase this flux partitioning asymmetry, jeopardizing blue water security. The developed machine learning model presents a promising predictive tool for future blue and green water availability under various forthcoming climate and land-use change scenarios around the world.
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| 4. |
- Basu, Nandita B., et al.
(author)
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Managing nitrogen legacies to accelerate water quality improvement
- 2022
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In: Nature Geoscience. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1752-0894 .- 1752-0908. ; 15:2, s. 97-105
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Increasing incidences of eutrophication and groundwater quality impairment from agricultural nitrogen pollution are threatening humans and ecosystem health. Minimal improvements in water quality have been achieved despite billions of dollars invested in conservation measures worldwide. Such apparent failures can be attributed in part to legacy nitrogen that has accumulated over decades of agricultural intensification and that can lead to time lags in water quality improvement. Here, we identify the key knowledge gaps related to landscape nitrogen legacies and propose approaches to manage and improve water quality, given the presence of these legacies.
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| 5. |
- Borja, Sonia, et al.
(author)
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Global Wetting by Seasonal Surface Water Over the Last Decades
- 2020
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In: Earth's future. - : John Wiley and Sons Inc. - 2328-4277. ; 8:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Surface water bodies and their changes in the landscape are critical for societies and ecosystems. However, the global change in surface water area over the last decades remains unclear, as recent studies using the same satellite data disagree on its direction. Here, we reanalyze reported maps of global water classification based on that data in order to estimate the changes in long-term average surface water area from the first (1985-2000) to the second (2001-2015) half of the recent 30-year period (1985-2015). We find a net gain in global surface water area by 100,454 km(2), primarily due to seasonal water gains (83,329 km(2)). Over the world, we identify net wetting in 187 and net drying in 57 regional hydrological catchments, with the greatest water gain in Sabarmati (India) and loss in Amu Darya (Uzbekistan). We provide an interactive map to further explore the highly heterogeneous local changes around the world.
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| 6. |
- Cantoni, Jacopo, et al.
(author)
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Legacy contributions to diffuse water pollution : Data-driven multi-catchment quantification for nutrients and carbon
- 2023
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In: Science of the Total Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0048-9697 .- 1879-1026. ; 879, s. 163092-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Legacy pollutants are increasingly proposed as possible reasons for widespread failures to improve water quality, de -spite the implementation of stricter regulations and mitigation measures. This study investigates this possibility, using multi-catchment data and relatively simple, yet mechanistically-based, source distinction relationships between water discharges and chemical concentrations and loads. The relationships are tested and supported by the available catch -ment data. They show dominant legacy contributions for total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and total organic carbon (TOC) across catchment locations and scales, from local to country-wide around Sweden. Consistently across the study catchments, close relationships are found between the legacy concentrations of TN and TOC and the land shares of agriculture and of the sum of agriculture and forests, respectively. The legacy distinction and quantification capabilities provided by the data-driven approach of this study could guide more effective pollution mitigation and should be tested in further research for other chemicals and various sites around the world.
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| 7. |
- Cantoni, Jacopo, et al.
(author)
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Watershed-Based Evaluation of Automatic Sensor Data : Water Quality and Hydroclimatic Relationships
- 2020
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In: Sustainability. - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 12:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Water is a fundamental resource and, as such, the object of multiple environmental policies requiring systematic monitoring of its quality as a main management component. Automatic sensors, allowing for continuous monitoring of various water quality variables at high temporal resolution, offer new opportunities for enhancement of essential water quality data. This study investigates the potential of sensor-measured data to improve understanding and management of water quality at watershed level. Self-organizing data maps, non-linear canonical correlation analysis, and linear regressions are used to assess the relationships between multiple water quality and hydroclimatic variables for the case study of Lake Malaren in Sweden, and its total catchment and various watersheds. The results indicate water discharge from dominant watersheds into a lake, and lake water temperature as possible proxies for some key water quality variables in the lake, such as blue-green algae; the latter is, in turn, identified as a potential good proxy for lake concentration of total nitrogen. The relationships between water discharges into the lake and lake water quality dynamics identify the dominant contributing watersheds for different water quality variables. Seasonality also plays an important role in determining some possible proxy relationships and their usefulness for different parts of the year.
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| 8. |
- Chen, Yuanying, et al.
(author)
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Nutrient source attribution : Quantitative typology distinction of active and legacy source contributions to waterborne loads
- 2021
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In: Hydrological Processes. - : Wiley. - 0885-6087 .- 1099-1085. ; 35:7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Distinction between active and legacy sources of nutrients is needed for effective reduction of waterborne nutrient loads and associated eutrophication. This study quantifies main typological differences in nutrient load behaviour versus water discharge for active and legacy sources. This quantitative typology is used for source attribution based on monitoring data for water discharge and concentrations of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorous (TP) from 37 catchments draining into the Baltic Sea along the coastline of Sweden over the period 2003-2013. Results indicate dominant legacy source contributions to the monitored loads of TN and TP in most (33 of the total 37) study catchments. Dominant active sources are indicated in 1 catchment for TN, and mixed sources are indicated in 3 catchments for TN, and 4 catchments for TP. The TN and TP concentration contributions are quantified to be overall higher from the legacy than the active sources. Legacy concentrations also correlate well with key indicators of human activity in the catchments, agricultural land share for TN (R-2 = 0.65) and population density for TP (R-2 = 0.56). Legacy-dominated nutrient concentrations also change more slowly than in catchments with dominant active or mixed sources. Various data-based results and indications converge in indicating legacy source contributions as largely dominant, mainly anthropogenic, and with near-zero average change trends in the present study of catchments draining into the Baltic Sea along the coastline of Sweden, as in other parts of the world. These convergent indications emphasize needs to identify and map the different types of sources in each catchment, and differentiate strategies and measures to target each source type for possible achievement of shorter- and longer-term goals of water quality improvement.
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| 9. |
- Darvishi, Mehdi, et al.
(author)
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Multi-Sensor InSAR Assessment of Ground Deformations around Lake Mead and Its Relation to Water Level Changes
- 2021
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In: Remote Sensing. - : MDPI AG. - 2072-4292. ; 13:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Changes in subsurface water resources might alter the surrounding ground by generating subsidence or uplift, depending on geological and hydrogeological site characteristics. Improved understanding of the relationships between surface water storage and ground deformation is important for design and maintenance of hydraulic facilities and ground stability. Here, we construct one of the longest series of Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) to date, over twenty-five years, to study the relationships between water level changes and ground surface deformation in the surroundings of Lake Mead, United States, and at the site of the Hoover Dam. We use the Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) and Permanent scatterer interferometry (PSI) techniques over 177 SAR data, encompassing different SAR sensors including ERS1/2, Envisat, ALOS (PALSAR), and Sentinel-1(S1). We perform a cross-sensor examination of the relationship between water level changes and ground displacement. We found a negative relationship between water level change and ground deformation around the reservoir that was consistent across all sensors. The negative relationship was evident from the long-term changes in water level and deformation occurring from 1995 to 2014, and also from the intra-annual oscillations of the later period, 2014 to 2019, both around the reservoir and at the dam. These results suggest an elastic response of the ground surface to changes in water storage in the reservoir, both at the dam site and around the reservoir. Our study illustrates how InSAR-derived ground deformations can be consistent in time across sensors, showing the potential of detecting longer time-series of ground deformation.
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| 10. |
- Destouni, Georgia, et al.
(author)
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Distinguishing active and legacy source contributions to stream water quality : Comparative quantification for chloride and metals
- 2021
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In: Hydrological Processes. - : Wiley. - 0885-6087 .- 1099-1085. ; 35:7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Hydrochemical constituents in streams may originate from currently active sources at the surface and/or legacy sources from earlier surface inputs, waste deposits and land contamination. Distinction and quantification of these source contributions are needed for improved interpretation of tracer data and effective reduction of waterborne environmental pollutants. This article develops a methodology that recognizes and quantifies some general mechanistic differences in stream concentration and load behavior versus discharge between such source contributions. The methodology is applied to comparative analysis of stream concentration data for chloride (Cl-), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn), and corresponding data for water discharge, measured over the period 1990-2018 in multiple hydrological catchments (19 for Cl-, 11 for Cu and Zn, 10 for Pb) around the major Lake Malaren in Sweden. For Cl-, the average load fraction of active sources is quantified to be 19%, and the average active and legacy concentration contributions as 2.9 and 11 mg/L, respectively. For the metals, the average active load fractions at outlets are 1%-3% over all catchments and 9%-14% in the relatively few catchments with mixed metal sources. Average active and legacy concentration contributions are 0.14 and 3.2 mu g/L for Cu, 0.05 and 1.5 mu g/L for Pb, and 1.4 and 12 mu g/L for Zn, respectively. This multi-catchment analysis thus indicates a widespread prevalence of legacy sources, with greater legacy than active concentration contributions for both Cl- and the metals, and active contributions playing a greater role for chloride than for the metals. The relatively simple first-order methodology developed and applied in the study can be used to screen commonly available stream monitoring data for possible distinction of active and legacy contributions of any hydrochemical constituent in and across various hydrological catchment settings.
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