Joint contribution of environmental factors to changes in the global discharge regime

[divider line_type=”No Line” custom_height=”15″]In a new publication, “Disentangling Spatio-Temporal Impacts of Multiple Environmental Factors on the Global Discharge Regime”, published in the Earth’s Future journal, Dr. Tinh Vu and her co-authors investigated how environmental conditions contribute to changes in river discharge on a global scale. By analyzing discharge data from 1960-2010 and considering changes in twelve environmental variables over this period, the research team found that two-thirds of the world’s rivers experienced a transition in the discharge regime between the 1980s and 1990s. They also discovered that environmental factors jointly contributed to these changes, but were not equally important. Among these, precipitation and land cover are the most important drivers of changes in flow, while anthropogenic factors have a secondary effect. The study contributes to a better understanding of the interactions between water, climate, human activities and natural geographic features, and provides information to improve future resource management and planning.[divider line_type=”No Line” custom_height=”15″]Vu, T., Kiesel, J., Guse, B., Domisch, S., &Fohrer, N. (2024). Disentangling spatiotemporal impacts of multiple environmental factors on the global discharge regime. Earth’s Future, 12, e2023EF004267. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023EF004267