(Press-News.org) An improved global understanding of river temperature could provide an important barometer for climate change and other human activities.
River temperature is the fundamental water quality measure that regulates physical, chemical and biological processes in flowing waters and, in turn, impacts ecosystems, human health, and industrial, domestic and recreational uses by people.
In a comment piece in the new journal, Nature Water, researchers led by the University of Birmingham, UK, and Indiana University, USA, have called for an increased focus on both river temperatures and the factors driving temperature increases.
In particular, the researchers argue, we need a better understanding of the role played by humans on river water temperature.
A comprehensive bank of knowledge will lead to improved understanding of temperature changes on biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and risks, including early warning of algal blooms, waterborne pathogens and effects on fish populations. These aspects may be critical for human survival in many areas of the globe.
Crucial to this understanding will be to rethink how we monitor and model river temperatures to improve our diagnosis of critical changes. In turn, this will play an important part in our ability to manage, mitigate and adapt to high temperature extremes that are damaging to aquatic organisms and ecosystem services for people.
“More attention has been given to other water quality indicators, such as nutrients and contaminants,” explained co-lead author, Professor David Hannah, UNESCO Chair in Water Sciences at the University of Birmingham. “However, river temperature influences many of these factors. Emerging evidence shows that river temperatures are rising in response to climate change in many regions worldwide. On top of this human activity is altering water temperature further; but we still need to better understand this phenomenon and its implications.”
Professor Darren Ficklin, co-lead author of Indiana University, added: “The knowledge we currently have is inconsistent, with large variations in scale and detail – and primarily taking place in richer countries. This severely limits our ability to sustainably manage river systems, protect ecosystems and balance the competing interests of stakeholders.”
The researchers suggest a first step would be to create more complete and accessible river temperature archive, which draws all available data together, to highlight information gaps and underpin models for places and times (for example, into the future) for which we lack data. By co-producing river temperature knowledge in this way, the researchers also hope to promote collaborative research and management efforts with local and indigenous communities, avoiding ‘top-down’ decision-making on which types of data are most valuable
END
Rising river temperatures hold important clues about climate and other human impacts
2023-02-22
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Human body proven to predict mealtimes
2023-02-22
The human body can predict the timing of regular meals, according to a new study from the University of Surrey. The research team also found that daily blood glucose rhythms may be driven not only by meal timing but by meal size.
In the first study of its kind, researchers from Surrey, led by Professor Jonathan Johnston, investigated if the human circadian system anticipates large meals. Circadian rhythms/systems are physiological changes, including metabolic, that follow a 24-hour cycle and are usually synchronised to environmental signals, such as light and dark cycles.
Previous ...
James Webb spots super old, massive galaxies that shouldn’t exist
2023-02-22
In a new study, an international team of astrophysicists has discovered several mysterious objects hiding in images from the James Webb Space Telescope: six potential galaxies that emerged so early in the universe’s history and are so massive they should not be possible under current cosmological theory.
Each of the candidate galaxies may have existed at the dawn of the universe roughly 500 to 700 million years after the Big Bang, or more than 13 billion years ago. They’re also gigantic, containing almost as many stars as the modern-day Milky Way Galaxy.
“It’s ...
Climate ‘spiral’ threatens land carbon stores – study
2023-02-22
The world’s forests are losing their ability to absorb carbon due to increasingly ‘unstable’ conditions caused by humans, a landmark study has found.
Dramatic changes to forests, and other habitats that store carbon in plants and soils, are becoming more likely in some regions across Earth, with less carbon consistently absorbed by the ‘land carbon sink’ provided by trees, soil and plants, according to scientists writing in Nature.
The short-term impacts of rising temperatures, ...
Anti-dust tech paves way for self-cleaning surfaces
2023-02-22
Dust is a common fact of life, and it's more than just a daily nuisance – it can get into machinery and equipment, causing loss of efficiency or breakdowns.
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin partnered with North Carolina-based company Smart Material Solutions Inc. to develop a new method to keep dust from sticking to surfaces. The result is the ability to make many types of materials dust resistant, from spacecraft to solar panels to household windows.
The research is published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
"What we've ...
Today’s pediatric heart transplantations involve sicker children, but have better outcomes
2023-02-22
Key takeaways
Heart transplants offered to more patients with serious disease: A study of 323 pediatric heart transplants over 36 years at the University of Florida found that in recent years, more infants with serious congenital heart disease were offered heart transplants, but they had improved outcomes compared to patients in previous decades.
Improved long-term survival: Despite extending the procedure to younger patients with more serious heart problems, 5-year survival improved from 70.7% in previous years to 83% in recent ...
Deep earthquakes could reveal secrets of the Earth’s mantle
2023-02-22
A new study from a University of Chicago scientist suggests there may be a layer of surprisingly fluid rock ringing the Earth, at the very bottom of the upper mantle.
The finding was made by measuring the lingering movement registered by GPS sensors on islands in the wake of a deep earthquake in the Pacific Ocean near Fiji. Published Feb. 22 in Nature, the study demonstrates a new method to measure the fluidity of the Earth’s mantle.
“Even though the mantle makes up the largest part of Earth, there’s ...
Study offers details on using electric fields to tune thermal properties of ferroelectric materials
2023-02-22
New research from North Carolina State University sheds light on how electric fields can be used to alter the thermal properties of ferroelectric materials, allowing engineers to manipulate the flow of heat through the materials. Ferroelectric materials are used in a wide variety of applications, from ultrasound devices to memory storage technologies.
“Our work here is a significant advance because we worked with large sample sizes and provide detailed information on the relationship between the type of electric field being applied to the ferroelectric material and the thermal response in the material,” says Jun Liu, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace ...
Second generation gene therapy for alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency
2023-02-22
Researchers report on the safety of a gene therapy to treat the common autosomal recessive hereditary disorder alpha 1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency in a new article in the peer-reviewed journal Human Gene Therapy. Click here to read the article now.
In ATT deficiency, neutrophil proteases destroy the lung parenchyma, the portion of the lungs involved in gas exchange. The result is a high risk for the early onset of emphysema. Ronald Crystal, MD, from Weill Cornell Medicine, and coauthors, have developed an adeno-associated virus (AAV) serotype 8-based gene ...
Medical-legal partnerships are valued by immigrant, migrant populations
2023-02-22
(Boston)—Immigration status, immigration vulnerability and understanding of immigration-related legal options are critical components of safety, access to public benefits and wellness for many immigrants/migrants. While immigration status is increasingly recognized as an independent social determinant of health, understanding best practices for health care systems that might mitigate the health disparities that result from unequal health care access dictated by immigration status is just beginning to be studied.
In an effort to better understand best practices, researchers from Boston University ...
Terminal sterilization of oligonucleotide drug products
2023-02-22
A new report, coauthored by several major pharmaceutical companies, reviews the current state of sterile oligonucleotide drug product processing. The article, which provides recommendations to aid in the evaluation and development of terminal sterilization processes, is published in the peer-reviewed journal Nucleic Acid Therapeutics. Click here to read the article.
All marketed oligonucleotide products are delivered as sterile preparations for parenteral delivery. The two most common methods for sterilizing parenteral ...