New research shows that Earth’s rivers are warming even faster than its oceans, and may eventually become so hot and deprived of oxygen that some fish will begin to die off.
A study published in nature climate change This week it found that of nearly 800 rivers worldwide, 87% had warmed and 70% had reduced oxygen levels. The findings suggest that within a century, oxygen levels in some rivers in some regions will become so low that some fish will not be able to survive there.
The study analyzed data from 580 rivers in America and 216 rivers in Europe. According to the new data, urban rivers were warming the fastest, and rural rivers were losing their oxygen at the fastest rates.
Researchers say this is another sign of the global effects of climate change.
“We know that warming climate has caused heat and oxygen depletion in the oceans, but we did not expect this to happen in flowing, shallow rivers,” said Lee, Iset Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Penn State and corresponding author on the paper. Lee said. , “This is the first study to take a comprehensive look at temperature changes and deoxygenation rates in rivers – and what we found has important implications for water quality and the health of aquatic ecosystems around the world.”
Researchers say fish kills could weaken and threaten the larger environment that depends on the river’s ecosystem.