New publication in Nature Climate Change: future hypoxia in the world’s rivers

Our latest work published in Nature Climate Change reveals that climate change will drive low Dissolved Oxygen and increased hypoxia rates in rivers worldwide.

In this study of PhD candidate Duncan Graham analyses trends in dissolved oxygen concentrations and days with stress and hypoxia in rivers worldwide between the periods 1980–2019 and 2020–2100 under global change.

– We developed a new hybrid modelling framework involving process-based water quality modelling and a machine learning model, trained on approximately 2.6 million observations of dissolved oxygen in rivers globally.

– By combining both approaches, the impacts of droughts and heatwaves on dissolved oxygen concentrations are more accurately represented.

– Our results project significant decreasing trends in dissolved oxygen concentrations and increases in hypoxia days in most of rivers between 2020 and 2100, indicating a potentially major threat to freshwater ecosystems worldwide.

Here the link to our published article

And the link to the news item at Utrecht University

with Marc Bierkens, Edward Jones, Edwin Sutanudjaja
Utrecht University, NWO (Dutch Research Council)