Warming streams and rivers could be disproportionately contributing to the amount of planet-warming greenhouse gases, according to a new study.
Warming streams and rivers could be disproportionately contributing to the amount of planet-warming greenhouse gases, according to a new study.
Many such watercourses with high levels of fine sediment and organic materials building up in their streambeds could be increasing greenhouse gas emissions from rivers, as well as increasing the risk of communicable disease and putting wildlife at risk.
Rising river temperatures are anticipated globally because of climate change and this will be made worse by increasing abstraction of cool groundwater that helps to reduce high temperatures in summer.
Researchers from the University of Birmingham and the British Geological Survey have discovered that warming rivers can cause marked increases in carbon dioxide and methane production.
Read more at University of Birmingham
Image Credit: Lindsay Nicole Terry via Wikimedia Commons
