A new study identifies gaps in data on streams around the world, highlighting potential priorities for future installation of monitoring tools.
A new study identifies gaps in data on streams around the world, highlighting potential priorities for future installation of monitoring tools.
The research looks at stream gauges — instruments that record the volume of water flowing through a specific location on a river or stream.
The analysis focused on stream gauges included in two global datasets, including the large and widely used Global Streamflow Indices and Metadata Archive, a key source of information for hydrology research. To assess whether certain types of waterways were overrepresented in these global gauging networks, scientists combined data on the placement of over 32,000 gauges in the datasets with information on the characteristics of streams and their surrounding landscapes.
“We find that gauges are located disproportionally in large, perennial rivers draining more human-occupied watersheds,” the authors write in their paper, published on April 25 in Nature Sustainability. “Gauges are sparsely distributed in protected areas and rivers characterized by non-perennial flow regimes, both of which are critical to freshwater conservation and water security concerns.”
Read more at: University at Buffalo
