Intrinsic Spatial Scales of River Stores and Fluxes and Their Relative Contributions to the Global Water Cycle
Abstract The Earth's rivers vary in size across several orders of magnitude. Yet, the relative significance of small upstream reaches compared to large downstream rivers in the global water cycle remains unclear, challenging the determination of adequate spatial resolution for observations. Her...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL113052 |
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| Summary: | Abstract The Earth's rivers vary in size across several orders of magnitude. Yet, the relative significance of small upstream reaches compared to large downstream rivers in the global water cycle remains unclear, challenging the determination of adequate spatial resolution for observations. Here, we use monthly simulations of river stores and fluxes to investigate the intrinsic spatial scales of the global river water cycle. We frame these scale‐dependent river dynamics in terms of observational capabilities, assessing how the size of rivers that can be resolved influences our ability to capture key global hydrologic stores and fluxes. By filtering reaches by estimated river widths, we quantify the relative contribution of global river reaches by size and estimate that over 17% of global discharge to ocean and nearly 9% of the world's river storage lies within rivers smaller than 100 m—hence revealing both strengths and limitations of current observational capabilities. |
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| ISSN: | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |