Water in a warming world
Richard Taylor leads research team
Dr Richard Taylor
Dr Richard Taylor has led an international team of scientists in preparing a review article, “Groundwater and Climate Change”, as part of Water in a warming world, a compilation of recent articles in Nature Climate Change and Nature Geoscience.
Climate change is expected to affect water resources, with implications for both natural ecosystems and human food security. The collection of papers highlights many of the key issues in this important area of climate change research.
The paper led by Richard focuses on groundwater, the largest source of distributed freshwater on Earth. It assesses climate impacts on groundwater and groundwater–climate feedbacks. It also identifies the need for systematic groundwater observations, emphasizing both the importance of sustainably managing groundwater and its strategic significance for climate adaptation.
The discussion of groundwater-climate feedbacks refers to other work led by Richard published this month, showing how very heavy rainfalls, expected to become more common in the future, have beneficial effects on groundwater resources in Tanzania.
See also:
- Water in warming world: http://www.nature.com/nclimate/focus/water-warm-world/index.html
- Groundwater and Climate Change (review article): http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate1744.html
- Groundwater–climate feedbacks: http://go.nature.com/uKsxFF
- IAH Commission on Groundwater and Climate Change: http://www.gwclim.org/
