Anthropogenic climate change, particularly through increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, is projected to considerably impact 21st century precipitation distribution, altering fluvial processes such as sediment dynamics and riverine water discharge, worldwide. Changes in the magnitude of fluvial water and sediment fluxes can have profound impacts on the functioning and connectivity of earth's natural systems. This study is focused on isolating the impacts of GHG-induced future climate change on riverine water discharge and suspended sediment fluxes in the 21st century at a global scale. A global-scale hydro-geomorphic model (WBMsed) was forced with precipitation and temperature projections generated from five General Circulation Models (GCMs), each driven by four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs). The results, based on an ensemble of model outputs, revealed that global river discharge and sediment dynamics are considerably impacted by anthropogenic climate change in the 21st century. Despite substantial regional heterogeneity, a global net increase is projected for both river discharge and sediment flux in the 21st century under all RCP scenarios. Increases are larger and more variable with increasing levels of GHG concentrations in the atmosphere. At the end of this century, climate change under RCP 2.6 is projected to cause approximately 1% increase in global river discharge and 5% increase in global suspended sediment flux. Under RCP 4.5 emission scenario, climate change will lead to a 5.6% increase in river discharge and 7% increase in sediment flux at a global scale. Approximately 5% and 9% increases are projected under RCP 6.0 in global river discharge and sediment flux respectively. Climate changes projected under RCP 8.5 will lead to the largest increases in river discharge and sediment flux (7.3% and 14.7% respectively) at the end of the 21st century. With increased warming, more extreme changes (increasing or decreasing) can be expected in both discharge and sediment flux. Also, the number of rivers with statistically significant trends in either direction increases with warming. In addition to magnitudes, inter-annual variability in both global river discharge and sediment fluxes also increase with increasing RCPs. Changes in sediment flux closely follow the patterns predicted for discharge, and are mostly driven by climate warming induced spatial and temporal variation in precipitation. However, the relationship between discharge and sediment flux was found to be non-linear both in space and time, demonstrating the utility of explicit modeling of both hydrology and geomorphology.

A stunningly illustrated atlas of the world’s rivers, estuaries, and deltas, and their ecosystems From the Congo and the Mekong to the Seine and the Mississippi, Earth’s rivers carve through landscapes before coursing into the world’s oceans through estuaries and deltas. Their inexorable flow carries sediment and more, acting as lifeblood for a variety of ecosystems and communities. More than any other surface feature of Earth, rivers, estuaries, and deltas are vitally important to our economic and social well-being, and our management of them often sits at the sharp edge of today’s most pressing environmental challenges. The World Atlas of Rivers, Estuaries, and Deltas takes readers on an unforgettable tour of these dynamic bodies of water, explaining how they function at each stage of their flow. Combining maps and graphics with informative essays and beautiful photos, this invaluable reference book will give you a new appreciation for the power that rivers, estuaries, and deltas wield. Features a wealth of color photos, maps, and infographics Brings together invaluable perspectives from leading experts Describes the rich biodiversity associated with the world’s rivers, estuaries, and deltas Explains how rivers, estuaries, and deltas work, from river networks to deltaic floodplains, and sheds light on the erosion, movement, and deposition of sediment Describes the anatomy of rivers, estuaries, and deltas, from channel geometry and river planforms to estuarine shape and delta morphology Examines the ecology and ecosystems of rivers, estuaries, and deltas and how humans interact with these environments Additional topics include damming, climate change, water use, pollution, resource management, and planetary health, as well as future perspectives on these vital landscapes

No realm on Earth elicits thoughts of paradise more than the tropics. The tropical marine realm is special in myriad ways and for many reasons from seas of higher latitude, in housing iconic habitats such as coral reefs, snow white beaches, crystal clear waters, mangrove forests, extensive and rich seagrass meadows and expansive river deltas, such as the exemplar, the Amazon. But the tropics also has an even more complex side: tropical waters give rise to cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons, and unique oceanographic phenomena including the El Niño- Southern Oscillation which affects global climate patterns. Tropical Marine Ecology documents the structure and function of tropical marine populations, communities, and ecosystems in relation to environmental factors including climate patterns and climate change, and patterns of oceanographic phenomena such as tides and currents and major oceanographic features, as well as chemical and geological drivers. The book focuses on estuarine, coastal, continental shelf and open ocean ecosystems. The first part of the book deals with the climate, physics, geology, and chemistry of the tropical marine environment. The second section focuses on the origins, diversity, biogeography, and the structure and distribution of tropical biota. The third part explores the rates and patterns of primary and secondary production, and their drivers, and the characteristics of pelagic and benthic food webs. The fourth part examines how humans are altering tropical ecosystems via unsustainable fisheries, the decline and loss of habitat and fragmentation, Further, pollution is altering an earth already in the throes of climate change. Tropical Marine Ecology is an authoritative and comprehensive introduction to tropical marine ecology for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students. It is also a rich resource and reference work for researchers and professional managers in marine science.

This is the first interdisciplinary book on the mobilization of nutrients and pollutants in the water phase due to hydrodynamic processes. Coverage includes the formation of aggregates in turbulent water; flocks and biofilms from organic reactions; and the formation of new surfaces for re-adsorption of dissolved pollutants. The book gathers papers resulting from an International Symposium on Sediment Dynamics and Pollutant Mobility in River Basins in Hamburg, Germany, March, 2006.

This book offers a collection of conference articles presented at the Second International Young Scientists Forum on Soil and Water Conservation and ICCE symposium 2018 “Climate Change Impacts on Sediment Dynamics: Measurement, Modelling, and Management” held at Moscow from 27 to 31 August 2018. This conference was organized by World Association of Soil and Water Conservation (WASWAC) and Lomonosov Moscow State University in cooperation with the International Commission on Continental Erosion of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences and World Large rivers Initiative. Topics in this book cover a wide range of questions related to fluvial geomorphology, water studies, and sediment transport.