New Method to Measure Global River Water Flow Revealed by NASA Study

Scientists have designed a new method to measure how much water, in total, flows through all the rivers on Earth. The new methodology provides data that could be vital for the future.

A new study by NASA shows the current amount of water in rivers around the world. Not only that; the same research shows how much water flows through to the ocean and how much water is ‘reserved’ by rivers in the end. After that, the scientists even made it possible to see how these values ​​changed over time. The research shows which areas are most affected by the use of heavy rain – and which areas are getting off mercifully.

Scientist Cédric David contributed to the research. He says: “In recent years, many scientists have tried to measure individual rivers, often looking at the amount of water that ends up in the ocean at the the end However, there are hardly any studies that look at the total water volume of all the rivers together. Before we can properly manage water, we must first know how much water is available in total. Before that, the situation was a bit like spending money without knowing how much was in the account. It is essential to know this. ” The research is published in the journal Natural geology.

Flow meters
The scientists worked hard for the research, designing a new approach. For the study, they combined various measurements from local flow meters with computer models of more than three million river sections. The flow meters mentioned above are mostly present in large and busy rivers, where they measure how fast the water flows and how high the water level is. . However, the opposite is also true: unfortunately many smaller rivers do not have flow meters at all. Not only that; it is also largely unknown how much of the land’s water ends up in rivers, such as snow and ice melting.

The scientists have found a smart solution for all these problems; By looking from space at how high the water level of the different rivers was, it was possible to calculate afterwards how much water the rivers left. To make these calculations possible, the scientists used data from the Shuttle Radar Terrain Mission (SRTM). This space mission was carried out in the year 2000, and its aim was to obtain an accurate picture of the various elevations of the Earth.

Calculations later showed that there were about 2,246 cubic kilometers of water in all the rivers together. This is about 2.5% of all the water on Earth. Of all the rivers that exist The Amazon basin most of the rain in South America; 850 cubic kilometers, or 38% of all water in the rivers. The same area also releases the most water of any river on Earth. For example, the ‘discharge’ of the river amounts to approximately 6,789 cubic kilometers of water per year. All rivers together ‘discharge’ approximately 37,411 cubic kilometers of water each year.

lack of water
The research results are important because they provide tools for policy makers to better manage local water. This is badly needed: the research shows that there are a large number of areas that suffer from (local) water use, including Colorado River Basin in the United States, it Amazon Basin in South America and it Orange River Basin in South Africa. Water use is so heavy in these areas that less water ultimately flows out than comes in. So the researchers say again that it is very important to monitor the level of water around the world. David concludes: “We can do a lot around the world to ensure that there is enough water available for everyone. However, we must remember that issues such as the climate crisis and (local) population growth can make this more difficult.”