Climate change goes underground(models showed that changes in the temper...)

Date:8/22/2007

models showed that changes in the temperatures and rainfall affected growth rates and leaf size of plants which impacts groundwater recharge. In some areas, the vegetation response to climate change would cause the average recharge to decrease, but in other areas, recharge to groundwater would more than double.

According to the authors, the outcome of this research is vital to land and water management agencies and policy makers all over the world. When the likely scenario of the Earths atmosphere doubling its concentration of carbon dioxide becomes a reality, this study indicates that groundwater recharge may increase dramatically in some areas as the changes in rainfall are amplified by the soil-water-plant systems that control groundwater recharge. Regardless of whether such a response is viewed as a benefit or liability, the potential magnitude of change presents strong motivation to gain knowledge of these systems and improve our predictions and responses.

In many countries, the groundwater reservoirs contribute a large part of the total water supply. It is especially true for Denmark, where 99% of the water supply depends on groundwater. This is why Scientists at the University of Copenhagen and the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) investigated the effects of future climate change on groundwater recharge, storage, and discharge to streams for two geologically and climatologically different regions in Denmark in a study funded by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency. These results are also published in the special section of Vadose Zone Journal.

The climate data used in this study was gathered from regional climate simulations for two scenarios of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the period of 2071-2100. Average annual precipitation, temperature, and loss of water in the soil increased, but clear seasonal variations occurred. A model was used to simulate the altered water system that resulte
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Contact: Sara Uttech suttech@soils.org 608-268-4948 Soil Science Society of America Source:Eurekalert

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