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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fort Collins, Colorado » Center for Agricultural Resources Research » Water Management and Systems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #285391
Title: Ground water and climate change

Author
item TAYLOR, RICHARD - University College London
item SCANLON, BRIDGET - University Of Texas
item DOLL, PETRA - Frankfurt University
item RODELL, MATTHEW - National Aeronautics And Space Administration (NASA)
item VAN BEEK, RENS - Utrecht University
item WADA, YOSHIDE - Utrecht University
item LONGUEVERGNE, LAURENT - University Of Rennes, France
item LEBLANC, MARC - Monash University
item FAMIGLIETTI, JAMES - University Of California
item EDMUNDS, MIKE - Oxford University
item KONIKOW, LEONARD - Us Geological Survey (USGS)
item Green, Timothy
item CHEN, JIANYAO - Guangzhou University
item TANIGUCHI, MAKOTO - Research Institute For Humanity And Nature (RIHN)
item BIERKENS, MARC - Utrecht University
item MACDONALD, ALAN - British Geological Survey
item FAN, YING - Rutgers University
item MAXWELL, REED - Colorado School Of Mines
item YECHIELI, YOSSI - Geological Survey Of Israel
item GURDAK, JASON - San Francisco State University
item ALLEN, DIANA - Simon Frasier University
item SHAMSUDDUHA, MOHAMMAD - University College London
item HISCOCK, KEVIN - University Of East Anglia
item YEH, PAT - University Of Tokyo
item HOLMAN, IAN - Cranfield University
item HOLGER, TREIDEL - United Nations Educational, Scientific And Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

Submitted to: Nature Climate Change
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/2/2012
Publication Date: 4/1/2013
Citation: Taylor, R., Scanlon, B., Doll, P., Rodell, M., Van Beek, R., Wada, Y., Longuevergne, L., Leblanc, M., Famiglietti, J.S., Edmunds, M., Konikow, L., Green, T.R., Chen, J., Taniguchi, M., Bierkens, M., Macdonald, A., Fan, Y., Maxwell, R., Yechieli, Y., Gurdak, J., Allen, D., Shamsudduha, M., Hiscock, K., Yeh, P., Holman, I., Holger, T. 2013. Ground water and climate change. Nature Climate Change. 3(4): 322-329.

Interpretive Summary: As the world’s largest distributed store of freshwater, groundwater plays a central role in sustaining ecosystems and enabling human adaptation to climate variability and change. The strategic importance of groundwater to global water and food security will intensify under climate change as more frequent and intense climate extremes (droughts, floods) increase variability in soil moisture and surface water. Here we critically review recent research assessing climate impacts on groundwater through natural and human-induced processes as well as groundwater-driven feedbacks on the climate system.

Technical Abstract: As the world’s largest distributed store of fresh water, ground water plays a central part in sustaining ecosystems and enabling human adaptation to climate variability and change. The strategic importance of ground water for global water and food secu¬rity will probably intensify under climate change as more frequent and intense climate extremes (droughts and floods) increase variability in precipitation, soil moisture and surface water. Here we critically review recent research assessing the impacts of climate on ground water through natural and human-induced processes as well as through groundwater-driven feedbacks on the climate system. Furthermore, we examine the possible opportunities and challenges of using and sustaining groundwater resources in climate adaptation strategies, and highlight the lack of groundwater observations, which, at present, limits our understanding of the dynamic relationship between ground water and climate.