Post by Wageningen Environmental Research

New research from Wageningen University & Research, published in 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘎𝘦𝘰𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, shows that human activity has significantly altered tides in river estuaries over the past centuries. 🌏 The researchers analysed data covering 50 to 200 years to reconstruct how estuaries in Europe, Asia and North America have developed. “𝑊𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦,” says Joris Beemster, PhD Candidate and lead author of the study. “𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑡𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑦, 𝑖𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑢𝑙, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑢𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑠, 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑠.” The study also shows that these interventions have often had a greater impact on water levels than sea-level rise. While sea levels rise gradually, changes to estuaries can cause faster and larger shifts - especially inland. This means that water level observations at the coast do not always reflect what is happening further upstream. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁? 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞: https://lnkd.in/eTPByt2K