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#watermanagement — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #watermanagement, aggregated by home.social.

  1. On-Demand Global Landsat Evapotranspiration Product - Development, Evaluation, And Dissemination
    --
    doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2026.115 <-- shared paper
    --
    espa.cr.usgs.gov <-- shared (open data) USGS EROS Science Processing Architecture (ESPA) platform
    --
    etdata.org/ <-- OpenET SSEBop platform implementation (water management)
    --
    usgs.gov/landsat-missions/land <-- shared USGS Landsat Collection 2 Provisional Actual Evapotranspiration Science Product
    --
    H/T @mac Friedrichs | Remote Sensing Scientist, KBR | USGS EROS
    “This paper summarizes new achievements in developing and distributing the Global Landsat Level-3 Evapotranspiration (ET) product. It is freely available through the USGS EROS Science Processing Architecture (ESPA) platform (2nd link above). 🛰️ …
    Since the product launch in June 2020, there have been over 1.2 million Landsat-based ET orders around the world. This indicates increasing awareness and application of the ET data to help understand and manage the relationships among food, energy, and water resources. 🌽💧 …
    It features the ESPA workflow and evaluation of the upgraded SSEBop model using a variety of observational datasets and hydrologic regions, and examination against OpenET SSEBop platform implementation (3rd link above.)…”
    --
    “HIGHLIGHTS
    • ESPA platform allows access to on-demand, global, Landsat-based, ET products.
    • SSEBop model has been used to create ET data since 1982 through ESPA.
    • A quick estimation of field-scale crop consumptive water use can be achieved.
    • Numerous orders reflect worldwide extensive interest and utilization of the data.
    • Method, workflow, and performance of the actual ET data are presented in the study..."
    #EROSScienceProcessingArchitecture #climate #global #Evapotranspiration #ET #GIS #spatial #mapping #remotesensing #earthobservation #water #hydrology #opendata #Landsat #OpenET #SSEBop #WaterManagement #Agriculture #USGS #EROS #datadelivery #food #foodsecurity #energy #water #watersecurity #model #modeling #ESPA #farming #cropland #wateruse #waterresources #workflow
    @USGS @EROS

  2. "Professor Dr Suchatvee Suwansawat, leader of the Thai Kao Mai Party, has warned in a video published on his online channels that #Bangkok has a “one million per cent” chance of being submerged below sea level if water management continues in the same way."
    nationthailand.com/sustainabil

    #sinking #submersion #naturalDisasters #water #waterManagement #waterLevel #sustainableDevelopment

  3. Hydro-Climatic Extremes And Water Conflicts In The Kamala River Basin Of Nepal
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    doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2026.100 <-- shared paper
    --
    jvs.org.np/news/%22kamala-rive <-- shared 2024 technical article on planning and policy (from JVS, a Nepalese non-profit driving water resilience)
    --
    [My sincere thoughts to those on those the Nepal/Tibet border so very effected by the recent GLOF-style flooding; the loss of your family and friends – and ‘things’ – must be so very hard!
    May the missing individuals return safely. 🙏]
    H/T @ Prakriti Niraula | Researcher at Kathmandu University School of Arts | Urban FutureScape Pilot Project | Urban Governance | Climate and Disaster Resilience | Development Researcher
    “What happens when communities face 'too much water' during the monsoon and 'too little water' during the dry season? [Their] research in Dudhauli and Siraha municipalities [Nepal] shows that floods and droughts are not merely environmental challenges; rather, they interact with existing inequalities and vulnerabilities, intensifying conflicts over water and land resources.
    From upstream-downstream tensions following flood damage and changing water flows to competition over wells and handpumps during periods of scarcity, the findings show that hydro-climatic extremes often act as amplifiers of existing social, economic, and political vulnerabilities.
    The study underscores the importance of moving beyond managing climatic hazards alone towards conflict-sensitive and equitable water governance that addresses structural inequalities, strengthens local adaptive capacities, and supports fair water allocation and conflict resolution…”
    #climatechange #flood #flooding #drought #monsoon #precipitation #rainfall #snowmelt #dryseason #socialconflict #KamalaRiver #basin #Dudhauli #Siraha #Nepal #hydroclimate #waterresources #risk #hazard #watersecurity #hydrosocial #exteremeweather #environment #inequality #vulnerable #socioeconomic #conflict #groundwater #water #hydrology #hydrography #hydroclimate #extremes #social #economic #political #watergovernance #watermanagement #localcommunities #conflictresolution

  4. Modeling Climate Change Impacts On Blue And Green Water In The Ethiopian Upper Blue Nile Basin
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    doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2026.10 <-- shared paper
    --
    H/T @Dessalegn worku Ayalew
    “The present study assesses the impacts of climate change on blue and green water in the Kessie Watershed of the Ethiopian Upper Blue Nile Basin using the SWAT+ model.
    [The authors] set up [a] SWAT+ model using quality-controlled and homogenized observational climate time series… and calibrated it using a multisite calibration approach. [They] selected CMIP6 climate models for future simulations and bias-correction methods through a comprehensive performance assessment... Building on these previous studies, the present research further evaluates the reliability of combining robust climate-model selection with optimal bias-correction methods to improve the reliability of hydrological simulations. [They] then used the best-performing climate models, bias-corrected using the optimal methods, to project future changes in blue and green water in the study area…
    KEY FINDINGS:
    • SWAT+ effectively represented hydrological processes across multiple gauging stations in the Ethiopian Upper Blue Nile Basin.
    • Ensembles of CMIP6 climate models improved the reliability of hydrological simulations compared with individual climate models.
    • Optimized climate-model selection reduced biases in hydrological simulations more than bias correction alone.
    • Arbitrary selection of climate models can degrade hydrological simulations, even when their outputs are bias-corrected using robust methods.
    • Both blue and green water are projected to increase under future climate change in the Ethiopian Upper Blue Nile Basin.
    • Blue water exhibits greater seasonality and climate sensitivity than green water flow and green water storage.
    The study also provides sustainable water management options for adapting to the impacts of climate change, with implications for water resource planning and management in the Upper Blue Nile Basin…”
    #Bluewater #Greenwater #CMIP6 #GCMs #Modelensemble #SSPscenarios #SWAT #Ethopia #UpperNile #Nile #NileBasin #gaging #gauging #Africa #climatechange #impacts #water #hydrology #KessieWatershed #EthiopianUpperBlueNileBasin #model #modeling #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #CMIP6 #waterresources #watermanagement #ecosystem #habitat #environment

  5. This is a very long shot (and has nothing to do with history & co :sadness: ), but does anyone know of a database/book/compehensive list, or someone who might know one, about crop responses to deficit irrigation?

    Also: accessible without academic affiliation.

    (sorry for the length of the hashtags)

    #help #horticulture #agriculture #sustainability #science #irrigation #aridagriculture #crops #plants #agronomy #drought #environment #botany #watermanagement #water #rhizosphere

  6. Identifying Agricultural Consumptive-Use Patterns To Support Adaptive Water Management In California’s Santa Clara Valley Via Remote Sensing And Machine Learning
    --
    doi.org/10.1371/journal.pwat.0 <-- shared paper
    --
    H/T @Guillaume Wright | Executive Editor, PLOS
    “💧 With drought [and high temperatures] gripping many areas of the world right now... [the H/T] wanted to highlight a new paper in PLOS Water this week with a very timely focus on hydroclimatic stresses and what can be done to mitigate this through water management practices when it comes to agriculture.
    [The authors] investigate[d] adaptive water management practices in California’s Santa Clara Valley via remote sensing and machine learning techniques. They [found] good evidence for use of customized agricultural water-management plans for irrigation monitoring, conservation planning, and adaptive water management in groundwater-dependent regions such as is found in California…”
    #GIS #spatial #mapping #California #SantaClara #SantaClaraValley #custom #watermanagement #practices #waterresources #agriculture #remotesensing #spatialanalysis #machinelearning #earthobservation #AI #planning #wateruse #efficiency #water #hydrology #irrigation #conservation #adaptivewatermanagement #model #modeling #drought #extremeweather #hydroclimate #stress #crop #cropland #evapotranspiration #ET #NDVI #PRISM #precipitation #rainfall #watermanagementplan #groundwater

  7. Impact Of Reservoir Storage On Propagation From Meteorological To Hydrological Drought
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    doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026 <-- shared paper
    --
    H/T @DrAjayGupta | Post Doctoral Fellow, IIT Bombay | Ph.D. in Hydrology, IIT Roorkee | Commonwealth Split-site Fellow, University of Birmingham I M.Tech in Water Resources Engineering, NIT Silchar | B.E. in Civil Engineering, PCE Nagpur.
    “🌍 Why is this important?
    While reservoirs are widely recognized for mitigating drought impacts, their role in controlling how drought propagates through the hydrological cycle has remained largely unexplored. In this study, [the authors] investigate how reservoir storage influences the transition of drought from meteorological to agricultural to reservoir to streamflow drought across the semi-arid Krishna River Basin, India.
    🔍 THIS STUDY ADDRESSES TWO KEY RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
    ✅ How do drought propagation time (initiation, peak, and termination) change from meteorological to agricultural, reservoir, and streamflow droughts across different timescales and threshold values?
    ✅ How does reservoir storage influence drought propagation between upstream and downstream reservoirs using the Downstreamness concept?
    📌 KEY FINDINGS
    🔹 Drought propagation differs substantially across drought types because each component of the hydrological system responds at different rates.
    🔹 Reservoirs significantly delay the propagation of drought by buffering water deficits, particularly between agricultural and streamflow drought.
    🔹 Mild and moderate upstream reservoir droughts rarely propagate downstream, whereas severe upstream droughts consistently transmit downstream, leading to longer duration, greater severity, and delayed onset.
    🔹 The downstreamness analysis reveals dynamic shifts in water storage between upstream and downstream reservoirs throughout drought development and recovery, providing valuable insights for reservoir operation and basin-scale drought management…”
    --
    “HIGHLIGHTS
    • Reservoir storage impact on drought propagation from meteorological-to-hydrological drought.
    • Drought propagation timeframe: initiation, peak and termination are checked.
    • Impact assessment using hydrological connection: upstream to downstream reservoirs.
    • Severe upstream droughts propagate downstream with increased duration and severity.
    • During drought periods water-storage concentration shifts from downstream to upstream..."
    #Drought #DroughtPropagation #Reservoirs #WaterResources #WaterManagement #RiverBasinManagement #KrishnaRiverBasin #Downstreamness #India #climatechange #reservoir #storage #hydrology #water #hydrologiccycle #watersecurity #planning #policy #KrishnaRiver #weather #climate #metrology #agriculture #farming #streamflow #model #modeling #spatiotemporal #spatialanalysis

  8. New Hampshire Bulletin: You can look up flood maps and school ratings. Why not the pipes under your street? . “Culvert [is] a free public map of buried water infrastructure drawn from federal, state, and municipal records. Let me be just as clear about what it is not. It does not test your water or tell you whether it’s safe to drink. Only a certified lab can do that…. Right now it covers […]

    https://rbfirehose.com/2026/07/23/new-hampshire-bulletin-you-can-look-up-flood-maps-and-school-ratings-why-not-the-pipes-under-your-street/
  9. Global Performance of #RemoteSensing Based and Reanalysis-Driven Models to Estimate Open Water Evaporation
    --
    doi.org/10.1029/2025WR042363
    --
    “ABSTRACT: Evaporation plays an essential role in the water cycle, influencing local and regional climates while directly impacting water availability in lakes. However, directly measuring evaporation over water bodies remains challenging due to the high costs of installing and maintaining the required in situ instrumentation. Although several remote sensing algorithms have been providing evaporation estimates, the lack of a global validation hinders our understanding of their relative uncertainties and performances across different regions. Here, [they] analyze[d] the performance of a suite of models that leverage satellite data and meteorological reanalysis to estimate evaporation over lakes worldwide. [They] compare[d] three remote sensing-based models, one reanalysis-driven model and one ensemble approach, using in situ observations from 27 lakes representing a diverse range of geographic and climatic regions. [Their] results demonstrate that, overall, the ensemble outperformed any individual model in terms of accuracy, with a RMSE and a bias of 1.3 and 0.3 mm/day, respectively. These findings highlight the benefits of using an ensemble approach to estimate open water evaporation with satellite-based models at the global scale, leveraging the unique strengths of each model. For the individual models, differences in the representation of heat storage changes and advection effects led to lower values of RMSE and bias, depending on the location and depth of the lakes. This study sets the path for future improvement of open water evaporation algorithms globally, while remote sensing techniques are proven satisfactory to monitoring of water loss in lakes globally, an essential step toward effective large-scale water resources management.
    PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: Water loss through evaporation in lakes and reservoirs directly affects water availability, which highlights the need to monitor these losses. However, measuring evaporation in situ is challenging and expensive. An alternative is to estimate evaporation using remote-sensing models and compare these estimates with in-situ data to verify their accuracy. Here, [they] evaluated four models and their ensemble (the models' mean value) using measurements from 27 lakes and reservoirs worldwide. [They] found that the ensemble presented higher accuracy and consistency than any individual model because it benefits from the strengths of each model. This approach can guide future improvements in estimating open-water evaporation, which is essential for large-scale water-resource management…”
    #global #mapping #earthobservation #GIS #spatial #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #model #modeling #water #hydrology #surfacewater #waterbody #lake #reservoir #evaporation #evapotranspiration #watercycle #weather #meteorology #usecase #waterresources #watermanagement #waterloss #regional #estimate #policy #planning #instrumentation #comparasion

  10. Drought emergency: Water trucks deployed in Veneto, Lombardy, Piedmont, and Marche

    Due to severe drought conditions, water trucks are being used to supply potable water in several regions of northern and central Italy, highlighting the impact of climate challenges on public services and water management.

    #EU #Italy #WaterManagement #ClimateChange #PublicServices

    ilsole24ore.com/art/siccita-po

  11. Ancient Water Wisdom - The Acequias Of Sierra Nevada, Europe’s Oldest Groundwater System ⛰️
    --
    memolaproject.eu/sierra-nevada <-- shared link to the 𝗠𝗘𝗠𝗢𝗟𝗔 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 page
    --
    regadiohistorico.es/ <-- shared technical page, “Collaborative map of historical irrigation systems in Granada and Almería” / “Mapa colaborativo de regadíos históricos de Granada y Almería”
    --
    youtu.be/-TIUI2KflMk?si=iaSOwV <-- shared video overview, “Participa al Mapa colaborativo de regadíos históricos de Granada y Almería”
    --
    H/T @sofie de Volder | Co-founder TRAQUA
    “[The author has] already discussed ancient water management systems, such as the qanats in Persia and other Eastern countries. In Europe, there are the acequias of the Sierra Nevada in Andalusia, Spain.
    The hand-dug channels date back over 1,000 years to the Moorish era. Networks of canals, aqueducts and cisterns were engineered to capture and transport snowmelt, turning this natural resource into a sustainable water supply for agriculture. The high-altitude ditches had openings, allowing water to infiltrate into fractures and faults, replenishing the aquifer, and to irrigate the lower levels of the slopes.
    𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗮𝘀?
    ✅ Gravity-fed irrigation that supported terraced farms and local biodiversity.
    ✅ Designed to distribute water slowly and equitably, even during dry summers.
    ✅ Stretching over thousands of kilometres, these systems fell into disuse in the 1980s but are now part of restoration efforts led by the MEMOLA Project (Universidad de Granada).
    With climate change and more intense droughts, the Acequias could provide an ancient solution to the modern-day water crisis…”
    #Spain #𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗮𝘀 #waterresources #historic #irrigation #mapping #watermanagement #agriculture #farming #watersecurity #HistoricalIrrigationSystems #agroecological #SierraNevada #Andalusia #Moors #engineering #constructed #channels #canals #aqueducts #cisterns #water #hydrography #snowmelt #naturalresource #sustainability #groundwater #aquifers #recharge #MEMOLA #mapping #climatechange #extremeweather #drought

  12. Ancient Water Wisdom - The Acequias Of Sierra Nevada, Europe’s Oldest Groundwater System ⛰️
    --
    memolaproject.eu/sierra-nevada <-- shared link to the 𝗠𝗘𝗠𝗢𝗟𝗔 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 page
    --
    regadiohistorico.es/ <-- shared technical page, “Collaborative map of historical irrigation systems in Granada and Almería” / “Mapa colaborativo de regadíos históricos de Granada y Almería”
    --
    youtu.be/-TIUI2KflMk?si=iaSOwV <-- shared video overview, “Participa al Mapa colaborativo de regadíos históricos de Granada y Almería”
    --
    H/T @sofie de Volder | Co-founder TRAQUA
    “[The author has] already discussed ancient water management systems, such as the qanats in Persia and other Eastern countries. In Europe, there are the acequias of the Sierra Nevada in Andalusia, Spain.
    The hand-dug channels date back over 1,000 years to the Moorish era. Networks of canals, aqueducts and cisterns were engineered to capture and transport snowmelt, turning this natural resource into a sustainable water supply for agriculture. The high-altitude ditches had openings, allowing water to infiltrate into fractures and faults, replenishing the aquifer, and to irrigate the lower levels of the slopes.
    𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗮𝘀?
    ✅ Gravity-fed irrigation that supported terraced farms and local biodiversity.
    ✅ Designed to distribute water slowly and equitably, even during dry summers.
    ✅ Stretching over thousands of kilometres, these systems fell into disuse in the 1980s but are now part of restoration efforts led by the MEMOLA Project (Universidad de Granada).
    With climate change and more intense droughts, the Acequias could provide an ancient solution to the modern-day water crisis…”
    #Spain #𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗮𝘀 #waterresources #historic #irrigation #mapping #watermanagement #agriculture #farming #watersecurity #HistoricalIrrigationSystems #agroecological #SierraNevada #Andalusia #Moors #engineering #constructed #channels #canals #aqueducts #cisterns #water #hydrography #snowmelt #naturalresource #sustainability #groundwater #aquifers #recharge #MEMOLA #mapping #climatechange #extremeweather #drought

  13. GMIA-NEXT - Next-Generation Global Map of Irrigated Areas |
    --
    doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-10085 <-- shared paper
    --
    zenodo.org/records/17627111 <-- shared open data
    --
    H/T @kyle Davis
    “Irrigation plays a critical role in global food production and climate adaptation and exercises profound influence over humanity's water use. Yet despite its critical importance, there is a persistent lack of understanding of fine-scale irrigation patterns across the planet, knowledge which is essential for informing global food security and sustainability targets. Utilizing either statistical downscaling or remote sensing approaches, existing global irrigation datasets are constrained by coarse spatial resolutions, a lack of timeliness, or varying robustness and reliability. To address this gap, here [they] integrate[d] multi-source Earth observation and environmental datasets and use[d] machine learning to develop a medium-resolution (30 metre) global irrigated area dataset for the 2023/24 growing season. Within existing cropland extent, we leverage a newly compiled set of georeferenced irrigated (N=230,683) and non-irrigated (N=153,194) ground-truth points and integrate seasonal vegetation metrics derived from Landsat 8/9 imagery with agroecological-zone information and hydroclimatic and topographic variables. [They] subsequently develop and evaluate two machine-learning frameworks, a continental Agro-Ecological Zone (AEZ) tile-based framework and a continental-scale framework, and apply the best-performing approach for each continent. Evaluation using held-out test samples yielded a global accuracy of 80.5 ± 2.1%. The resulting maps were also validated against independent global and national irrigation datasets and statistics, demonstrating broad agreement in the spatial distribution of irrigated areas. This approach is robust and reliable because it is built on a harmonized global ground-truth database, incorporates multiple predictors, and is rigorously validated using independent datasets. All code, ground-truth, and data products are freely and publicly available [link above] and can serve as a robust, scale-neutral, and fully reproducible framework for fine-resolution irrigation mapping. These advances provide the critical and long-needed foundation for near-real-time monitoring and early warning systems, and fine-scale land and water resource management…”
    #IrrigatedAreas #Mapping #GIS #spatial #mapping #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #global #irrigation #water #hydrology #hydrography #waterresources #farming #agriculture #opendata #remotesensing #earthobservation #geomorphometry #AI #machinelearning #LLM #model #modeling #WaterManagement #opendata #AgroEcologicalZone #AEZ #cropland #irrigatedareas #foodproduction #wateruse #humanimpacts #EarthObservation #remotesensing #earlywarning #monitoring #FoodandAgricultureOrganizationFAO #FAO
    @FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization

  14. Eager Beavers - Rodents Engineer Czech Wetland Project After Years Of Human Delay [ecosystem engineers]
    --
    theguardian.com/world/2025/feb <-- shared technical media article
    --
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver-e <-- shared wiki technical page
    --
    phys.org/news/2025-02-fine-bea <-- shared technical article
    --
    youtu.be/GSTw8qmBP4Y?si=XK2Iy2 <-- shared video (Czech)
    --
    H/T @ScienceGirl
    "We don't expect any conflict with the beaver in the next 10 years," ~ Bohumil Fiser from the Czech Nature Conservation Agency
    --
    “For seven years, planners struggled to complete a $1.2 million wetland restoration project in the Brdy region of the Czech Republic. The goal was to build a dam that would improve water management and bring back valuable wetland habitat, but the project remained trapped in a maze of permits and approvals.
    Then a family of eight Eurasian beavers did what engineers had planned… without permits, machinery, or a budget.
    The beavers built a network of dams in almost the exact area chosen for the proposed project, naturally restoring the wetland system officials had spent years trying to create. After seeing the results, authorities decided there was little point continuing with the original human-built dam.
    Although some reports suggested the beavers completed the work overnight, experts say their construction likely took several weeks. The reason it seemed sudden is that the animals quietly worked away until their finished dams became impossible to miss.
    Beavers are known as “ecosystem engineers” because their behaviour can reshape entire environments. By cutting trees and blocking streams, they create ponds and wetlands that support countless species, including fish, amphibians, insects, birds, and mammals.
    Their wetlands also act as natural water reservoirs, helping during droughts, reducing flood risks, filtering water, storing carbon, and keeping landscapes wetter during wildfires…
    Once heavily hunted across Europe, beaver populations have been recovering thanks to conservation efforts, proving that sometimes nature can solve problems humans spend years trying to fix…"
    #water #hydrology #KlabavaRiver #Czech #BrdyRegion #protected #CzechRepublic #armytraining #military #beaver #Eurasianbeavers #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #restoration #biodiversity #crayfish #wetland #ecology #benefits #Beavers #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #Agroforestry #EnvironmentalScience #Conservation #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #EcosystemEngineers #nature #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flood #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #agriculture #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #drought #wildfire #valleysreborn #slowdetermination #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #ecosystemengineers #watermanagement

  15. Watching A #NOAA #Webinar on Flash Droughts
    --
    noaaresearch.webex.com/wbxmjs/ <-- shared NOAA Summer Science Series individual webinar
    --
    drought.gov/what-is-drought/fl <-- shared NOAA overview technical article
    --
    star.nesdis.noaa.gov/star/NOAA <-- subscribe to the NOAA Summer Science Series
    --
    doi.org/10.1038/s41612-024-006 <-- shared paper
    --
    communities.springernature.com <-- shared technical article (derived from paper above)
    H/T @Jeffrey Basara PhD, MBA | Chair and Professor - Department of Environmental, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell | Co-Founder - American Prime Sustainable Solutions
    [Flash floods? not TOO hard to conceptualise.
    Flash drought? harder to 'get my head around', but H/T / presenter does an excellent job!]
    "Not all droughts are the same. In some cases, drought rapidly intensifies at subseasonal to seasonal scales with significant impacts to agriculture and water resources along with the increased propensity for heatwaves and wildfires. Like all droughts, flash drought begins with a precipitation deficit. However, both evaporative demand and soil moisture are critical flash drought variables, and identifying and monitoring the desiccation of the terrestrial surface is key for determining flash drought development and associated impacts. While recent advances in knowledge and monitoring of flash drought have occurred, fundamental questions remain in the state of the science. What are the overall mechanistic relationships between atmospheric demand, evaporative stress, terrestrial desiccation, and precipitation that drive the progression of flash drought? Do regional characteristics of the environment impact the evolution of flash drought? What are the scales of predictability for flash drought? Finally, how will flash drought frequency and intensity evolve in a changing climate system"
    --
    "Flash drought intensifies rapidly due to changes in precipitation, temperature, wind, and radiation. These changes in the weather increase evapotranspiration and lower soil moisture. Flash droughts can cause extensive damage to agriculture, economies, and ecosystems if they are not predicted and discovered early..."
    #water #hydrology #fedscience #publicgood #hydrologicdrought #waterdeficit #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #watersecurity #risk #hazard #humanimpacts #streamflow #riverflow #groundwater #surfacewater #climate #weather #climatechange #extremeweather #atmosphere #metrology #regional #global #farming #agriculture #fluvial #pluvial #rainfall #precipitation #cloudcover #energy #heat #temperature #ET #evapotranspiration #farming #agriculture #foodsecurity #waterresources #dynamicsystems #watermanagement #flashdrought #drought #susceptibility #monitoring #prediction #model #modeling
    @noaa

  16. National Water Availability Assessment Data Companion Launches Interactive Map
    --
    water.usgs.gov/nwaa-data/ <-- shared USGS resource link
    --
    water.usgs.gov/nwaa-data/inter <-- shared USGS webmap
    --
    H/T @USGS NWDC
    “The National Water Availability Assessment Data Companion (NWDC) delivers national-scale modeled water data underlying the National Water Availability Assessment Report. The NWDC will be continuously updated to include new data used in future National Water Availability Assessment Reports, with planned reports in 2026 and 2030.
    The NWDC also serves information on underlying model methodologies, strengths, and limitations to enable proper use of the data…
    USGS scientific teams develop NWDC models to analyze and represent the complexities of water systems. These models fill gaps where USGS observations are unavailable, covering the conterminous United States (lower 48 states) and soon extending to Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.
    All NWDC datasets currently cover past conditions over multiple decades, and are standardized to 12-digit [WBD] hydrologic unit code (HUC12) watersheds and monthly timesteps…”
    #opendata #monitoring #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #fedscience #publicgood #water #hydrology #waterresources #watermanagement #change #model #modeling #USA #NationalWaterAvailabilityAssessment #NWDC #CONUS #USGS #USGS_water
    @USGS

  17. Comparing Multi-Model Mosaic And Multi-Model Combination Methods To Simulate Streamflow Across The Contiguous USA
    --
    doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-3945-2 <-- shared paper
    --
    H/T @cyril THEBAULT | Postdoctoral Fellow chez Earth Sciences New Zealand
    “[They] compared different multi-model approaches for streamflow simulation using 78 hydrological models across 559 catchments in the United States. [Their] results show that while multi-model combinations can slightly improve accuracy and reduce uncertainty, no single approach performs best everywhere.
    One interesting takeaway is that a carefully selected single model can perform as well as more complex multi-model approaches when it is chosen based on a comparative evaluation rather than simply inherited from legacy operational systems... 👀”
    --
    “The ability to accurately predict streamflow underpins decisions in water management, flood prevention, and sectoral planning. Traditional approaches for streamflow prediction often rely on a single model, thereby overlooking potential benefits from using multiple models. To address this limitation, this study explores alternative methods that select and combine multiple models to enhance streamflow simulations. Specifically, [they] assess[ed] the performance of multi-model mosaic methods that assign a single model to each catchment, and multi-model combination methods that merge multiple models using static or dynamic weighting schemes. The Framework for Understanding Structural Errors (FUSE) is used to create an ensemble of 78 hydrological models, which were applied to 544 catchments from the CAMELS dataset across the contiguous United States. Each of the 78 models is calibrated utilizing a composite objective function, calculated as the average of a high-flow and a low-flow performance metric, to cover a wide range of streamflow conditions. Based on [their] selection of lumped FUSE models, the results show that a carefully chosen single model from a larger ensemble can closely approach the performance of more complex multi-model strategies. Among the multi-model approaches, the combination and mosaic methods show broadly similar overall skill, although the combination approaches deliver slightly higher performance and lower sampling uncertainty. However, per-catchment differences persist, indicating that no single multi-model strategy dominates everywhere. This heterogeneity in performance makes it difficult to determine a priori which multi-model method will best represent streamflow in a given catchment…”
    #water #hydrology #streamflow #USA #CONUS #multimodel #simulation #hydrologic #model #modeling #catchments #watermanagement #waterresources #planning #watersecurity #flood #flooding #prediction #FUSE #CAMELS #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal

  18. Hydroclimate Volatility On A Warming Earth
    --
    doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-006 <-- shared 2025 paper
    --
    newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/flo <-- shared UCLA article, “Floods, Droughts, Then Fires: Hydroclimate Whiplash Is Speeding Up Globally “
    --
    H/T @Daniel Swain
    “Hydroclimate volatility refers to sudden, large and/or frequent transitions between very dry and very wet conditions. In this Review, we examine how hydroclimate volatility is anticipated to evolve with anthropogenic warming. Using a metric of ‘hydroclimate whiplash’ based on the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index, global-averaged subseasonal (3-month) and interannual (12-month) whiplash have increased by 31–66% and 8–31%, respectively, since the mid-twentieth century. Further increases are anticipated with ongoing warming, including subseasonal increases of 113% and interannual increases of 52% over land areas with 3 °C of warming; these changes are largest at high latitudes and from northern Africa eastward into South Asia. Extensive evidence links these increases primarily to thermodynamics, namely the rising water-vapour-holding capacity and potential evaporative demand of the atmosphere. Increases in hydroclimate volatility will amplify hazards associated with rapid swings between wet and dry states (including flash floods, wildfires, landslides and disease outbreaks), and could accelerate a water management shift towards co-management of drought and flood risks. A clearer understanding of plausible future trajectories of hydroclimate volatility requires expanded focus on the response of atmospheric circulation to regional and global forcings, as well as land–ocean–atmosphere feedbacks, using large ensemble climate model simulations, storm-resolving high-resolution models and emerging machine learning methods…
    #water #hydrology #hydroclimate #whiplash #global #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #weatherwhiplash #ecogeomorphology #sustainability #ecology# ###
    #water #hydrology #hydroclimate #volatility #dry #wet #drought #flood #flooding #wildfire #landslide #massmovement #whiplash #global #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #weatherwhiplash #ecogeomorphology #sustainability #ecology #hydrogeomorphology #climatechange #extremeweather #anthropogenicwarming #climate #weather #connection #StandardizedPrecipitationEvapotranspiration #precipitation #rainfall #research #evapotranspiration #risk #hazard #riskassessment #disease #pandemic #publichealth #publicsafety #waterquality #watersecurity #watermanagement #hydrography #atmospheric #regional #global #forcing #climatemodel #model #modeling #AI #machinelearning

  19. [G]lobal Decline In Endorheic Basin Water Storages
    --
    doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-026 <-- shared paper
    --
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorhei <-- shared Wikipedia page
    --
    “Endorheic (hydrologically landlocked) basins spatially concur with arid/semi-arid climates. Given limited precipitation but high potential evaporation, their water storage is vulnerable to subtle flux perturbations, which are exacerbated by global warming and human activities. Increasing regional evidence suggests a probably recent net decline in endorheic water storage, but this remains unquantified at a global scale. By integrating satellite observations and hydrological modelling, [they] reveal[ed] that during 2002–2016 the global endorheic system experienced a widespread water loss of about 106.3 Gt/yr, attributed to comparable losses in surface water, soil moisture and groundwater. This decadal decline, disparate from water storage fluctuations in exorheic basins, appears less sensitive to El Niño–Southern Oscillation-driven climate variability, which implies a possible response to longer-term climate conditions and human water management. In the mass-conserved hydrosphere, such an endorheic water loss not only exacerbates local water stress, but also imposes excess water on exorheic basins, leading to a potential sea level rise that matches the contribution of nearly half of the land glacier retreat (excluding Greenland and Antarctica). Given these dual ramifications, [they] suggest the necessity for long-term monitoring of water storage variation in the global endorheic system and the inclusion of its net contribution to future sea level budgeting…”
    #water #hydrology #hydrography #global #waterresources #waterstorage #Endorheic #Basin #watersecurity #arid #semiarid #rainfall #precipitation #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #globalwarming #climatechange #humanimpacts #anthropogenic #regional #remotesensing #GIS #spatial #mapping #earthobservation #surfacewater #groundwater #soilmoisture #exorheic #watermanagement #hydrosphere #waterstress #SLR #sealevelrise #monitoring #waterbudgets

  20. EFU: When We Stop Merely Measuring Reality and Start Learning Its Language

    There are moments when a new unit of measurement seems, at first glance, like a technical detail. Later, it turns out to be something much more important: a change in how we think. I believe EFU may be exactly that kind of shift. It is not just another number. It is a new language for describing the flows that sustain human civilization — material, energetic, ecological, and social.

    The real importance of EFU is not only what it measures, but what it reveals. It invites us to stop seeing the world as a collection of isolated data points and start seeing it as a connected system of flows. Water, energy, materials, waste, agriculture, transport, and environmental pressure are not separate stories. They are chapters of the same larger story. EFU helps make that story visible.

    A New Unit, Not Just a New Label

    The most interesting thing about EFU is not the number itself, but the way of thinking it encourages. When we begin to look at a problem through EFU, we no longer see only statistics. We see relationships. We see dependencies. We see thresholds, bottlenecks, imbalances, and patterns of stress that are otherwise easy to miss.

    That is why EFU matters. It does not merely describe the present. It helps us ask whether a system is stable, whether it is being overburdened, and whether it can remain viable over time. In that sense, EFU is not only a measuring tool. It is a tool for understanding resilience.

    Why This Could Matter More Than It First Appears

    Every major historical era has had its own dominant way of measuring reality. The industrial age centered on mass, energy, and power. The digital age elevated information, data, and connectivity. The next era may well revolve around flows, pressures, limits, and ecological coherence.

    EFU fits naturally into that future. It suggests that the question is not merely “how much is there?” but also:

    • How does it move?
    • What system is it part of?
    • What does it cost?
    • How long can it continue?

    That is a much deeper way of thinking. It is not just accounting. It is civilizational self-awareness.

    The Future Vision: When Measurement Becomes Thoughtful

    What makes EFU especially exciting is that it points beyond itself. If some of the most advanced ideas in modern physics suggest that spacetime, locality, and even causality may not be fundamental, but rather emergent from a deeper layer of reality, then we are already living in a world where our old intuitions may not be enough.

    EFU belongs to that broader intellectual horizon. It does not need to claim that it is “new physics.” But it can certainly be understood as a step toward a new kind of structured thinking: a way of measuring reality that is more aligned with systems, thresholds, and hidden dependencies.

    In that future, artificial intelligence could become a particularly powerful partner. Not because it merely computes faster, but because it may detect patterns that are too complex for human intuition alone. If EFU is paired with AI-driven symbolic reasoning, we may not just analyze data more efficiently — we may discover new kinds of relationships:

    • hidden ratios,
    • tipping points,
    • structural imbalances,
    • and system-level laws that are difficult to express in ordinary terms.

    The Intuitive Advantage

    One of the strongest qualities of EFU may be its intuitive power. A good unit of measurement does not oversimplify reality. It organizes it. It makes complexity legible without distorting it.

    That is especially valuable in areas like:

    • water management,
    • agriculture,
    • energy systems,
    • waste treatment,
    • urban planning,
    • and environmental policy.

    In these fields, raw numbers often fail to communicate what is really happening. EFU can help bridge that gap. It can create a shared framework in which experts, decision-makers, and ordinary citizens can discuss the same problem in the same conceptual language.

    That is a rare and valuable thing. A unit that improves understanding is more than a unit. It becomes a bridge.

    A Small Concept With a Large Horizon

    EFU may still be an emerging idea. It may need refinement, testing, and better formalization. That is not a weakness. In fact, it is often the mark of a genuinely important idea. The most transformative concepts rarely arrive in finished form. They begin as a direction, a hunch, an intuition that something essential is missing.

    And perhaps that is what EFU is really pointing to: a civilization that no longer measures only what it extracts, consumes, or produces, but also what it sustains, balances, and preserves.

    If that is true, then EFU is not a side project. It is a possible step toward a new intellectual culture — one that understands that the future will not be shaped only by growth, but by balance.

    #aNewLanguageForMeasuringReality #abstractReality #AIAndScience #beyondNumbersUnderstandingSystemsThroughEFU #circularEconomy #conceptualShift #dimensionalAnalysis #ecologicalFlows #EFU #EFUAsAFrameworkForSustainability #emergentReality #emergentSpacetime #energyFlows #environmentalPressure #fromDataToMeaningInEnvironmentalSystems #futureOfScience #futureVision #hiddenStructures #howAICanHelpDiscoverSystemLevelLaws #HumanFluxUnit #humanCenteredMeasurement #interdisciplinaryFramework #materialFlows #measuringHumanCivilizationThroughFlows #newEpistemology #newUnitOfMeasurement #pregeometricReality #quantumGravity #resilience #resourceManagement #scientificParadigmShift #sustainability #symbolicReasoning #systemDynamics #SystemsThinking #theFutureOfMeasurementAndReality #waterManagement #whyEFUMattersForTheFuture
  21. Если смотреть с юридической и управленческой стороны, испарение воды часто связано не с техникой, а с правилами пользования водой и ресурсами.

    1. Права на воду (water rights)

    Во многих странах Африки действуют системы лицензий:

    государство владеет водными ресурсами;

    компания или община получает разрешение на забор определённого объёма.

    Иногда дешевле испарить лишнюю воду, чем:

    хранить её,

    перераспределять,

    нарушить лимит использования.

    Это встречается в сельском хозяйстве и добывающих проектах.

    2. Требования к сбросу воды

    Законы по охране окружающей среды могут запрещать сбрасывать:

    солёную,

    химически загрязнённую,

    шахтную воду.

    Поэтому её помещают в испарительные пруды (evaporation ponds) — вода уходит, а загрязнение остаётся под контролем.

    Это распространено в:

    горнодобывающей промышленности,

    нефтегазе,

    переработке минералов.

    3. Трансграничные водные соглашения

    Многие реки проходят через несколько стран (например, бассейн Нил).
    Иногда государства ограничены договорами по объёму воды, который можно удерживать или перенаправлять. В таких условиях локальные проекты используют испарительные бассейны вместо изменения русел или хранения.

    4. Бюрократия и инфраструктура

    В ряде регионов:

    нет очистных сооружений,

    нет канализации,

    нет систем повторного использования воды.

    С точки зрения регуляторов испарительный пруд — самый простой способ соблюсти формальные нормы.

    5. Горнодобыча и литий/уран

    В проектах добычи минералов (рассолы, урановые хвостохранилища) регуляторы прямо требуют испарительных систем для изоляции растворов.

    ---

    Коротко: часто воду «испаряют» не из-за нехватки технологий, а потому что так проще выполнить закон, лицензии и экологические требования.

    Если хочешь, могу разобрать конкретные страны — там правила сильно отличаются (например, в Намибия, ЮАР и Кения).

    #Африка #ВодныеРесурсы #ВодноеПраво #Экология #ИспарительныеПруды #WaterManagement #WaterRights #Mining #SaltProduction #Desalination #Climate #WaterScarcity #EnvironmentalRegulation #Hydrology #ResourceManagement 💧🌍

  22. #Irrigation’s next upgrade may be chemistry—not hardware. Loveland’s AQUA FORCE targets the root zone: IRF’s 2024 irrigated corn work showed ~+9 bu/acre on average. The bigger story is verification—yield per inch, pump hours, moisture curves
    agtech.industryexaminer.com/aq
    #AgTech #Irrigation #WaterManagement #PrecisionAg #Agronomy #Corn #DroughtResilience #FarmInputs #TechNews

  23. Provisional Land Use Data From Water Year 2024 Is Now Available On [CA]DWR Atlas, CNRA Open Data, And SGMA Data Viewer For Public Use
    --
    gis.water.ca.gov/app/CADWRLand <-- shared web-based CDWR datasets / map
    --
    “The collected data is used by various federal, state, and local agencies, academic researchers and private consultants , and can help estimate the amount of water available for agriculture. Using this information, farmers can adapt and make decisions to better manage scarce water supplies more effectively.”
    #GIS #spatial #mapping #California #download #opendata #water #hydrology #datause #datasharing #download #landuse #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #wateryear #DWRAtlas #statewide #CNRA #SGMA #publicdata #publicgood #usecase #crops #croplands #cropmapping #counties #countysurvey #CADWR #DWR #groundwater #irrigation #wateruse #watermanagement #federal #state #local #webmapping #agriculture #watersecurity #foodsecurity #watersupply
    #CaliforniaDepartmentOfWaterResources

  24. Creating a sustainable future for the African child: a #solarpunk concept

    by Christabel Ebubechukwu Okoroafor, Bachelor of science student, Social work department, University of #Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria.

    PEOPLE CENTRED –THE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION | Volume 9, Issue 2, 2024

    Abstract
    "This article investigates the conceptualization and integration of the formerly known literary genre and art form; now a subgenre of climate activism, solarpunk as a way of building a sustainable future for the African child; a future that takes pride in preserving the planet and creating a safe space for the African child to thrive, survive and develop. Solarpunk is a speculative and optimistic concept that seeks to reimagine the future of sustainability and mitigate climate change; an #ecotopian future where technology especially renewable resources and nature exist in #ecological harmony (#symbiotism). It profers #sustainable solutions like that embodies the core concept of African philosophy- being a whole person and being one with your surroundings, particularly focusing on community and its strength, a core concept for the Africa scene. It encourages social action through sustainability education of the next generation that is the African child. It integrates evidence from reviews, personal correspondence and diaries. With the potential to address challenges faced by African children, the article is arranged in sections that: introduce solarpunk and its alignment with African philosophies, analyze the current challenges faced by African children, present the context of #ClimateAction through the lens of #BAIW (Because Africa Is Worth It), present practical applications of solarpunk principles, discuss the role of #ForestGuards and social action groups in #biodiversity preservation, and explore how solarpunk addresses the challenges of the African child, concluding with policy recommendations to support the adoption of solarpunk in #Africa."

    Read more:
    jda.africasocialwork.net/wp-co

    #SolarPunkSunday #SolarpunkInAfrica #PreservingNature #RenewableEnergy #CircularEconomy #EnvironmentalStewardship #ResourceManagement #WaterManagement #ClimateChange #SustainableAgriculture #LocalSolutions

  25. John McPhee’s Short Essay About A 1972 Rockefeller Civil Service Award Winner - Dr. Luna Leopold, The First Chief Hydrologist At The USGS
    --
    jfklibrary.org/archives/other- <--JFK's 1958 speech at the Rockerfeller Civil Service Awards
    --
    usgs.gov/news/featured-story/l <-- shared details of Dr. Luna Leopold from the USGS
    --
    fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2020/04/ <-- shared details of The Patch, by John McPhee
    --
    eos.org/opinions/luna-b-leopol <--shared EOS retrospective of Dr Leopold
    --
    I was reading - with a mug of tea - The Patch (link above) by John McPhee, a decades-old favourite author of mine - and came across this short essay amongst many fine others…
    #spatial #datalover #measurements #metrics #hydrology #water #fedservice #fedscience #LunaLeopold #hydrologist #crossdiscipline #RockefellerCivilServiceAward #USGS #JohnMcPhee #writing #readingforpleasure #mission #opendata #mapping #waterresources #watersecurity #wateruse #watermanagement
    @USGS