Intrinsic Spatial Scales of River Stores and Fluxes and Their Relative Contributions to the Global Water Cycle

Abstract The Earth's rivers vary in size across several orders of magnitude. Yet, the relative significance of small upstream reaches compared to large downstream rivers in the global water cycle remains unclear, challenging the determination of adequate spatial resolution for observations. Here, we use monthly simulations of river stores and fluxes to investigate the intrinsic spatial scales of the global river water cycle. We frame these scale‐dependent river dynamics in terms of observational capabilities, assessing how the size of rivers that can be resolved influences our ability to capture key global hydrologic stores and fluxes. By filtering reaches by estimated river widths, we quantify the relative contribution of global river reaches by size and estimate that over 17% of global discharge to ocean and nearly 9% of the world's river storage lies within rivers smaller than 100 m—hence revealing both strengths and limitations of current observational capabilities.

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Publication Details

Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Published
2025-02-12
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1029/2024gl113052
Citations
3
Primary Topic
Flood Risk Assessment and Management
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
3.32

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Intrinsic Spatial Scales of River Stores and Fluxes and Their Relative Contributions to the Global Water Cycle

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Intrinsic Spatial Scales of River Stores and Fluxes and Their Relative Contributions to the Global Water Cycle

Manu Tom, Elyssa L. Collins, Jeffrey Wade, J. T. Reager, J. S. Famiglietti, Arnaud Cerbelaud, Cédric Hervé David, Michael Denbina, Tong Lee, Michelle M. Gierach, Renato Prata de Moraes Frasson
article en
3 citations

Abstract

Abstract The Earth's rivers vary in size across several orders of magnitude. Yet, the relative significance of small upstream reaches compared to large downstream rivers in the global water cycle remains unclear, challenging the determination of adequate spatial resolution for observations. Here, we use monthly simulations of river stores and fluxes to investigate the intrinsic spatial scales of the global river water cycle. We frame these scale‐dependent river dynamics in terms of observational capabilities, assessing how the size of rivers that can be resolved influences our ability to capture key global hydrologic stores and fluxes. By filtering reaches by estimated river widths, we quantify the relative contribution of global river reaches by size and estimate that over 17% of global discharge to ocean and nearly 9% of the world's river storage lies within rivers smaller than 100 m—hence revealing both strengths and limitations of current observational capabilities.

Geophysical Research LettersVol. 52(4)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US), Arizona State University (US)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Openalex Percentile: Top 10%
Flood Risk Assessment and Management
3.32
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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