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The land is mainly covered with water. Aside from the oceans, there is also the amazing amount of water that exists in rivers and streams. But what part of our planet is covered by these masses of water? The answer is a little complicated.
Using satellite imagery, ground measurements, and a statistical model, researchers attempted to quantify the overall surface area of rivers and streams and found that they cover approximately 773,000 km2 of the Earth's surface. That's about 45% more than previous estimates
The question is important because all water courses and rivers release carbon dioxide into the air at rates comparable to those of the lands. For example, rivers pump about one-fifth of the carbon dioxide emitted by fossil fuels and cement production. Thus, the results can shed light on the role that these water masses play in the global carbon cycle and possibly climate change. "As we try to mitigate the effects of climate change, it's really important to clearly understand where carbon is located," says researcher Tamlin Pavelsky of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Our new calculation helps scientists better assess the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by rivers and streams." The study is the first to directly measure smaller streams and rivers. the largest rivers in the world using ground-based measurements and satellite imagery, and then using a statistical model to estimate river and fluvial coverage across the globe. Previous studies were based on small Quantities of actual data to estimate the overall area of the river and the watercourse.ndsat (GRWL), contains nearly 60 million measurements of river width in the world, making it one of the most databases the most cut the rivers and streams of & # 39; water.
The Oceanic Topography (SWOT) satellite mission, to be launched in 2021. The mission is to conduct the first global study of the Earth's surface waters and to measure changes in the Earth's water patterns. over time.
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