🌊 Have you ever wondered where rivers get their water? Scientists in China just shared some amazing data about rivers in the Tianshan Mountains, and it’s helping everyone understand water better! 💧
The Tianshan Mountains are super important because they are the main source of water for many rivers in Central Asia. A team of researchers from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography studied these mountains to learn more about how much water flows in the rivers there.
They collected daily water flow data from 56 watersheds (that’s like areas where all the water drains into one river) and monthly data from 89 watersheds! 📊 They even combined information from both domestic and international stations to make sure their data was the best it could be.
Guess what they found out? Between 1990 and 2019, the amount of water flowing in the rivers increased overall! 🌱 They noticed more water in the western and southern parts of the mountains, and less in the eastern and northern parts.
One of the researchers, Li Shuai, said, “This is the first time we’ve been able to study the river flow in the Tianshan Mountains in such detail over a long time.” 🗺️
This new data is super important! It helps scientists understand how to manage water resources better and see how climate change might be affecting the region. 🌍
Photo: Traces of melting snow from the Tianshan Mountains, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China.
Reference(s):
Chinese researchers release Tianshan watershed streamflow dataset
cgtn.com
