Articles | Volume 13, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-935-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-935-2022
Research article
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01 Jun 2022
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 01 Jun 2022

Glacial runoff buffers droughts through the 21st century

Lizz Ultee, Sloan Coats, and Jonathan Mackay

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Cited articles

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Global climate models suggest that droughts could worsen over the coming century. In mountain basins with glaciers, glacial runoff can ease droughts, but glaciers are retreating worldwide. We analyzed how one measure of drought conditions changes when accounting for glacial runoff that changes over time. Surprisingly, we found that glacial runoff can continue to buffer drought throughout the 21st century in most cases, even as the total amount of runoff declines.
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