Freshwater vulnerability under high end climate change. A pan-European assessment.

As freshwater availability is crucial for securing a sustainable, lower­carbon future, there is a critical connection between water management and climate policies. Under a rapidly changing climate, it is more important than ever to estimate the degree of future water security. This is a challenging task as it depends on many different variables: the degree of warming and its consequent effects on hydrological resources, the water demand by different sectors, and the possible ameliorations or deteriorations of the effects due to climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. A simple and transparent conceptual framework has been developed to assess the European vulnerability to freshwater stress under the present hydro-climatic and socioeconomic conditions, in comparison to projections of future vulnerability for different degrees of global warming (1.5°C, 2°C and 4°C), under the high-rate warming scenario (RCP8.5). Different levels of adaptation to climate change are considered in the framework, by employing various relevant pathways of socioeconomic development. A spatially detailed pan-European map of vulnerability to freshwater shortage has been developed at the local administrative level, making this approach extremely useful for supporting regional level policymaking and implementation and strategic planning against future freshwater stress.

The threat of soil salinity: A European scale review.

Soil salinisation is one of the major soil degradation threats occurring in Europe. The effects of salinisation can be observed in numerous vital ecological and non-ecological soil functions. Drivers of salinisation can be detected both in the natural and man-made environment, with climate and the foreseen climate change also playing an important role. This review outlines the state of the art concerning drivers and pressures, key indicators as well as monitoring, modeling and mapping methods for soil salinity. Furthermore, an overview of the effect of salinisation on soil functions and the respective mechanism is presented. Finally, the state of salinisation in Europe is presented according to the most recent literature and a synthesis of consistent datasets. We conclude that future research in the field of soil salinisation should be focused on among others carbon dynamics of saline soil, further exploration of remote sensing of soil properties and the harmonization and enrichment of soil salinity maps across Europe within a general context of a soil threat monitoring system to support policies and strategies for the protection of European soils.

Trend evaluation of water quality parameters in the Niagara and St. Lawrence Rivers.

Physical and chemical (nutrients and major ions) indicators of water quality monitored by Environment Canada between 1977 and 1987 in the Niagara River at Niagara-on-the-Lake and in the St. Lawrence River at Wolfe Island are analyzed for seasonal and annual variations. Parametric methods such as moving averages and linear regression and nonparametric methods (Spearman's rank coefficient) are used to test for the existence of trends in these data. The results indicate that specific conductivity, sodium and chloride have decreased significantly over the period of study. During the same period there is no significant trend for either discharge and nutrients.