Article
Soil Science
Zhuo Chen, Xin Gao, Jiaqiang Lei
Summary: The rapid drying of the Aral Sea has caused complex environmental changes and a significant amount of aeolian dust to be released from the exposed bottom. This study used models to investigate the emission and transport characteristics of the Aral Sea dust. The results show that the dust emission is concentrated in the eastern Aral Sea basin and exhibits seasonal variation, with the highest value and widest spatial range in spring. The dust can be transported over 4,000 km and affect a land area of more than 38.5 x 106 km2, reaching as far as the Arctic Ocean, Iran, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean.
Article
Environmental Sciences
B. D. Hamlington, T. Frederikse, P. R. Thompson, J. K. Willis, R. S. Nerem, J. T. Fasullo
Summary: Satellite altimeters have provided global coverage of ocean observations for nearly three decades, showing evidence of global mean sea-level rise and spatial variability. However, the influence of natural variability on sea-level trends still cannot be ruled out due to the short length of the record.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Marcello Passaro, Felix L. Mueller, Julius Oelsmann, Laura Rautiainen, Denise Dettmering, Michael G. Hart-Davis, Adili Abulaitijiang, Ole B. Andersen, Jacob L. Hoyer, Kristine S. Madsen, Ida Margrethe Ringgaard, Jani Saerkkae, Rory Scarrott, Christian Schwatke, Florian Seitz, Laura Tuomi, Marco Restano, Jerome Benveniste
Summary: This study analyzes the absolute sea level trend in the Baltic Sea from May 1995 to May 2019 using satellite altimetry data and assesses the impact of the North Atlantic Oscillation and wind patterns on sea level trends and variability. The results show a statistically significant rise in sea level across the entire study region, with a higher increase in winter compared to summer, and differences in sea level rise gradient between different sub-basins. The study highlights the utility of enhanced satellite altimetry products for local sea level studies in regions with complex coastlines or sea-ice coverage.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Aerospace
Cori Pegliasco, Alexis Chaigneau, Rosemary Morrow, Franck Dumas
Summary: This study compared Mediterranean Sea eddies detected and tracked using two altimetry products from 2000 to 2015. It was found that more individual eddies and trajectories are detected in the Sea Level Anomaly (SLA) data compared to the Absolute Dynamic Topography (ADT) data, with larger radius but lower Eddy Kinetic Energy. The spatial distribution of the mesoscale activity differs between the two data sets.
ADVANCES IN SPACE RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Matea Tomic, Ole Baltazar Andersen
Summary: This study evaluates coastal observations from ICESat-2 to update the existing mean sea surface for Norway. The results show that ICESat-2 provides more accurate coastal observations, which can improve the mean sea surface model, especially along the coast.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Lorena Moreira, Anny Cazenave, Anne Barnoud, Jianli Chen
Summary: Satellite altimetry has shown that the rate of sea-level rise varies by region, being influenced mainly by changes in ocean temperature and salinity. Significant correlations between altimetry-based sea-level and modelled fingerprints of water mass redistribution have been detected in certain ocean regions.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Shuangyan Huang, Xi Chen, Cun Chang, Tie Liu, Yue Huang, Chanjuan Zan, Xiaoting Ma, Philippe De Maeyer, Tim Van de Voorde
Summary: This study shows that the expansion of cropland is no longer the main factor driving the desiccation of the Aral Sea. Instead, changing climate and increasing evapotranspiration have accelerated the shrinkage of the sea.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Review
Oceanography
Naheem Adebisi, Abdul-Lateef Balogun, Teh Hee Min, Abdulwaheed Tella
Summary: This study systematically reviewed the current advances in estimating sea level change, including trends in observation systems, radar technology, satellite altimetry, and the role of emerging spatial data science concepts and processing workflows. The findings suggest that tide gauges remain the best approach for long-term coastal sea level study, while satellite altimetry is suitable for global and regional scales.
OCEAN & COASTAL MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Huili He, Rafiq Hamdi, Geping Luo, Peng Cai, Miao Zhang, Haiyang Shi, Chaofan Li, Piet Termonia, Philippe De Maeyer, Alishir Kurban
Summary: Lakes are important for regulating regional climate, but the drying up of the Aral Sea has weakened its role in climate regulation. However, the understanding of how the Aral Sea regulates the regional climate and its mechanisms is still limited.
ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Xiaolei Wang, Junze Zhang, Shuai Wang, Yongxiao Ge, Zihao Duan, Lin Sun, Michael E. Meadows, Yi Luo, Bojie Fu, Xi Chen, Yue Huang, Xiaoting Ma, Jilili Abuduwaili
Summary: This article proposes a hydro-eco-social framework to address the environmental issues in the Aral Sea. By raising the water level, controlling salinity, and reducing sandstorm risk, it is feasible to revive the Aral Sea. Management interventions can help reduce water usage and ensure sufficient recharge into the lake without compromising socio-economic opportunities. Establishing a water governance network can have potential application for other declining lake systems.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Xiaoting Ma, Shuangyan Huang, Yue Huang, Xiaolei Wang, Yi Luo
Summary: This study examines the impact of water surface salinity on evaporation in the Aral Sea, revealing that previous estimations have often overlooked the effects of salinity. By employing a water activity-based Penman salinity equation, the results show that evaporation rates are overestimated when salinity effects are excluded, leading to significant deviations in the water balance.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2024)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Taehwan Jeon
Summary: Total sea level changes from different methods can be affected by area inconsistency, leading to a global trend difference of approximately 0.3 mm/yr. Applying a consistent ocean area for averaging can improve the agreement between altimetry and mass + steric in trend. This finding may help explain discrepancies in past sea level budget studies.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Donghui Yi, Alejandro Egido, Walter H. F. Smith, Laurence Connor, Christopher Buchhaupt, Dexin Zhang
Summary: This study characterizes the sea-ice elevation distribution using NASA's Operation IceBridge (OIB) Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) data over the Arctic Ocean. The aim is to improve the estimation of sea-ice freeboard. The results show that the sea-ice elevation distribution is positively skewed, and the exponentially modified Gaussian distribution is better suited for fitting the probability density function. The correlation characteristics of the elevation are characterized using the autocorrelation function and correlation length.
Article
Engineering, Civil
Zafarjon Sultonov, Hari K. Pant
Summary: This study investigates the potential impacts of climate change on water management within the Aral Sea basin, highlighting the urgent need for effective water management strategies, sustainable agriculture practices, and regional cooperation.
WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Marcello Passaro, Laura Rautiainen, Denise Dettmering, Marco Restano, Michael G. Hart-Davis, Florian Schlembach, Jani Sarkka, Felix L. Muller, Christian Schwatke, Jerome Benveniste
Summary: An empirical retracking strategy (ALES + SAR) has been designed to improve sea level observations in the Baltic Sea. The strategy shows comparable performance to physical-based retracking methods, with advantages in coastal and sea ice areas.