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New research finds there are 44% more rivers and streams than we know now

The continuous efforts in the domain of astronomy and space research, as well as numerous advancements in the field of space exploration, might make us feel that we are aware of everything on our planet. However, the concerns of space exploration are yet to cease that has been validated by researchers in their study which was published on Thursday in the ‘Science’ journal. The researchers from Texas A&M and the University of North Carolina were able to chart out various new rivers and streams which imply that there are 44% more of them than existing assumptions.

NASA funded study was led by associate professor of global hydrology at UNC-Chapel Hill and Ph.D., Tamlin Pavelsky. The primary objective of the researchers was directed towards identifying the amount of moving water on Earth since rivers and streams are capable of adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere that could impose detrimental impacts of climate change. In the paper, the researchers have emphasized on the monitoring the formation of carbon and its pathway in order to quantify the situation. In a statement released on Thursday, Pavelsky informed that the new calculation would help scientists improve the assessment of the amount of carbon dioxide from rivers and streams into the atmosphere on an annual basis.

Majority of the emphasis on climate change has been vested in the gaseous emission into the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels albeit with the possibilities of rivers and streams containing fertilizers as well as animal and human waste releasing carbon dioxide into the air. The team stated that out-gassing from rivers and streams could be responsible for introducing a particular volume of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The volume is expected to be equivalent to almost a fifth of the total emissions from cement production and fossil fuel combustion. The positive facet derived from the findings implies that it is flexible to keep a tab on the actual amount of carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere.

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