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Information - HS29 Lakes and enclosed seas under anthropogenic pressure (co-listed in BG & OS)
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Event Information |
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Many lakes and inland seas all over the World experience anthropic impacts of varying extent and nature. The major forms of human pressure on inland water bodies are (i) pollution and (ii) unsustainable diversions of water from tributary rivers for irrigation and/or industrial uses. Consequently, physical and chemical regimes of the water bodies are often strongly affected, which is manifested through desiccation, salinization, artificial eutrophication, oxygen depletion, sulfide contamination, etc. This often results in severe losses of biological diversity and triggers a spectrum of economical and social consequences. Perhaps, the most well known examples are the Aral Sea and the Dead Sea, but many large and small lakes in the global perspective are also facing anthropogenic challenges. To a certain degree, this also refers to enclosed and semi-enclosed seas, such as the Caspian, Baltic, Black, Azov, and other Seas, and even some areas of the oceanic shelves, especially those adjacent to river estuaries. In many cases, such as those of Lake Chad or Lake Issyk-Kul, for example, the deterioration is forced by not only the anthropogenic pressures, but also the natural climate trends. It is, therefore, an important task to correctly distinguish the human impacts from the natural variability.
Better understanding of the related physical and chemical mechanisms can only be achieved through correct coupling between the lacustrine (oceanographic) dynamical phenomena occurring in the bulk of the water bodies on the one hand, and estuarine and groundwater hydrology processes and environmental flow conditions in the catchment basins on the other. This session is intended for observational, remote sensing, and modeling studies quantifying different aspects of this coupling, as well as various physical, chemical, and biological manifestations of relevant anthropogenic impacts. Reports of field measurements in the regions of special interest are particularly welcome.
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Preliminary List of Solicited Speakers |
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