Articles | Volume 23, issue 21
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-7939-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-7939-2026
Research article
 | 
06 Nov 2026
Research article |  | 06 Nov 2026

Riverine organic matter dynamics in the headwaters of the Yellow River under climate change

Xiaoxiao Wang, Jie Wang, Tianqing Ren, and Jun Zhou

Cited articles

Adegun, A., Viriri, S., and Tapamo, J.-R.: Review of deep learning methods for remote sensing satellite images classification: experimental survey and comparative analysis, Journal of Big Data, 10, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40537-023-00772-x, 2023. 
Aryal, S. and Pokhrel, Y.: Spatio-temporal heterogeneities in hydrologic dynamics across the Asian Water Tower, J. Hydrol., 662, 133951, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.133951, 2025. 
Bai, Y., Peng, Y., Zhang, D., Yang, G., Chen, L., Kang, L., Zhou, W., Wei, B., Xie, Y., and Yang, Y.: Heating up the roof of the world: tracing the impacts of in-situ warming on carbon cycle in alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau, Natl. Sci. Rev., 12, nwae371, https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwae371, 2025. 
Battin, T. J., Lauerwald, R., Bernhardt, E. S., Bertuzzo, E., Gener, L. G., Hall, R. O., Hotchkiss, E. R., Maavara, T., Pavelsky, T. M., Ran, L., Raymond, P., Rosentreter, J. A., and Regnier, P.: River ecosystem metabolism and carbon biogeochemistry in a changing world, Nature, 613, 449–459, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05500-8, 2023. 
Beusen, A. H. W., Doelman, J. C., Van Beek, L. P. H., Van Puijenbroek, P. J. T. M., Mogollón, J. M., Van Grinsven, H. J. M., Stehfest, E., Van Vuuren, D. P., and Bouwman, A. F.: Exploring river nitrogen and phosphorus loading and export to global coastal waters in the Shared Socio-economic pathways, Glob. Environ. Change, 72, 102426, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102426, 2022. 
Download
Short summary
Organic matter dynamics in alpine rivers are highly sensitive to climate change, yet long-term trends in riverine organic matter (ROM) remain poorly. Using satellite and in situ observation data and machine-learning models, we discovered that midstream regions of the Yellow River's headstream show higher and increasing ROM linked to wetter conditions, richer soils, and greater vegetation, but climate change is projected to reduce ROM in the Yellow River's headstreams by the end of the century.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint