INTEGRATING MULTI-SCALE DATA FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF WATER AVAILABILITY AND QUALITY IN THE KHARAA - ORKHON - SELENGA RIVER SYSTEM

• Published in: Earth and Planetary Science Letters
• Main Authors: Daniel Karthe, Nikolay Kasimov S., Sergey Chalov R., Galina Shinkareva L., Marcus Malsy, Lucas Menzel, Philipp Theuring, Melanie Hartwig, Christian Schweitzer, Jürgen Hofmann, Jörg Priess, Mikhail Lychagin
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Russian Geographical Society 2014
• Subjects: hydrology; water availability; water quality; Central Asia; Mongolia; Russia; Permafrost and Periglacial Processes
• Online Access: https://ges.rgo.ru/jour/article/view/13; https://doi.org/10.24057/2071-9388-2014-7-3-40-49

The environmental and socio-enonomic impacts of water pollution are particularly severe in regions with relatively limited water resources [WWAP, 2012]. Water quantity and quality are closely interlinked aspects which are relevant for surface water ecology, water use, and integrated management approaches. However, an intensive monitoring of both is usually prohibitive for very large areas, particularly if it includes the investigation of underlying processes and causes. For the Kharaa - Orkhon - Selenga River system, this paper combines results from the micro (experimental plots, individual point data), meso (Kharaa River Basin) and macro (Selenge River Basin) scales. On the one hand, this integration allows an interpretation of existing data on surface water quantity and quality in a wider context. On the other hand, it empirically underpins the complimentary character of intensive monitoring in selected model regions with more extensive monitoring in larger areas.