[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-450324-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-450324-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","persistent-river-heatwaves-are-emerging-worldwide-under-climate-change","Persistent river heatwaves are emerging worldwide under climate change","","The article investigates how river heatwaves—successive periods of anomalously high river water temperatures—are evolving as climate change progresses. It finds that by the end of the 21st century, river heatwaves will become substantially more intense and far more persistent globally, with some tropical rivers reaching a year-round persistent state early in the century. Using the high greenhouse gas scenario RCP 8.5, it projects a large rise in intensity and duration relative to 1976–2005, with near-term exposure impacts on vulnerable low-income regions.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/persistent-river-heatwaves-are-emerging-worldwide-under-climate-change/450324/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/persistent-river-heatwaves-are-emerging-worldwide-under-climate-change/450324.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Valentina","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-07","2026-09-30",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",6,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What is a river heatwave event in this article?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"It is defined as a consecutive period when weekly river mean water temperature exceeds a locally and seasonally varying 90th percentile threshold based on the 1976–2005 historical baseline.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How do river heatwaves change by the end of the 21st century under RCP 8.5?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The article projects that river heatwaves become more intense and more persistent globally, with average intensity increasing about 4.2 times and average duration about 95 times versus 1976–2005.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What impacts does the article discuss for ecosystems and society?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"It projects widespread effects from emerging persistent river heatwaves, including pushing river ecosystems and aquatic organisms toward resilience limits and increasing population exposure—especially in vulnerable low-income regions.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},450324,1790985123,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},13056703020460,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/be000253dac470eee5d?_k=1778207105932848923","Article [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-66868-5](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-66868-5)  \nPersistent river heatwaves are emerging worldwide under climate change  \nReceived: 2 April 2025  \n\n| Accepted: 18 November 2025 |\n| --- |\n| |\n| Check for updates |\n\nYiling Chen1, Zhiying Su1, R. Iestyn Woolway 2, Niko Wanders 3, Sijia Wu1, Ziwei Huang1 & Ming Luo 1   \nRivers and the organisms living within them are highly vulnerable to hot thermal extremes. However, very little is known about river heatwaves, consecutive episodes of anomalously high temperature in rivers, and how they may evolve under climate change. Here we show that river heatwaves will become more intense and more persistent globally by the end of the 21st century, with some tropical rivers reaching a persistent year-round heatwave state in the early 21st century. Under the high-greenhouse-gas-emission scenario (Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5), the average intensity of river heatwaves will increase by ~4.2-fold, and the average duration by ~95-fold, relative to the baseline period (1976–2005). Nearly half of the world’s rivers are expected to experience a year-round heatwave state by the 2090 s. Global population exposure to river heatwaves will reach 16.8 billion person-weeks annually, with a disproportionately heavier burden on vulnerable low-income regions, such as the Congo River basin. Emerging persistent river heatwaves may push river ecosystems and aquatic organisms to their resilience limits, causing irreversible changes and widespread impacts.  \nRivers provide an efficient network that links terrestrial and marine ecosystems through the transportation of water, energy, and nutrients1. River water temperature is a fundamental water variable that regulates physical, chemical, and biological processes within river systems2. Extremely high temperatures in rivers can affect water quality and the survival, growth, and distribution of aquatic organisms, impacting ecosystems and human societies2–4. Aquatic organisms are susceptible to changes in river temperature, and rising temperatures pose a severe threat to the survival of freshwater fishes5, which provide a primary protein source for a large portion of the human population6. The increasing exposure of these species to extreme high temperatures may result not only in local extinctions but also threaten fisheries that support the livelihoods of humans in many regions of the world7. Higher temperatures reduce dissolved oxygen levels in rivers while increasing the concentration of dissolved organic matter, micropollutants, and pathogens8. These changes can degrade water quality and metabolism9, posing risks to both human health and water  \nsecurity10. As climate change intensifies, river temperatures are likely to rise further11–13. Therefore, understanding the long-term dynamics of river water temperatures has become critically urgent for developing strategies to mitigate the risks to ecosystems and societies that depend on river resources.  \nPrevious studies on extreme high temperatures have primarily focused on those in the atmosphere14–16, oceans17,18, and lakes19,20, where positive trends in heatwave frequency and intensity have been well-documented. There is growing evidence that river water temperatures are increasing under climate change11,12,21. In comparison, we know much less about heatwaves in rivers and how they might evolve in a warming world13,22,23. A river heatwave event can bedefined as a period when river water temperature exceeds a local and seasonally varying 90th percentile threshold over the historical baseline period (see “Methods” for more details), similar to atmospheric and marine heatwaves14–18. The knowledge gap of river heatwaves is of considerable concern, given the high vulnerability of  \n1Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Urbanization and Geo-Simulation, School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China. 2School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor Uni","cbCaihpLzlD3UYv1","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaihpLzlD3UYv1","pdf",3748835,11,"English","# Introduction\n## Background on river temperature impacts\n## Knowledge gap on river heatwaves\n# Methods and definitions\n## Heatwave event definition\n## Dataset and baseline period","[{\"question\":\"What is a river heatwave event in this article?\",\"answer\":\"It is defined as a consecutive period when weekly river mean water temperature exceeds a locally and seasonally varying 90th percentile threshold based on the 1976–2005 historical baseline.\"},{\"question\":\"How do river heatwaves change by the end of the 21st century under RCP 8.5?\",\"answer\":\"The article projects that river heatwaves become more intense and more persistent globally, with average intensity increasing about 4.2 times and average duration about 95 times versus 1976–2005.\"},{\"question\":\"What impacts does the article discuss for ecosystems and society?\",\"answer\":\"It projects widespread effects from emerging persistent river heatwaves, including pushing river ecosystems and aquatic organisms toward resilience limits and increasing population exposure—especially in vulnerable low-income regions.\"}]","Persistent river heatwaves are emerging worldwide under climate change | PDF",1790732893,28]