Abstract

Groundwater represents 98% of the world’s freshwater resources. These resources have been strongly impacted by the increases in temperature and in the variation in precipitation. Despite many advances, the relationship between climate change and the dynamics of aquifer recharge is still poorly understood. This study includes an analysis of 211 papers using the biblioshiny function in the bibliometric R Package. Additionally, specific papers were selected to identify limits, trends, and negative and positive impacts. The results indicated an average growth of 14.38% and a significant increase in research from 2009. In total, 52 countries have undertaken studies in this field, just over 26% of the total number of countries. In the papers examined, the worst projections related to reductions in recharge were identified for arid and desert areas; the highest recharges were identified in the northern regions and in areas at high altitudes, where recharge capacity is maintained or increases due to rapid snow and glacial melting resulting from temperature increases. Despite the advances achieved, more studies should be extended to analyse groundwater assessment at other latitudes to reach a complete and comprehensive understanding. This understanding should be one of the priorities for water among governments and the scientific community in order to safeguard this precious resource.

Highlights

  • The study of groundwater recharge from a climatic point of view began in the 1980s, when the scientific community saw that the climate change was accelerating more and more rapidly

  • In all the papers referenced in this review, the term “climate change” was the essential keyword used by the authors, followed by “aquifer recharge”

  • The creation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988 and the reports published about climate change during the last 30 years have promoted the study of groundwater, the last two decades being essential in the development of this subject

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Summary

Introduction

Water and the Earth’s climate are closely related. It is well-known that the hydrological cycle, groundwater, is affected by climatic variations and the interactions between precipitation, temperature, and evaporation, as described by Brouyère et al [1], Rivera et al [2], Ranjan et al [3], Aizebeokhai [4], Earman and Dettinger [5], Ertürk et al [6], Stagl et al [7], Green [8], Smerdon [9] and Berhail [10]. Each change in the climatic system induces a difference in the water system and vice versa. Due to these climatic variations, groundwater assessments have become essential, as groundwater represents approximately

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