Connecting terrestrial droughts with downstream marine ecosystems

From 1 to 8 July 2026, Dr. Igal Berenshtein from the University of Haifa conducted a Short-Term Scientific Mission at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), hosted by Prof. Christopher Reyer. The visit was supported by COST Action CA24163 CROSS-CASCADE.The STSM focused on how droughts and changes in river discharge may propagate from terrestrial and freshwater systems into marine ecosystems, affecting nutrient inputs, marine productivity, food webs, fisheries, and coastal communities.

During the visit, Igal presented his research to the ISIMIP group, including a recent study on fisheries declines in the Gulf of Mexico following the severe drought of the late 1980s. Discussions with Christopher Reyer, Jacob Schewe, and other PIK colleagues helped translate the broader research concept into a feasible analysis using existing ISIMIP and FishMIP simulations. The planned work will compare simulations with and without riverine inputs to examine how freshwater and nutrient delivery influence downstream marine ecosystems.

The visit laid the foundation for two collaborative studies. The first will develop a roadmap for integrating land–sea climate cascades into multi-sectoral climate-impact research, supported by a comparison of FishMIP datasets. The second, which emerged unexpectedly from discussions during the visit, will investigate whether drought and river-discharge anomalies contributed to the late-1980s global marine regime shift.

Igal is very grateful to Christopher Reyer, Jacob Schewe, and the PIK and ISIMIP teams for their warm hospitality, valuable discussions, and openness to continued collaboration, and to COST Action CA24163 CROSS-CASCADE for supporting the mission.