Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 14, 2025

Developing a Virtual Reality Video Game to Simulate Rip Currents
Published on: July 16, 2020
Future changes in the trading of virtual water
Neal T Graham1,2,3, Mohamad I Hejazi4,5, Son H Kim4
1Joint Global Change Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, College Park, MD, USA. neal.graham@pnnl.gov.
Abstract:
Water stressed regions rely heavily on the import of water-intensive goods to offset insufficient food production driven by socioeconomic and environmental factors. The water embedded in these traded commodities, virtual water, has received increasing interest in the scientific community. However, comprehensive future projections of virtual water trading remain absent. Here we show, for the first time, changes over the 21st century in the amount of various water types required to meet international agricultural demands. Accounting for evolution in socioeconomic and climatic conditions, we estimate future interregional virtual water trading and find trading of renewable water sources may triple by 2100 while nonrenewable groundwater trading may at least double. Basins in North America, and the La Plata and Nile Rivers are found to contribute extensively to virtual water exports, while much of Africa, India, and the Middle East relies heavily on virtual water imports by the end of the century.
Related Concept Videos
Regulation of Water Output
Water and Mineral Acquisition
The Water Cycle
Regulation of Water Intake
Body Water Content and Fluid Compartments
States of Water
Water freezes when the intermolecular forces are greater than the kinetic energy. Unlike most other substances, water is less dense in its solid state than in its liquid state. This is because each water molecule can form...

