Ricardo Sánchez-Murillo, Christian Birkel, Enrico A. Yépez, Ricardo Oyarzún, María Poca, Orlando Mauricio Quiroz Londoño, Lyssette E. Muñoz-Villers, Ana M. Durán-Quesada, Marcia Barrera de Calderón, Rolando Sánchez-Gutiérrez, Giovanny M. Mosquera, Ruth E. Villanueva Estrada, Geoffrey Marshall, Javier Barberena Moncada, Odalys Julissa Ibarra-Alejos, Kegan K. Farrick, Juan Pérez Quezadas, Kristen Welsh, Francisco Fernandoy, Juan A. Torres-Martínez, José Luis Arumí, Megan Cox, Yelba Flores-Meza, María L. Montiel, Junior O. Hernández-Ortiz, Miguel A. Mejía González, Claudia R. Avalos, Luis González-Hita, Didier Gastmans, Selene Olea-Olea, Germain Esquivel-Hernández, Dana M. Jacob, Isadora Aumond Kuhn, Agustín Menta, Manuel Giménez, Isabel Pérez Martínez, Roger Pacheco Castro, Paola Alejandra Vásquez Cardona, Marcelo Somos-Valenzuela, Gabriela P. Flores Avilés, Alejandro García-Moya, Angela Méndez, Roberto E. Kirchheim, Marcela Cabrera, Haydée Osorio-Ugarte, Juan Camacho-Puerto, Chris Soulsby, Jodie Miller
Tracer hydrology in Latin America and the Caribbean has made significant progress in recent decades, largely through the sustained support of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Current practises show water stable isotope applications and precipitation-groundwater monitoring at the core of most networks, providing valuable insights into recharge mechanisms, groundwater to surface water connectivity, pollution tracking, and climate variability. Despite these advances, critical challenges persist, including short and fragmented monitoring records, limited capture of extreme events, restricted data accessibility, and persistent barriers related to funding, analytical capacity, and weak policy integration. Improving science communication emerges as an urgent need to transform technical findings into actionable knowledge that informs decision-makers and empowers communities. Opportunities exist to build on IAEA's legacy by sustaining long-term networks, diversifying tracer applications, mobilising citizen science in monitoring efforts, expanding modelling and laboratory capacity, and advocating for FAIR data sharing across end-users. Strengthened collaboration across the region, improved communication, and deeper policy engagement can elevate tracer hydrology into a pillar of regional water governance and hydro-climate resilience.
{"title":"Tracer Hydrology Practices, Challenges, and Opportunities Across Latin America and the Caribbean","authors":"Ricardo Sánchez-Murillo, Christian Birkel, Enrico A. Yépez, Ricardo Oyarzún, María Poca, Orlando Mauricio Quiroz Londoño, Lyssette E. Muñoz-Villers, Ana M. Durán-Quesada, Marcia Barrera de Calderón, Rolando Sánchez-Gutiérrez, Giovanny M. Mosquera, Ruth E. Villanueva Estrada, Geoffrey Marshall, Javier Barberena Moncada, Odalys Julissa Ibarra-Alejos, Kegan K. Farrick, Juan Pérez Quezadas, Kristen Welsh, Francisco Fernandoy, Juan A. Torres-Martínez, José Luis Arumí, Megan Cox, Yelba Flores-Meza, María L. Montiel, Junior O. Hernández-Ortiz, Miguel A. Mejía González, Claudia R. Avalos, Luis González-Hita, Didier Gastmans, Selene Olea-Olea, Germain Esquivel-Hernández, Dana M. Jacob, Isadora Aumond Kuhn, Agustín Menta, Manuel Giménez, Isabel Pérez Martínez, Roger Pacheco Castro, Paola Alejandra Vásquez Cardona, Marcelo Somos-Valenzuela, Gabriela P. Flores Avilés, Alejandro García-Moya, Angela Méndez, Roberto E. Kirchheim, Marcela Cabrera, Haydée Osorio-Ugarte, Juan Camacho-Puerto, Chris Soulsby, Jodie Miller","doi":"10.1002/hyp.70376","DOIUrl":"10.1002/hyp.70376","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Tracer hydrology in Latin America and the Caribbean has made significant progress in recent decades, largely through the sustained support of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Current practises show water stable isotope applications and precipitation-groundwater monitoring at the core of most networks, providing valuable insights into recharge mechanisms, groundwater to surface water connectivity, pollution tracking, and climate variability. Despite these advances, critical challenges persist, including short and fragmented monitoring records, limited capture of extreme events, restricted data accessibility, and persistent barriers related to funding, analytical capacity, and weak policy integration. Improving science communication emerges as an urgent need to transform technical findings into actionable knowledge that informs decision-makers and empowers communities. Opportunities exist to build on IAEA's legacy by sustaining long-term networks, diversifying tracer applications, mobilising citizen science in monitoring efforts, expanding modelling and laboratory capacity, and advocating for FAIR data sharing across end-users. Strengthened collaboration across the region, improved communication, and deeper policy engagement can elevate tracer hydrology into a pillar of regional water governance and hydro-climate resilience.</p>","PeriodicalId":13189,"journal":{"name":"Hydrological Processes","volume":"40 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/hyp.70376","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145969649","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}