New models indicate how dams worldwide influence the mix of nutrients in river water reaching the ocean. As more dams are built, changing nutrient loads may adversely affect coastal ecosystems.
Rivers
Posted inFeatures
The River’s Lizard Tail: Braiding Indigenous Knowledges with Geomorphology
Indigenous Knowledges can be accurate, rigorous, and precise, say researchers in New Zealand, and they can help geomorphologists see landscapes in a new, richer way.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
A River Ran Through It
The history of river system in southeast Tibet and Indochina reconstructed using the ages of thousands of zircon sand grains in modern and ancient river sediments.
Posted inScience Updates
Asia’s Mega Rivers: Common Source, Diverse Fates
How do humans affect the ways that Asia’s mega rivers deliver sediment and dissolved matter to farms, river deltas, and, eventually, the sea? A proposed study would construct an integrated picture.
Posted inNews
Mountain Streams Exhale More Than Their Share of CO2
Streams that flow down mountainsides are more turbulent than those that run along forest floors, which leads to faster gas exchange between water and air.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Will Climate Change Affect Arctic Stream Slime?
Rising temperatures and thawing permafrost will change nutrient concentrations in Arctic waterways, which will influence the growth of biogeochemically important biofilms.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Organic Matter in Arctic River Shows Permafrost Thaw
Samples from two waterways in northern Siberia—the main stem of the Kolyma River and a headwater stream in the river’s watershed—indicate the differing sources and ages of carbon they contain.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Finding Natural Solutions to Man-Made Problems in River Deltas
Decades of research on river deltas identify gaps in our knowledge of delta behavior and the tools required to fill them in.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
River Deltas at the Top of the World
The water that filters through river deltas has a large effect on the Arctic Ocean. A new study explores factors that shape Arctic river deltas and how delta form in turn changes water flow.
Posted inFeatures
High Water: Prolonged Flooding on the Deltaic Mississippi River
Changing climate and land use practices are bringing extended periods of high water to the lower Mississippi River. New management practices are needed to protect people, industry, and the land.