#waterresources — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #waterresources, aggregated by home.social.
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https://www.europesays.com/africa/413515/ China’s GERD Leverage: Can Beijing Broker a Deal Between Egypt and Ethiopia? #China #Economics #Egypt #Ethiopia #opinion #WaterResources
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Perth looks back to the day when Mundaring Weir last overflowed
By Emma Wynne and Natalie JonesThirty years ago, Perth's Mundaring Weir overflowed following good winter rains. The visitors who flocked to see the spectacle had no idea it would never happen again.
#DamsandReservoirs #WaterSupply #WaterResources #History #EmmaWynne #NatalieJones
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Perth looks back to the day when Mundaring Weir last overflowed
By Emma Wynne and Natalie JonesThirty years ago, Perth's Mundaring Weir overflowed following good winter rains. The visitors who flocked to see the spectacle had no idea it would never happen again.
#DamsandReservoirs #WaterSupply #WaterResources #History #EmmaWynne #NatalieJones
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Perth looks back to the day when Mundaring Weir last overflowed
By Emma Wynne and Natalie JonesThirty years ago, Perth's Mundaring Weir overflowed following good winter rains. The visitors who flocked to see the spectacle had no idea it would never happen again.
#DamsandReservoirs #WaterSupply #WaterResources #History #EmmaWynne #NatalieJones
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Perth looks back to the day when Mundaring Weir last overflowed
By Emma Wynne and Natalie JonesThirty years ago, Perth's Mundaring Weir overflowed following good winter rains. The visitors who flocked to see the spectacle had no idea it would never happen again.
#DamsandReservoirs #WaterSupply #WaterResources #History #EmmaWynne #NatalieJones
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Perth looks back to the day when Mundaring Weir last overflowed
By Emma Wynne and Natalie JonesThirty years ago, Perth's Mundaring Weir overflowed following good winter rains. The visitors who flocked to see the spectacle had no idea it would never happen again.
#DamsandReservoirs #WaterSupply #WaterResources #History #EmmaWynne #NatalieJones
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"After 5-Week Vacation, House Suddenly Takes Off the Rest of September. Must be nice to be a member of Congress and never have to do your job":
https://newrepublic.com/post/215080/5-week-vacation-house-takes-off-september
Sen. Brian Schatz: "No #FarmBill. No #AI regulations. No #affordability agenda. No #transportation bill. No #WaterResources bill. No #CollegeSports bill. No end to the #IranWar. See you right before the holidays! Great job!"
#GOPfail #cowardice #NotEarningTheirSalaries #PoliticalMalpractice #politics copy: @renewedresistance -
"After 5-Week Vacation, House Suddenly Takes Off the Rest of September. Must be nice to be a member of Congress and never have to do your job":
https://newrepublic.com/post/215080/5-week-vacation-house-takes-off-september
Sen. Brian Schatz: "No #FarmBill. No #AI regulations. No #affordability agenda. No #transportation bill. No #WaterResources bill. No #CollegeSports bill. No end to the #IranWar. See you right before the holidays! Great job!"
#GOPfail #cowardice #NotEarningTheirSalaries #PoliticalMalpractice #politics copy: @renewedresistance -
"After 5-Week Vacation, House Suddenly Takes Off the Rest of September. Must be nice to be a member of Congress and never have to do your job":
https://newrepublic.com/post/215080/5-week-vacation-house-takes-off-september
Sen. Brian Schatz: "No #FarmBill. No #AI regulations. No #affordability agenda. No #transportation bill. No #WaterResources bill. No #CollegeSports bill. No end to the #IranWar. See you right before the holidays! Great job!"
#GOPfail #cowardice #NotEarningTheirSalaries #PoliticalMalpractice #politics copy: @renewedresistance -
"After 5-Week Vacation, House Suddenly Takes Off the Rest of September. Must be nice to be a member of Congress and never have to do your job":
https://newrepublic.com/post/215080/5-week-vacation-house-takes-off-september
Sen. Brian Schatz: "No #FarmBill. No #AI regulations. No #affordability agenda. No #transportation bill. No #WaterResources bill. No #CollegeSports bill. No end to the #IranWar. See you right before the holidays! Great job!"
#GOPfail #cowardice #NotEarningTheirSalaries #PoliticalMalpractice #politics copy: @renewedresistance -
To Predict Tree Death, Scientists Tapped Gamma Rays To Peer Underground
(Airborne radiation sensors could help forecast and prevent drought-driven tree mortality_
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https://www.science.org/content/article/predict-tree-death-scientists-tapped-gamma-rays-peer-underground <-- shared technical article
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https://doi.org/10.1029/2026GL122182 <-- shared paper
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H/T @hannah Richter
“Over an 18-month period starting in 2023, the dense forests of Western Australia [WA] experienced a record-setting drought. Jarrah trees towering 35 metres high died off in patchy brown splotches, turning 400 square kilometres - 3% of the forest - into brittle, fire-prone stands. The event led researchers to wonder whether there was a better way to predict where such die-offs might occur both there and in other forests, a problem that has long been tricky to solve because important factors such as soil depth are hidden underground…
Now, those same researchers have unveiled a surprising new tool for predicting tree mortality: gamma rays [link above.] Resulting from the natural decay of the potassium-40 isotope from granite-rich bedrock, the radiation acts as a proxy for soil depth, which in turn signals how much water a tree can access during drought. The new method could be applied to other highly weathered soils, which cover one-third of Earth’s ice-free land...”
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"... PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: During a record-breaking drought and heat event in 2023–2024, forests in southwestern Australia experienced widespread, patchy die-off. While we know that extreme weather triggers these events, it is often a hidden factor, the thickness of soil and the depth to underlying bedrock, that determines which trees live or die. Trees growing in shallow soil over solid rock are highly vulnerable due to limited water storage. Here, [they] show how to map these hidden zones from the air using gamma rays that are naturally emitted by potassium in the ground. Like southwestern Australia, many parts of the world have highly weathered soils where potassium has been washed out of the upper layers of soil. However, [they] showed that higher potassium areas signal that potassium-rich bedrock is closer to the surface and this is sensitive for tens of meters. By comparing gamma ray maps with ground-based geophysical surveys and satellite data, [they] showed that these potassium hotspots accurately predict where forests are most likely to experience die-off during a drought. These types of soils cover about one-third of the Earth's land, so the method provides a powerful new tool for managers to identify and protect vulnerable forests from future, hotter droughts…”
#GIS #spatial #mapping #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #Australia #WesternAustralia #WA #forests #vegetation #bush #jarrah #karri #drought #heat #extremedrought #extremeweather #climatechange #water #waterresources #dieoff #soil #weathering #erosion #moisture #nutrients #airborne #gammarays #GRS #granite #gneiss #bedrock #geology #potassium40 #potassium #K #remotesensing #earthobservation #groundwater #interstitial #subsurface #waterstorage #electricalresistivitytomography -
On-Demand Global Landsat Evapotranspiration Product - Development, Evaluation, And Dissemination
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2026.115633 <-- shared paper
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https://espa.cr.usgs.gov <-- shared (open data) USGS EROS Science Processing Architecture (ESPA) platform
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https://etdata.org/ <-- OpenET SSEBop platform implementation (water management)
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https://www.usgs.gov/landsat-missions/landsat-collection-2-provisional-actual-evapotranspiration-science-product <-- shared USGS Landsat Collection 2 Provisional Actual Evapotranspiration Science Product
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H/T @mac Friedrichs | Remote Sensing Scientist, KBR | USGS EROS
“This paper summarizes new achievements in developing and distributing the Global Landsat Level-3 Evapotranspiration (ET) product. It is freely available through the USGS EROS Science Processing Architecture (ESPA) platform (2nd link above). 🛰️ …
Since the product launch in June 2020, there have been over 1.2 million Landsat-based ET orders around the world. This indicates increasing awareness and application of the ET data to help understand and manage the relationships among food, energy, and water resources. 🌽💧 …
It features the ESPA workflow and evaluation of the upgraded SSEBop model using a variety of observational datasets and hydrologic regions, and examination against OpenET SSEBop platform implementation (3rd link above.)…”
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“HIGHLIGHTS
• ESPA platform allows access to on-demand, global, Landsat-based, ET products.
• SSEBop model has been used to create ET data since 1982 through ESPA.
• A quick estimation of field-scale crop consumptive water use can be achieved.
• Numerous orders reflect worldwide extensive interest and utilization of the data.
• Method, workflow, and performance of the actual ET data are presented in the study..."
#EROSScienceProcessingArchitecture #climate #global #Evapotranspiration #ET #GIS #spatial #mapping #remotesensing #earthobservation #water #hydrology #opendata #Landsat #OpenET #SSEBop #WaterManagement #Agriculture #USGS #EROS #datadelivery #food #foodsecurity #energy #water #watersecurity #model #modeling #ESPA #farming #cropland #wateruse #waterresources #workflow
@USGS @EROS -
Anthropogenic River Flows
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https://doi.org/10.1088/3033-4942/ae94a0 <-- shared technical perspective
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H/T @Homero Paltán | Water, Energy, Land & Infrastructure Systemic Risks | Lecturer
“Are global river flows no longer natural? Can we really talk about natural rivers? [The authors] started asking ourselves these questions a few years ago over wonderful discussion sessions.
[They] argue that global river systems have entered a new phase, one of Anthropogenic River Flows, where flow regimes arise from the persistent interaction of:
• the physical alteration of river systems,
• the institutional and socio-technical organisation of water use and allocation
• broader global and systemic processes operating across scales.
In the Anthropocene, these domains do not operate independently because a change in one alters how the other two function. Global water risks and river flow properties then become an emergent property of these interactions.
As a result, [the authors] call for a rethinking of how we study, understand, and manage river flows to better reflect this new reality…”
#water #hydrology #Anthropogenic #River #Flow #spatial #mapping #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #flowregimes #risk #waterrisk #global #climatechange #watersecurity #baseline #humanimpacts #magnitude, #seasonality #variability #waterquality #sociohydrology #hydroclimate #regulation #waterresources #engineering #governance #pumping #alteration -
Where The Water Once Flowed - Rivers And Lakes Dry Up As Droughts Take Toll
(Surreal images of scorched landscapes where water once flowed, as severe droughts lead to dwindling water supplies around the world.)
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https://www.reuters.com/pictures/where-water-once-flowed-rivers-lakes-dry-up-droughts-take-toll-2026-08-14/ <-- shared media article
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[damn!]
#water #hydrology #hydrography #waterresources #rivers #lakes #photojournalism #drought #climatechange #extremeweather #heatwave #temperature #watershortage #global #risk #hazard #infrastructure #watermanagement #global #impacts #watersecurity #humanimpacts #publichealth -
Identifying Agricultural Consumptive-Use Patterns To Support Adaptive Water Management In California’s Santa Clara Valley Via Remote Sensing And Machine Learning
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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pwat.0000416 <-- shared paper
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H/T @Guillaume Wright | Executive Editor, PLOS
“💧 With drought [and high temperatures] gripping many areas of the world right now... [the H/T] wanted to highlight a new paper in PLOS Water this week with a very timely focus on hydroclimatic stresses and what can be done to mitigate this through water management practices when it comes to agriculture.
[The authors] investigate[d] adaptive water management practices in California’s Santa Clara Valley via remote sensing and machine learning techniques. They [found] good evidence for use of customized agricultural water-management plans for irrigation monitoring, conservation planning, and adaptive water management in groundwater-dependent regions such as is found in California…”
#GIS #spatial #mapping #California #SantaClara #SantaClaraValley #custom #watermanagement #practices #waterresources #agriculture #remotesensing #spatialanalysis #machinelearning #earthobservation #AI #planning #wateruse #efficiency #water #hydrology #irrigation #conservation #adaptivewatermanagement #model #modeling #drought #extremeweather #hydroclimate #stress #crop #cropland #evapotranspiration #ET #NDVI #PRISM #precipitation #rainfall #watermanagementplan #groundwater -
A National-Scale Database Of Groundwater Level Data For Switzerland
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-026-07353-6 <-- shared paper
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H/T @RaoulCollenteur | Groundwater Hydrologist at Collenteur HydroConsult GmbH
“Looking for a ready-to-use FAIR dataset with groundwater levels, signatures, and meteorological drivers to test new models and analysis methods to learn from groundwater level data? Why not try [the authors’] new Swiss Groundwater Database with almost 1,000 piezometers in diverse climatological and hydrogeological settings within Switzerland? 💡
💧 Long groundwater level time series with frequent measurements
💧 Meteorological drivers included
💧Unique dataset in terms of hydrogeological data in an alpine setting
… [They] hope [that they] can develop the database in the future with other variables (i.e., groundwater temperature, spring discharge, etc.) and welcome additions and collaborations to make this happen. 🌊…”
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“Groundwater is a vital component of the global supply of freshwater, playing a critical role for human populations, agriculture, and ecosystems. Due to the complex interactions between groundwater, surface water, climate, and human activity, these systems are frequently studied using advanced data analysis and modeling techniques. The effectiveness of these methods is generally enhanced by the availability and quality of data. In Switzerland, the focus area of this study, groundwater data is fragmented and lacks a standardized nationwide compilation. Consequently, the process of conducting nationwide studies with substantial sample sizes is both resource-intensive and time-consuming. In this paper, [they] introduce the Swiss Groundwater Database, a comprehensive compilation of groundwater time series and associated metadata throughout Switzerland. The current database consists of groundwater level data from 985 monitoring wells, which were completed with additional static and time-varying variables. The environmental characteristics and climate indices were compiled and determined for each monitoring well. The database is designed to facilitate and support large-sample hydrological research related to groundwater in Switzerland and beyond…”
#water #hydrography #database #GIS #spatial #mapping #groundwater #Switzerland #FAIR #SwissGroundwaterDatabase #opendata #hydrogeology #meteorology #weather #climate #alpine #waterresources #agriculture #ecosystems #humanimpacts #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #model #modeling #dataanalysis #nationwide #metadata #monitoring #wells
@Federal Office for the Environment FOEN | @Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss -
Unraveling The Drivers Of Water Shortage Across Spatial Scales And Sectors In Colorado's West Slope River Basins
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https://doi.org/10.1029/2026EF008137 <-- shared paper
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['sorry' about your Kentucky Bluegrass, almonds, etc... /s]
H/T Sai Veena Sunkara | Postdoctoral Associate
“…Colorado’s West Slope basins provide nearly 70% of the inflows to Lake Powell and are also essential to communities, agriculture, industry, hydropower, and downstream Colorado River users.
To examine the wide range of possible futures, [they] simulated 2.1 million years, defining 20,000 plausible scenarios applying changes to streamflow, snowmelt timing, drought persistence, and agricultural, municipal, and industrial water demand.
A key finding is that there is 𝗻𝗼 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀. The most influential drivers vary by basin, sector, and water user. In some areas, shortages are driven primarily by persistent low-flow conditions or changing snowmelt timing. In others, increasing municipal, industrial, or irrigation demand plays a larger role. This suggests that adaptation strategies must be tailored to specific basins and users rather than relying on a single, system-wide solution. Other major findings are
• West Slope deliveries to Lake Powell could fall more than 50% below the current median baseline
• Storage in major West Slope reservoirs could decline 40–55% below historical medians
These results underscore the need for water-planning approaches that account for deep uncertainty, persistent drought, shifting snowmelt patterns, and sector-specific demand…”
#Colorado #waterallocation #StateMod #USWest #USA #WesternSlope #waterresources #watersecurity #watershortage #drought #snowmelt #rainfall #precipitation #riverbasin #water #hydrography #hydrology #reasons #agriculture #industry #hydropower #streamflow #surfacewater #municipal #irrigation #adaptationstrategies #planning #policy #mitigation #ColoradoRiver #basins #climatechange #extremeweather #populationpressure #waterdemand #waterrights #model #modeling #HiddenMarkovModel #stochastic #projecteddemand #ColoradoRiverBasin #wateruse #spatial #mapping #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #strategy -
Busy Beavers - The Turbidity Signature Of Ecosystem Engineers At Work
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https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70661 <-- shared paper
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H/T @alan Puttock
“Beavers are the quintessential ecosystem engineers. In slow-flowing streams, they create complex wetlands with ponds by building dams and canals that can positively impact biodiversity, hydrology and water quality. These activities can interchangeably capture or release sediment along the watercourse. To date this has not been quantified at the resolution of rainfall events or beaver activity. This study used 15-min frequency, sustained monitoring upstream and downstream of a newly establishing beaver wetland to measure episodic changes in water turbidity at an event resolution. Monitoring showed no significant differences between upstream and downstream turbidity over 160 days when the first pair of beavers, known not to be building dams or canals, were resident. Shortly after introduction of another beaver pair, however, dam building, burrows and canal excavations were quickly observed, resulting in the creation of a complex beaver wetland between 2021 and 2024. Monitoring over 375 days during this period showed significant differences. Downstream turbidity was significantly higher overall than upstream: 13.1 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) compared to 4.2 NTU. Stochastic spikes in downstream turbidity during the study period not recorded upstream were associated with dam building and burrowing. Overall, there was no significant difference in turbidity loads, which was at least partially explained by a reduction in discharge downstream, particularly in higher flows, during the dam building period. This demonstrates a complex system with the trapping of influent sediment, the storing of water and the periodic release of beaver wetland sediment leading to net balance in loads. These results help provide context for other studies which have used temporally discrete sampling campaigns rather than continuous high-frequency monitoring. They provide a unique insight into the downstream impacts of a rapidly developing beaver wetland over its first three and a half years in a landscape that hasn't had beavers for over 400 years…"
#hydromorphic #water #hydrology #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #biodiversity #ecology #benefits #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #EnvironmentalScience #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #valleysreborn #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #monitoring #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal -
Busy Beavers - The Turbidity Signature Of Ecosystem Engineers At Work
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https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70661 <-- shared paper
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H/T @alan Puttock
“Beavers are the quintessential ecosystem engineers. In slow-flowing streams, they create complex wetlands with ponds by building dams and canals that can positively impact biodiversity, hydrology and water quality. These activities can interchangeably capture or release sediment along the watercourse. To date this has not been quantified at the resolution of rainfall events or beaver activity. This study used 15-min frequency, sustained monitoring upstream and downstream of a newly establishing beaver wetland to measure episodic changes in water turbidity at an event resolution. Monitoring showed no significant differences between upstream and downstream turbidity over 160 days when the first pair of beavers, known not to be building dams or canals, were resident. Shortly after introduction of another beaver pair, however, dam building, burrows and canal excavations were quickly observed, resulting in the creation of a complex beaver wetland between 2021 and 2024. Monitoring over 375 days during this period showed significant differences. Downstream turbidity was significantly higher overall than upstream: 13.1 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) compared to 4.2 NTU. Stochastic spikes in downstream turbidity during the study period not recorded upstream were associated with dam building and burrowing. Overall, there was no significant difference in turbidity loads, which was at least partially explained by a reduction in discharge downstream, particularly in higher flows, during the dam building period. This demonstrates a complex system with the trapping of influent sediment, the storing of water and the periodic release of beaver wetland sediment leading to net balance in loads. These results help provide context for other studies which have used temporally discrete sampling campaigns rather than continuous high-frequency monitoring. They provide a unique insight into the downstream impacts of a rapidly developing beaver wetland over its first three and a half years in a landscape that hasn't had beavers for over 400 years…"
#hydromorphic #water #hydrology #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #biodiversity #ecology #benefits #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #EnvironmentalScience #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #valleysreborn #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #monitoring #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal -
Busy Beavers - The Turbidity Signature Of Ecosystem Engineers At Work
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https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70661 <-- shared paper
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H/T @alan Puttock
“Beavers are the quintessential ecosystem engineers. In slow-flowing streams, they create complex wetlands with ponds by building dams and canals that can positively impact biodiversity, hydrology and water quality. These activities can interchangeably capture or release sediment along the watercourse. To date this has not been quantified at the resolution of rainfall events or beaver activity. This study used 15-min frequency, sustained monitoring upstream and downstream of a newly establishing beaver wetland to measure episodic changes in water turbidity at an event resolution. Monitoring showed no significant differences between upstream and downstream turbidity over 160 days when the first pair of beavers, known not to be building dams or canals, were resident. Shortly after introduction of another beaver pair, however, dam building, burrows and canal excavations were quickly observed, resulting in the creation of a complex beaver wetland between 2021 and 2024. Monitoring over 375 days during this period showed significant differences. Downstream turbidity was significantly higher overall than upstream: 13.1 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) compared to 4.2 NTU. Stochastic spikes in downstream turbidity during the study period not recorded upstream were associated with dam building and burrowing. Overall, there was no significant difference in turbidity loads, which was at least partially explained by a reduction in discharge downstream, particularly in higher flows, during the dam building period. This demonstrates a complex system with the trapping of influent sediment, the storing of water and the periodic release of beaver wetland sediment leading to net balance in loads. These results help provide context for other studies which have used temporally discrete sampling campaigns rather than continuous high-frequency monitoring. They provide a unique insight into the downstream impacts of a rapidly developing beaver wetland over its first three and a half years in a landscape that hasn't had beavers for over 400 years…"
#hydromorphic #water #hydrology #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #biodiversity #ecology #benefits #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #EnvironmentalScience #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #valleysreborn #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #monitoring #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal -
Busy Beavers - The Turbidity Signature Of Ecosystem Engineers At Work
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https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70661 <-- shared paper
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H/T @alan Puttock
“Beavers are the quintessential ecosystem engineers. In slow-flowing streams, they create complex wetlands with ponds by building dams and canals that can positively impact biodiversity, hydrology and water quality. These activities can interchangeably capture or release sediment along the watercourse. To date this has not been quantified at the resolution of rainfall events or beaver activity. This study used 15-min frequency, sustained monitoring upstream and downstream of a newly establishing beaver wetland to measure episodic changes in water turbidity at an event resolution. Monitoring showed no significant differences between upstream and downstream turbidity over 160 days when the first pair of beavers, known not to be building dams or canals, were resident. Shortly after introduction of another beaver pair, however, dam building, burrows and canal excavations were quickly observed, resulting in the creation of a complex beaver wetland between 2021 and 2024. Monitoring over 375 days during this period showed significant differences. Downstream turbidity was significantly higher overall than upstream: 13.1 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) compared to 4.2 NTU. Stochastic spikes in downstream turbidity during the study period not recorded upstream were associated with dam building and burrowing. Overall, there was no significant difference in turbidity loads, which was at least partially explained by a reduction in discharge downstream, particularly in higher flows, during the dam building period. This demonstrates a complex system with the trapping of influent sediment, the storing of water and the periodic release of beaver wetland sediment leading to net balance in loads. These results help provide context for other studies which have used temporally discrete sampling campaigns rather than continuous high-frequency monitoring. They provide a unique insight into the downstream impacts of a rapidly developing beaver wetland over its first three and a half years in a landscape that hasn't had beavers for over 400 years…"
#hydromorphic #water #hydrology #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #biodiversity #ecology #benefits #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #EnvironmentalScience #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #valleysreborn #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #monitoring #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal -
Busy Beavers - The Turbidity Signature Of Ecosystem Engineers At Work
--
https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70661 <-- shared paper
--
H/T @alan Puttock
“Beavers are the quintessential ecosystem engineers. In slow-flowing streams, they create complex wetlands with ponds by building dams and canals that can positively impact biodiversity, hydrology and water quality. These activities can interchangeably capture or release sediment along the watercourse. To date this has not been quantified at the resolution of rainfall events or beaver activity. This study used 15-min frequency, sustained monitoring upstream and downstream of a newly establishing beaver wetland to measure episodic changes in water turbidity at an event resolution. Monitoring showed no significant differences between upstream and downstream turbidity over 160 days when the first pair of beavers, known not to be building dams or canals, were resident. Shortly after introduction of another beaver pair, however, dam building, burrows and canal excavations were quickly observed, resulting in the creation of a complex beaver wetland between 2021 and 2024. Monitoring over 375 days during this period showed significant differences. Downstream turbidity was significantly higher overall than upstream: 13.1 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) compared to 4.2 NTU. Stochastic spikes in downstream turbidity during the study period not recorded upstream were associated with dam building and burrowing. Overall, there was no significant difference in turbidity loads, which was at least partially explained by a reduction in discharge downstream, particularly in higher flows, during the dam building period. This demonstrates a complex system with the trapping of influent sediment, the storing of water and the periodic release of beaver wetland sediment leading to net balance in loads. These results help provide context for other studies which have used temporally discrete sampling campaigns rather than continuous high-frequency monitoring. They provide a unique insight into the downstream impacts of a rapidly developing beaver wetland over its first three and a half years in a landscape that hasn't had beavers for over 400 years…"
#hydromorphic #water #hydrology #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #biodiversity #ecology #benefits #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #EnvironmentalScience #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #valleysreborn #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #monitoring #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal -
Impact Of Reservoir Storage On Propagation From Meteorological To Hydrological Drought
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.136061 <-- shared paper
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H/T @DrAjayGupta | Post Doctoral Fellow, IIT Bombay | Ph.D. in Hydrology, IIT Roorkee | Commonwealth Split-site Fellow, University of Birmingham I M.Tech in Water Resources Engineering, NIT Silchar | B.E. in Civil Engineering, PCE Nagpur.
“🌍 Why is this important?
While reservoirs are widely recognized for mitigating drought impacts, their role in controlling how drought propagates through the hydrological cycle has remained largely unexplored. In this study, [the authors] investigate how reservoir storage influences the transition of drought from meteorological to agricultural to reservoir to streamflow drought across the semi-arid Krishna River Basin, India.
🔍 THIS STUDY ADDRESSES TWO KEY RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
✅ How do drought propagation time (initiation, peak, and termination) change from meteorological to agricultural, reservoir, and streamflow droughts across different timescales and threshold values?
✅ How does reservoir storage influence drought propagation between upstream and downstream reservoirs using the Downstreamness concept?
📌 KEY FINDINGS
🔹 Drought propagation differs substantially across drought types because each component of the hydrological system responds at different rates.
🔹 Reservoirs significantly delay the propagation of drought by buffering water deficits, particularly between agricultural and streamflow drought.
🔹 Mild and moderate upstream reservoir droughts rarely propagate downstream, whereas severe upstream droughts consistently transmit downstream, leading to longer duration, greater severity, and delayed onset.
🔹 The downstreamness analysis reveals dynamic shifts in water storage between upstream and downstream reservoirs throughout drought development and recovery, providing valuable insights for reservoir operation and basin-scale drought management…”
--
“HIGHLIGHTS
• Reservoir storage impact on drought propagation from meteorological-to-hydrological drought.
• Drought propagation timeframe: initiation, peak and termination are checked.
• Impact assessment using hydrological connection: upstream to downstream reservoirs.
• Severe upstream droughts propagate downstream with increased duration and severity.
• During drought periods water-storage concentration shifts from downstream to upstream..."
#Drought #DroughtPropagation #Reservoirs #WaterResources #WaterManagement #RiverBasinManagement #KrishnaRiverBasin #Downstreamness #India #climatechange #reservoir #storage #hydrology #water #hydrologiccycle #watersecurity #planning #policy #KrishnaRiver #weather #climate #metrology #agriculture #farming #streamflow #model #modeling #spatiotemporal #spatialanalysis -
Can Himalayan Crops Help Secure The Future Of Food?
(Exploring how genomic diversity, traditional crops, and regional cooperation can strengthen climate resilience and food security across the Hindu Kush Himalaya [HKH])
--
https://substack.com/home/post/p-207443153 <-- shared technical post
--
https://openlibrary.substack.com/ <-- shared Substack, “Open Library on Green Economy”
--
https://adaptationwithoutborders.org/knowledge-base/adaptation-without-borders/shifting-cooperation-in-the-hindu-kush-himalaya/ <-- shared technical article, “Shifting cooperation in the [HKH]”
--
https://www.icimod.org/who-we-are/the-hindu-kush-himalaya/ <-- background on the HKH, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
--
https://doi.org/10.48130/cas-0026-0003 <-- shared paper
--
[not at all my technical area - but fascinating, including the spatial component #alldataisspatial]
H/T @jeevan Labh
“As we navigate the intensifying impacts of the 2026 El Niño, the vulnerability of our global food systems require careful evaluation. With this year’s erratic weather patterns driving severe, prolonged droughts in some regions and unseasonal, devastating floods in others, the climate crisis is proving that it is not a distant threat; it is happening right now, in our fields and on our plates.
This crisis is more visible in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region. Often called the “water tower of Asia,” this vast mountain range sustains 240 million people across eight countries and provides essential ecosystem services to nearly 2 billion people downstream. When glaciers melt at accelerated rates and monsoons become unpredictable, the narrative often focuses solely on the mountain communities. But the truth is much broader: a disrupted harvest in the high hills of Nepal or Bhutan creates a domino effect. It leads to displaced populations, reduced agricultural output flowing into the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra basins, and ultimately, skyrocketing food prices for families living in the sprawling downstream plains.
The climate crisis respects no borders and recognizes no difference between altitude and sea level. Because this problem affects us all, the solution must protect us all. Fortunately, the means to overcome this challenge are already in our hands, locked within the ancient seeds of the mountains…”
## #GreenEconomy #economy #monoculture #agriculture #farming #crop #cropland #HinduKushHimalaya #himalaya #mountain #HKH #spatial #mapping #elevation #climatechange #foodsecurity #food #extremeweather #weather #ElNiño #drought #rainfall #precipitation #snowmelt #climatecrisis #mountainrange #water #hydrology #ecosystem #glacier #moonsoons #community #harvest #Nepal #Bhutan #watersheds #watersecurity #risk #hazard #waterresources #genes #genomicdiversity #cooperation -
GMIA-NEXT - Next-Generation Global Map of Irrigated Areas |
--
https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-10085674/v1 <-- shared paper
--
https://zenodo.org/records/17627111 <-- shared open data
--
H/T @kyle Davis
“Irrigation plays a critical role in global food production and climate adaptation and exercises profound influence over humanity's water use. Yet despite its critical importance, there is a persistent lack of understanding of fine-scale irrigation patterns across the planet, knowledge which is essential for informing global food security and sustainability targets. Utilizing either statistical downscaling or remote sensing approaches, existing global irrigation datasets are constrained by coarse spatial resolutions, a lack of timeliness, or varying robustness and reliability. To address this gap, here [they] integrate[d] multi-source Earth observation and environmental datasets and use[d] machine learning to develop a medium-resolution (30 metre) global irrigated area dataset for the 2023/24 growing season. Within existing cropland extent, we leverage a newly compiled set of georeferenced irrigated (N=230,683) and non-irrigated (N=153,194) ground-truth points and integrate seasonal vegetation metrics derived from Landsat 8/9 imagery with agroecological-zone information and hydroclimatic and topographic variables. [They] subsequently develop and evaluate two machine-learning frameworks, a continental Agro-Ecological Zone (AEZ) tile-based framework and a continental-scale framework, and apply the best-performing approach for each continent. Evaluation using held-out test samples yielded a global accuracy of 80.5 ± 2.1%. The resulting maps were also validated against independent global and national irrigation datasets and statistics, demonstrating broad agreement in the spatial distribution of irrigated areas. This approach is robust and reliable because it is built on a harmonized global ground-truth database, incorporates multiple predictors, and is rigorously validated using independent datasets. All code, ground-truth, and data products are freely and publicly available [link above] and can serve as a robust, scale-neutral, and fully reproducible framework for fine-resolution irrigation mapping. These advances provide the critical and long-needed foundation for near-real-time monitoring and early warning systems, and fine-scale land and water resource management…”
#IrrigatedAreas #Mapping #GIS #spatial #mapping #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #global #irrigation #water #hydrology #hydrography #waterresources #farming #agriculture #opendata #remotesensing #earthobservation #geomorphometry #AI #machinelearning #LLM #model #modeling #WaterManagement #opendata #AgroEcologicalZone #AEZ #cropland #irrigatedareas #foodproduction #wateruse #humanimpacts #EarthObservation #remotesensing #earlywarning #monitoring #FoodandAgricultureOrganizationFAO #FAO
@FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization -
Eager Beavers - Rodents Engineer Czech Wetland Project After Years Of Human Delay [ecosystem engineers]
--
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/11/beavers-save-czech-taxpayers-by-flooding-ex-army-training-site <-- shared technical media article
--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver-engineered_dam_in_the_Czech_Republic <-- shared wiki technical page
--
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-fine-beavers-czech-treasury-million.html <-- shared technical article
--
https://youtu.be/GSTw8qmBP4Y?si=XK2Iy2pAltW91flj <-- shared video (Czech)
--
H/T @ScienceGirl
"We don't expect any conflict with the beaver in the next 10 years," ~ Bohumil Fiser from the Czech Nature Conservation Agency
--
“For seven years, planners struggled to complete a $1.2 million wetland restoration project in the Brdy region of the Czech Republic. The goal was to build a dam that would improve water management and bring back valuable wetland habitat, but the project remained trapped in a maze of permits and approvals.
Then a family of eight Eurasian beavers did what engineers had planned… without permits, machinery, or a budget.
The beavers built a network of dams in almost the exact area chosen for the proposed project, naturally restoring the wetland system officials had spent years trying to create. After seeing the results, authorities decided there was little point continuing with the original human-built dam.
Although some reports suggested the beavers completed the work overnight, experts say their construction likely took several weeks. The reason it seemed sudden is that the animals quietly worked away until their finished dams became impossible to miss.
Beavers are known as “ecosystem engineers” because their behaviour can reshape entire environments. By cutting trees and blocking streams, they create ponds and wetlands that support countless species, including fish, amphibians, insects, birds, and mammals.
Their wetlands also act as natural water reservoirs, helping during droughts, reducing flood risks, filtering water, storing carbon, and keeping landscapes wetter during wildfires…
Once heavily hunted across Europe, beaver populations have been recovering thanks to conservation efforts, proving that sometimes nature can solve problems humans spend years trying to fix…"
#water #hydrology #KlabavaRiver #Czech #BrdyRegion #protected #CzechRepublic #armytraining #military #beaver #Eurasianbeavers #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #restoration #biodiversity #crayfish #wetland #ecology #benefits #Beavers #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #Agroforestry #EnvironmentalScience #Conservation #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #EcosystemEngineers #nature #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flood #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #agriculture #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #drought #wildfire #valleysreborn #slowdetermination #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #ecosystemengineers #watermanagement -
Eager Beavers - Rodents Engineer Czech Wetland Project After Years Of Human Delay [ecosystem engineers]
--
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/11/beavers-save-czech-taxpayers-by-flooding-ex-army-training-site <-- shared technical media article
--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver-engineered_dam_in_the_Czech_Republic <-- shared wiki technical page
--
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-fine-beavers-czech-treasury-million.html <-- shared technical article
--
https://youtu.be/GSTw8qmBP4Y?si=XK2Iy2pAltW91flj <-- shared video (Czech)
--
H/T @ScienceGirl
"We don't expect any conflict with the beaver in the next 10 years," ~ Bohumil Fiser from the Czech Nature Conservation Agency
--
“For seven years, planners struggled to complete a $1.2 million wetland restoration project in the Brdy region of the Czech Republic. The goal was to build a dam that would improve water management and bring back valuable wetland habitat, but the project remained trapped in a maze of permits and approvals.
Then a family of eight Eurasian beavers did what engineers had planned… without permits, machinery, or a budget.
The beavers built a network of dams in almost the exact area chosen for the proposed project, naturally restoring the wetland system officials had spent years trying to create. After seeing the results, authorities decided there was little point continuing with the original human-built dam.
Although some reports suggested the beavers completed the work overnight, experts say their construction likely took several weeks. The reason it seemed sudden is that the animals quietly worked away until their finished dams became impossible to miss.
Beavers are known as “ecosystem engineers” because their behaviour can reshape entire environments. By cutting trees and blocking streams, they create ponds and wetlands that support countless species, including fish, amphibians, insects, birds, and mammals.
Their wetlands also act as natural water reservoirs, helping during droughts, reducing flood risks, filtering water, storing carbon, and keeping landscapes wetter during wildfires…
Once heavily hunted across Europe, beaver populations have been recovering thanks to conservation efforts, proving that sometimes nature can solve problems humans spend years trying to fix…"
#water #hydrology #KlabavaRiver #Czech #BrdyRegion #protected #CzechRepublic #armytraining #military #beaver #Eurasianbeavers #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #restoration #biodiversity #crayfish #wetland #ecology #benefits #Beavers #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #Agroforestry #EnvironmentalScience #Conservation #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #EcosystemEngineers #nature #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flood #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #agriculture #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #drought #wildfire #valleysreborn #slowdetermination #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #ecosystemengineers #watermanagement -
Eager Beavers - Rodents Engineer Czech Wetland Project After Years Of Human Delay [ecosystem engineers]
--
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/11/beavers-save-czech-taxpayers-by-flooding-ex-army-training-site <-- shared technical media article
--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver-engineered_dam_in_the_Czech_Republic <-- shared wiki technical page
--
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-fine-beavers-czech-treasury-million.html <-- shared technical article
--
https://youtu.be/GSTw8qmBP4Y?si=XK2Iy2pAltW91flj <-- shared video (Czech)
--
H/T @ScienceGirl
"We don't expect any conflict with the beaver in the next 10 years," ~ Bohumil Fiser from the Czech Nature Conservation Agency
--
“For seven years, planners struggled to complete a $1.2 million wetland restoration project in the Brdy region of the Czech Republic. The goal was to build a dam that would improve water management and bring back valuable wetland habitat, but the project remained trapped in a maze of permits and approvals.
Then a family of eight Eurasian beavers did what engineers had planned… without permits, machinery, or a budget.
The beavers built a network of dams in almost the exact area chosen for the proposed project, naturally restoring the wetland system officials had spent years trying to create. After seeing the results, authorities decided there was little point continuing with the original human-built dam.
Although some reports suggested the beavers completed the work overnight, experts say their construction likely took several weeks. The reason it seemed sudden is that the animals quietly worked away until their finished dams became impossible to miss.
Beavers are known as “ecosystem engineers” because their behaviour can reshape entire environments. By cutting trees and blocking streams, they create ponds and wetlands that support countless species, including fish, amphibians, insects, birds, and mammals.
Their wetlands also act as natural water reservoirs, helping during droughts, reducing flood risks, filtering water, storing carbon, and keeping landscapes wetter during wildfires…
Once heavily hunted across Europe, beaver populations have been recovering thanks to conservation efforts, proving that sometimes nature can solve problems humans spend years trying to fix…"
#water #hydrology #KlabavaRiver #Czech #BrdyRegion #protected #CzechRepublic #armytraining #military #beaver #Eurasianbeavers #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #restoration #biodiversity #crayfish #wetland #ecology #benefits #Beavers #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #Agroforestry #EnvironmentalScience #Conservation #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #EcosystemEngineers #nature #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flood #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #agriculture #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #drought #wildfire #valleysreborn #slowdetermination #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #ecosystemengineers #watermanagement -
Eager Beavers - Rodents Engineer Czech Wetland Project After Years Of Human Delay [ecosystem engineers]
--
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/11/beavers-save-czech-taxpayers-by-flooding-ex-army-training-site <-- shared technical media article
--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver-engineered_dam_in_the_Czech_Republic <-- shared wiki technical page
--
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-fine-beavers-czech-treasury-million.html <-- shared technical article
--
https://youtu.be/GSTw8qmBP4Y?si=XK2Iy2pAltW91flj <-- shared video (Czech)
--
H/T @ScienceGirl
"We don't expect any conflict with the beaver in the next 10 years," ~ Bohumil Fiser from the Czech Nature Conservation Agency
--
“For seven years, planners struggled to complete a $1.2 million wetland restoration project in the Brdy region of the Czech Republic. The goal was to build a dam that would improve water management and bring back valuable wetland habitat, but the project remained trapped in a maze of permits and approvals.
Then a family of eight Eurasian beavers did what engineers had planned… without permits, machinery, or a budget.
The beavers built a network of dams in almost the exact area chosen for the proposed project, naturally restoring the wetland system officials had spent years trying to create. After seeing the results, authorities decided there was little point continuing with the original human-built dam.
Although some reports suggested the beavers completed the work overnight, experts say their construction likely took several weeks. The reason it seemed sudden is that the animals quietly worked away until their finished dams became impossible to miss.
Beavers are known as “ecosystem engineers” because their behaviour can reshape entire environments. By cutting trees and blocking streams, they create ponds and wetlands that support countless species, including fish, amphibians, insects, birds, and mammals.
Their wetlands also act as natural water reservoirs, helping during droughts, reducing flood risks, filtering water, storing carbon, and keeping landscapes wetter during wildfires…
Once heavily hunted across Europe, beaver populations have been recovering thanks to conservation efforts, proving that sometimes nature can solve problems humans spend years trying to fix…"
#water #hydrology #KlabavaRiver #Czech #BrdyRegion #protected #CzechRepublic #armytraining #military #beaver #Eurasianbeavers #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #restoration #biodiversity #crayfish #wetland #ecology #benefits #Beavers #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #Agroforestry #EnvironmentalScience #Conservation #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #EcosystemEngineers #nature #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flood #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #agriculture #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #drought #wildfire #valleysreborn #slowdetermination #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #ecosystemengineers #watermanagement -
Eager Beavers - Rodents Engineer Czech Wetland Project After Years Of Human Delay [ecosystem engineers]
--
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/11/beavers-save-czech-taxpayers-by-flooding-ex-army-training-site <-- shared technical media article
--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver-engineered_dam_in_the_Czech_Republic <-- shared wiki technical page
--
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-fine-beavers-czech-treasury-million.html <-- shared technical article
--
https://youtu.be/GSTw8qmBP4Y?si=XK2Iy2pAltW91flj <-- shared video (Czech)
--
H/T @ScienceGirl
"We don't expect any conflict with the beaver in the next 10 years," ~ Bohumil Fiser from the Czech Nature Conservation Agency
--
“For seven years, planners struggled to complete a $1.2 million wetland restoration project in the Brdy region of the Czech Republic. The goal was to build a dam that would improve water management and bring back valuable wetland habitat, but the project remained trapped in a maze of permits and approvals.
Then a family of eight Eurasian beavers did what engineers had planned… without permits, machinery, or a budget.
The beavers built a network of dams in almost the exact area chosen for the proposed project, naturally restoring the wetland system officials had spent years trying to create. After seeing the results, authorities decided there was little point continuing with the original human-built dam.
Although some reports suggested the beavers completed the work overnight, experts say their construction likely took several weeks. The reason it seemed sudden is that the animals quietly worked away until their finished dams became impossible to miss.
Beavers are known as “ecosystem engineers” because their behaviour can reshape entire environments. By cutting trees and blocking streams, they create ponds and wetlands that support countless species, including fish, amphibians, insects, birds, and mammals.
Their wetlands also act as natural water reservoirs, helping during droughts, reducing flood risks, filtering water, storing carbon, and keeping landscapes wetter during wildfires…
Once heavily hunted across Europe, beaver populations have been recovering thanks to conservation efforts, proving that sometimes nature can solve problems humans spend years trying to fix…"
#water #hydrology #KlabavaRiver #Czech #BrdyRegion #protected #CzechRepublic #armytraining #military #beaver #Eurasianbeavers #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #restoration #biodiversity #crayfish #wetland #ecology #benefits #Beavers #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #Agroforestry #EnvironmentalScience #Conservation #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #EcosystemEngineers #nature #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flood #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #agriculture #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #drought #wildfire #valleysreborn #slowdetermination #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #ecosystemengineers #watermanagement -
Watching A #NOAA #Webinar on Flash Droughts
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https://noaaresearch.webex.com/wbxmjs/joinservice/sites/noaaresearch/meeting/download/9b3e684d45ca47fc9469070eabd9a142?MTID=m2fa4a8af7bd8647fc48619af5eeecb5a <-- shared NOAA Summer Science Series individual webinar
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https://www.drought.gov/what-is-drought/flash-drought <-- shared NOAA overview technical article
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https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/star/NOAAScienceSeminars.php <-- subscribe to the NOAA Summer Science Series
--
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-024-00618-0 <-- shared paper
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https://communities.springernature.com/posts/the-prevalent-life-cycle-of-agricultural-flash-droughts <-- shared technical article (derived from paper above)
H/T @Jeffrey Basara PhD, MBA | Chair and Professor - Department of Environmental, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell | Co-Founder - American Prime Sustainable Solutions
[Flash floods? not TOO hard to conceptualise.
Flash drought? harder to 'get my head around', but H/T / presenter does an excellent job!]
"Not all droughts are the same. In some cases, drought rapidly intensifies at subseasonal to seasonal scales with significant impacts to agriculture and water resources along with the increased propensity for heatwaves and wildfires. Like all droughts, flash drought begins with a precipitation deficit. However, both evaporative demand and soil moisture are critical flash drought variables, and identifying and monitoring the desiccation of the terrestrial surface is key for determining flash drought development and associated impacts. While recent advances in knowledge and monitoring of flash drought have occurred, fundamental questions remain in the state of the science. What are the overall mechanistic relationships between atmospheric demand, evaporative stress, terrestrial desiccation, and precipitation that drive the progression of flash drought? Do regional characteristics of the environment impact the evolution of flash drought? What are the scales of predictability for flash drought? Finally, how will flash drought frequency and intensity evolve in a changing climate system"
--
"Flash drought intensifies rapidly due to changes in precipitation, temperature, wind, and radiation. These changes in the weather increase evapotranspiration and lower soil moisture. Flash droughts can cause extensive damage to agriculture, economies, and ecosystems if they are not predicted and discovered early..."
#water #hydrology #fedscience #publicgood #hydrologicdrought #waterdeficit #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #watersecurity #risk #hazard #humanimpacts #streamflow #riverflow #groundwater #surfacewater #climate #weather #climatechange #extremeweather #atmosphere #metrology #regional #global #farming #agriculture #fluvial #pluvial #rainfall #precipitation #cloudcover #energy #heat #temperature #ET #evapotranspiration #farming #agriculture #foodsecurity #waterresources #dynamicsystems #watermanagement #flashdrought #drought #susceptibility #monitoring #prediction #model #modeling
@noaa -
Impact Of Floods On Surface Water Quality - A Systematic Review And Comprehensive Assessment
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135916 <-- shared paper
--
https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-12/2024-12.pdf <-- shared paper
--
“Floods, as extreme flow events, are among the costliest and devastating natural hazards. Among the various domains impacted by flooding, environmental degradation, particularly the deterioration of water quality (WQ), is one of the most impacted yet often overlooked. Therefore, it is essential to understand the nature and source of water pollution associated with flooding. This study aims to evaluate and assess multiple studies conducted globally to determine the impact of floods on WQ. A literature review and assessment of 66 studies published between 2007 and 2026 was conducted using the total comprehensiveness score (TCS). To support the scoring process, studies that scored more than 70% of the maximum achievable TCS (15.4) are considered the most detailed and comprehensive in addressing the objectives of this review. 16 studies achieved a TCS above 15.4, indicating that a limited number of studies incorporate a broader set of factors in this domain. A higher number of studies were conducted post the year 2021, highlighting both scientific progress and a growing focus on WQ impacts from disasters such as floods, beyond the traditionally emphasized socio-economic loss. Among the shortlisted studies, fluvial floods are the most frequently examined, followed by pluvial floods and coastal floods. During fluvial floods, turbidity increased by up to two orders of magnitude, while nutrient concentrations (TN, TP) typically rose by ∼ 10–30%. In contrast, pluvial floods were characterised by dilution-driven decreases in EC and TDS, with DOX, BOD and COD showing variable responses across flood types. This review evaluates flood impacts on WQ, catchment characteristics, and sources of WQ modification. The findings of the research reveal that not all WQ parameters are responsible for WQ degradation during every flood event. Rather, it is a combination of certain parameters that leads to deteriorated WQ. WQ degradation depends on interacting factors such as flood duration, extent, depth, and flow dynamics. In overall, this study provides an overview of the multiple cascading impacts of floods on WQ, along with a detailed perspective on the set of criteria that should be considered in future research…”
#water #hydrology #hydrography #flood #flooding #criteriaassessment #waterpollution #waterquality #parameters #extremeflow #waterresources #extremeweather #waterresources #watermanagement #global #literaturereview #morphology #source #type #watersecurity #research #papers #compilation #humanimpacts #PRISMA #spatiotemporal #fluvial #pluvial #coast #coastal #risk #hazard #riverine #climatechange #EnvironmentalScience #Research #ClimateResilience #floodtype #pollution #naturalhazard -
Remote Sensing And The New Global River Science
--
https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-026-00665-2 <-- shared paper
--
“Rivers impact the well-being of humans and the environment. As they increasingly face planetary-scale stressors, it is critically important to monitor and understand rivers at the global scale. As the only synoptic resource for global primary data on rivers, satellite remote sensing has recently begun to provide unprecedented opportunities for the monitoring, understanding, and prediction of global river behaviour. Despite these advances, the role of satellite remote sensing in global river science has still not been fully explored. New satellite systems and algorithms will enable substantial improvements in river measurements, provide new answers to long-standing or newly emerging scientific questions, and eventually update basic knowledge of rivers to advance global river science. In this [paper they] explore how remote sensing has been used to study the world’s rivers, examine challenges and opportunities for further advancing our understanding of rivers using existing and upcoming sensors, and identify possible solutions and future research directions…”
#GIS #spatial #mapping #water #hydrology #satellite #remotsesensing #earthobservation #hydrography #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #physicalgeography #change #river #global #model #modeling #research #hydrogeomorphology #geomorphometry #riverine #humanimpacts #waterquality #waterresources #watermanagement #infrastructure #lake #reservoir #dam #impoundment #canals #avulsion #overbank #flood #flooding #erosion #sedimentation #morphology #network #downstream -
What Can Humans Learn From Beavers When It Comes To Drought-Proofing The Landscape?
(A collaborative working in Rocky Mountain National Parks [Colorado] shares the ways its work in the Kawuneeche Valley could help in bad droughts like this year.)
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https://www.summitdaily.com/news/rocky-mountain-national-park-kawuneeche-valley-beavers-drought/ <-- shared technical media article
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https://www.skyhinews.com/news/field-of-dreams-restoring-rocky-mountain-national-parks-kawuneeche-valley-2/ <-- shared technical article
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#water #hydrology #ecosystem #habitat #restoration #sustainability #drought #extremeweather #beaver #keystonespecies #balance #willow #wetland #marsh #beaverdam #RMNP #RockyMountainNationalPark #Colorado #Kawuneeche #diversity #watermanagement #waterresources #reservoir #vegetation #droughtresilience #waterquality #humanimpacts #grassland #KawuneecheValleyRestorationCollaborative #river #naturalprocesses #riparian #watermanagement #ecosystemresilience #watertable #groundwater #zombiewillows #beaverdammimicry #engineering #fencing #herbivores #wildfire #firebreak
National Park Service | Northern Water | Colorado State University | TOWN OF GRAND LAKE | USDA Forest Service | The Nature Conservancy | @American Rivers -
[G]lobal Decline In Endorheic Basin Water Storages
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0265-7 <-- shared paper
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorheic_basin <-- shared Wikipedia page
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“Endorheic (hydrologically landlocked) basins spatially concur with arid/semi-arid climates. Given limited precipitation but high potential evaporation, their water storage is vulnerable to subtle flux perturbations, which are exacerbated by global warming and human activities. Increasing regional evidence suggests a probably recent net decline in endorheic water storage, but this remains unquantified at a global scale. By integrating satellite observations and hydrological modelling, [they] reveal[ed] that during 2002–2016 the global endorheic system experienced a widespread water loss of about 106.3 Gt/yr, attributed to comparable losses in surface water, soil moisture and groundwater. This decadal decline, disparate from water storage fluctuations in exorheic basins, appears less sensitive to El Niño–Southern Oscillation-driven climate variability, which implies a possible response to longer-term climate conditions and human water management. In the mass-conserved hydrosphere, such an endorheic water loss not only exacerbates local water stress, but also imposes excess water on exorheic basins, leading to a potential sea level rise that matches the contribution of nearly half of the land glacier retreat (excluding Greenland and Antarctica). Given these dual ramifications, [they] suggest the necessity for long-term monitoring of water storage variation in the global endorheic system and the inclusion of its net contribution to future sea level budgeting…”
#water #hydrology #hydrography #global #waterresources #waterstorage #Endorheic #Basin #watersecurity #arid #semiarid #rainfall #precipitation #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #globalwarming #climatechange #humanimpacts #anthropogenic #regional #remotesensing #GIS #spatial #mapping #earthobservation #surfacewater #groundwater #soilmoisture #exorheic #watermanagement #hydrosphere #waterstress #SLR #sealevelrise #monitoring #waterbudgets -
Erin Brockovich Asks Americans For Help As She Launches Data Center Map
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https://www.newsweek.com/erin-brockovich-asks-americans-for-help-as-she-launches-data-center-map-11989813 <-- shared media article
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https://brockovichdatacenter.com/ <-- shared Brockovich AI Data Center Reporting web site
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https://youtu.be/fp5ozQraKf4?si=7qu3g77iVVD3GGFJ <-- shared media video, @cbs Sunday Morning, “Nationwide boom in AI data centers stirs resistance”
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #USA #nation #AI #datacenters #waterresources #utilities #energyconsumption #water #hydrology #hydrography #watermanagement #community #humanimpacts #costs #economics #ewaste #noise #risk #hazard #electricity #localcommunities #taxbreaks #cooling #energy #highenergyusage #infrastructure #landuse #environment #ecology #public #skepticism #environmentalimpact #scalability #growth #Virginia #Utah #Texas #Ohio #Arizona #Georgia
#ErinBrockovichFoundation #ErinBrockovich -
Detecting Land Use And Land Cover Changes And Quantifying Soil Erosion And Sediment Export Using GIS And Remote Sensing In The GERD Catchment, Ethiopia
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iswcr.2026.100657 <-- shared paper
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https://infonile.org/en/2023/05/battling-for-survival-along-the-warming-source-of-the-blue-nile/ <-- shared technical media article
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https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-65241-7_4 <-- shared technical book chapter
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https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8121020 <-- shared 2016 paper
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#landuse #landcover #RUSLE #model #soil #erosion #sedimentation #GERD #catchment #NorthAfrica #Ethiopia #AbbayBasin #sustainability #landmanagement #agriculture #farmland #foodsecurity #water #hydrogology #reservior #watermanagement #watersecurity #waterresources #catchment #GrandEthiopianRenaissanceDam #BlueNile #hydrography #impoundment #GIS #spatial #mapping #remotesensing #earthobservation #thematic #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #landsat #elevation #DEM #CHIRPS #rainfall #precipitation #LULC #AI #forest #grazing #grassland #field #crops #cropland #waterbodies #urban #biophysical #risk #hazard #mitigation #soilquality -
Adapting Dams To Climate Extremes - Lessons From Global Reservoir Operations
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https://www.waterpowermagazine.com/analysis/adapting-dams-to-climate-extremes-lessons-from-global-reservoir-operations/ <-- shared technical article
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https://doi.org/10.1596/43980 <-- shared World Bank Report, ‘Enhancing the Safety and Resilience of Dams in the Context of Climate Change and Extreme Hydrological Events’ (technical note)
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#dams #waterresources #infrastructure #climatechange #risk #hazard #extremeweather #GLOF #global #flood #flooding #management #adaptative #reservoir #operations #planning #damsafety #forecasting #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #streamflow #rainfall #precipitation #hydrology #events #water #hydrography #impactassessment #riskmanagement
@world Bank @GWSP -
‘On A Whole Other Level’ - Rapid Snow Melt-Off In American West Stuns Scientists
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Experts say brutal March heat has left critical snowpack at record-low levels – and key basins in uncharted territory
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/01/snowmelt-american-west <-- shared media/technical article
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https://www.nifc.gov/nicc-files/predictive/outlooks/monthly_seasonal_outlook.pdf <-- shared National Significant Wildland Fire Potential @ 04/01/26 (for the next four months)
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[ extreme lack of snowfall already in the ‘25/’26 US West winter to begin with, and now this… ☹ ]
#GIS #spatial #mapping #remotesensing #weather #metrology #climatechange #extremeweather #snowpack #USWest #USA #winter #heat #melting #snowmelt #risk #hazard #water #hydrology #waterresources #watersecurity #agriculture #wildfire #risk #hazard #firerisk #watersupply #watershed #management #planning #Colorado #Utah #California #earthobservation
@the Guardian | @nasa | @California Department of Water Resources -
Global Atlas Will Track Human And Climate Impact On River Systems
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https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/03/global-atlas-will-track-human-and-climate-impact-river-systems
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“Rivers are critical resources that affect everything from watersheds to agriculture to energy. But rivers, in turn, have been impacted by humans, often in the form of hydraulic infrastructure such as dams and wells.
A new [Cornell] project… will create a global record that shows how river systems around the world have changed under human influence over the last 75 years…”
#GIS #spatial #mapping #research #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #water #waterresources #river #remotesensing #earthobservation #climatechange #climate #change #resources #humanimpacts #survey #monitoring #hydraulic #infrastructure #dams #wells #engineered #canals #global #spatialdata #opendata #history #anthropocene #freshwater #DARE #sediment #discharge #transport #temperature #fish #biodiversity #atlas #ecology #ecosystems #riverine #delta #model #modeling #machinelearning #AI
#CornellUniversity | #CornellDuffieldCollegeofEngineering -
Observing The Tidal Pulse Of Rivers From Wide-Swath Satellite Altimetry
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10287-z <-- shared paper
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https://dahiti.dgfi.tum.de/en/products/river-tides/map/ <-- shared interactive map, ‘River Tides from SWOT’
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#SWOT #RemoteSensing #Hydrology #EarthObservation #ClimateScience #CoastalSystems #Rivers #OpenScience #opendata #tide #tidal #dynamics #exchange #estuary #estuarine #webmap #wetlands #ecosystems #habitat #elevation #marine #freshwater #water #hydrography #hydrology #river #GIS #spatial #mapping #satellite #altimetry #coast #coastal #GIS #spatial #mapping #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #SurfaceWaterandOceanTopography #global #coverage #monitoring #model #modeling #riverine #fluvial #carbonbudgets #nitrogencycle #sedimentation #sealevelrise #SLR #megadroughts #extraction #pumping #regulations #groundwater #intrusion #risk #hazard #naturalhazards #stormsurge #waterresources #tidalrange #rivermouth -
Mapping of Closed Depressions in Karst Terrains - A GIS-Based Delineation of Endorheic Catchments in the Alburni Massif (Southern Apennine, Italy)
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https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology12070186 <-- shared paper 🔗
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#doline #poljes #endorheic #karst #GIS #spatial #mapping #DEM #spatialanalysis #geomorphometry #morphometry #remotesensing #glacial #proglacial #glacier #tectonics #geology #water #hydrography #hydrology #hydrogeomorphic #groundwater #surfacewater #closeddepressions #overland #epigenic #subsurface #hypogenic #flow #landform #geomorphology #AlburniMassif #Apennines #Italy #spatialanalysis #elevation #geostatistics #structuralgeology #waterresources #watermanagement #recharge #modeling #tracertest #dyetest #mapping -
Growing Meltwater Reservoirs – Glacial Lakes Are Both A Resource And A Habitat Worthy Of Protection
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https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/headlines-and-featured-stories/detail/2026-01-28-growing-meltwater-reservoirs-glacial-lakes-are-both-a-resource-and-a-habitat-worthy-of-protection <-- shared technical article
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-025-00578-6 <-- shared paper
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https://github.com/geveh/LakeVolumes <-- shared GitHub ‘code base’
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#glaciallakes #GLOF #geomorphology #glaciers #hydrology #waterresources #glacier #melting #retreating #hydrogeomorphology #GIS #spatial #mapping #global #spatialanalysis #global #cryosphere #ice #water #hydrology #mountains #highaltitude #naturalresource #freshwater #reservoir #sediment #sedimentation #spatiotemporal #remotesensing #earthobservation #landcover #Arctic #coastal #meltwater #lake #longevity #watersecurity #risk #hazard #ecosystem #habitat #naturalhazard #planning #tourism #economy #usecase #watersupply #worldwide #population #demographics #glacial
@University of Potsdam | @University Of Leeds -
Changes In Dominant Streamflow Drivers As Network-Scale Flow Regime Shifts From Intermittent To Ephemeral Across A Multi-Year Drought
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https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70413 <-- shared paper
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #water #hydrology #fluvial #pluvial #precipitation #extremeweather #California #USA #semiarid #watershed #headwaters #weather #metrology #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #model #modeling #geostatistics #monitoring #sensors #instrumentation #insitu #drought #streamflow #ephemeral #intermittent #catchments #waterresources #watermanagement #watersecurity #planning
#coast #coastal #hydrogeomorphic #geology #climate -
From Space To Field - Putting satellite insights into growers’ hands [OpenET]
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https://irrigationtoday.org/features/from-space-to-field/ <-- shared technical media article
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https://etdata.org/ <-- shared OpenET home page
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https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/openet-satellite-based-water-data-resource/ <-- shared NASA technical article
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https://youtu.be/Rbobf6aurLs?si=Q0kN9eiZH0gT8O5m <-- shared OpenET overview video
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#OpenET #openscience #opendata #publicgood #publicservice #nonprofit #fedscience #fedservice #evapotranspiration #ET #Landsat #OLI #OperationalLandImager #groundwater #water #hydrology #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #agriculture #USA #farming #waterresources #watermanagement #planning #watersecurity #satellite #remotesensing #earthobservation #model #modeling #irrigation #metrology #raster #cost #economics #efficiency #foodproduction #mobileapp #FARMS #view #download #usecase #reporting
#OpenET #USGS #USDA @NASA #USGS_EROS -
Remote Sensing and GIS Assessment of Drought Dynamics in the Ukrina River Basin, Bosnia and Herzegovina
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https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos17020124 <-- shared paper
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #drought #risk #hazard #remotesensing #MODIS #satellite #earthobservation #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #monitoring #Ukrina #RiverBasin #Bosnia #Herzegovina #BosniaHerzegovina #water #waterresources #socioeconomic #risk #hazard #cost #economics #agriculture #foodsecurity #watersecurity #landcover #vegetation #croplands #fruit #crops #metrology #hydrology #droughtexposure #basins #riverbasins #watersheds #monitoring #mitigation #planning #droughtrisk -
Accelerated Glacier Area Loss and Extinction of Small Glaciers in the Bhutanese Himalaya over the Past Five Decades
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https://doi.org/10.3390/rs18020323 <-- shared paper
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#Bhutan #Himalayas #glacierinventory #debriscover #laketerminating #cryosphere #glacier #inventory #change #GIS #spatial #mapping #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #glacierloss #extinction #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #remotesensing #earthobservation #GLOF #flood #flooding #atmospheric #warming #waterresources #naturalhazard #risk #hazard #mountain #highmountain #model #modeling #climatechange #glacierretreat #ecosystems #humanimpacts #Tibet -
Analysis Of Colorado River Basin Storage Suggests Need For Immediate Action
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https://www.colorado.edu/center/gwc/2025/09/11/analysis-colorado-river-basin-storage-suggests-need-immediate-action <-- shared UC Boulder School Of Law paper
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https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/ <-- shared BuRec Colorado River Basin overview page
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https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/post2026/documents/CRWUA-2024-P26-Update.pdf <-- shared BuRec Colorado River Basin Lake Powell & Lake Mead Operations Post-2026 Update 12/05/24 presentation
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https://doi.org/10.1029/2022WR033454 <-- shared 2023 paper – “Aridification of Colorado River Basin's Snowpack Regions Has Driven Water Losses Despite Ameliorating Effects of Vegetation”
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#water #hydrology #watermanagement #management #watersecurity #agriculture #ColoradoRiver #ColoradoRiverBasin #storage #waterresources #wateruse #agreement #naturalsupply #usecase #reserve #model #modeling #hydrospatial #future #forecasts #climate #recharge #snowpack #massbalance #conservative #dams #BuRec #reservoir #operations #infrastructure #consumption #magicwater
@CU Boulder Getches-Wilkinson Center Law Center -
California Prepares for Extreme Weather Swings as New Water Year Begins [October 1st 2025]
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https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2025/Sep-25/California-Prepares-for-Extreme-Weather-Swings-as-New-Water-Year-Begins <-- shared technical article
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#water #hydrology #waterresources #CaliforniaDepartmentOfWaterResources #change #extremeweather #watersecurity #watermanagement #California #SoCal #SouthernCalifornia #climate #drought #flood #flooding #atmosphericriver #precipitation #rainfall #planning #mitigation #policy #watershortage #wateryear #fall #winter #uncertainity #climateprediction #NOAA #LaNina #storms #risk #hazard #watershed #protection #wildfire #waterquality #atmosphere #risk #hazard #wet #dry
@CaliforniaDepartmentOfWaterResources -
Spectrum Of The Lakes - Using Satellite Remote Sensing To Unveil Water Color In Minnesota's Sentinel Lakes For Water Quality Monitoring
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https://doi.org/10.1080/20442041.2025.2509528 <-- shared paper
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https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fisheries/slice/index.html <-- shared DNR Sentinel Lakes monitoring programs
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#Satellite #RemoteSensing #hydrology #water #WaterColour #WaterQuality #Chromaticity #SentinelLakes #ecoregion #Minnesota #earthobservation #GIS #spatial #mapping #MidWest #US #waterresources #ecology #ecosystems #watersecurity #Landsat #OLI #surface #lake #waterbody #reflectance #tropic #wavelength #vegetation #catchments #vegetation #MDVW #forests #agriculture #farming #landuse #landcover #management #monitoring #protection