During the past 70 years, Peruvian engineers virtually eliminated the risks posed by glacial lake floods. But climate change and a political blind eye are increasing the dangers once again.
lakes
Posted inNews
Ancient Romans Polluted Their Lakes Just Like We Do Today
Sediments from a lake in Switzerland reveal that ancient Romans triggered dead zones caused by the runoff of nutrients. Sound familiar?
Posted inNews
Atacama Desert’s Unprecedented Rains Are Lethal to Microbes
Rainfall in the driest parts of Chile’s Atacama Desert in 2017 resulted in hypersaline lagoons that killed the majority of microbes adapted to millions of years of arid conditions.
Posted inNews
Glacial Lake Outburst Flood Captured in Seismic Recordings
A flood that thundered through eastern Nepal in July 2016 left a telltale seismic signature and caused more erosion than local monsoon rains, new research shows.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
What Lies and Waits Beneath Lake Ice?
Rarely made detailed measurements of carbon dioxide and methane under lake ice reveal a story more complex than simple models of gas buildup, with surprising findings for climate change impacts.
Posted inNews
Landslides Send Carbon-Rich Soils into Long-Term Storage
Earthquake-triggered landslides move soils down steep slopes and deposit the sediments near rivers, sequestering the carbon contained within them for millions of years.
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Severe Drought May Have Helped Hasten Ancient Maya’s Collapse
Chemical signatures from sediments in lake cores reveal that the centuries-long drought during the fall of Classic Maya civilization was worse than researchers had imagined.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Seeing Surface Water From Space
Satellite-based optical sensors can detect, measure and monitor changes in lakes, reservoirs, rivers and wetlands, providing useful data with multiple applications for science and society.
Posted inNews
Just How Anomalous Is the Vast Baltic Sea Dead Zone?
Newly drilled cores from the Baltic Sea reveal 1,500 years of deoxygenation history. The record sheds light on the dire state of the Baltic Sea today.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Effects of Acid Rain, Climate Change on Freshwater Lakes
New England lakes weathered years of acid rain. A new study tracks how they are faring after 30 years of regulation and how climate change factors into the equation.