Digital hydrographic maps have transformed global environmental studies and resource management. A major database update will provide even clearer and more complete views of Earth’s waterways.
landscape & topography
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Debris Flows Keep the Landscape on the Straight and Narrow
New methods for identifying debris flow-shaped channels improve hazard quantification and highlight how high uplift rates and fractured bedrock facilitate debris flow-dominated landscape evolution.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Moving Earthquake-Generated Sediment Through a Landscape
Ten years after the Wenchuan earthquake, most of the new sediment it produced remained on the landscape, indicating a long recovery time.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Fresh Approaches to Processing GRACE Data
Two studies showcase new methods for analyzing GRACE data that better match the land surface, producing clearer estimates of mass variations.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
What Caused the Open Habitat Transition in the West-Central U.S.?
Between 26-15 My ago, forests covering west-central North America gave way to open, grassy habitats. Now, oxygen isotope records suggest this shift is owed to drier winters and increased aridity.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Western U.S. “Megafloods” Might Not Have Been So Mega
The flooding that carved eastern Washington State 20,000 to 12,000 years ago could have been 80% smaller than the canyons’ volume today.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
High Mountain Rain Has Scientists Rethinking River Basics
Rainfall varies with elevation, and such precipitation gradients can have profound and often counterintuitive effects on topography.
Posted inScience Updates
Making the Most of Volcanic Eruption Responses
Last year, a new collaborative initiative conducted a hypothetical volcano response exercise. A month later, they put the knowledge gained to use during an actual eruption.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
A New Model for Self-Organized Pattern Formation
Scale-dependent feedbacks in time, rather than in space, result in a new type of competition, explaining the regularly patterned landscape of Big Cypress National Preserve in South Florida.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Why Rivers Need Their Floodplains
Floodplain storage of water, nutrients, and sediment is critical to sustaining river ecosystems but has been reduced by human activities.