Granite samples collected from the Mekong River Valley reveal that the river’s path was incised roughly 17 million years ago, most likely by increased erosion from monsoon precipitation.
precipitation
Posted inNews
Landslide Database Reveals Uptick in Human-Caused Fatal Slides
Records of nearly 5,000 landslides around the world show that human activities like construction, illegal mining, and hill cutting are increasingly responsible for fatal slides, particularly in Asia.
Posted inNews
Roger Lhermitte (1920–2016)
This luminary in the field of weather radar did it all, from basic engineering to sophisticated analysis.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
What Causes Flash Floods in the Middle East?
Researchers zero in on the large-scale meteorological processes driving extreme precipitation events in the hot, arid desert region.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Counting Every Drop
The challenge of collecting and analyzing precipitation data collected at different times, in different places, and on different scales.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Does Snow Affect the Intensity of Mountain Precipitation?
A new investigation into the sensitivity of extreme precipitation in a changing climate indicates that more winter rainfall and protracted snowmelt may require local adaptations to winter flooding impacts.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Rethinking How Water Circulates Between the Oceans and Land
A reexamination of the global water cycle shows that tropical coastlines exert a profound influence on atmospheric water circulation by wringing water vapor from the atmosphere.
Posted inNews
Weight of Water Dropped by Hurricane Harvey Flexed Earth’s Crust
The precipitation that fell during the storm depressed the ground in parts of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi by as much as 1.8 centimeters in some places.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Lightning Data Improves Precipitation Forecasts
Short-term forecasts of precipitation and convection can be improved when lightning data are assimilated in the Weather Research and Forecasting system.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Stories in the Soil
A series of field experiments in the U.S. Midwest is investigating how past, present, and future human activities and climate affect the health of soil.