Palm oil is in demand, and its agricultural footprint is expanding in the tropics. New research suggests that habitat buffers could improve conservation and prevent erosion that cuts into economic returns.
rivers
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Dispersal of River Water by Ocean Eddies and Shallow Ekman Flow
Low-salinity water from the Ganga-Brahmaputra river is transported by mesoscale eddies in the Bay of Bengal, but when the monsoon winds strengthen, a shallow “Ekman” flow dominates dispersal of water.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Insensitivity of Total Sediment Flux to Hydraulic Details
The total sediment mass transported by flow under different sets of regimes is insensitive to the exact details of hydraulic forcing, but what matters is cumulative transport capacity.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Rising Seas Increase Methane Emissions from the Mouths of Rivers
Drowned river deltas exhale large quantities of greenhouse gas, new study finds.
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 inResearch Spotlights
How Are Sediment Pulses Generated?
A new long-term flume experiment shows that bed load gravel travels downstream in recurring, 10-hour pulses even when water flow and sediment supply are constant.
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.
Posted inFeatures
Rethinking the River
The Mississippi River and its delta and plume provide insights into research-informed approaches to managing river-dominated coastal zones.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A Closer Look at Turbulent Transport in Gravel Streambeds
Lab-built streams reveal new insights into turbulence-driven exchange of dissolved substances between stream water and sediments below.
Posted inNews
Rare Glacial River Drains Potentially Harmful Lakes
Antarctic lakes have contributed to ice shelf breakup in the past, but a glacier in Greenland appears safe from a similar fate, thanks to a river that drains away water.