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Open Access
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Decadal-scale droughts disrupted the African Humid Period in the Sahara
Sedimentary time-series data of Lake Yoa in Chad covering the past 10.25 thousand years (kyr) show that the mid-Holocene African Humid Period experienced several decadal-scale droughts, caused by sudden inputs of freshwater into the North Atlantic.
- Florence Sylvestre
- , Martin Melles
- & Stefan Kröpelin
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Article
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Observing the tidal pulse of rivers from wide-swath satellite altimetry
Data from the recently launched SWOT satellite, a wide-swath satellite altimeter, have been used to map tidal dynamics for thousands of coastal rivers and to document the factors controlling the inland extent of tides.
- M. G. Hart-Davis
- , D. Scherer
- & F. Seitz
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Book Review |
The world’s salt lakes are drying up, but solutions are hard to come by
An eclectic book asks how humans have shaped these ‘queer’ landscapes and how they can be restored.
- Josie Glausiusz
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Article
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Wide-swath altimetry maps bank shapes and storage changes in global rivers
Observations of river channel geometry and monthly water storage changes for 126,674 river reaches worldwide are derived from the first water year of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography satellite mission.
- A. Cerbelaud
- , J. Wade
- & H. Oubanas
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Article
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Wind shear enhances soil moisture influence on rapid thunderstorm growth
Analysis of millions of events over sub-Saharan Africa shows that wind shear amplifies the impact of soil moisture in triggering rapidly developing thunderstorms.
- Christopher M. Taylor
- , Cornelia Klein
- & Wolfgang Wagner
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Correspondence |
Better models are needed to gauge the ecological impacts of reservoirs
- Xingcheng Yan
- , Sijiu Zhang
- & Jianyun Zhang
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Outlook |
Cities are embracing nature for flood defence
As losses owing to flooding rise, some urban centres are ditching the concrete and making space for natural wetlands.
- Erica Gies
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Research Highlight |
Forests’ misty breath sustains crops in distant lands
The moisture emitted by forests travels across national borders to provide precipitation to far-away fields.
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Nature Podcast |
Feeling the heat: fossil-fuel producers linked to dozens of heatwaves
Attribution study suggests major energy producers play an outsized role in causing extreme heatwaves — plus, the scientists fighting back against US funding cuts.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Shamini Bundell
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Research Highlight |
Changing tides ushered in the world’s first civilization
Construction of tidal irrigation systems helped to drive the formation of city states some 5,000 years ago.
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Editorial |
Hazardous science that helps to save and improve lives needs more support
Research into the growing environmental problem of urban gullies highlights the challenging conditions under which many socially important studies are done.
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Research Briefing |
A humidity measure that accounts for redistribution of water across the landscape
A humidity index has been developed that considers lateral flow along rivers and groundwater systems, as well as precipitation, potential evaporation and plant transpiration. It performs better than a conventional humidity index when describing water availability for ecosystems and societies in arid regions.
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News & Views |
Impact of catastrophic flood might have been exacerbated by river-management programme
Efforts to engineer a river to reduce flood risk might have unintentionally contributed to severe erosion of the riverbed, worsening the impact of the flood.
- Alvise Finotello
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Article |
A global humidity index with lateral hydrologic flows
Estimating lateral subsidies by river and groundwater using a global hydrology model and incorporating them into the conventional global humidity index reduces aridity in the receiving lowlands and better explains ecosystem patterns.
- Gonzalo Miguez-Macho
- & Ying Fan
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Research Briefing |
Seasonality dominates changes in lake-surface extent and aligns with human residence
The mapping of lake surfaces globally has been constrained by the limitations of single-source satellite data. A spatio-temporal fusion approach now enables high-resolution mapping of more than 1.4 million lakes, revealing seasonality as the main factor driving changes in the spread of lake surfaces, with links between seasonality and human residence.
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News & Views |
Ancient carbon released through modern rivers
A global analysis reveals that most carbon dioxide emitted by rivers derives not from modern plant material, as was thought, but from ancient, buried carbon.
- Li Li
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Article
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Warming accelerates global drought severity
Increased atmospheric evaporative demand in recent years has increased drought severity by an average of 40% globally across both dry and wet regions, and the trend is likely to continue under future warming scenarios.
- Solomon H. Gebrechorkos
- , Justin Sheffield
- & Simon J. Dadson
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Article
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Old carbon routed from land to the atmosphere by global river systems
Using a global database of the radiocarbon content of rivers combining new and published measurements, isotopic mass balance suggests that about 60% of river CO2 emissions are derived from millennial or older carbon sources.
- Joshua F. Dean
- , Gemma Coxon
- & Robert G. Hilton
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Article |
Global dominance of seasonality in shaping lake-surface-extent dynamics
Monthly mapping of multisource remote-sensing data for 1.4 million lakes reveals that seasonality is the dominant driver of lake-surface-extent variations globally.
- Luoqi Li
- , Di Long
- & R. Iestyn Woolway
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News & Views |
How and when North America’s deepest river gorge formed
An analysis of landscape features and of river deposits preserved in caves point to an event 2.1 million years ago that triggered the formation of Hells Canyon.
- Andrew Mitchinson
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Increasing hourly heavy rainfall in Austria reflected in flood changes
Long-term increases in heavy daily and hourly precipitation in Austria from different climatic mechanisms emphasize the need for flood management adaptation, especially in smaller catchments affected by the increased hourly rainfall.
- Klaus Haslinger
- , Korbinian Breinl
- & Günter Blöschl
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Comment |
How a vast digital twin of the Yangtze River could prevent flooding in China
A project that intertwines data on weather, water flow and energy demand to create a 3D model of the whole river basin would enable researchers and others to make water-management decisions in real time.
- Xiaopeng Wang
- , Biqiong Wu
- & Zhengyang Tang
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Impact of Amazonian deforestation on precipitation reverses between seasons
Reversed precipitation responses to Amazon deforestation show that deforestation leads to precipitation increases in the wet season and decreases in the dry season.
- Yingzuo Qin
- , Dashan Wang
- & Zhenzhong Zeng
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Matters Arising |
Reply to: Streamflow shifts with declining snowfall
- Juntai Han
- , Ziwei Liu
- & Yuting Yang
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Matters Arising |
Reply to: Atlantic oceanic droughts do not threaten Asian water tower
- Qiang Zhang
- , Zexi Shen
- & Gang Wang
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Community estimate of global glacier mass changes from 2000 to 2023
An intercomparison exercise reassesses mass loss from glaciers worldwide based on the main in situ and satellite methods from 2000 to 2023; the results are consistent with previous assessments and provide a refined and comprehensive observational baseline for future impact and modelling studies.
- Michael Zemp
- , Livia Jakob
- & Whyjay Zheng
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Article |
Large global-scale vegetation sensitivity to daily rainfall variability
Satellite data and field observations show that global annual-scale vegetation indices are sensitive to the daily frequency and intensity of rainfall, independent of the total amount of rainfall per year.
- Andrew F. Feldman
- , Alexandra G. Konings
- & Benjamin Poulter
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Correspondence |
Claims that dam removals were to blame for Valencia floods are false
- Carlos Garcia de Leaniz
- & Foivos A. Mouchlianitis
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Matters Arising
| Open AccessConcerns regarding proposed groundwater Earth system boundary
- M. O. Cuthbert
- , T. Gleeson
- & R. G. Taylor
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Correspondence |
Devastating Spanish floods expose an urgent need for more flood-risk professionals
- Sebastiano Piccolroaz
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Global influence of soil texture on ecosystem water limitation
Through their effects on soil hydraulic properties, soil texture and sand content are shown to have broad implications for the terrestrial water cycle and carbon sink, and specific implications for vital ecosystems that are vulnerable to drought, especially with changing climate.
- Fabian J. P. Wankmüller
- , Louis Delval
- & Andrea Carminati
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Book Review |
Climate change reveals secrets of our ancestors hidden in the ice
Spectacular archaeological finds in melting glaciers and mountain ice are giving new — although fleeting — insights into prehistoric hunting practices and more.
- Joseph R. McConnell
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Research Briefing |
Mapping groundwater-dependent ecosystems shows the need for more protection globally
Ecosystems reliant on groundwater are vulnerable to water depletion and climate change, but often their locations are unknown. A map of groundwater-dependent ecosystems across global drylands provides essential information to advance the protection of these biologically diverse ecosystems and the rural societies that depend on them.
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News & Views |
Arctic riverbank erosion could increase as permafrost thaws
The jury has been out on whether global warming will increase the erosion of riverbanks in the Arctic — with consequences for human infrastructure and the environment. A detailed analysis of an Alaskan river suggests that it will.
- Evan Nylen Dethier
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Article |
Permafrost slows Arctic riverbank erosion
Analysis of the sub-seasonal patterns of river migration reveals that permafrost reduces erosion rates and suggests that full permafrost thaw may lead to a 30–100% increase in the migration rates of Arctic rivers.
- Emily C. Geyman
- , Madison M. Douglas
- & Michael P. Lamb
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Article |
Rules of river avulsion change downstream
A novel theoretical framework reveals how topography surrounding rivers causes dramatic changes in their courses, with implications for natural hazard prediction, particularly in the Global South.
- James H. Gearon
- , Harrison K. Martin
- & Douglas A. Edmonds
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Observation-constrained projections reveal longer-than-expected dry spells
A newly identified emergent constraint applied to a key drought metric reduces uncertainty in future predictions of the longest annual dry spells, revealing that their increase due to climate change will be 40–50% greater than climate models project at present.
- Irina Y. Petrova
- , Diego G. Miralles
- & Margot Bador
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Correspondence |
Indian landslide tragedy demands a rethink of hazard mapping in a changing climate
- S. Adarsh
- , D. S. Shamla
- & Meera G. Mohan
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Groundwater-dependent ecosystem map exposes global dryland protection needs
Mapping of groundwater-dependent ecosystems, which support biodiversity and rural livelihoods, shows they occur on more than one-third of global drylands analysed, but lack protections to safeguard these critical ecosystems and the societies dependent upon them from groundwater depletion.
- Melissa M. Rohde
- , Christine M. Albano
- & John C. Stella
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Research Highlight |
A mighty river’s radical shift changed the face of ancient Egypt
Samples taken near a capital of the pharaohs reveal an overhaul of the Nile 4,000 years ago.
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News & Views |
Why snow is crucial for water supply — and what will happen when it becomes scarce
Analysis of 70 years of snowfall in the Northern Hemisphere reveals that snow buffers the effect of varying precipitation levels on streamflow. The link highlights the need to rethink water-resource management as snow levels decline.
- Karen R. Ryberg
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Article |
Streamflow seasonality in a snow-dwindling world
Analysis of streamflow measurements from 1950 to 2020 across 3,049 snow-affected catchments over the Northern Hemisphere shows that seasonal streamflow occurs earlier in snow-heavy catchments but later in less snowy regions.
- Juntai Han
- , Ziwei Liu
- & Yuting Yang
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News Feature |
The Maldives is racing to create new land. Why are so many people concerned?
The island nation is expanding its territory by dredging up sediment from the ocean floor. But scientists, former government officials and activists say such reclamation can harm marine ecosystems and make the country more vulnerable to rising seas.
- Jesse Chase-Lubitz
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Correspondence |
The Middle East’s largest hypersaline lake risks turning into an environmental disaster zone
- Alireza Mohammadi
- , Ali Azareh
- & Moslem Sharifinia
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News |
Nearly half of China’s major cities are sinking — some ‘rapidly’
Tens of millions of people in the country’s coastal lands might find their homes below sea level by 2120 owing to sinking and sea-level rise.
- Xiaoying You
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Research Briefing |
Artificial intelligence can provide accurate forecasts of extreme floods at global scale
Anthropogenic climate change is accelerating the hydrological cycle, causing an increase in the risk of flood-related disasters. A system that uses artificial intelligence allows the creation of reliable, global river flood forecasts, even in places where accurate local data are not available.
Precipitation observing network gaps limit climate change impact assessment
Streamflow shifts with declining snowfall