Satellite reveals a world of altered rivers

Paul Voosen

doi:10.1126/science.aem6543

Earth & climateOceans & water

Satellite reveals a world of altered rivers

Paul Voosen

Peer-reviewed journalReal-world useEasy to read

In the authors' words

This journal does not let us republish the full abstract. Here are the two sentences Pipette selected, quoted from it. Read the rest at the publisher.

Main result

SWOT is exposing how humans reshape rivers-and challenging models used to predict floods.

Read the paper

Appeared: Saturday, September 26. Science. Peer-reviewed journal.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aem6543

Earth & climate Oceans & water Sep 26, 2026
Climate change is projected to widen global inequalities in ocean-derived wellbeing
We find that although the historical assessment reveals an improvement in the global average BWI score from 2000 to 2021, future projections under high-emission climate scenarios (SSP5-8.5) indicate disproportionate losses across 143 countries.
Yaowen Zhang, Q.K. Jiang, Xinying Lin and 8 more — Communications Earth & Environment
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world use
Earth & climate Oceans & water Sep 26, 2026
Upscaling sediment source prediction for watershed management
To address this, we compiled a global synthesis of 142 sediment tracing studies across 267 watersheds and developed an explainable machine learning framework that predicts sediment provenance using remotely sensed attributes.
Abigal Percich, Allen Gellis, James F. Fox and 1 more — Communications Earth & Environment
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world use
Earth & climate Oceans & water Sep 26, 2026
Abrupt pH changes overestimate the responses of Chaetoceros muelleri to ocean acidification
Integrating evolutionary genomics, physiological assays, elemental stoichiometry, and Earth System Modeling, we find that abrupt acidification exaggerates diatom growth and carbon fixation responses by up to 15%, driven by enhanced divergent genomic signals and persistent gene expression changes.
Xin Zhao, Hanxi Tan, Xu Zhang and 10 more — Nature Communications
Peer-reviewed journal
Earth & climate Oceans & water Sep 26, 2026
Barrier island geomorphic complexity drives storm and post-storm response
Here, shoreface-inclusive measurements of barrier sediment fluxes over five years following an extreme storm reveal distinct sediment redistribution patterns that vary with island geomorphology.
Jennifer L. Miselis, Noreen A. Buster, Daniel J. Ciarletta and 3 more — Nature Communications
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world use

All new papers on Oceans & water

Satellite reveals a world of altered rivers

In the authors' words

More on Oceans & water that day

Climate change is projected to widen global inequalities in ocean-derived wellbeing

Upscaling sediment source prediction for watershed management

Abrupt pH changes overestimate the responses of Chaetoceros muelleri to ocean acidification

Barrier island geomorphic complexity drives storm and post-storm response