Nitrogen fertilizer remains in soils and leaks towards groundwater for decades
Nitrogen fertilizer applied to crops lingers in the soil and leaks out as nitrate for decades towards groundwater – "much longer than previously thought," scientists in France and at the University of...
View ArticleNew study establishes first-ever connections between the Mississippi River
A new study led by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science showed that the complex circulation from the Mississippi River plume played a...
View ArticleResearchers suggest plan to address hypoxia in Gulf of Mexico
Despite a 12-year action plan calling for reducing the hypoxia zone in the Gulf of Mexico, little progress has been made, and there is no evidence that nutrient loading to the Gulf has decreased during...
View ArticleNational survey finds frog abnormalities rare
A 10-year study shows some good news for frogs and toads on national wildlife refuges. The rate of abnormalities such as shortened or missing legs was less than 2 percent overall—indicating that the...
View ArticleStudy of 2011 flood will lead to better preparedness
In May 2011, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers used explosives to breach a levee south of Cairo, Ill., diverting the rising waters of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to prevent flooding in the...
View ArticleAgricultural productivity loss as a result of soil and crop damage from flooding
The Cache River Basin, which once drained more than 614,100 acres across six southern Illinois counties, has changed substantively since the ancient Ohio River receded. The basin contains a...
View ArticleSampling study suggests Mississippi River has ample sand to prevent delta...
(Phys.org) —A pair of researchers has found, via sand sampling data, that the common perception that too little sand is being carried down the Mississippi River to replenish depleted loads is...
View ArticleSmall birds capitalize on weather patterns during epic migrations
(Phys.org) —In one of the greatest feats of endurance in the biological world, millions of tiny songbirds—many weighing less than an ounce—migrate thousands of miles to Central and South America each...
View ArticleHydrologists find Mississippi River network's buffering system for nitrates...
A new method of measuring the interaction of surface water and groundwater along the length of the Mississippi River network adds fresh evidence that the network's natural ability to chemically filter...
View ArticleTips from space give long-range warning of flood risk
Satellite monitoring of tiny changes in the gravitational field of river basins may give up to 11 months' warning of disastrous floods, a study published on Sunday said.
View ArticleScientists find average but large Gulf dead zone
NOAA- and EPA-supported scientists have mapped the Gulf of Mexico dead zone, an area with low oxygen water, measuring 5,052 square miles this summer—approximately the size of the state of Connecticut....
View ArticleOriginal northern border of Illinois was south of Chicago and Lake Michigan
Chicago residents today might have had a Wisconsin zip code if the originally proposed northern boundary of Illinois had been approved. It was a straight line from the southernmost tip of Lake Michigan...
View ArticleImproving bridge health condition data
On August 1, 2007, when a section of an eight-lane bridge on Interstate 35W in downtown Minneapolis plummeted into the Mississippi River, killing more than a dozen people, Visiting Associate Professor...
View ArticleRemains of French ship being reassembled in Texas
A frigate carrying French colonists to the New World that sank in a storm off the Texas coast more than 300 years ago is being reassembled into a display that archeologists hope will let people walk...
View ArticleRescuing farmland after a flood
When levees fail, either naturally or as an intentional breach, as was the case on the Mississippi River in 2011, an orchestrated effort is made to remove or repair flood-damaged homes and other...
View ArticleWhere did the missing oil go? New study says some is sitting on the Gulf floor
After 200 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, the government and BP cleanup crews mysteriously had trouble locating all of it.
View ArticleModeling nutrient loss from Midwestern crop fields
In many Midwestern crop fields, excess water laden with nitrates drains into subsurface tile pipes and then flows into surface streams and rivers in the Mississippi River watershed. When the...
View ArticleScientists tackling Gulf of Mexico hypoxia
Bouncing along the edge of a field, Larry Berry points across the pasture toward a tree line marking the path of a creek bed. A small plastic shed sits atop a wooden platform on stilts.
View ArticleFarmers can better prevent nutrient runoff based on land characteristics
Farmers on a quest to keep more fertilizer on their fields—and out of Iowa's waterways—may have an easier time finding a solution, thanks to new research from the University of Iowa.
View ArticleLevee detonations reduced 2011 flood risk on Mississippi River, study finds
A controversial decision in 2011 to blow up Mississippi River levees reduced the risk of flooding in a city upstream, lowering the height of the rain-swollen river just before it reached its peak,...
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