Water from the Mackenzie River, seen from a satellite, carries silt and nutrients from land to the Arctic Ocean.
Jesse Allen/NASA Earth Observatory
A new study shows how thawing permafrost and intensifying storms will change how water moves into and through Arctic rivers.
Nuno Avendano/AAP
The impacts of record heat on the global water cycle were severe and wide-ranging – and the trend will continue in 2024.
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New research finds fresh water losses are concentrated in South America, most of Africa and much of Australia.
People were trapped in stores as floodwater swept through Highland Falls, N.Y., on July 9, 2023.
AP Photo/John Minchillo
Parts of New York’s Hudson Valley were hit with 10 inches of rain, and the mountains of Vermont – where runoff can quickly turn deadly – saw some its worst flooding since Hurricane Irene.
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Calling the Amazon “the lungs of the world” overlooks the forest’s vital role in the water cycle.
Anjum Naveed/AP
Globally, the air is getting hotter and drier, which means flash droughts and risky fire conditions are developing faster and more frequently.
PFAS are persistent and spread through the atmosphere via hydrological processes.
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Toxic synthetic chemicals, called PFAS, are a serious threat to humans and wildlife – but many people are unaware of them.
The Seli’š Ksanka Qlispe’ Dam provides enough electricity for about 147,000 homes in the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana.
Martina Nolte via Wikimedia Commons
How does flowing water make electricity? An engineer explains hydroelectric generation.
As of June 20, 2023, 64% of the U.S. corn crop faced moderate or more intense drought.
Jim Watson/AFP/GettyImages
Flash droughts can develop within a few weeks, causing water shortages, damaging crops and worsening fire risks.
Harvepino / shutterstock
High intensity rain has actually increased, which is topping up underground water stores.
The Yangtze river bed in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, eastern China on August 23 2022.
EPA-EFE/Alex Plaveski
The world’s great rivers are see-sawing from trickles to floods.
At least 9 inches of rain across eastern Kentucky became floodwater that swept through neighborhoods in July 2022.
Leandro Lozada/AFP via Getty Images
Extreme downpours caught people off guard from Las Vegas to Kentucky in July 2022.
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‘Green water’ is essential for healthy soils and a benign climate, but it’s under threat.
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Dry regions will get drier and wet regions wetter as the climate changes. How quickly? Quicker than we thought, unfortunately.
Boston got socked with nearly 2 feet of snow in late January 2022.
Scott Eisen/Getty Images
Winters are getting warmer, yet Bostonians were digging out from nearly 2 feet of snow from a historic blizzard in late January. Why is the Northeast seeing more big snowstorms like this?
A rainy day in Baffin Island, northern Canada.
Petr Kahanek / shutterstock
Some Arctic regions will see more rain than snow decades earlier than previously thought, say scientists.
Extreme downpours and flooding like northern England experienced in 2015 can put lives at risk.
Ian Forsyth/Getty Images
Water-related hazards are exceptionally destructive, and the impact of climate change on extreme water-related events is increasingly evident, a lead author of the new report warns.
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New Zealand’s climate has been changing in line with global trends over the last century, warming by 1.1°C. But unless we curb emissions fast, we can brace for more extreme downpours and droughts.
In high alpine terrain, sun and dry air can turn snow straight into water vapor.
Jeffrey Pang/WikimediaCommons
As rivers run dry in the Rocky Mountains and the West, it’s easy to wonder where all the snow you see on mountain peaks goes. Some of it ends up in the air, but researchers aren’t sure how much.
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The water cycle is intensifying as the world warms, bringing heavier downpours and longer droughts.