A new study published in GSA Today is changing the way scientists answer that question—using data from NASA’s SWOT satellite to track how rivers erode, transport sediment, and reshape landscapes across Earth. Read the paper: geosociety.co/Stroud_et_al #NASA #RemoteSensing #Geomorphology

This is an incredible documentation of the systematic, intentional collapse of American health science, by Elizabeth Ginexi. open.substack.com/pub/elizabet...

Hydrology Paper of the Day @geoallen.bsky.social on distinguishing between lakes and reservoirs by SWOT observations: estimating storage by the LakeFlow algorithm; statistical tests for differences; characterizing variability; and understanding reservoir inflows and outflows.

Our new paper uses #SWOT_satellite data to differentiate between natural & managed lake dynamics across North America. We find that inflows & outflows of managed lakes are significantly more variable than natural lakes, revealing signatures of reservoir operations: doi.org/10.1088/1748...

New paper by Katie McQuillan leverages satellite radar to map lake evaporation at 25× finer resolution than operational surface analysis products, opening up applications from improved gauge placement to evaluating geoengineering strategies doi.org/10.1109/LGRS...

New paper is featured on the cover of GSA Today 🥳 We show that the #SWOT satellites's radar observations are a valuable new source of data for studying river processes/ fluvial geomorphology. Led by Molly Stroud @mollystroud.bsky.social @vt-science.bsky.social Paper: doi.org/10.1130/GSAT...

Time to get your public comments in on the proposed Waters of the U.S. rule that would strip protections for countless wetlands and streams. Trout unlimited has a tool on their page that will automatically send your message to the EPA as well as your representatives: www.tu.org/conservation...

Grad students in my group participate in the 2025 Flip the Fair science fair and research expo in Salem Virginia

This weekend my research group volunteered at the Claytor Lake Mussel Salvage event near Blacksburg, VA. We surveyed and relocated hundreds of native mussels during the scheduled biennial lake drawdown. #UtProsim @vtgeosciences.bsky.social @vt-science.bsky.social

Join the Global Flood Partnership (GFP) 2025 Fall Webinar Series! On November 19, 2025 (16:00 CET), we bring you three expert talks on how Earth-Observation data is transforming flood mapping, risk assessment, and resilience strategies. Register here: lnkd.in/gjYX3GV8 See also: lnkd.in/gRQFuk_J

Another SWOT Science Team Meeting for the books!

27 things we wish we’d known when we started our PhDs Nature’s survey of PhD candidates reveals hard-won wisdom on choosing supervisors, managing mental health and surviving academic culture.

We’re on Capitol Hill with 225 Earth & space scientists — including @aas.org and @planetarysociety.bsky.social — urging Congress to reopen the government and protect NASA science. 🚀🌍 Join us: buff.ly/a3YuGgY #ScienceIsEssential #AGU

First NISAR L-band images released! They look great! www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-is...

Looking for a postdoc, and interested in river-coastal linkages, #remote sensing, and time series analysis? Come work with us @natureatcal.bsky.social on an exciting project led by @rachelspatial.bsky.social! CC @sfs-src.bsky.social @aslo.org @cerfscience.bsky.social ‪‪@caseagrant.bsky.social‬

Hello freshwater friends! I’m starting a lab(!!) and recruiting 2 students to start Fall 2026 and a lab/field assistant to start this Fall 2025! Research topic is broad: rivers 🛶, ice/snow ❄️, nutrients 🍂, algae 🌱see below for more info Please pass this along to any interested folks :)

Flood waves like those that devastated Texas last week can be seen by the NASA #SWOT satellite. Another reason to support #NASA Earth Science

AGU H3S invites you to submit an abstract to our session at #AGU25 Thinking Outside the Box Plot: Communicating Science Beyond the Paper! The session explores creative ways to communicate research. Conveners: @adischner.bsky.social @acarneiromar.bsky.social @gescilam.bsky.social Cee Nell Emily Ellis

AGU H3S invites you to contribute to our session at #AGU25 Hydrology Student, Postdoc, and Early Career Flash Talks! This session highlights research performed by fellow Early Career Researchers within the field of Hydrology. Conveners: Matthew Preisser and Kathryn Moore

🚨New paper🚨 shows a remarkably clean relationship between river width and stream order across the US 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑖𝑑𝑡ℎ𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑠 𝐴𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑠... 🔗 doi.org/10.1029/2025... #hydrology #geomorphology #rivers #RemoteSensing

Hana (grad student in my group) will be doing a research internship at JPL this summer. Here she is on her first day on the job. Good luck, Hana!! 🚀🚀🚀

NASA news article on our recent study on the #SWOT satellite's ability to capture hydrologic flow waves in rivers Link to paper: doi.org/10.1029/2024GL113875

🌐 Introducing GRIT: the First Global Bifurcating River Network 🏞 developed by Michel Wortmann as part of the NERC Large Grant EvoFLOOD, in the Hydro-Climate Extremes group @oxfordgeography.bsky.social

Hydrologists! Ever heard of a Spatial Hydrograph? Our new paper in @agu.org GRL shows that the SWOT satellite can capture spatial flow waves propagating down rivers—something previously only only observable at river gauges: doi.org/10.1029/2024... #SWOT #hydrology #RemoteSensing #EarthObservation

Delighted to see our @NERCscience @EvoFlood project research on changing flood hazard and risk profiled by @theAGU 💜 @lborouniversity eos.org/research-spo...

The American public is broadly supportive of maintaining federal science and medical research funding, and against punishing universities by taking their funding away, according to a new poll:

Are water levels in wetlands important to you? @kica22.bsky.social's new paper in GRL shows that the SWOT satellite can measure water surface elevations in the Everglades with a mean absolute error of 6.7 cm. Check it out! agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

Congrats to Luisana Rodriguez Sequeira, who successfully defended her Master's Thesis on satellite #remotesensing of #microplastics in rivers! I had the pleasure of co-advising with Dr. Austin Gray @austindoug13.bsky.social. She presented to a standing-room-only crowd—well done, Luisana!

Do you work on lakes globally? Check out what is, to my mind, the most complete global database of lakes (~6M) and associated attributes, newly published in WRR. Also the basis for SWOT lake data. agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

What a fun paper describing rivers in North and South America that flow into multiple drainage basins. agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

Excited for the annual Virginia Tech Geoscience Student Research Symposium (GSRS) — a 2-day event w/ talks, poster sessions, the always-entertaining 'UpGoer Five' session, and more! It kicks off this morning and I'm looking forward to learning about all the amazing science our students are doing.

Our new paper maps wind fields over lakes using radar backscatter from SWOT and Sentinel-1 satellites. This technique achieves a much higher spatial resolution than what is available from atmosphere reanalysis products: agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

A graduate student takes a stream width measurement on Stroubles Creek, Virginia Tech.

Yesterday was the darkest day of my professional life so far. Many of NSF’s best and brightest people fired indiscriminately. The terms of their firing cruel. My colleagues matter, they are valued and they make a difference. I have no words. www.npr.org/2025/02/18/n...

We are alarmed by the Administration’s actions to freeze science funding and eliminate DEI efforts and climate change initiatives, which go against AGU’s mission and harms our members. We must unite to address these changes, beginning by hearing from you. Read more: https://buff.ly/4hm8r4e

New US administration ditches Biden's plan to limit levels of PFAS manufacturers can discharge into rivers from their waste pipes. Numerous studies have linked PFAS to cancers, liver, thyroid, kidney conditions, fertility issues & harm to fetal development 🧵 www.ewg.org/news-insight...

Interested in headwater streams? Headwaters make up 77% of global river networks, but have fewer gauges, less accurate models and lesser protections than large rivers. See our review led by @goldenwater.bsky.social at www.nature.com/articles/s44...

❗One week away before Abstract submission deadline for #EGU25. ➡️Consider session HS10.5 where we invite all contributions aiming at bridging limnology and hydrology together to better connect lakes and reservoirs to their catchments 💧🧪💻 meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/sessio...

New paper by Dongmei Feng finds an interesting pattern in global streamflow trends through time: increasing streamflow in upstream river reaches and decreasing flow in downstream reaches: www.science.org/doi/full/10....

See you when I’m 75!

Cool paper alert: Yu et al. used SWOT satellite observations of the ocean's surface height to create a global seafloor map at 8-km resolution: about twice the spatial resolution of previous global maps! science.org/doi/full/10....

The Global Rivers Group is well represented this week at #AGU. Seven current members and three alums here in DC. #AGU24

I am soon recruiting two PhDs and a postdoc, to work on carbon, methane, metabolism in arctic stream networks. Glad to chat potential opportunities during #AGU24 @agu.org ! There is also soon another postdoc position on oxygen responses to peatland restoration with @ryansponseller.bsky.social ⬇️

Same thing is happening in the field of flood forecasting

“There are just two major pacts governing nuclear weapons in the cosmos, both of which predate Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon,” W.J. Hennigan writes. Decades later, are they enough to protect against a new space Cold War? nyti.ms/4imfWsG

Check out this website where you can enter city or zip code to get all Hurricanes that have ever passed through that area coast.noaa.gov/hurricanes/#.... Example below for Baltimore:

Going to the #AGU24 Fall Meeting? Interested in new results from the SWOT satellite over oceans, rivers, lakes, and wetlands? We have you covered! here's a cheat sheet for SWOT-specific sessions, plus other presentations. Thanks to UNC grad student Marissa Hughes for putting this together. 🧪

New comment argues for the assimilation of SWOT surface water observations into global hydrologic models: rdcu.be/d2gPR

#NASA #Satellites Reveal Abrupt Drop In #Global #Freshwater Levels - phys.org/news/2024-11... - #GIS #spatial #mapping #remotesensing #water #waterresources #climatechange #sealevelrise #SLR #spatialanalysis #model #modeling #spatiotemporal #naturalresources #waterquality #wateruse

Great day to show our department's incoming graduate students around the Blacksburg area. Thanks @clasticdetritus.bsky.social for letting me tag along!