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Oct 25, 2013

After Floods, Colorado Scientists Improve Forecasts

Six weeks after devastating floods swept through the Colorado Front Range, scientists are already working to improve their response for next time. The effort was slowed slightly by the government shutdown, which put U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and some National Weather Service scientists temporarily...

Oct 31, 2013

After Sandy, Lessons from Historic 1993 Flood Resurface (Op-Ed)

Rob Moore is a senior policy analyst for NRDC where he is part of a team devoted to protecting U.S. water resources. Moore contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. While the nation’s attention is riveted on the one-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, this year marks the...

Nov 1, 2013

Flooding Aftermath: Landslides Scar Colorado

Twin Sisters Slide (Image credit: Jonathan Godt, USGS)Heavy mid-September rains in northern Colorado caused landslides along with flooding. This slide occured on the northwest flank of Twin Sisters Peak near Rocky Mt. National Park near Aspen Lodge. Saint Malo Retreat Center (Image credit: Heidi Koontz, USGS)Trees turned to matchsticks by...

Nov 1, 2013

Landslides Scar Colorado After Major Flood

DENVER — The floods that struck northern Colorado in September left their mark in the form of landslides that scarred spots from the high mountains to the low foothills. Hundreds of landslides occurred during the storm that dropped record rains on the Boulder area, Jonathan Godt, a U.S. Geological Survey...

Dec 16, 2013

Megafloods May Have Carved Canyons on Earth & Mars

Nearly 50,000 years ago, a megaflood may have washed across the area that is now Idaho, carving a gorge — a discovery that could explain similar canyons on Mars, a new study finds. Canyons are ravines typically created by rivers slicing into rock over eons. The shapes of canyons are...

Jan 2, 2014

Man-Made Flood Could Help Revive Colorado River Wetlands

An artificial flood could surge down a dry riverbed from the United States into Mexico either this spring or an upcoming one — a technique researchers hope will help them find out if renewing water in this landscape might rejuvenate life in the area. The flood is one consequence of...

Feb 14, 2014

Royal Air Force Combat Plane Aids UK Flood Recovery (Photos)

Photos of flooding taken by a Royal Air Force jet are aiding recovery in the United Kingdom after the Thames overflowed its banks this week. The Tornado GR4 jet is equipped with a specialized photography pod called the Reconnaissance Airborne Pod for Tornado (RAPTOR). This tool enables the collection of...

Mar 10, 2014

FEMA's New NYC Flood Maps Will Soon Be Out-of-Date (Op-Ed)

Rob Moore is a senior policy analyst for NRDC where he is part of a team devoted to protecting U.S. water resources. Moore contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is tasked with helping evaluate the nation's vulnerability to...

Apr 24, 2014

Missing Link? Mississippi Floods, and a Great City Disappears

The mysterious abandonment of one of North America's first big cities may be linked to a massive Mississippi River flood 800 years ago, a new study finds. In the bottom of an oxbow lake next to Cahokia, Ill., which was the most powerful and populous city north of Mexico in...

May 16, 2014

Namibia's Spring Floods Seen from Space (Photo)

Floodwaters appear black against a background of brilliant green in new satellite imagery of Namibia's Zambezi and Chobe rivers. The flooding satellite images come from NASA's Aqua satellite, and were snapped on May 13 by Aqua's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS). The widespread flooding is typical for this time of...

May 20, 2014

Devastating Balkan Floods Seen From Space (Photos)

Record-breaking floods in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are visible from space in a new satellite image. Taken May 19, the image shows rivers swollen by heavy rains. The flooding is the worst in the region since record-keeping started more than a century ago. Three months' worth of rain...

Jul 6, 2014

Early Flood Prediction Gets a Boost from Space

Researchers have figured out a new way to predict which rivers are most at risk of dangerous flooding. To do so, they measured how much water was stored in a river basin months ahead of the spring flood season. Just like a bucket can only hold so much water, the...

Oct 12, 2014

Icebergs Sailed to Florida on Ice Age Floods

Imagine icebergs as tall as the Eiffel Tower silently drifting by Florida's balmy beaches. Add a few braying walruses, and mammoths grazing nearby on a broad coastal plain, and there's Ice Age Florida for you. And believe it or not, the icebergs are among the most indisputable parts of this...

Dec 11, 2014

New Dates Tie Volcanic Flood to Dinosaur Extinction

An incredible outpouring of lava 66 million years ago could have set off environmental changes that killed off the dinosaurs, a new study finds. The research reports precise dates for India's Deccan Traps, mountain-high piles of basalt lava flows that cover as much territory as France. The youngest lava flows...

Feb 9, 2015

More Floods Hitting Midwest States

Floods have become more frequent in the central United States over the past 50 years, a new study finds. However, even though the events are striking more often, floods aren't bigger in size, said study co-author Gabriele Villarini, a hydrologist at the University of Iowa. It's not that the largest...