Stream discharge, within hydrologic and fluvial geomorphology topics, refers to the volumetric flow rate of water moving through a stream or river cross section per unit time, typically expressed in cubic meters per second (m³/s). It is quantified as the product of cross-sectional area and mean flow velocity, and is highly variable in space and time due to precipitation, evapotranspiration, groundwater inputs, and human regulation. Stream discharge governs sediment transport capacity, channel morphology, nutrient and contaminant fluxes, and aquatic habitat conditions, and is a central variable in watershed modeling, flood frequency analysis, and water-resources management.
Lakes may look like picturesque stopping points along a river or stream, but they can have a big influence on what happens to carbon as it moves through a landscape. New research suggests that the more lake-rich a network ...
Vast tracts of many of Europe's largest rivers, including the Rhine, Rhone and Danube, have slowed to a trickle never before recorded in July, data from a European climate observatory showed Monday.
Environment
Aug 10, 2026
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Heavy precipitation becomes more intense with every degree Earth warms. This affects flooding. Using hourly data from 384 rivers in the Alps, researchers from the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF modeled ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 16, 2026
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Ocean tides push upstream along coastal rivers, in some cases reaching hundreds of kilometers (hundreds of miles) inland. These inland stretches are known as tidal rivers, and they're the scene of complex interactions between ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 14, 2026
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Researchers at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) have used long-term data from the Spree River to discover that aquatic plants can compensate for declining water levels in a drier climate. ...
Environment
Feb 22, 2026
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Over just two hours, the Guadalupe River at Comfort, Texas, rose from hip-height to three stories tall, sending water weighing as much as the Empire State building downstream roughly every minute it remained at its crest.
Environment
Jul 11, 2025
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Peak water flows in parts of India's largest river basin have been falling by more than one-sixth every decade, according to a study published in npj Natural Hazards that highlights a similar trend across the country, impacting ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 7, 2025
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A recent study led by Prof. Chen Yaning from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has released the Tianshan watershed streamflow (TSWS) dataset (1901–2019). The dataset ...
Earth Sciences
May 28, 2025
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