@annejefferson
Watershed hydrology and geomorphology prof and Lake Champlain Sea Grant Director here for science, the environment, and life as an academic & mom. Formerly @highlyanne. Posts are personal and do not represent organizations. Reposts are not endorsements.
Period illustration of the Mersey Railway Tunnel
Everyone knows that the worlds oldest subway is London's. But where is the 2nd oldest? Wikipedia says Budapest (1896), but the Budapest metro article says Liverpool's Mersey Railway is older (1886)! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mersey_...
CAMERA DOWN, MAN. CAMERA DOWN.
Got it. I don't know the answer to that ... but I certainly agree that paleo and historical estimates of cycles may not "hold water" in our brave new climate change world.
At least Kilauea is pretty.
The V1 camera gets knocked (down but not out) by tephra at 11:13: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk0t...
Another own goal by the Administration. Rolling back the GHG endangerment means the federal government isn't regulating them, so their argument against Climate Superfund laws is invalid. Plus, the laws are about past emissions not future ones. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
The USGS report I mentioned says that lake evaporation has increased - probably a lot to do with increased surface area- but not as much as precipitation and inflows.
And extra evaporation doesn't necessarily produce rain locally.
Playing with Google Earth, you see Devils Lake level rising before the smaller lakes take off ... so I think it's a bit of both: river inputs exacerbated by lake overflows. But I am not an expert.
Why is Devils Lake, ND always flooding?
Last night I went down a rabbit hole. 🧵 below:
Anyways, that's the rabbit hole I fell into tonight. I highly recommend going on Google Earth and using the time slider to explore this area. And I'd love to visit in person some day and learn more about the traditional and local knowledge of this fascinating area.
How long will Devils Lake remain in a wet cycle and at such a large extent? We don't know. The USGS says wet cycles average around 30 years, but it's been longer than that already. In 2008, a USGS report gave it a 37% chance of lasting through 2038. So far, their predictions are right on track.
Devils Lake Outlet structure
The state of ND has constructed 2 outlets from Devils Lake to try to control levels, and the Corps completed work to stabilize the natural outlet. Levees, roads, and bridges have been raised. Costs to date? >$500 million
pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2008/501...
Photo from ND Dept of Water Resources
Paleoflood records indicate at least 2 natural spills of the lake in the last 4000 years. Such a spill now would mean catastrophic flooding for downstream communities.
Estimated annual precipitation for Devils Lake from 1950-2006
Estimated annual inflows from 1950-2006
Why has Devils Lake risen so dramatically? Precipitation has gone up, likely due to natural climate cycles. Which cycles? This 2008 USGS report says it's complicated to disentangle. But the historical estimated precipitation and inflows really tell the story.
pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2008/501...
Flood hazard map for Spirit Lake Nation
Population density for Spirit Lake Nation
The entire south side of the lake is part of the Spirit Lake Nation-Mni Wakan Oyate and their communities have been significantly affected by the flooding. Here are a few images from their Hazard Mitigation Plan. I am not doing their story justice here. www.spiritlakenation.com/data/upfiles...
Graph showing water surface elevation for Devils Lake over the last 100 years
1993 wasn't even the lowest of the low for Devils Lake. In 1940, it was 1400.9 ft and nearly dry.
The multidecadal rise in Devils Lake water has had significant economic costs, destroying hundreds of homes and businesses and submerging 1000s of acres of farmland.
www.swc.nd.gov/pdfs/dl_fact...
Aerial imagery of Devils Lake, ND in December 1993 shows a small lake with several basis and lots of agriculture and prairie land
Aerial imagery shows Devils Lake ND in July 2025 with a much larger lake than 1993, and a large Lake Alice to the north that is nearly absent in 1993.
Devils Lake (ND) flooding occurs because there are no natural outlets to the lake until it reaches an elevation of 1458 ft. Back in 1993, it was ~1422 ft. At that elevation it covers ~69 sq. miles. Today, the lake surface is at 1449 ft, and it covers 213 sq. miles.
ND is flat.
Tonight, I was looking at water.noaa.gov to see where the US is flooding. My 11-year old pointed to the ongoing major flooding in North Dakota, and I said "Oh, that's Devils Lake. It's always flooding there." They asked "Why?" and a rabbit hole yawned before me.
Docks in the Anacostia River, with blue skies and white clouds
In person meeting over and an hour until I have to be on zoom. Nicest weather we've had since I arrived in DC, and I found a swing by the river. A few days of vacation starts very soon!
Moral of story: Just don't eat any non-white snow.
Spoiler! Easter cottontail rabbits eat buckthorn (an invasive species) late in the winter and a chemical reaction turns their urine blue when exposed to the sun. www.startribune.com/blue-snow-mi...
Enjoying my Minnesota @startribune.com subscription as a way to follow what's happening in my natal state, but also for articles like this: www.startribune.com/blue-snow-mi...
I know, and my flight should land at 7:30 this morning (am at airport now). I'm not too worried.
I spent four weeks camping on the High Arctic tundra in grad school. I'm going to be able to make some nice charitable donations.
There is a lot of uncertainty with this storm. That's what this map shows. What this map doesn't show is what snowfall has the highest probability of occurring.
For the sake of my trip tomorrow, I'm hoping for the lower end of the range in DC.
A new report, DepaveLA, finds that 44% of Los Angeles County’s 312k acres of pavement may not be essential for roads, sidewalks and parking, and could be converted to greener cooler cover and habitat.
www.latimes.com/environment/...
acceleratela.org/depavela/
No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition.
Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Students applying for NSF funding are having their applications “returned without review” for being “ineligible,” despite their proposed research falling squarely within the application guidelines. eos.org/research-and...
Reading about the wild history of Australian camels. The first camel, Harry, shot his owner. Later, the camels went feral because of racist immigration restrictions. Australia now exports camels to Saudi Arabia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austral...
Are x-ray fish a real animal? Yes. Why did they evolve that way? To avoid predators. biologydictionary.net/x-ray-fish/
However, Maryland has the oldest state Capitol building. www.thetravel.com/oldest-state...