Geography Of The World
How Lake Trout Were Brought Back To Lake Superior
How Lake Trout Were Brought Back To Lake Superior comes down to decades of sea lamprey control, stricter fishing limits, and steady hatchery stocking.
The Ocean Predators Bigger Than A Great White
Sperm whales, orcas, giant squid, and Baird's beaked whales all outgrow the great white shark. See how the ocean's biggest hunters compare.
What Happens If The Soo Locks Shut Down
A Soo Locks shutdown could halt Great Lakes shipping, strain steel mills, and disrupt North American auto production within weeks.
Where Los Angeles Would Get Water If The Colorado Failed
Los Angeles would not run dry. It would get water from the State Water Project, its aquifers, and its own wastewater, in that order, and everyone would pay more.
How Many US Lakes Are Actually Reservoirs?
Odds are close to a coin flip that your favorite lake is a reservoir. The biggest names hiding behind a dam, and where the natural lakes actually cluster.
The Lakes With The Largest Beaver Populations
Once nearly wiped out, beavers now number in the thousands at a few US lakes, where park biologists count their recovered colonies from the air each fall.
The Last Time Glen Canyon Dam Opened Its Spillway
August 12, 1984. Glen Canyon Dam has not opened a spillway since, and the reason is not better engineering. It is that the water never came back.
How Much Water Is Frozen In America's Glaciers Compared To The Great Lakes
How much water is frozen in America's glaciers vs the Great Lakes? Alaska's ice nearly equals Lake Superior and Michigan combined. The Lower 48? A rounding error.
How Many Times The Great Lakes Could Fill The Grand Canyon
The five Great Lakes hold 5,439 cubic miles of water, enough to fill the Grand Canyon roughly 5.4 times. Here is how each lake stacks up.
The Coldest Ocean Beaches In America
Some American beaches stay shockingly cold even under summer sun, with Kodiak barely reaching 53°F and West Coast surf chilled by deep Pacific water.
What Is The Thailand-Cambodia Border Dispute
A border drawn more than a century ago still divides Thailand and Cambodia, with disputed temples and territory keeping tensions alive today.
What Happens When Two Oceans Meet
See what happens when two oceans meet and how currents, sediment, temperature, and salinity create dramatic boundaries across the water.
The Lakes Supplying Drinking Water To The Most Americans
A handful of lakes quietly keep millions of Americans supplied with drinking water, making them some of the country’s most essential bodies of water.
The US Springs That Pump More Water Than Some Rivers
Silver Springs discharges 550 million gallons a day and creates its own river. The American springs that out-pump rivers, and the geology that lets them.
The Most Isolated Mountain In The Lower 48
The most isolated mountain in the Lower 48 is Mount Whitney, 1,646 miles from any higher ground. Why the tallest peak wins, and how it differs from Mt. Rainier.
How Long A Freighter Takes To Cross All Five Great Lakes
Crossing all five Great Lakes takes a freighter about six days. The locks and rivers between them, not the open water, set the clock.
What Happens To Sound In The Deep Ocean
Sound bends, weakens, and travels vast distances in the deep ocean through natural channels governed by temperature, salinity, and pressure.
What Happens If The Ogallala Aquifer Runs Dry
Will the Ogallala Aquifer run dry? Not overnight, and not everywhere. The realistic, region-by-region picture of what happens as America's breadbasket drains.
What Would Happen If The Gulf Stream Stopped
An Atlantic circulation collapse would not just chill Europe. It would move rain, raise seas, and reshape storms in places you would not expect.
The Year America Promised Away More Colorado River Water Than Exists
In 1922, the Colorado River Compact divided up more water than the river carries, based on its wettest years. A century later, we're all paying the bill.
The US Rivers With The Most Fish Species
The Tennessee River Basin holds half of North America's freshwater fish species. The US rivers with the most fish species, and why the Southeast won so decisively.
The Last Free-Flowing River Left In America
The Yellowstone runs 692 miles with no reservoir on it, the last major undammed river in the Lower 48. It survived because Montana fought a dam and then rewrote its water law.
The Lakes Where Tiger Muskies Grow Largest
Only two tiger muskies over 50 pounds exist on record, and both came from the same lake. Where the hybrids grow largest, and why sterility is the whole reason.
How Stocked Salmon Kept Lake Michigan From Collapsing
Stocked salmon helped revive Lake Michigan by controlling invasive alewives and rebuilding a valuable recreational fishery.
The African Rivers Bigger Than The Mississippi
The Congo beats the Mississippi at everything. The Nile beats it at nothing that involves water. Which African rivers are genuinely bigger, by three measures.
The US States With The Most Ocean Shoreline
Some American counties are so dry the map barely changes when you trace the desert line. Meet the places where sand, salt, scrub, and dry basin win.
Why The Salton Sea Is Turning Toxic
Why is California's Salton Sea shrinking? Discover how the lake became an environmental crisis and what is being done to restore it.
Why The Deep Ocean Has No Plants At All
Learn why the deep ocean has no plants and how marine snow, chemosynthesis, and strange animals sustain life in total darkness.
How Lake Tanganyika Holds Almost As Much Water As All Five Great Lakes
See how Lake Tanganyika holds nearly as much water as all five Great Lakes in North America while learning about its geology, wildlife, and role in Africa.
The Lakes Where Whitefish Grow Largest
The largest whitefish in the world is a 53-pound Arctic predator called the inconnu, French for unknown. Where whitefish grow largest, and why it is not Michigan.
The Towns Buried Under America's Largest Reservoirs
These towns were lost to some of America's largest reservoirs, resulting in the displacement of hundreds of different locals.
How The Alps Compare To The Rockies
The Rockies are 4x longer, but the Alps are taller and steeper, with a café at the summit. The Rockies counter with grizzlies. How the two ranges really compare.
The Coldest Ocean On Earth
The Coldest Ocean On Earth is the Southern Ocean, where surface waters hover near freezing and the world's strongest current circles all of Antarctica.
The Largest Lakes On Every Continent
Under Antarctic ice, inside a supervolcano crater, holding a fifth of Earth's fresh water: meet the biggest freshwater lake on each continent.
The US Reservoirs That Have Never Filled Completely
Some reservoirs were built to hold far more water than they ever have, leaving century-old shorelines that never reached their intended mark.
Why Eastern And Western States Own Water Completely Differently
Why do Eastern and Western states own water so differently? The East shares it by land (riparian); the West by "first in time, first in right." Rain explains it.
Is It Legal To Collect Rainwater In Every State
Yes, in all fifty states. Colorado caps you at two barrels, Utah wants you to register, and the man everyone says was jailed for it had stocked his reservoir with bass.
The Tallest Mountain East Of The Mississippi
The tallest mountain east of the Mississippi is North Carolina's Mount Mitchell (6,684 ft), named for a scientist who died proving it. Yes, you can drive up.
Why Whales Don't Live In The Arctic Year-Round
Why Whales Don't Live In The Arctic Year-Round comes down to food, sea ice, and safer calving, as bowheads and belugas stay while others migrate.
The Native Western Fish Making A Comeback
Native Western fish are fighting back: the Apache trout was delisted, humpback chub downlisted, Klamath salmon returned. But bonytail and others may not make it.