Why Great Plains rivers depend on wetlands as well as climate
When a prairie river carries more water in one year than another, the obvious place to look for an explanation is the sky. A year with more snow and rain should have more water in rivers. That was also how I initially thought about year-to-year changes in river flow. But while studying the Prairie Pothole Region,...
Key Takeaways
- When a prairie river carries more water in one year than another, the obvious place to look for an explanation is the sky.
- A year with more snow and rain should have more water in rivers.
- That was also how I initially thought about year-to-year changes in river flow.
When a prairie river carries more water in one year than another, the obvious place to look for an explanation is the sky. A year with more snow and rain should have more water in rivers. That was also how I initially thought about year-to-year changes in river flow. But while studying the Prairie Pothole Region, I learned that this is only part of the story. What happens after water reaches the ground can be just as important as how much falls from the sky.
Original Publisher Attribution
This summary was curated from Phys.org.