Brian Yanites

And maybe we'll trigger an evening of cascading fun with a post-session Hurricane.

The only thing more dynamic than land surface hazards? An AGU session full of great presentations. Submit to our session and see you in New Orleans! agu.confex.com/agu/agu25/pr...

Map showing extent of data coverage, primarily over southern Canada

A hillshade colored by elevation of downtown Toronto draped on Google Earth imagery.

A three panel figure of a section of the Athabasca River in Alberta. Figure A is the Digital Surface Model which includes buildings, trees and other structures. Figure B is the Digital Terrain Model and is a bare-earth representation of the topography. Figure C is the Canopy Height Model (CHM) which is the difference between the DSM and the DTM.

OpenTopography is excited to announce a major expansion to its international data catalog with the addition of the High Resolution Digital Elevation Model from Natural Resources Canada. This 1-meter resolution dataset is ideal for a wide range of applications.

opentopography.org/news/opentop...

I get that we can’t put back the natural forest, just making a point. Truly restoring this river means figuring out how to slow the flow before it gets to the stream. Doing that would lower these overbank events and reduce erosion.

The problem isn’t any river design issue. The problem is the continued replacement of porous natural landscapes with the build environment designed the shed water efficiently. Put back the natural forest and this river’s hydrograph looks very different.

Quantifying Bed Surface Roughness in Bedrock and Boulder‐Bed Rivers Using high-resolution river bed topography, surface roughness metrics are quantified across various spatial scales A comprehensive description river bed topographic variability requires the concu...

📣 New paper: Quantifying river bed roughness.

💧Multiple metrics are required to fully describe river bed roughness.
💧River beds with differing features can be distinguished using roughness data.
💧Potential implications on flow resistance and sediment transport.

📖 doi.org/10.1029/2024...

I’d add NSF to that list. There is still some basic research needed on flash flooding hydrology and mechanics (eg rheology of the debris fronts) and that is needed to improve forecasts.

Why Texas Hill Country, where a devastating flood killed dozens, is one of the deadliest places in the US for flash flooding A hydrologist explains how the region’s geography and geology can lead to heavy downpours and sudden, destructive floods.

Texas Hill Country is scenic – and deadly during storms. Its steep hills and fast-moving water make it one of the most dangerous places in the U.S. for flash floods.

A flood on July 4 killed at least 27 people.

A hydrologist explains why this keeps happening:
theconversation.com/why-texas-hi...

The Endless Frontier This month marks the 80th anniversary of a report that transformed American science and technology. In July 1945, Vannevar Bush delivered a report to President Harry Truman titled “Science: The Endles...

July 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the "Endless Frontier" report, which led to the establishment of NSF and transformed the US from a science backwater to a global research powerhouse. Will today's congress sustain or abandon that incredible success story?
earthcastings.ghost.io/the-endless-...

Storm in the Outer Banks #obxwx

A photograph and a schematic illustration of how the interaction of Earth systems through surface process controls the emergence and persistence of cascading hazards.

Natural hazards such as earthquakes, fires, and floods can dramatically affect human life and infrastructure.

In a new #ScienceReview, researchers argue the need for a unified, interdisciplinary approach to studying cascading land surface hazards. scim.ag/4kbWn60

Natural hazards don’t disappear when the storm ends or the earthquake stops – they evolve Risk models can’t rely just on the past anymore. A team of geoscientists suggest new ways to forecast evolving hazards in real time as cascading disaster risk worsens.

Just because the storm ends doesn’t mean the danger’s over.

Hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires reshape the land, setting up the next disaster. Scientists call it cascading hazards, and it’s getting worse.

By @geomorphyuggs.bsky.social:
buff.ly/gUJNZTH

#science 🧪

Good point. Plus have to consider any erosion/deposition pattern changes to really tease it all out.

Happy to have provided a climate and atmospheric science perspective to this review in @science.org w/ @geomorphyuggs.bsky.social et al. Climate change-driven alteration of hydrological processes is fundamentally changing how we need to think about hazards and their long tailed consequences.

Global warming is triggering earthquakes in the Alps Study provides first solid link between climate change and earthquake hazard

For example, see here!: www.science.org/content/arti...

Interesting idea, but remember water is only ~1/3 as dense as rock. So a 1 m rise in sea-level is only like ~33cm (13 inches) of extra rock above the fault. I doubt this effect would register on the much larger tectonic forces at play. But I'd defer to a seismologist to be sure.

Cascading land surface hazards as a nexus in the Earth system This Review synthesizes progress and outlines a new framework for understanding how land surface hazards interact and propagate as sediment cascades across Earth’s surface, influenced by interactions ...

We're in @science.org! Prof. @geomorphyuggs.bsky.social and colleagues with a review paper on the processes that influence sequences of "cascading" natural hazards (such as debris flows and flooding after a fire), which compound the risk to life and property. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Cascading land surface hazards as a nexus in the Earth system This Review synthesizes progress and outlines a new framework for understanding how land surface hazards interact and propagate as sediment cascades across Earth’s surface, influenced by interactions ...

New in @science.org: Natural hazards aren’t “one and done.” They alter the landscape, changing the likelihood of follow-on events. We argue there’s an urgent opportunity for geomorphologists—working with other disciplines—to better understand and forecast cascading hazards.

Maybe it can be NSF's new headquarters. 😢

Just like a kid in the yard. Gotta make ‘em light up.

The Wave.

‘Flooding could end southern Appalachia’: the scientists on an urgent mission to save lives Geologists race to collect perishable data as Kentucky residents ‘scared to death’ over floods amid Trump cuts

Scientists race against time in Kentucky, collecting flood data amid funding cuts. The stakes? The future of southern Appalachia.

Trump’s budget guts FEMA, NSF & NWS—crippling agencies meant to forecast floods & save lives. Scientists scramble as federal support vanishes.
zurl.co/HdX01

View looking into Hells Canyon, where incision along the Snake River has created steep topography. CREDIT: Lydia Staisch

Hells Canyon dramatically divides Oregon and Idaho. A study finds that North America’s deepest river gorge was rapidly incised 2.1 million years ago when the Snake River was captured by a tributary of the Columbia River. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The colors are in an odd order. It would take quite the pedological situation to create a profile like that.

Seeing Blatten buried again and again, from every angle...

Properly staggering! 😮😱

pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulle...

Swiss evacuate livestock by hoof and helicopter because of landslide risk over Alpine village Swiss authorities added livestock to the list of evacuees along with about 300 people moved out of a village threatened by a possible landslide from an Alpine mountainside overhead.

Landslide mitigation ingenuity:

Whew, looking forward to finally getting some sleep tonight. (Congrats on the paper!)

Good question. I'm not sure. You could reach out to him or his coauthor Isaac Larsen. They would know more than me.

Yeah, it's a tough thing to extract. We only have the right data in the right locations to try and pin that down (e.g. in the Eastern US): pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/...