Issue 92: Rivers
September 14, 2023
In this week’s issue:
- River functions and foes
- River meet and greet
This is an archived issue. Sign up here to receive the Planet Snapshots newsletter every Thursday morning.
This issue was written before the devastating flooding and urgent crisis in Libya. Planet is actively providing imagery to first responders in the region.
Feature Story: Rivers
There’s about as many facets of rivers as there are songs about love. The two both come in many forms, know a thing or two about change and going with the flow, and generally make life a lot better simply by existing. Maybe that’s as far as we can stretch the analogy, but not nearly as far as rivers stretch across the globe. There’s a reason water is considered the lifeblood of Earth and the rivers its veins. Life can’t thrive without their coursing rush.
Instead of compiling a primer on rivers and the hydrological cycle, we figured we’d take a more meandering route around some of their other unique applications and implications — particularly ones that can be seen from space. We don’t really have a way to bridge this intro to the rest of the issue, but the Amazon River doesn’t have bridges either, so spare us this transgression and come traverse Earth’s waterways with us.
Rivers are intertwined with religion and spirituality, perhaps as long as Homo sapiens have been puttering around on land and splashing in the water. One of the oldest of these celebrations is Kumbh Mela, a 1300-year-old pilgrimage to the Ganges and Yamuna rivers involving tens of millions of people.
The citizens of Yusufeli know a thing or two about sacrificing in the name of progress. As countries build new infrastructure to meet energy demands and move away from fossil fuel sources, hydroelectric power offers an encouraging solution. The constructed dams, however, often come at the cost of displaced people — which is exactly what happened to the 7,000 residents of Yusufeli earlier this year.
Rivers haven’t just greased the wheels of industry, they’ve provided the materials for them too. Sand is the second most used natural resource after water due to cement production. And the kind of sand needed doesn’t come from beaches but from rivers. As industrialization proceeds at a breakneck pace, sand demand is soaring. The price paid is the gouged river beds and shores where all the material is extracted.
Like a house cat, rivers can turn from friend to foe at the drop of a hat. They’re harbingers of life-sustaining resources but at times can precipitate crises. With sufficient rainfall, rivers will often flood surrounding areas. And under certain conditions algal blooms flourish, impairing water quality. But companies like EOMap can use satellite data to monitor water flows and help alleviate some of its burden.
Sometimes you’re up a river without a paddle, at others you’re down a river without water. As water resources tighten in the 21st century, risk of conflict over access to rivers are on the rise. One area under the spotlight is the creation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. It was made to produce critical electricity for Ethiopians, but many in the downstream countries of Egypt and Sudan find the move controversial.
Long before pavement, rivers served as Earth’s highways. Early humans learned to master these waterways with a little bit of gumption and ingenuity. But their value to trade routes remains critical today, especially the ones that we’ve created. Canals don’t garner much attention until they’re blocked by ships, like the Suez Canal in 2021, or water shortages, like the buildup at the Panama Canal in August.
Activists scrambling to protect threatened environments are turning to a perhaps unlikely source: the legal system. Many people have long-bestowed natural places with the same rights as humans (if not more), but the 21st century push to cement this position in legislation is growing. As far as we can tell, the list of rivers with established personhood couldn’t fill a motorboat yet, but it’s getting there. Some include the Klamath in the US, the Magpie in Canada, and the Whanganui in New Zealand.
As testament to the everlasting use of these ever-changing waterways, log driving is still in use today. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
A delta is where a running river meets a stagnant body of water and is often the location of some of Earth’s most intriguing visual sights. We’re saving a full delta issue for later, but our top contender is in Athabasca Sand Dunes Provincial Park.
Thanks for tuning in and chilling out, see ya next week.
Remote Sensations: Confluences
It’s not always pretty when two opposing viewpoints meet. But take a page out of nature’s playback and maybe we can learn a thing or two about cooperation. Confluences are where two or more rivers collide. And when they’re different colors the encounter can produce these bifurcated streams, at least for a stretch until they find a sort of aquatic agreement and fully mix. It turns out there’s a lot of physics happening under the surface. But, for now, we’re content to admire the scenes from above.
All imagery Ⓒ 2023 Planet Labs PBC
Editor: Ryder Kimball | Images: Ryder Kimball, Max Borrmann, Julian Peschel, and Maarten Lambrechts
