Part 1. Geography, hydrology (and floods), and water cycle … This is Part 1 of a three part blog series on the Los Angeles River, based on a reconnaissance of the Los Angeles River conducted by Bill Dennison and Simon Costanzo from IAN, organized by the Council for Watershed Health on 1-2 April 2014. This blog focuses on the geography, hydrology (including floods), and water cycle for the Los Angeles River.

Once again, a contingent from IAN (Heath Kelsey, Bill Nuttle, Caroline Wicks, Brianne Walsh and me) gathered along the banks of the mighty Mississippi River to meet with a diverse stakeholder group to discuss the issues associated with the Mississippi River. In this case, we learned about the issues associated with the lower Mississippi River, which were surprisingly different from the issues in the Upper Mississippi River and the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers from our previous workshops.

On March 28-29, 150 scientists gathered in Ocean City for a day and a half of talks, posters, eating and drinking, ice skating and swimming (indoors). The Atlantic Estuarine Research Society (AERS) is the original group of estuarine scientists, formed in 1949, which has been replicated first nationally and increasingly globally which has evolved into the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation.

Report card goals relate to benefits provided by coexisting natural ecosystems and human-built infrastructure. The problem is that the Ohio River is a working river. That thought occurred to me as I watched the barges glide past the window during the Ohio River report card workshop last December. A team of IAN science communicators spent two days on the banks of the Ohio River, across from Cincinnati, gathering information from experts on the Ohio and Tennessee River basins.

Following our Connecticut stops, we took the Cross Sound Ferry from New London, CT over to the tip of the north fork of Long Island at Orient Point. From the ferry we could see some important features of Long Island Sound. First, as we sailed out of the Thames River, we could see the rocky headlands, industrial development (particularly the submarine manufacturing base) and busy harbor traffic.

Bill Nuttle, Caroline Wicks, Anthony Kung and I circumnavigated Long Island Sound, crossing it at both ends (over the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge on the western end and aboard the Cross Sound Ferry on the eastern end), and drove through most of the Connecticut coast and the length of Long Island. We visited five different groups of scientists, resource managers and local conservation groups in Connecticut and Long Island, New York in March (10-13).

Evamaria Koch died last week from lung cancer. Lung cancer in non-smokers is particularly aggressive and Eva was not diagnosed until the disease had taken hold. She was very guarded about her condition, so most of her friends and colleagues were shocked to learn of her death. Eva was born to German parents in Brazil where she grew up and received her undergraduate training at the Universidad de Rio Grande.

A team from the Integration and Application Network stopped off at New York Harbor School for a visit and quick tour. Getting there was part of the fun, as we drove right by the newly completed One World Trade Center, towering over lower Manhattan. We parked down near the Battery and boarded a ferry that left from a pier adjacent to the Staten Island Ferry. The small Governors Island ferry moors at the northern end of the island, which is shaped like an ice cream cone.

'Scientists who made a difference' series … This blog accompanies the biographical sketch of Alexander von Humboldt that Bill Nuttle recently posted provides a selection of his writings as poetry and one of his scientific sketches as art. The 'Poetry' uses von Humboldt's exact words (translated from German) in prose form to focus on cadence and word choice. It captures von Humboldt's philosophy of natural science connections that was in his multi-volume treatise entitled 'Cosmos:

'Scientists who made a difference' series … Alexander von Humboldt became world famous by illustrating how nature works. If you ever get to Humboldt, Nebraska (40°9′54″N 95°56′45″W) you will have gotten someplace special. Humboldt lies almost exactly at the geographic center of the Mississippi River watershed; motto: