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Nature 444, 562-563 (30 November 2006) | doi:10.1038/444562a; Published online 29 November 2006

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Hydrology: Water from on high

Dennis P. Lettenmaier1 & James S. Famiglietti2

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Data on changes in water storage in the Congo basin show how GRACE, a pair of satellites designed to record variations in Earth's gravitational field, is benefiting the study of the planet's water cycle.

Hydrologists yearn above all to close Earth's water balance. This is essentially a housekeeping task: to measure precisely where and in what quantities Earth stores water, and how the water moves between those stores.

  1. Dennis P. Lettenmaier is in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
    Email: dennisl@u.washington.edu
  2. James S. Famiglietti is in the Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California 92697, USA.
    Email: jfamigli@uci.edu

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Hydrology Water from on high

Nature News and Views (30 Nov 2006)