reservoir

A government official in India has been suspended from his job after he ordered a water reservoir to be drained so he could retrieve his smartphone, which he had dropped while taking a selfie. Food inspector Rajesh Vishwas dropped his Samsung smartphone in Kherkatta dam in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh last week, The Times of India newspaper reported. Vishwas first asked local divers to jump into the reservoir to find the device, claiming it contained sensitive government data. But after the initial efforts…

Can a computer learn from the past and anticipate what will happen next, like a human?You might not be surprised to hear that some cutting-edge AI models could achieve this feat, but what about a computer that looks a little different – more like a tank of water?We have built a small proof-of-concept computer that uses running water instead of a traditional logical circuitry processor, and forecasts future events via an approach called "reservoir computing".In benchmark tests, our analog computer did well at remembering…

The world’s largest lakes are rapidly shrinking, endangering a critical freshwater source for people around the world. In a new study published in the journal Science, researchers looked at satellite imagery to see that more than half of the world’s largest reservoirs and lakes have lost water.Winter Storms And Drought in California | Extreme EarthThe team analyzed satellite images of 1,972 of the biggest lakes from 1992 to 2020; they also looked at long-term recorded water levels and recent water measurements. They…

California’s reservoirs have been in the spotlight following months of precipitation and the end of the drought in much of the state.A surplus of water has filled several major reservoirs, which had seen perilously low water levels.Among them is the San Luis Reservoir, which sat at just one-quarter of its capacity on Dec. 1. The basin is now 98% full.The reservoir, California’s fifth-largest, is located near Los Banos in Merced County and supplies water to the State Water Project. After a stunning turnaround, it sits at…

Following a series of winter storms that eased drought conditions across the state, Southern Californians celebrated a sight nobody has seen for several punishing years: water rushing into Diamond Valley Lake. The massive reservoir — the largest in Southern California — was considerably drained during the state’s driest three years on record, with nearly half of the lake’s supply used to bolster minuscule allocations from state water providers.But an extraordinarily wet winter allowed officials from the Metropolitan…

Artist’s illustration of China’s Chang’e 5 lander on the Moon. Researchers have discovered that impact glass beads in Chang’e-5 lunar soils contain water. These glass beads are thought to represent a new water reservoir on the Moon, capturing the dynamic exchange of water derived from solar wind. This finding suggests that these beads play a role in the lunar surface water cycle as a buffer. Credit: CNSA/NASADue to its potential for in-situ resource utilization by future lunar exploration missions and other space…

Researchers studying lunar soil samples from China’s Chang’e-5 mission believe they may have found a water reservoir on Earth’s arid satellite.The evidence comes from beads of impact glass collected by the Chang’e 5 lander, which arrived on the Moon in December 2020 and sent lunar samples back to Earth the same month. The team’s findings are published today in Nature Geoscience.Water has previously been found on the Moon. Centuries ago, the large dark splotches on the lunar surface were thought to be seas (or “maria,”in…

You might find it reassuring that, even as the pound yo-yos and democracy unravels, there will forever be a corner of the British film industry that is grim-faced geezers in boozers toting shotguns and plotting shenanigans. This very late entry in a cycle initiated during the Blair administration attempts something a little more characterful than usual, as signalled by the presence of the great Perry Benson in the prologue as a bar owner who corks it before giving up his life insurance details to his son.The Last Heist…

What’s left to say about Reservoir Dogs, a movie that’s all talk?A young Quentin Tarantino’s greatest trick was to turn his audience into the same sort of discussion group that picked over the finer points of Madonna over coffee at LA diner Pat and Lorraine’s, scouring pop culture for hidden profundities. A shark in the fishpond of the fledgling American indie circuit, his auspicious feature debut piqued the interest of innumerable junior cinephiles and David Foster Wallace alike. The image of dorm room walls plastered…

Low water levels at Lime Saddle Marina at Lake Oroville on July 22, 2021 in Paradise, California.Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)This story was originally published by Grist as part of its series Parched, an in-depth look at how climate change-fueled drought is reshaping communities, economies, and ecosystems. You can subscribe to Grist’s weekly newsletter here.Reports of low water levels at a few big hydropower plants in the West over the last few years have made it seem like hydropower is becoming less reliable.…