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Shining Rivers

From the air, the Fraser River Delta and the Straight of Georgia near Vancouver, Canada, reflect the evening sun, with the Coast Range mountains in the background right. WHOI chemist Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink and WHOI graduate student Britta Voss flew over the highly developed delta with a pilot from Lighthawk, a volunteer organization that donates flight time for environmental causes. Every year, sediment carried by the Fraser extends the delta farther out into the Straight, says Peucker-Ehrenbrink, who leads a study of the world’s major rivers and their transport of carbon to the sea. (Photo by Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink)