Near the Mississippi’s mouth, scientists are trying to predict the future. ‘A massive effort.’
Down at a bend near the mouth of the Mississippi River, Claire Kemick keeps a close eye on a laptop as the boat that brought her here maneuvers the currents.
A patchwork of colors lights up on the computer screen as an instrument lowered into the mighty waterway delivers data marking a key contrast.
“Here’s the wedge,” says Kemick, a Tulane University researcher, pointing to blotches of dark blue indicating slower-moving water along the river bottom, signifying salt water. “And then here is the fresh water.”
It was not a shocking discovery. Saltwater creeps up the Mississippi River at varying degrees around this time every year.
But Kemick and her colleagues were not focused on this trip alone. They’ve taken measurements repeatedly at various spots in the Mississippi since 2024, part of a vast research project that will supply a first-of-its-kind look at the changing lower river, including saltwater intrusion.
The data collected from around 200 sites, from about 50 miles downriver of New Orleans to the Mississippi's mouth, will feed into complex models aimed at projecting the river’s evolution. The results will carry implications on everything from drinking water to hurricane protection and global shipping.