Pumping cold water into rivers could act as ‘air conditioning’ for fish

In experiments, hundreds of fish sought shelter from summer heat in the human-made plumes

An underwater photo of three Atlantic salmon swimming in a river.

Habitat loss from river warming has contributed to population declines in North American populations of Atlantic salmon.

Westend61/gettyimages

PITTSBURGH — Salmon may now have their own version of human air conditioning.  

This past summer, hundreds of fish in the Wrights River in Nova Scotia, Canada, found reprieve from the heat in human-generated plumes of cold water, civil engineer Kathryn Smith reported October 17 at the Geological Society of America meeting.