WEEKLY WATER NEWS

DataStreme WES Week Eleven: 14-18 November 2005

Water in the News:

• (Thurs.) Greenland ice sheet retreating faster -- A graduate student at the University of California - Santa Cruz has found the Helheim glacier of Greenland to be melting faster than expected and with warming will accelerate its space. Glacier behavior may therefore not be well accounted for in climate models. [EurekAlert!]
• (Thurs.) Climate study warns of water cycle changes -- A new climate report by Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of Washington warns that water supplies will be upset around the world. Glacier-based water will disappear while snow packs will be smaller and melt earlier. Heavier rains may overwhelm existing storage capabilities. [Scripps News]
• (Thurs.) Future streamflows will vary -- USGS scientists have found historical streamflows from 165 global locations fit well with climate models. Future projections show 10 to 40% increases of river flows in eastern equatorial Africa, South America, and high latitude Northern Hemisphere locations, while 10 to 30% decreases for southern Africa, southern Europe, Middle East, and midlatitude western North America by 2050. [EurekAlert!]
• (Tues.) Japanese earthquake triggers tsunami alert -- A magnitude 6.9 earthquake in the Pacific Ocean centered off the east coast of the main Japanese island of Honshu early Tuesday (local time) prompted a tsunami warning for the northeast Japanese coast, where waves of 12 to 20 inches above normal were anticipated. A tsunami informational alert was also issued for the coast of the British Columbia and the US Pacific Northwest. [CNN]
  See also map of the earthquake [http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/earthvu.gif] and forecasted travel times [http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/ttvu.gif], courtesy of NWS West Coast & Alaska Tsunami Warning Center.
• (Tues.) Mudslides blamed on tropical depression -- Torrential rains from Tropical Depression 27 buried two fishermen and destroyed several homes in St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Monday. This tropical system formed in the southeastern Caribbean on Sunday and if it intensifies, would become Tropical Storm Gamma. [CNN]
• (Tues.) Optimism voiced from the Cowboy State -- Based upon abundant precipitation and cool weather during this autumn, the Wyoming State Climatologist recently reported with cautious optimism that the drought that had affected the state for several years could be over by the spring of 2007 if average precipitation continues to fall. [USA Today]
• (Tues.) More cooperation is aimed to restore Iraqi wetlands -- A spokesperson for the UN Environment Program reported that the Iraq government, the UN and several donor countries, including the US and Canada, have pledged to increase cooperative recovery efforts at restoring the famous Mesopotamian marshlands that had been drained during the 1990s by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. [ENN]
• (Tues.) Vietnamese fish feeding practice questioned -- In light of the recent fears of a bird flu pandemic across eastern Asia, concern is being voiced in Vietnam as to the practice of using chicken excrement to feed fish in a lake near Ho Chi Minh City. [ENN]
• (Tues.) "Intersex" fish found off California coast -- The first instance of fish with both male and female sex tissues was found in a marine environment near Los Angeles and Orange County wastewater discharge areas. While such mixed sex fish have been seen in freshwater, this is the first time wastewater contaminants have been linked to ocean fish. [ENN]
• Satellite altimeters study historic hurricane storm surges -- Onboard radar altimeters on the NOAA GOES12 geosynchronous satellite and several polar orbiting satellites (NASA's Jason-1/TOPEX and European Space Agency's Envisat and ERS-2) detected changes in the height of the ocean surface in the vicinity of two of this season's most intense hurricanes to hit the Gulf Coast States. These higher elevations in sea level were in part due to storm surge, but also to warmer water that helped supply latent energy to fuel the hurricanes.
  • Ocean altimeters onboard these satellites for the first time detected a hurricane storm surge as Hurricane Katrina traveled across the Gulf of Mexico toward the central Gulf coast in late August 2005. [NASA JPL]
  • Altimeters onboard these satellites also detected a storm surge as Hurricane Wilma initially crossed the Caribbean to the Yucatan Peninsula and then across the Gulf of Mexico toward southwest Florida in October 2005. [NASA JPL]
• A satellite views a remote island volcanic eruption -- NASA recently released an image made from a radiometer onboard its polar orbiting Terra satellite of the eruption of Mount Belinda on one of the islands in the South Sandwich Island chain off South America's Cape Horn. Lava from this eruption has also been reported to have reached the ocean, resulting in steam plumes. [NASA]
• Coastal restoration efforts suffer setback -- Experts with the US Geological Survey, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources and the University of New Orleans report that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have not only destroyed valuable wetlands but have set back coastal restoration efforts along Louisiana's Gulf coast, making many areas vulnerable to storm surge accompanying future storms. [ENN]
• Water vapor is a culprit -- A researcher with the World Radiation Center in Davos, Switzerland recently pointed to increases in water vapor as possibly being the major factor contributing to recent higher air temperatures across Europe. [EurekAlert!]
• Satellites to aid in wetlands information service -- Attendees at the eight-day Ninth Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in Kampala, Uganda were shown the Globwetland project that employs satellite imagery from the European Space Agency's Earth Observation program. This project is aimed at providing tools to local wetland managers that include detailed views of individual wetlands, together with an archive that will show changes over time. [ESA]
• Assessing future water and energy needs to begin -- The Sandia National Laboratories will be conducting the first of three regional workshops this week as part of the National Energy-Water Roadmap Program, which will assess the effectiveness of current energy and water related issues across the nation in order to develop a national science and technology roadmap for the next 25 years that will address these issues. [EurekAlert!]
• Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes -- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, including drought, floods, and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
• Global Water News Watch -- Other water news sources can be obtained through the SAHRA Project at the University of Arizona [SAHRA Project]
• Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Concept of the Week: Desertification

Desertification is one of the world's most pressing environmental issues, threatening the existence of more than a billion people who depend on the land for survival. In 1992, the United Nation's Conference on Environment and Development defined desertification as "land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climate variations and human activities." Through desertification, arable land is transformed into desert-like land, greatly reducing or eliminating the land's capacity to produce food. Desertification's impact on people dependent on subsistence farming and herding is food insecurity. Often, their only option to avoid famine is to migrate to urban areas.

According to U.N. estimates, desertification affects about 130 million hectares (320 million acres) of land worldwide, equivalent to the combined areas of France, Italy, and Spain. Portions of some 110 nations are impacted, including parts of the North American Great Plains, the Pampas of South America, the steppes of Asia, the Australia's "outback," and the edges of the Mediterranean. But by far the most widespread and severe impact is in Africa, where two-thirds of the continent's land area is desert or dry land. Almost three-quarters of Africa's dry-land agricultural area is degraded to some extent. Desertification is a very serious problem in Sub-Saharan Africa with its considerable year-to-year variability in seasonal rainfall and frequent long-term droughts (described on pages 83-84 of the DataStreme WES Textbook).

The systems approach is valuable in understanding desertification in that the process involves interactions of climate, Earth's land surface, the water cycle, and human activity. Desertification of dry lands accelerates during prolonged drought. Climate change can alter the frequency, duration, and intensity of drought and thereby contribute to soil desiccation. Although climate change may play an important role in desertification, a key factor is human mismanagement of the soil resource. Poverty and subsistence agriculture drive people to over-cultivate the land, quickly exhausting the soil's fertility. Overgrazing by livestock and deforestation exacerbate an already bad situation by removing the protective vegetative cover and exposing the topsoil to erosion by wind and running water. Winds can transport fine topsoil thousands of kilometers and sandstorms strip the leaves from plants and bury crops under dunes.

Land mismanagement also impacts the local climate and water budget, speeding up desertification. Without a vegetative cover, soil surface temperature rises, accelerating evaporation of water, depletion of soil moisture, and build up of salts in the soil. Less soil moisture means that more of the available heat is used for raising the air temperature through conduction and convection (i.e., sensible heating). In this way heat stress combines with moisture stress to cut into crop yields.

Concept of the Week: Questions

1. Through desertification, crop productivity [(declines) (increases)].
2. Human mismanagement of the soil resource [(is) (is not)] a key factor in desertification.

Historical Events:

• 14-18 November 1979...Approximately 40 in. of rain were measured over northeast Hawaii, with much higher amounts likely in mountainous areas not monitored by rain gauges. The Waipio Valley was hit hard, with more than 90 percent of the valley's farmland covered by flood debris. The new $6.9 million road to Waipio Lookout that had just been dedicated was severely damaged. (Accord Weather Calendar)
• 14-21 November 1991...Tropical Cyclone Tia spent most of its life near the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. However, it completely destroyed 90 percent of all dwellings on Tikopia Island. The remaining 10 percent of the buildings had collapsed walls or roofs that had been blown off. (Accord Weather Calendar)
• 15 November 1900...A record lake-effect snowstorm at Watertown, NY produced 45 in. in 24 hrs. The storm total was 49 in. (14^th-15^th) (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
• 18 November 1421...Wind-driven waves from an intense storm breached Dutch dikes, sweeping away 72 villages. At least 10,000 people died in "St. Elizabeth's flood." (Accord Weather Calendar)
• 18 November 1873...A severe storm raged from Georgia to Nova Scotia causing great losses to fishing fleets along the coast. In Maine, the barometric pressure dropped to 28.49 in. at Portland. (David Ludlum)
• 18-19 November 1921...A storm that produced 54 in. of snow, sleet and glaze in Oregon blocked the Columbia River Highway at The Dalles. Apart from traffic on the river itself, all transportation between Walla Walla, WA and Portland, OR came to a halt. Nine trains were stopped as railroads were blocked for days in both Washington and Oregon. (Intellicast) (David Ludlum)
• 19 November 1978...A waterspout came onshore to become a tornado near Muhio Wharf in Hilo Harbor on Hawaii's Big Island. Some industrial buildings lost their roofs. The proximity of the waterspout-tornado caused an airliner to change its landing approach to Hilo's airport. (Accord Weather Calendar)
• 19 November 1996...A 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the state of Oregon was established when 11.65 in. of rain fell at Port Orford. (NCDC)
• 21 November 1967...Excessive rains in southern California caused the most severe flooding and the most damaging mudslides in 33 years. Downtown Los Angeles received 7.96 in. of rain, and 14 in. fell in the mountains. (David Ludlum)
• 21 November 1987...Truk Island (Federated States of Micronesia at 7.4 degrees N, 151.7 degrees E) was struck by the rapidly intensifying Tropical Storm Nina, as winds gusted to 95 mph. Five died and most buildings were destroyed. A storm of such intensity so close to the equator is somewhat unusual. (Accord Weather Calendar)

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Prepared by AMS DataStreme WES Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2005, The American Meteorological Society.