WEEKLY WATER NEWS

12-16 December 2005

Water in the Earth System will return for Spring 2006 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 16 January 2005. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the break period.

Water in the News:

• Detailed maps of Antarctica obtained from satellites -- Researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center and the University of New Hampshire, Durham have been assembling a detailed digital mosaic of the elevations of the Antarctic ice sheet and glaciers from the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System onboard NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat). [NASA GSFC]
• Touring Earth's ice -- NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has released an animation entitled "Tour of the Cryosphere: Earth's Frozen Assets" that provided a 7-minute visual tour of the various frozen components of the planetary system, from the ice sheets in Antarctica, to the snowpack in the American West and finally to the Arctic sea ice. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Hawaii is TsunamiReady -- National Weather Service officials recently announced that Hawaii has become the first state in the nation to be classified as both TsunamiReady and StormReady as the result of the completion of a comprehensive plan that involves a set of warning and evacuation criteria involving natural disasters such as tsunamis and severe weather events. [NOAA News]
• High-tech aircraft tested for environmental research and disaster protection -- The NOAA Ocean Service Remote Sensing Division has successfully completed its first test of a high-altitude unmanned aircraft that is designed to make long-endurance flights to collect data needed for a variety of oceanic and atmospheric research projects, including marine sanctuary mapping, fisheries enforcement and climate modeling. [NOAA News]
• Defining a cloud -- The director of the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison recently described the difficulty involved with the accurate definition and measurement of clouds by instruments onboard orbiting satellites, along with the implications of the errors in these cloud measurements to weather and climate forecasting. [University of Wisconsin]
• What if no snow? -- A researcher at the Center for Climatic Research in the University of Wisconsin-Madison reported on the results of his climate simulation using a climate model involving an absence of snow cover that indicate a 0.8 Celsius degree increase in global temperatures, comparable to results predicted from increases in greenhouse gases. [University of Wisconsin]
• Monitoring the world glaciers --
  • Greenland glaciers shrinking -- A scientist from the University of Maine's Climate Change Institute reports that two of Greenland's largest glaciers have been receding at an increasingly fast pace, ranging from seven to nine miles per year. He voiced concern that the glaciers' retreat because of higher global temperatures could contribute to an estimated global rise in sea level. [ENN]
  • Alaskan glacier shrinks rapidly -- The associated director of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado-Boulder reported that the tidewater Columbia Glacier near Valdez, AK was rapidly shrinking and discharging large quantities of ice into Prince William Sound. This glacier is reported to be North America's largest single glacial contributor to changes in sea level. [EurekAlert!]
  • Glacial erosion in British Columbia studied -- Researchers at the University of Michigan, California Institute of Technology and Occidental College have been using a new technique called helium-helium thermochronometry to study how fast glaciers have eroded the topography in British Columbia's Coast Mountains. [University of Michigan]
• Water recycling could head for the roof -- A rooftop water recycling system called The Green Roof Water Recycling System (GROW) that utilizes semi-aquatic plants is being tested by A company from the UK, the Imperial College London and Cranfield University. [EurekAlert!]
• Rivers on Titan -- A geologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has reported that images of Saturn's moon Titan made from the Huygens Probe of the Cassini Mission indicate rivers of liquid methane flowing across Titan's surface, along with gravel-sized chunks of water ice. [EurekAlert!]
• Removal of arsenic from drinking water verified -- The NSF International Drinking Water Systems Center, a partner of the EPA's Environmental Technology Verification Program, has verified that the membrane filtration technology developed by a New York company is capable of removing arsenic from drinking water, thereby providing municipal water suppliers with a means for meeting the January 2006 EPA deadline for new arsenic allowable limits. [EurekAlert!]
• Washing away atmospheric mercury -- A researcher at the University of Washington reports that mercury in the atmosphere appears to be more water-soluble and more easily removed by rain than previously believed. [EurekAlert!]
• Agreement made to cut pollution in Chesapeake Bay -- The governors of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania along with an official from the District of Columbia have signed an agreement to develop a regional education plan that would encourage farmers to make changes in feeding processes so as to reduce the amount of phosphorous and other pollutants in their animal's manure, thereby cutting the pollution of Chesapeake Bay, the nation's largest estuary. [US Water News Online]
• New reservoir nearing completion -- A new reservoir near Greensboro, NC was about ready to open and begin the potentially long process of filling. This reservoir is intended to provide the rapidly growing communities in the North Carolina Piedmont a source for potable water, especially during times of drought. [US Water News Online]
• A river created for a museum -- A meandering river with falls and a delta was created as an education exhibit at the National Great Rivers Museum in Alton, IL. [US Water News Online]
• Toxic spill in China continues to be a problem -- The slick of toxic benzene spilled into a river in northeast China following an explosion at a chemical plant last month has moved downstream and remains a problem with the following new developments:
  • China is reported to be considering damming the river to reduce the effects of the toxic spill that could reach a Russian city early next week. [ENN]
  • An official with Russia's Federal Natural Resources Service told reporters that the environmental impacts from the higher levels of benzene found in the river in far eastern Russia downstream of the toxic spill in China would be hard to assess, possibly taking years to fully determine. [US Water News Online]
• Major Australian river choked by sand and salt -- The Murray River, Australia's largest river, has been experiencing encroachment from saltwater migrating upstream during the last several decades as sand has been deposited near the river's mouth, thereby reducing the river flow. [ENN]
• Problems continue as Amazon drought subsides -- Even though the worst drought to hit the Amazon basin over 40 years appears to be ending, Brazilian officials fear that sickness will continue across the basin because of contaminated waters and reduced fish stock. [ENN]
• Riverbank erosion has grave consequences -- Increased erosion from storms and snowmelt along Alaska's Kuskokwim River has resulted in the unearthing of coffins in a graveyard of an Eskimo village. [ENN]
• Modeling tropical weather patterns that could affect precipitation in the American West -- A mathematician at the University of California, Davis has developed a mathematical model of the Madden-Julian Oscillation, a 30 to 60-day periodic weather pattern in the tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans that appears to influence the occurrence of rainfall and drought conditions across the western US. [University of California, Davis]
• Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes -- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, to include 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.

Historical Events:

• 12 December 1882...Portland OR was drenched with 7.66 inches of rain, a record 24-hour total for that location. (12th-13th) (The Weather Channel)
• 12 December 1960...The first of three Middle Atlantic snowstorms produced a foot of snow at Baltimore MD. A pre-winter blizzard struck the northeastern U.S. producing wind gusts as high as 51 mph, along with 16 inches of snow at Nantucket MA, and 20 inches at Newark NJ. (David Ludlum)
• 13 December 1915...A heavy snowstorm kicked off the snowiest winter in modern records for western New England. (The Weather Channel)
• 13 December 1916...Avalanche killed 10,000 Austrian and Italian troops in 24 hours in Tyrol.
• 13 December 1987...A major winter storm produced high winds and heavy snow in the Southern Rockies and the Southern High Plains. Snowfall totals in New Mexico ranged up to 25 inches at Cedar Crest, with up to three feet of snow reported in the higher elevations. Winds of 75 mph, with gusts to 124 mph, were reported northeast of Albuquerque NM. El Paso TX was buried under 22.4 inches of snow, including a single storm record of 16.8 inches in 24 hours. The snowfall total surpassed their previous record for an entire winter season of 18.4 inches. Record cold was experienced the next three nights as readings dipped into the single numbers. High winds ushering unseasonably cold air into the southwestern U.S. gusted to 100 mph at Grapevine CA. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 13 December 1988...Low pressure off the Atlantic coast produced up to a foot of snow in eastern Nassau County and western Suffolk County of southeastern New York State. Mild weather prevailed across the western half of the country. Nine cities reported record high temperatures for the date, including Goodland KS with a reading of 74 degrees. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 13 December 1989...Strong northwesterly winds, ushering bitterly cold arctic air into the central U.S., produced squalls with heavy snow in the Great Lakes Region. Snowfall totals in Upper Michigan ranged up to 24 inches at Manistique. Nine cities in Arkansas and Texas reported record low temperatures for the date, including Calico Rock AR with a reading of 4 degrees above zero. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)
• 14 December 1287...Zuider Zee seawall in the Netherlands collapsed with the loss of 50,000 lives.
• 14 December 1991...A ferry, carrying 569 passengers, sank in the Red Sea off the coast of Safaga, Egypt, after hitting a coral reef. Over 460 people were believed drowned.
• 15 December 1965...The third cyclone of the year killed another 10,000 people at the mouth of the Ganges River, Bangladesh.
• 16 December 1917...An ice jam closed the Ohio River between Warsaw, KY and Rising Sun, IN. The thirty-foot high ice jam held for 58 days, and backed up the river a distance of 100 miles. (David Ludlum)
• 16-20 December 1978...Heavy rain that began on the evening of the 16^th eventually led to major flooding on a majority of Arizona's rivers. Up to 8.52 inches of rain fell over these five days at Palisades Ranger Station. The floods were responsible for 13 deaths, 10,0000 homeless and more than $55 million in damage. Bridges on I-17 over Agua Fria River at Black Canyon City collapsed, resulting in six deaths. (Accord's Weather Calendar)
• 16-17 December 1997...Torrential rain from Super Typhoon Paka fell on Guam with nearly 21 inches of rain observed at Tiyan before instrumentation failed two hours before Paka's eye passed to the south. Winds gusted to 171 mph before wind instruments failed. However, unofficial sources at Andersen Air Force Base believed that wind gusts may have reached 236.7 mph during the height of the storm. This super typhoon left major damage to 60 percent of the homes on Guam and caused $500 million in damage. Fortunately, no one was killed and only two injuries were reported. (The Weather Doctor) (Accord's Weather Calendar)
• 16 December 1999...Days of torrential rains and mudslides in Caracas and surrounding states in Venezuela left tens of thousands of people dead, missing or homeless and forced at least 120,000 to leave their homes.
• 17 December 1884...A three-week blockade of snow began at Portland, OR. A record December total of 34 inches was received. (David Ludlum)

Return to DataStreme WES Website

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