Weekly Water News

Weekly Water News

DATASTREME WES WEEK ONE: 24-28 January 2005

Water in the News:

Anti-bacterial chemical found in many US waterways--Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have detected increased concentrations of triclocarban, a toxic anti-microbial chemical used for nearly 50 years in soaps and cleaning products, in the nation's waters, leading to concern about the implications to the environment and potential health risks. [Johns Hopkins Public Health News Center]

Mississippi River flooding a possibility--The watershed division chief for the US Army Corps of Engineers recently cautioned that high water levels currently reported on the Mississippi River could mean that the lower Mississippi River may experience spring time flooding from recent rain and snow that have fallen across the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio river basins during the early winter. [ENN]

New state water rules challenged in New Mexico -- Three different groups in New Mexico have petitioned a state court to rule that recent state water rules that determine water rights during drought periods be declared unconstitutional and dismissed. [US Water News Online]

Water conservation efforts and education work -- Despite increased population growth, water consumption has dropped in Albuquerque, NM to the lowest levels in nearly 20 years, in part because of cooler and wetter weather conditions in 2004, but also to water conservation efforts and education that has resulted in reduced per capita water consumption. [US Water News Online]

UN hurricane study causes storm-- A NOAA hurricane specialist resigned from the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change because he felt that a lead author in a study produced by the group had placed too much emphasis on the link between global warming and hurricanes. [ENN]

Iceberg's movements monitored from space--Radar sensors onboard Envisat, a polar orbiting satellite from the European Space Agency (ESA), have been monitoring the movements of B15-A, a large iceberg the size of Luxembourg drifting in Antarctica's McMurdo Sound. B15-A had been expected to collide with an ice tongue that extends from a glacier on the continent. [ESA]

A new ship to explore world's oceans-- A former US Navy ship that has been converted to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) only research vessel dedicated to exploring the world's oceans using a variety of sophisticated equipment, along with a deep sea ocean robot that can explore the ocean to depths of 18,000 feet. [NOAA News]

New website offers portal to meteorological and oceanographic information--NOAA recently unveiled nowCOAST, a Web mapping portal that provides users with a wide variety of real-time observations and forecasts of weather, ocean and river conditions along the nation's coasts, estuaries and ports, including the Great Lakes. [NOAA News]

New hydrogen generation methods explored--A group of researchers at Arizona State University recently received a grant to explore innovative methods for converting water into hydrogen involving chemical conversion processes. [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: Touring the WES Homepage

NOTE: This Concept for the Week is a repeat of that which appeared in last week's Weekly Water News.

Welcome to DataStreme Water in the Earth System (WES)! You are embarking on a unique teacher-enhancement experience that focuses on water and energy flow in the global water cycle from an Earth system perspective. Throughout this learning experience you will be accessing the WES Homepage frequently to obtain and interpret a variety of environmental information, including the latest observational data. The objective of this initial Concept of the Week is to explore features of the WES Homepage.

On Monday of each week of the course, we will post the current Weekly Water News that includes Water in the News (a summary listing of current events related to water), Concept of the Week (an in-depth analysis of some topic related to water in the Earth system), and Historical Events (a list of past hydrologic events such as major floods). When appropriate, Supplemental Information will be provided on some topic related to the principal theme of the week.

You will use the WES Homepage to access and download the second part of weekly Investigations A & B (plus supporting images) that begin in your WES Study Guide. These materials should be available by noon (Eastern Time) on Tuesday and Thursday. Click the appropriate buttons to download and print these electronic components of the investigations as well as your Chapter Progress and Investigations Response forms.

The body of the WES Homepage provides links to the Earth System, Atmospheric, Oceanic (Inland Seas), and Terrestrial Information, and extras--glossaries of terms, maps, educational links, and WES information. Following each section is a link to other sites that examine the various subsystems of the Earth system. Let's take a quick tour to become more familiar with the WES Homepage.

Under Atmospheric Information, click on Water vapor (WV) Satellite. This is the latest satellite depiction of atmospheric water vapor at altitudes generally between 3000 and 7000 m (10,000 to 24,000 ft). Press your "back" button and then click on Latest WV Animation to view the movement of water vapor and clouds in the atmosphere. Although water vapor is an invisible gas, satellite technology makes it possible for us to "see" and follow the flow of water vapor in the atmosphere as part of the global water cycle. Bright white blotches are clouds; black indicates areas of very little or no water vapor and, at the other extreme, milky white signals a relatively high concentration of water vapor. Use the "back" button on your viewer to return to the WES Homepage.

The flow and transformations of energy are fundamental aspects of the global water cycle. Heat flows within the Earth system from where it is warmer to where it is colder. In this regard, it is useful to monitor temperatures remotely, by satellite. For a global view of the satellite-derived pattern of sea-surface temperatures, click on Sea Surface Temperatures under Oceanic (and Inland Seas) Information. Note that the color scale at the bottom is in degrees Celsius and temperatures are averaged over a 7-day period. (Depending on your browser, you may have to place your mouse cursor on the slide bar to the right and scroll down to view the entire image.) Return to the WES Homepage.

As part of the global water cycle, precipitation that reaches the ground vaporizes back into the atmosphere, runs off into rivers and streams, seeps into the ground, or is stored in lakes or glaciers. Under Terrestrial Information, click on River Flood Conditions for the recent status of river levels monitored at various gauging stations around the nation. Note that in the Map Legend, river stage heights are compared to flood stage values. Now return to the WES Homepage.

Extras include color photographs arranged by week (chapter) to supplement your study of the WES textbook. For example, click on Chapter 1 and then click on the first thumbnail for an enlarged image with the caption, "Water in Three Phases."

Take a few minutes when you have time to browse the other data and information sources available via the WES Homepage. You may want to "bookmark" this page on your computer. Return frequently to get into the flow of DataStreme WES!

Concept of the Week: Questions

The latest WV Animation indicates that clouds and water vapor generally move from [(west to east)(east to west)] across the nation.
In the tropical Pacific, the highest sea-surface temperatures occur in the [(western)(eastern)] portion of the ocean basin.

Historical Events

24 January 1881...Freezing rain over three days coated trees, fences, telegraph wires and buildings at Pictou, Nova Scotia. Lumberjacks remained close to camp for fear of falling trees and branches. (The Weather Doctor)
24 January 1956...Thirty-eight inches of rain deluged the Kilauea Sugar Plantation of Hawaii in 24 hours, including twelve inches in just one hour. The 38.00 inches remains the Aloha State's 24-hour maximum precipitation record. (David Ludlum)
25 January 1945...Grand Rapids MI became the first US city to fluoridate its water.
25 January 1965...Alta, UT was in the midst of a storm that left the town buried under 105 inches of snow establishing a record for the state. (David Ludlum)
25 January 1987...The second major storm in three days hit the Eastern Seaboard producing up to 15 inches of snow in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. Up to 30 inches of snow covered the ground in Virginia following the two storms. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
26 January 1937...Flooding occurred along the Ohio River from Pittsburgh, PA to Cairo, IL. The river was 80 feet above flood stage at Cincinnati, Ohio. (Intellicast)
26 January 1983...The California coast was battered by a storm, which produced record high tides, thirty-two foot waves, and mudslides, causing millions of dollars damage. The storm then moved east and dumped four feet of snow on Lake Tahoe. (22^nd-29^th) (The Weather Channel)
27 January 1966...Oswego NY was in the midst of a five-day lake effect storm that left the town buried under 102 inches of snow. (David Ludlum)
28 January 1883...Snowflakes "larger than milkpans" reportedly fell at Fort Keogh near Miles City, MT. The snowflakes, measuring 15 inches across and 8 inches in thickness, made patches of white on the fields within an area of several square miles. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
28 January 1969...A series of storms that battered Southern California from the 18^th to the 28^th led to $125 million damage in the Los Angeles Basin, along with approximately 9 storm and traffic-related deaths in California. Twenty feet of water covered Sherman Island, a region that contains more than 10,000 dike-protected agricultural acres, when a dike failed. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
29-30 January 1966... A hurricane that struck Samoa was responsible for 50 deaths, destroyed more than one-third of the homes and damaged the remainder. As many as 50,000 people were left homeless. Swains Island was leveled by the hurricane. Winds gusted to 100 mph at Pago Pago.(Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
29 January 1983...A series of Pacific coast storms finally came to an end. The storms, attributed in part to the anomalous ocean-atmosphere phenomenon, "El Niño", produced ocean swells 15 to 20 feet high that ravaged the beaches of southern California. Much of the damage was to homes of movie stars in the exclusive Malibu Colony. (The Weather Channel)
29 January 1993...Africa's worst weather-related disaster during 1993 occurred as rains produced floods across the southeast lowlands of Kenya. A railroad bridge across the swollen Ngai Nedithya River collapsed as a train crossed, causing 104 deaths. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
30 January 1996...A snowfall of 6.4 inches on this day pushed the seasonal snowfall to 180 inches at Sault Ste Marie, MI. This set a new seasonal snowfall record for the city. The old record was 178.6 inches set in 1976-77. (Intellicast)
30 January 1997...Surf up to 12 feet, with sets to 15 feet, pounded the north and west shores of Hawaii. A wave swept 8 people into the ocean at Keane Point on Maui. Four tourists who were taking pictures of the waves drowned. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
31 January to 4 February 1814...Floes of ice in England's Thames River backed ice up behind the London Bridge, then froze together. The ice was sufficiently strong to support refreshment and entertainment stands for 5 days. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
31 January 1911...Tamarack, CA was without snow the first eight days of the month, but by the end of January had been buried under 390 inches of snow, a record monthly snowfall total for the U.S. (The Weather Channel)
31 January to 9 February 1947...A memorable blizzard crippled Saskatchewan. All highways into Regina were blocked. Railway officials declared this blizzard as producing the worst conditions in Canadian rail history. A train was buried in a snowdrift 0.6 mile long and 37 feet deep. (The Weather Doctor)
31 January 1963...Heavy rains fell across the Sierra. The Mt. Rose Highway Station near Reno, NV reported 7.13 inches of precipitation, which set a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for Nevada. This rain, combined with snowmelt, produced 3 to 4 feet of water that covered 30 blocks of downtown Reno. (NCDC) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
1 February 1936...A rainfall of three inches in several minutes was followed by a hailstorm of jagged pieces of ice that killed 19 people in the Northern Transvaal area of South Africa. Hail was reported to accumulate to a depth of 3 feet. Some of those killed had to be dug out of the hail. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
1 February 1953...An intense low-pressure system 966 millibars (29.52 inches of mercury) swept across the North Sea. Wind speeds at Aberdeen, Scotland exceeded 125 mph. A storm surge of 13 feet, aided by a high spring tide, breached the dams in as many as 100 places along the Zuider Zee in The Netherlands, flooding 3.95 million acres or one-sixth of the country. More than 1800 deaths were attributed to drowning and 50,000 people were evacuated. In addition, this storm was responsible for the loss of 100,000 poultry, 25,00 pigs and 35,000 cattle. (The Weather Doctor) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)