DATASTREME WES WEEK ELEVEN: 11-15 April 2005

• Another Indonesian earthquake, but no tsunami -- A 6.7 magnitude earthquake was detected off the Indonesia's northern island of Sumatra on Sunday evening (local time), followed by a series of aftershocks. While the earthquake was offshore and caused panic, a tsunami did not materialize as feared. [CNN]
• Active Atlantic hurricane season foreseen -- Hurricane expert, Professor William Gray, and colleagues at Colorado State University released their April forecast for the upcoming 2005 hurricane season in the North Atlantic that will commence on 1 June. They forecast that 13 named storms (both hurricanes and tropical storms) should form this year, with 7 becoming hurricanes and 3 that could evolve into major storms with sustained winds of 111 mph or higher. [USA Today]
• Flood damage in New Jersey assessed -- While state and federal officials began an assessment of the damage caused by the second major flood in New Jersey in less than one year, rains at the end of last week apparently caused little additional damage to communities in the Delaware River watershed that were flooded because of a combination of snowmelt and heavy rain from a slow moving storm the previous weekend. [USA Today]
• Attempts made to lessen drought impact in Oregon -- The Governor of Oregon announced that he was considering ways of helping the state's agricultural, forestry and recreational industry survive one of the driest winters in more than 100 years, including the declaration of a statewide drought emergency. [US Water News]
• Both wet and dry conditions could produce wildfires -- Officials across the West are concerned that wildfires could flare this spring because of a warm and dry winter in the Pacific Northwest that has made forests tinder dry, but a wet winter across the Southwest that has made the deserts bloom and produce abundant vegetation for fuel. [USA Today]
• Climate education opportunity --NOAA's Office of Education and Sustainable Development is supporting a fellowship for a K-16 educator to create resources for enhancing public awareness of issues and activities related to atmospheres and oceans. For more information or application (deadline 25 April 2005). See http://www.vsp.ucar.edu .
• Research to study Florida water -- The University of Central Florida and the US Geological Survey are to build a facility near Orlando that will study the water resources in central Florida and how they are affected by a variety of natural and human stresses, including hurricanes and urban growth. [EurekAlert!]
• Research projects to focus on arsenic in drinking water -- The Midwest Technology Assistance Center for Small Public Water Systems is funding research aimed at addressing the impact that more stringent standards for acceptable levels of arsenic in public drinking water will have on the Midwest. [EurekAlert!]
• Math models help solve several oceanographic problems -- A math professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology has developed improved mathematical models that describe how sound waves travel underwater, thereby allowing for better detection of the location of submerged submarines and whales, as well as assessment of environmental contamination and changing climate as a result of warming. [EurekAlert!]
• Great Lakes salmon could be threatened -- Biologists with the Michigan and Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources are concerned that the rapid decline in the population of alewives along with the increase in several new invasive species such as the zebra mussel are causing a dramatic reduction in the population of the desired chinook salmon. [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]
• Imported oysters raise concern on the Chesapeake -- The apparent success of the Suminoe oysters that were imported from Asia and put into shellfish beds on Chesapeake Bay during the decline of the native Eastern oysters are now concerned that these imported oysters could crowd out the native species and upset the food chain in the nation's largest estuary. [ENN]
• Nuclear waste pile may be moved from the banks of the Colorado River -- The US Department of Energy has proposed that a 12 million ton pile of radioactive waste be removed from near Moab, UT along the banks of the Colorado River, the source of drinking water for several of the Southwest's major cities. [ENN]
• Massive relocation planned for Chinese water-diversion project -- Chinese officials recently announced plans to move 400,000 people to make way for a network of canals that would divert waters from the Yangtze River in the humid southern sections of the country north to Beijing in the drier north. [ENN]
• Drainage project to receive an international hearing -- Fearing the introduction of non-native animal and plant species into the Hudson Bay watershed, Manitoba officials are petitioning the US State Department to have the International Joint Commission make a decision on halting the diversion of water from a North Dakota watershed that usually flows into the Missouri River. [ENN]
• Development makes pond a muddy mess -- Northern Virginia's Prince William County is attempting to block a housing developer from continuing construction of a subdivision after inadequate runoff and erosion controls allowed sediment to muddy a pond enjoyed by nine families for several decades. [Washington Post] [Editor's note: Thanks are extended to the WES participant from Virginia who submitted this article. EJH]
• Changes in climate affect snow and ice control practices -- A geographer at Penn State University reports that recent warmer winters across the Northeast have changed how local and state highway departments have salted and sanded roads for snow and ice control. Salt and sand from the roads both have a variety of long-term impacts upon streams and lakes along the roads. [EurekAlert!]
• Clouds could be a carrier of disease --Scientists from the University of Ulm, Germany and Cardiff University, UK report that airborne nanobacteria (micro-organisms) that are found in clouds not only aid in the formation of raindrops but could also be responsible for the global spread of certain diseases. [EurekAlert!]
• Changes in carbon in the Hudson a mystery -- A scientist at the Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY has discovered an unexplained doubling in the amount of dissolved organic carbon in the Hudson River during the last 15 years, a mystery since agriculture, one of the possible sources, has declined along the river. [EurekAlert!]
• Water commissioner on US-Mexican border in hot water -- The Inspector General Office in the US State Department has charged that the commissioner in charge of water issues on the International Boundary and Water Commission in El Paso, TX has not maintained the mission of the agency. [ENN]
• Bridging the Water Gap -- An international water conference will be held at the Eisenhower Community Center in suburban Hopkins, MN on 15-17 April 2005 as a forum to develop ideas for expanding current water practices, policies and technologies, as well as to help provide workable global solutions for our rapidly declining freshwater resources. [AquaEssence ReSource]
• 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 frequency of long-term drought (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 drives 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.

• 11-14 April 1984...Ice from an ice storm accumulated up to 6 inches thick on power lines in St John's, Newfoundland. Power outages left 200,000 residents of Avalon Peninsula in the dark and cold. (The Weather Doctor)
• 11 April 1987...Ten days of flooding in the northeastern U.S. finally came to an end. Damage from flooding due to rain and snowmelt ran into the billions of dollars. The collapse of the New York State Thruway Bridge over Schoharie Creek claimed ten lives. (Storm Data)
• 12 April 1994...While hiking in a nearly dry creek near Laie, HI, a group of Boy Scouts was surprised by a rapid 2 to 4 foot rise in water. One boy was swept away by the flash flood. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 14-15 April 1912...The British steamer RMS Titanic sank following its collision with an iceberg in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland on its maiden voyage from South Hampton to New York. The collision occurred at about 11:45 PM on 14 April and the ship sank in 21/2 hours during the early morning hours of the 15^th. Reports showed 1517 people out of 2207 onboard lost their lives in this accident. As a result of this disaster, an International Ice Patrol was established to monitor the iceberg hazards in the North Atlantic. The U.S. Coast Guard continues to conduct much of the effort. (US Coast Guard Historian's Office)
• 14 April 1986...The world's heaviest hailstone, weighing 2.25 pounds, fell in the Gopalganj District of Bangladesh and killed 92. This hailstone could have reached speeds in excess of 90 mph. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (Wikipedia)
• 15 April 1921...Two-mile high Silver Lake (elevation 10,220 ft) in Boulder County, Colorado received 76 in. of snow in 24 hrs, the heaviest 24-hr total of record for North America. The storm left a total of 87 in. in twenty-seven and a half hours. (David Ludlum)
• 16 April 1851...The famous "Lighthouse Storm" (a "nor'easter") raged near Boston Harbor. Whole gales and gigantic waves destroyed the 116-ft Minot Ledge Light at Cohasset, MA with the loss of its two keepers still inside. The lighthouse was the first one built in the United States that was exposed to the full force of the ocean. The storm coupled with a spring tide resulted in massive flooding, great shipping losses and coastal erosion. Streets in Boston were flooded to the Custom House. (David Ludlum) (US Coast Guard Historians Office) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 16 April 1854...A furious storm that produced two feet of snow at New Brunswick, NJ also caused approximately 18 shipwrecks along the New Jersey coast. The immigrant ship Powhattan beached 100 yards from the shore. With rescue impossible, 340 people on board lost their lives. "The shrieks of the drowning creatures were melancholy indeed." (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 16 April 1987...A slow moving storm system produced heavy rain over North Carolina and the Middle Atlantic Coast States. More than six inches of rain drenched parts of Virginia, and flooding in Virginia claimed three lives. Floodwaters along the James River inundated parts of Richmond, VA. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

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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.