WEEKLY WATER NEWS

DataStreme WES Week Ten: 2-6 April 2007

Water in the News:

(Thurs.) California warms -- A team of scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and California State University, Los Angeles have determined that during the second half of the 20th century average temperatures across California have risen by nearly two Fahrenheit degrees, with the greatest increases occurring in urban areas. In addition to urbanization and increases in population, the researchers attribute some of the increased temperatures across the Golden State to increases in sea surface temperatures of Pacific coastal waters of up to 0.16 Fahrenheit degrees per decade associated with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, as ascertained in part from NASA's Jason satellite altimeter. [NASA Earth Observatory] Graphics are provided at JPL site. [Editor's note: One of the study's researchers, Dr. Steve LaDochy of California State University, Los Angeles, is a valued member of the AMS Education Program, serving as a LIT Leader. EJH]
(Thurs.) Polar expeditions can obtain Arctic Ocean satellite images -- Expeditions participating in the International Polar Year (IPY) currently underway can access the latest satellite radar images of the sea ice conditions in the Arctic Ocean directly from the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite. [ESA]
(Thurs.) Protection of endangered fish could cripple California water supply -- An Alameda County (CA) judge has ordered the California Department of Water Resources to halt the pumping of water from a delta within 60 days unless the department complies with environmental laws that protect endangered fish. The termination of pumping could drastically cut the water supply to the San Francisco Bay area, the Central Valley and Southern California. [US Water News Online]
(Thurs.) Southern California could experience a "perfect drought" -- Water resource managers and other officials across southern California are becoming concerned that the somewhat unusual situation where all three regions where southern California draws its water supply -- the Sierra, the Southland, and the Colorado River Basin -- are simultaneously experiencing a significant lack of precipitation, leading to a "perfect" southern California drought situation. [Los Angeles Times]
(Thurs.) Too much of a good thing could be bad -- A University of California, Irvine scientist has discovered that too much water or too many nutrients could decrease the diversity of plant life in an ecosystem, even though the productivity of a few species could increase. [University of California, Irvine]
(Tues.) Tsunami update -- There are at least 28 confirmed deaths although many more are expected after the 5-m tsunami wave struck the Solomons destroying almost 1000 homes leaving 5000 homeless. Deaths were also listed in New Guinea. [CNN]
(Tues.) Reindeer and snowflakes help International Polar Year studies -- Several NASA-funded studies that include those involving snowflakes and reindeer are currently underway as part of the International Polar Year (IPY), an international effort designed to increase knowledge about the Arctic and the Antarctic. An astrophysicist with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has been instrumental in developing "The Global Snowflake Network" and has worked with Norwegian reindeer herders in the "Indigenous People International Polar Year" program. [NASA GSFC]
(Tues.) Analysis made of air-sea momentum transfer in major hurricane -- Using wind and wave data collected from an array of moored instrumented buoys as Hurricane Ivan (a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Intensity Scale) moved across the Gulf of Mexico, scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory - Stennis Space Center directly calculated the air-sea momentum exchange at the atmosphere-ocean interface. This momentum exchange, which is a function of the wind speed, is an important factor in the development of wind-driven ocean currents and storm surges. [EurekAlert!]
(Tues.) New desalination and sewage plants displayed -- Israel recently marked International Water Day by displaying one of its most efficient desalination plants to demonstrate how it can produce fresh water from seawater. [US Water News Online]
(Tues.) Call is made for improvements in ice sheet monitoring -- Citing recent rapid changes in the Antarctic Ice Sheet, European and American polar ice experts recently called for improved monitoring of these ice sheets to provide improved predictions of future sea-level rises that would be associated with melting of large ice sheets. [Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas]
(Tues.) Himalayan glacier seen to be melting -- Data collected from NASA and French satellites, together with field data, indicate that several of the glaciers in Asia's Himalayan Mountains have been melting and loosing mass since 2000. [EurekAlert!]
(Tues.) Biodegradable plastic could be a boon for cruise ships -- Scientists at the University of Southern Mississippi have developed a new type of plastic that safely degrades in seawater, which they claim could provide an answer for the waste storage problem that cruise and other ships face on long voyages, [EurekAlert!]
Tsunami hits Solomon Islands with potentially disastrous results -- An earthquake with a magnitude of at least 8.0 was reported in the Solomon Islands of the western South Pacific Ocean on Monday (local time), resulting in a small tsunami. This tsunami, which had heights of nearly 15 feet in some locations, was reported to have hit several villages in the Solomons, leaving four people missing on the island of Mono. A tsunami warning was issued for the Pacific Rim countries, including Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia, while tsunami advisories were posted for coastal sections of North America, including Alaska, British Columbia, and the Pacific Northwest. [CNN]
April is Tsunami Awareness Month in Hawaii -- The State of Hawaii and the National Weather Service Office in Honolulu have declared April as Tsunami Awareness Month in the Aloha State. The National Weather Service Office is also hosting the International Tsunami Information Center in conjunction with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. [International Tsunami Information Center]
Floods in Argentina are deadly -- Torrential rains in several northern provinces of Argentina have caused flooding that claimed at least seven lives over the weekend. [USA Today]
Tropical cyclones detected over Southern Hemisphere waters -- Austral autumn has meant that tropical cyclone (hurricane) activity continues across the tropical waters off Australia:
- In the Indian Ocean, Tropical Cyclone Kara moved to the south-southwest off the northwest coast of Australia as shown by an image from the MODIS sensor on one of NASA's satellites. [NOAA OSEI]
- In the western South Pacific, Tropical Cyclone Becky was moving to the southeast near the Solomon Islands northeast of Australia as shown by an image from the Japanese MTSAT satellite. [NOAA OSEI]
Dust may have affected hurricane forecasts -- Researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center claim that airborne dust particles from several significant dust storms over Africa's Sahara Desert in June and July 2006 may have been responsible for causing a slight cooling of the surface waters of the tropical Atlantic, which ultimately resulted in a less active 2006 hurricane season in the North Atlantic basin from that of the previous year and from early forecasts made for the 2006 season. [NASA Earth Observatory] [Attention is directed to the NASA graphics of the sea surface temperatures during the 2005 and 2006 hurricane seasons.]
Beijing's thirst presents problems -- A protracted drought along with the withdrawal of groundwater due to an increased demand for fresh water in China's Beijing metropolitan area has resulted in the subsidence of the surrounding countryside and the contamination of the remaining water by the infiltration of saltwater. [ENN]
Red River Valley water project funded -- The state Legislature in North Dakota recently approved funding for a major project that would divert some of the water from the Missouri River to the state's Red River Valley. [US Water News Online]
March not good for Colorado snowpack -- Despite heavy snow early in the winter, the snow survey team with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service reported that the snowpack in the mountains of Colorado are only 75 percent of average because of a dry March, a month that typically features a 20 percent addition to the snowpack. [The Denver Channel]
A snow angel record -- The Guinness World Records recently confirmed that the gathering of 8962 participants who made snow angels on the grounds of the North Dakota State Capitol in Bismarck in February represents a world record. [USA Today]
Abrupt climatic change is not uncommon -- Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found that 30 regions around the world underwent abrupt shifts in climate, especially drought, during the second half of the 20th century. [University of Wisconsin News]
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: Water in Microclimates

Water is an important component of Earth's planetary-scale climate system, playing a key role in the global radiation balance (e.g., the greenhouse effect) and large-scale transport of heat (e.g., latent heat transfer between Earth's surface and atmosphere, and the ocean's surface currents and thermohaline circulation). The global climate system exhibits considerable spatial variability so that Earth is a mosaic of numerous climate types and water is often an important factor in distinguishing between individual climates. Hence, for example, the climate of a desert differs from that of a rainforest primarily because of differences in precipitation totals and potential evaporation rate.

Climate (long-term average atmospheric conditions) also varies on smaller spatial scales. Here, we consider examples of how the local water and heat energy budgets vary on the scale of microclimates, having horizontal dimensions from less than 1 m up to 100 m (3.3 ft up to 330 ft) and vertical dimension from Earth's surface to an altitude of 100 m (330 ft).

All other factors being equal, afternoon air temperatures tend to be lower over an irrigated farm field than over a non-irrigated field. Where soils are wet, more of the available heat is used to evaporate water (latent heating) leaving less to raise the temperature of the soil surface and overlying air (sensible heating). In the Northern Hemisphere, snow tends to persist longer and the growing season is shorter on the shaded north- and east-facing hill slopes (facing away from the sun) than on south- and west-facing slopes (facing the sun). In portions of the Rocky Mountains, the sunnier, drier, and warmer south-facing slopes are sparsely vegetated by grasses, ponderosa pine, and juniper. Meanwhile, dense stands of fir and spruce grow on the shaded, moist, and cooler north-facing slopes.

Trees, sand dunes, buildings and other obstacles slow the wind and reduce the wind's ability to transport material (including soil particles) in suspension. Farmers take advantage of this effect by constructing shelterbelts (or "windbreaks") that reduce wind erosion of soil and modify the microclimate. A shelterbelt may consist of a fence or multiple rows of trees or bushes planted upwind of an agricultural field--usually oriented perpendicular to the prevailing wind direction. In the winter, snow-bearing horizontal winds slow as they encounter a shelterbelt. The wind's ability to transport snow diminishes and snow accumulates on the field immediately downwind of the shelterbelt. The air spaces within a snow cover make it a relatively poor conductor of heat so that the snow cover protects the underlying soil from deep penetration of subfreezing temperatures. In areas where winter wheat is grown, the snow cover protects the dormant plants from potentially damaging fluctuations in soil temperature. Snow trapped by shelterbelts also increases the local supply of soil moisture that becomes available during the spring thaw. Furthermore, slowing the wind reduces the rate of evaporation of soil moisture. Significant increases in crop yields can be attributed to the microclimatic effects of shelterbelts.

Climatic contrasts are also evident between forested and non-forested areas. Wind speed diminishes considerably within a forest--as much as 60% to 80% at a distance of only 30 m (100 ft) into a deciduous forest. Weaker winds coupled with reduced solar radiation reaching the forest floor (due to the forest canopy) decreases the amount of evaporation from the forest floor. However, the relatively high rate of transpiration by forest vegetation more than compensates for the reduction in evaporation from the forest floor. Overall, the air in a forest tends to be somewhat more humid than the air over a nearby non-forested area. Even tall field crops such as corn have a similar effect on the microclimate.

Concept of the Week: Questions

In the Northern Hemisphere, snow is likely to persist longer on the shaded [(north-) (south-)] facing slope of a hill.
The relatively high humidity in forested areas is primarily the result of relatively high [(precipitation) (evaporation) (transpiration)] occurring in forested areas.

Historical Events:

2 April 1958...One of the most destructive coastal storms in years battered New England (31 March-3 April). Some beaches between Portland, ME and Cape Cod, MA were eroded by approximately 50 ft. Miles of sea walls and bulkheads were either breached or demolished. Many beachfront cottages in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine were sandblasted. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
2 April 1997...An intense winter storm slammed the Maritime Provinces. Freezing rain knocked out power to more than 4,000 homes on Prince Edward Island. (The Weather Doctor)
3 April 1982...Wind-driven ice from Lake Winnebago in east central Wisconsin piled to 40-ft heights on the lake's eastern shoreline, damaging buildings in the Stockbridge area. Winds reached 80 mph across Wisconsin. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
4 April 1933...Pigeon River Bridge, MN reported 28 in. of snow, which established the state 24-hr snowfall record. (4^th-5^th) (The Weather Channel)
4 April 1973...Sandia Crest, NM reported a snow depth of 95 in., a record for the state of New Mexico. (The Weather Channel)
4 April 1987...New England was in the middle of its second heavy rainstorm in 5 days. This was the same storm that produced record snows in the Appalachians. This storm dumped 4 to 7 in. of rain over the area and this, combined with snowmelt and rivers already at bankfull, produced record flooding, especially in Maine, where 2300 homes were flooded with 215 totally destroyed. Record water levels were reached at many dams. Damage in the state alone reached $100 million. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
4 April 2004...Runoff from 8 to 12 inches of rain that fell over the Davis Mountains of west Texas led to the cracking and collapse of the I-20 bridge over Salt Draw near Toyah. The interstate was closed thanks to a timely flash flood warning. However, five indirect fatalities occurred in a multi-vehicular accident on the US-285 detour near Pecos. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
5 April 1926...A reported 0.65 in. of rain fell in one minute at Opid's Camp, CA (Intellicast)
5 April 1987...After days of heavy rain that drenched eastern New York State with 5 to 8 in., a New York State Thruway bridge over Schoharie Creek collapsed just west of Amsterdam, New York. Ten people died when their vehicles plunged into the flood-swollen creek either with or shortly after the bridge collapse. (Intellicast)
6 April 1900...The worst flood on record in the Brazos River watershed of Texas occurred from the 5^th through the 8^th. An average of 17 in. of rain fell over a 7000-square mi area, while 33 in. fell on Turnersville and an estimated 30 in. at Hearme since the rain gage overflowed at 24 in. More than 30 deaths resulted from the floods. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
6 April 1987...Rain and melting snow caused flooding from New England to Ohio. Flooding in the Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts was the worst in fifty years, causing $42 million in damage. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
7 April 1952...The breakup of ice along the Missouri River and its tributaries at Bismarck, ND, and above, and on the Big Sioux, created the worst flood conditions in that area in thirty years. U.S. Coast Guard personnel rendered assistance in that major disaster, evacuating stranded persons and providing other needed assistance. (US Coast Guard Historians Office)
8-10 April 1958...A global 48-hour precipitation record was established at Aurere, La Reunion Island , when 97.1 in. of rain from a tropical cyclone fell on the Indian Ocean island. (The Weather Doctor)
8-14 April 1984...Intense Tropical Cyclone Kaimsy crossed and re-crossed the northern portion of Madagascar. Winds exceeding 112 mph destroyed 80 percent of Antseranana and Mahajanga. Rainfall from this system reached 27.99 in. Eighty-two people were killed and 100,000 were made homeless. Damage was greater than 150 million US dollars. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (The Weather Doctor)

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