WES WEEK TWELVE: 3-7 December 2001

• The North Atlantic and North Pacific hurricane seasons draw to a close --  Last Friday (30 November 2001) marked the end of the official hurricane season in both the North Atlantic and eastern North Pacific ocean basins.   Editors Note -- A set of links will be provided hopefully by early Mon. AM when the DStreme/OLWS Supplemental file for Week 12 is prepared.
• World's freshwater problems to be addressed -- The International Conference on Freshwater is to convene on 3 December 2001 in Bonn, Germany to find solutions to the world's freshwater problems. [ENN]
• TRMM celebrates an anniversary -- The first mission designed to measure tropical rainfall from an orbiting satellite platform,  Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), recently celebrated its fourth anniversary.  This mission with an original design life of  three years has collected sufficient data to allow scientists to gain a better perspective on important weather and climate processes involving the Earth's hydrologic cycle.  [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center]
• Hurricanes influence Cuban history and culture -- A recently released book entitled "Winds of Change: Hurricanes and the Transformation of Nineteenth-Century Cuba” (UNC Press, 2001), describe how the hurricanes and tropical storm that frequently move across the Carribbean and Gulf of Mexico in late summer and autumn have been an important influence on Cuban history and culture for centuries.  [EurekAlert!]
• The Gales of November -- A strong storm system moved across the Upper Midwest during the early part of last week producing heavy snows and strong winds on the north or cold side of the storm, while severe weather and a killer tornado was found on the warm side of the system. Strong northeast winds traveling essentially the length of Lake Superior produced damaging high waves in the Duluth, MN and Superior, WI harbor.  Winds at the Aerial Lift Bridge (as seen in one of the pictures) reached 52 mph on Tuesday, and a nearby Viet Nam Veterans memorial heavily damaged by the waves.   [Duluth Shipping News]
• Earth diary -- A summary of the week's major environmental events on Planet Earth. [CNN]

Concept of the Week: Change in the Earth System

In 1881, Henri Louis Le Chátelier (1850-1936) formulated a general law of chemistry: "If a system at equilibrium is subjected to a stress, the equilibrium will shift in an attempt to reduce the stress." This reasoning provides insight into the behavior of systems. The interaction of subsystems within the Earth system involves the transfer of mass and energy. A stress or disturbance of a subsystem will thus affect the other subsystems to varying degrees.

The final week of the course is an appropriate occasion for us to revisit and reflect on the paradigm that guided our investigation of water in the Earth system and to consider how this system will react to stresses that result from both natural and human disturbances.

The global water cycle encompasses the flow of water, energy, and water-borne materials, and their interactions with organisms in the Earth system. Water's unique combination of physical and chemical properties, its co-existence as vapor, liquid, and solid within the temperature and pressure ranges found on Earth, and its role as an essential ingredient of life, places it center stage in the interactive functioning of the planet's sub-systems. As the principal atmospheric greenhouse gas, water vapor brings temperatures into the range required for life on Earth. Powered by the sun, the water cycle couples the living and non-living components of Earth into an evolving system. Human activity is an integral and inseparable part of the water cycle, impacting and impacted by both the quantity and quality of water.

The burning of fossil fuels appears to be a major contributor to the increased amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere. Le Chátelier would describe this anthropogenic increase as a stress on the system. By altering the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, human activity may be modifying climate on a global scale. The Earth system and its various interdependent subsystems may respond to this disturbance by shifting to a new climate state. The interdependency of Earth's various subsystems and biogeochemical cycles implies that such a shift will have implications for the distribution of water within the global water cycle and for fresh water resources (e.g., changes in glacial ice cover, sea level, drought frequency).

Concept of the Week: Questions

1. After completing WES, I now understand the global water cycle as a flow of [(mass) (energy) (both mass and energy)].
2. After completing WES, I now understand that human activity [(may) (may not)] impact the Earth system with implications for the water cycle and water resources.

•  3-10 December 1926...Record rain fell on Yuma, AZ over a week period. On the 4th 1.10 inches of rain fell, and by the 10th a total of 4.43 inches had fallen, to set an all-time December monthly record. The mean annual precipitation for Yuma is only 3.38 inches. (Accord Weather Calendar)
• 3 December 1952...A remarkable display of sea smoke was seen in Hong Kong harbor. The sea-smoke, induced by a strong surge of arctic air, poured from the eater of Kowloon Bay from 8 AM to 9:30 AM. The air temperature near the sea wall was 44 degrees. (Accord Weather Calendar)
• 4 December 1786...The first of two great early December storms began. The storm produced 18 inches of snow at Morristown, NJ, and twenty inches of snow at New Haven, CT. It also resulted in high tides at Nantucket which did great damage. (David Ludlum)
• 4 December 1964...One of the worst ice storms on record was in progress across Massachusetts and eastern New York. Ice accretions reached 1.5 inches in some places. Well over 80,000 homes lost power. Some homes did not have power for 5 days. (Intellicast)
• 4-13 December 1991...Tropical Cyclone Val with gusts to 150 mph caused $700 million damage. Seventeen deaths were reported in American and Western Samoa, with 95 percent of the housed in Savaii either destroyed or badly damaged. Savaii was essentially hit twice by Val as the system completed a loop on the 8th. (Accord Weather Calendar)
• 5-9 December 1952...Fog and industrial pollution combined to form the worst smog experienced by London, England. Approximately 1000 tons of dirt particles were trapped in the air. Water droplets and sulfur dioxide combined to form sulfuric acid droplets. As many as 4000 deaths resulted, mainly the old and the ill. (Accord Weather Calendar)
• 5-6 December 1968...High surf from an intense storm near Alaska swept rocks and sea water into pavilions at Onekahakaha Beach near Hilo, HI. Water reached 150 feet above high-tide mark at Napili Beach and swept into the swimming pool and ground floor of a hotel there. (Accord Weather Calendar)
• 5-6 December 1968...A Genoa low brought heavy rain and snow to northern Italy. Venice received 4.21 inches of rain on the night of the 5th-6th, well above the December average rainfall of 2.40 inches. St. Mark's Square was flooded to a depth of 57 inches. (Accord Weather Calendar)
• 6-8 December 1935...Severe flooding hit parts of the Houston, TX area. Eight persons were killed as one hundred city blocks were inundated. Satsuma reported 16.49 inches of rain. The Buffalo and White Oak Bayous crested on the 9th. (The Weather Channel)
• 6 December 1997...Between 4 to 8 inches fell in California's Orange County, the biggest rains in at least 70 years; Mission Viejo reported 10 inches. Areas such as the Rhine Channel in Newport Beach were so clogged with debris that they looked like landfills. Damage was estimated at $17.7 million. (Accord Weather Calendar)
• 7-8 December 1703...A monstrous storm raked southern England and adjacent waters with winds in excess of 100 mph. Approximately 8000 deaths were the result of this storm, mostly at sea. Many naval and supply ships were anchored in harbors or in the English Channel. The Eddystone Lighthouse disappeared. (Accord Weather Calendar)
• 7 December 1740...In early December two weeks of mild and rainy weather culminated in the worst flood in fifty years in the Lower Connecticut River Valley. The Merrimack River swelled to its highest level, and in Maine the raging waters swept away mills, carried off bridges, and ruined highways. (David Ludlum)
• 7 December 1987...Heavy rain fell across eastern Puerto Rico, with 19.41 inches reported at Las Piedras. Flooding caused five million dollars damage. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

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Prepared by AMS WES Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2001, The American Meteorological Society.