WEEKLY WATER NEWS

DataStreme WES Week Seven: 17-21 October 2005

Water in the News:

(Thurs.) Wilma becomes the most intense hurricane -- Hurricane Wilma rapidly intensified from a category 2 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) to a major category 5 hurricane in only six hours early Wednesday, when a minimum central pressure of 884 mb was reported, which is the lowest minimum pressure ever measured in a hurricane in the North Atlantic basin. Maximum sustained surface winds reached 175 mph. Current forecasts indicate that Wilma could take a path across the Gulf of Mexico toward the southwest coast of Florida by late in the weekend, making landfall possibly as a major hurricane with maximum sustained winds in excess of 110 mph. [USA Today]
(Thurs.) Lawns turn green from gray water -- A researcher with the University of Arizona has found that "gray water" taken from laundries could be used to water lawns safely, while maintaining a green color. [US Water News Online]
(Thurs.) Cleanup of Lake Okeechobee announced -- Florida Governor, Jeb Bush, recently announced a $200 million plan to cleanup and restore Lake Okeechobee in south Florida, which has been suffering from harmful plant growth from phosphorus-laden runoff. [ENN]
(Thurs.) Microbes may indicate that Mars has life -- An international team of scientists studying million-year old ice cores from a volcanic island in the Arctic has found living microbes that could uphold the theory that a similar environment on Mars could have also supported life. [US Water News Online]
(Thurs.) Ice did them in -- British Antarctic survey researchers have determined that advancing ice sheets during the Ice Ages scoured the sea floor of the continental shelf to cause mass extinctions. [EurekAlert!]
(Tues.) Massachusetts dam in danger -- 2000 residents were evacuated from Taunton on the Mill River as the deteriorating Whittenton Pond Dam was closely watched for possible failure. A dam break could flood the town with 6 feet of water. [USA Today]
(Tues.) Gulf Coast weary of Wilma -- A tropical depression in the Caribbean intensified to become Tropical Storm Wilma early Monday. By late Monday night, with additional intensification, Wilma was poised to become a hurricane. According to forecasts, this potential hurricane could move into the Gulf of Mexico later in the week and ultimately make landfall along the Gulf Coast of the US sometime over the weekend. [CNN]
(Tues.) A record tied -- National Hurricane Center officials report that with the formation of Tropical Storm Wilma, 2005 is now tied with 1933 as having the greatest number of named tropical storms and hurricanes in the North Atlantic basin in over 150 years of record. [NOAA News]
(Tues.) The island-modifying power of a hurricane studied -- A cooperative research project involving NASA, the US Geological Survey and the US Army Corps of Engineers has been investigating how Hurricane Charley sliced through North Captiva Island off the west coast of Florida in August 2005. A variety of techniques was employed to make a three-dimensional computer model, including data obtained by the MODIS instrument onboard the NASA Terra satellite. [NASA News]
(Tues.) Interdisciplinary research on water issues at Virginia Tech -- Biology researchers at Virginia Tech have applied tools from a variety of scientific disciplines to determine the effect of land use on stream quality and thereby develop a protocol that can be used to determine the condition of large land-water systems. [EurekAlert!] Geologists at Virginia Tech have been studying the mobility of bacteria and of heavy metals in surface and ground water. [EurekAlert!] In a related study, several geoscientists at Virginia Tech tracked an organic arsenic additive in chicken feed as it ultimately reached streambeds. [EurekAlert!]
A week of rain finally concludes in the Northeast -- The rain that produced disastrous floods across the Northeast finally diminished late in the weekend. A plume of tropical moisture in association with a nearly stationary weather system produced more than 12 inches of rain during an eight-day span. At least 11 people were killed by the floods that also caused several million dollars in damage. [CNN]
Research on storm water is relevant -- The recent heavy rain in New England has provided the Stormwater Center at the University of New Hampshire with much research material. The co-director of this center has been studying the water pollution that flows off from parking lots, roads and lawns. [ENN] In another study at the Stormwater Center, researchers were attempting to identify the costs required to prepare for the possibility of more intense storms that could be induced by climatic change. [EurekAlert!]
Another tropical depression forms in the Caribbean -- A tropical depression that could become the twenty-first named tropical cyclone (tropical storm or hurricane) of the 2005 North Atlantic hurricane season formed in the Caribbean over the weekend. If this system strengthens, it would be named Tropical Storm Wilma, and it would tie the current hurricane season with 1933 as the most active season in over 150 years. [CNN]
A variety of cloud patterns seen from space --Images recently obtained from the MODIS instrument onboard the polar orbiting NASA Terra satellite indicate a variety of cloud formations across the eastern Pacific off South America in greater detail than previously attained. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Severe water shortages could plague India -- An expert with the World Bank warned that unless dramatic changes are made in water management practices, India could face an "extremely grave" situation with increased conflict due to severe water shortages. [ENN]
A stern warning issued for New Orleans residents -- An official with the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals warned those people planning to return to New Orleans, that they do so at their own risk, because of the lack of adequate potable water and proper sewage facilities in some sections of the city as the result of the destruction produced by Hurricane Katrina. [US Water News Online]
Water deep within the earth could influence surface processes -- Researchers at Hebrew University and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology have reported on their study of fluid water released from submerging earth plates at depths in excess of 100 miles inside the earth. They indicate that this fluid has an impact on the amount of rain at the surface and the buildup of new landmass. [EurekAlert!]
Structural damage by recent hurricanes to be studied -- The National Institute of Standards and Technology is deploying three teams of technical experts from several governmental agencies to assess the damage caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to physical structures along the Gulf Coast. [National Institute of Standards and Technology]
Hydrophobic water? --Scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have found that a single layer of water molecules grown as ice on a platinum wafer appears to reject subsequent ice layers. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory]
Warmer atmosphere and oceans could produce more intense rain -- Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research reported on their findings that indicated that more intense precipitation appears to be linked with a warmer and more humid atmosphere and warmer oceans. [NCAR/UCAR]
Spray water to initiate global cooling -- An engineer at the University of Edinburgh proposes that a fleet of yachts propelled by large cylindrical rotators could be used to spray a sufficient amount of water droplets into the air to form low clouds, which in turn could result in more reflection of sunlight and, ultimately, a cooling of the atmosphere that would counter the recent warming trend. [The New Scientist]
Another CryoSat satellite considered -- The European Space Agency was considering the building of another CryoSat satellite to replace the one that was destroyed during launch two weeks ago. This satellite was intended to collect data on the thickness of polar sea ice during a three-year mission. [The New Scientist]
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: Dams and Ecological Integrity

Dams disrupt the natural seasonal fluctuations in the flow of rivers and streams with potentially serious consequences for the integrity of aquatic ecosystems. For one, dams interfere with the upstream and downstream migration of fish. Storage of water in reservoirs behind dams reduces the downstream discharge of water, sediment, and nutrients. These and other alterations of fluvial habitats threaten or endanger more than 20% of all freshwater species.

The ecological impact of dams is extensive because these structures affect so much runoff. Worldwide, almost 3000 dams have a reservoir storage capacity exceeding 25 billion gallons—a combined volume of water roughly equivalent to that in Lakes Michigan and Ontario. The more than 70,000 dams in the U.S. can store half of the annual flow of all the nation's rivers and streams.

The continuity of the global water cycle implies that disruption of river and stream flow by dams can also impact marine and lacustrine (lake) ecosystems. In the Pacific Northwest, for example, only about 5% of juvenile salmon survive passage through dams and reservoirs on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Salmon are anadromous, that is, they spawn in freshwater streams, but spend most of their adult life in the ocean. After hatching, young salmon (smolts) swim downstream to the Pacific Ocean, where they mature and then return to the same streams to spawn. But the 56 major dams in the Columbia River watershed are formidable obstacles to salmon migration. Largely ineffective are fish ladders designed to help the salmon move upstream and other structures that guide them downstream around hydroelectric turbines. (These turbines have been likened to giant food processors for smolt attempting to swim through them.) Furthermore, smolts on their downstream passage are held up in reservoirs where they are exposed to predators, pathogens (disease-producing organisms), and water that is too warm. Atlantic salmon have a similar fate. More than 900 dams on New England and European rivers prevent most Atlantic salmon from reaching their freshwater spawning grounds. Consequently, their population has declined to less than 1% of historical levels.

Traditionally, dam operators regulate stream and river flow for flood control and to supply water for electric power generation and irrigation. But recently, in response to greater awareness of the adverse impacts of dams on aquatic ecosystems, has come a growing interest in operating dams in ways that recreate the river's natural seasonal flow pattern and habitats. For example, this type of management is employed on the Flaming Gorge Dam on the Green River in Utah to protect sensitive habitats for endangered species including chubs and squawfish. The dam operator simulates spring floods of the pre-dam era by releasing a surge of water in May that facilitates fish spawning.

Controlled flooding has been used on the segment of the Colorado River that flows through the Grand Canyon in an attempt to help restore landforms and aquatic habitats downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam. Before the dam first came into operation in 1956, natural floods regularly delivered sediment from the tributaries of the Colorado River. Sand and silt built sandbars and created backwaters that provided habitat for a variety of native plant and fish species such as the humpback chub and razor sucker. The humpback chub, for example, prefers the warmer and murkier waters associated with sandbars. With the dam in full operation, sand and silt was trapped in the reservoir upstream from the dam and the sandbars and backwater habitats were gradually destroyed. The number of humpback chub in the Grand Canyon declined from about 8300 in 1993 to about 2000 today and the species is close to extinction. In an attempt to restore downstream habitats, in March 1996 a huge gusher of water was released from the Glen Canyon Dam and a fresh influx of sediment built new beaches and sandbars. But these landforms and habitats disappeared within a few months. Now the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is proposing a new flood plan based on lessons learned from the 1996 flood. The plan is to release floodwaters from the Glen Canyon Dam for a shorter period of time (2.5 days instead of the 7-day 1996 flood) and only after a sufficient buildup of sediment so that floodwaters construct sandbars and beaches rather than washing them away.

Concept of the Week: Questions

Alteration of aquatic habitats by dams [(is)(is not)] a reason why some fish species become threatened or endangered.
Anadromous species of fish spawn in [(the ocean)(freshwater rivers and streams)].

Historical Events:

18 October 1910...Northeasterly winds as high as 70 mph (from a hurricane moving northward up the Florida peninsula) carried water out of Tampa Bay and the Hillsboro River. The water level lowered to nine feet below mean low water. Forty ships were grounded. (The Weather Channel)
19 October 1844...The famous "Lower Great Lakes Storm" hit the Buffalo, NY and Toronto, Ontario area. Barometric pressure at Toronto fell to 977 millibars (28.86 inches of mercury). Southwesterly winds were at hurricane force for five hours, driving lake waters into downtown Buffalo, NY. The storm drowned 200 persons. (David Ludlum)
20 October 1999...A flash flood roared down the normally placid Palikea Stream in Hawaii's Haleakala National Park, causing the stream to rise 15 to 20 feet in one minute. Twelve tourists swimming in Palikea's lower pools clung to cliff sides and were eventually rescued. (Accord Weather Calendar)
21 October 1938...The Hector Glacier crashes to the valley floor northeast of Lake Louise, Alberta. The valley is buried under a 1.2-mile wide by 2.5-mile long pile of ice rubble. The wind created by the falling avalanche blows down all trees on the opposite side of the valley. (The Weather Doctor)
21 October 1996...Portland, ME received 13.32 inches of rain to set a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the Pine Tree State. (NCDC)
21 October 1998...A tropical depression formed over the southwestern Caribbean Sea about 360 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica. It would intensify over the next few days to become Hurricane Mitch, the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record, on the 24^th. (The Weather Doctor)
22 October 1987...Yakutat, AK surpassed their previous all-time yearly precipitation total of 190 inches. Monthly records were set in June with 17 inches, in September with 70 inches, and in October with more than 40 inches. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders - 1987)
22 October 1988...A "nor'easter" swept across the coast of New England. Winds gusted to 75 mph, and large waves and high tides caused extensive shoreline flooding. Heavy wet snow blanketed much of eastern New York State, with a foot of snow reported in Lewis County. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
23-24 October 1918...The Canadian steamship Princess Sophia carrying miners from the Yukon and Alaska became stranded on Vanderbilt Reef along coastal British Columbia:. A strong northerly gale hampered rescue attempts, and the next day, the ship sank with the loss of the 268 passengers and 75 crewmen on board. (The Weather Doctor)