Weekly Water News

DATASTREME WES WEEK TWO: 11-15 September 2006

Water in the News

(Thur.) Dams should not be ignored -- A senior water advisor at the World Bank recently cautioned that rich countries should not oppose dams and water management infrastructure for poor countries, claiming that some of the dams are needed for responsible economic development. [ENN]
(Thur.) Extreme rainfall events studied -- After analyzing 40 years of weather records across the United Kingdom, scientists at Newcastle University have found that extreme rainfall events have increased in frequency and intensity during this period, which could increase the likelihood of flooding. [EurekAlert!]
(Thur.) Improvements in flood prediction are advanced -- The multidisciplinary Flood Risk Management Research Consortium in the United Kingdom has been involved with computer flood modeling and animations that permit the visualization of potential flood events. [EurekAlert!]
(Tues.) Hurricane Florence brushes by Bermuda -- Hurricane Florence, the second hurricane of the 2006 North Atlantic hurricane season, passed close to Bermuda on Monday morning as it continued to travel northward across the North Atlantic. This Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir- Simpson Scale caused some damage to several buildings on Bermuda and left several thousand people without power. [USA Today]
(Tues.) Effects of Great Plains drought seen from space -- An image of the "Normalized Difference Vegetation Index" anomaly generated from data obtained from the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument onboard NASA's Terra satellite shows the extent of the disastrous drought that is ongoing across the Great Plains in the US and Canada in terms of the lack of healthy vegetation. [NASA Earth Observatory]
(Tues.) A space-eye view of India's monsoon floods -- The MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite provides two images taken one month apart showing magnitude of the recent flooding along the Mahanadi River in India that resulted in heavy rains during the South Asian summer monsoon season. [NASA Earth Observatory]
(Tues.) Wind-borne dust contributes to summer monsoon rains -- Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center report that airborne dust and other aerosols from desert regions is carried toward and collects along the slopes of the Tibetan Plateau during South Asia's summer monsoon season, helping to trigger rainfall. [NASA Earth Observatory]
(Tues.) Lake Tahoe's clarity can be improved -- A new study by a regional water quality control board claims that the clarity of Lake Tahoe along the California-Nevada border can be restored by reducing pollutants that enter the lake long famed for its clarity. [USA Water News Online]
Eye on the tropics -- In the North Atlantic basin, Hurricane Florence, the second hurricane of the season, was traveling toward Bermuda on Sunday, where residents were preparing for the anticipated passage of this category 1 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson) on Monday. [USA Today]
Reporting on the NASA hurricane mission -- A scientist participating in the NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (NAMMA) mission off the coast of west Africa recently reported on the mission and his experiences with it. [NASA]
Super Typhoon Ioke leaves a cool wake -- An image generated from the AMSR-E (Advanced Microwave Radiometer for EOS) instrument onboard NASA's Aqua satellite shows a several hundred mile wide cool-water wake that Super Typhoon Ioke left in the surface waters of the central and western Pacific in the track following this powerful tropical cyclone (including tropical storms, typhoons and hurricanes, their Atlantic and eastern North Pacific counterparts). [NASA Earth Observatory]
Record rain results in death in Tucson -- A record 1.14 inches of rain in Tucson late last week helped produce flooding that resulted in the death of a man who had fallen into a rain-swollen wash. [USA Today]
Southeastern governors plan to negotiate on water sharing -- The governors of Georgia, Florida and Alabama are planning a meeting in late November to resolve a long-standing issue of sharing water in the Chattahoochee River that flows through their respective states. [USA Water News Online]
Melting permafrost could accelerate warming -- An oceanographer from Florida State University and a colleague at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks have found that the melting of permafrost in northern Siberia has been releasing bubbles of methane that had been sequestered in the ice of lakes into the atmosphere, where it could contribute to higher temperatures. [EurekAlert!] [Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska]
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.

REPORTS FROM THE FIELD --

A request: If you have some water-related experience that you would like to share with other DataStreme WES participants, please send them to the email address appearing at the bottom of this document for possible inclusion in a News file. Thank you. EJH

Concept of the Week: Water Chill

The Titanic disaster of April 1912 dramatically portrayed how immersion in cold water can be deadly. After abandoning ship, passengers and crew who were floating in relatively calm seas perished within a short time. Residents of cold climates are warned of the dangers posed by a combination of low air temperature and strong winds (the wind-chill). Because of the special thermal properties of water, immersion in cold water can be even more hazardous. A boating accident or a plunge through thin ice on a lake can have deadly consequences.

One of the principal hazards of cold water immersion is a lowering of body temperature due to excess heat loss. (Perhaps half of all drowning victims actually die from this effect of cold water rather than water-filled lungs.) Heat is energy that is transferred between two objects at different temperatures, always flowing from the warmer to the colder object. The human body can regulate its core temperature so that it normally varies by no more than about 2 Celsius degrees (3.6 Fahrenheit degrees) above or below 37 °C (98.6 °F). Hence, heat usually flows from the human body to its cooler surroundings. Core temperature refers to the temperature of vital organs such as the heart, lungs, and kidneys.

When immersed in cold water, a body may lose heat at such a high rate that natural thermoregulatory processes cannot prevent a steady drop in core temperature and the victim may exhibit symptoms of hypothermia. These symptoms set in when a person's core temperature falls below 36 °C (96.8 °F). Shivering (a thermoregulatory process) becomes violent and uncontrollable and the victim has difficulty speaking and becomes lethargic. If the core temperature drops below 32 °C (90 °F), shivering ceases, muscles become rigid, and coordination deteriorates. At a core temperature of 30 °C (86 °F), a person may drift into unconsciousness and death may ensue at a core temperature below 24 °C (75 °F).

A person runs a greater risk of developing hypothermia when immersed in water than air at the same temperature. Water conducts heat at a rate that is more than 20 times greater than still air and water's specific heat is almost 6 times that of dry air. Whereas the risk of hypothermia due to low air temperature primarily occurs in winter, cold water immersion is possible any time of year in many locations. Ocean or lake temperatures may remain relatively low throughout the summer months because of water's relatively great thermal inertia.

For more information on hypothermia, including expected survival time for various water temperatures, got to: http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/tourism/hypothermia.html.

Concept of the Week: Questions

Water is a [(much better)(poorer)] conductor of heat than still air.
Hypothermia is a potentially lethal [(rise)(fall)] in the temperature of the human body's vital organs.

Historical Events

11 September 1900...The remnants of the Great Galveston Hurricane moved across southern Ontario. In the Niagara Peninsula and along the Lake Erie shore, apples, pears and peaches ready for harvest are ripped from the trees; half the crop, about $1,000,000 in value, is destroyed. (The Weather Doctor)
11 September 1961...Very large and slow moving Hurricane Carla made landfall near Port Lavaca, TX. Carla battered the central Texas coast with wind gusts to 175 mph, and up to 16 inches of rain, and spawned a vicious tornado (F4 on the Fujita tornado intensity scale) which swept across Galveston Island killing eight persons and destroying 200 buildings. A storm surge of up to 18.5 feet inundated coastal areas and Bay City was deluged with 17.1 inches of rain. The hurricane claimed 45 lives, and caused $300 million damage. The remnants of Carla produced heavy rain in the Lower Missouri Valley and southern sections of the Upper Great Lakes Region. (David Ludlum) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
11 September 1970...A steam yacht on the Gulf of Venice in Italy was sunk by a tornado near the Isle of Santa Elena. Of the 60 on board, 36 died. The same tornado destroyed a campsite on the lagoon border in Iesolo, with 11 deaths. (Accord Weather Calendar)
11 September 1976...Up to five inches of rain brought walls of water and millions of tons of debris into Bullhead City, AZ via washes from elevations above 3000 feet. Flooding caused more than $3 million in damage. Chasms up to forty feet deep were cut across some roads. (The Weather Channel)
11 September 1997...An all-day rain with 0.4 inches in 9 minutes fell over the Boise Mountains in Idaho. A 15-foot high wall of mud and debris breached six flood-control dams and washed over a golf course in the north end of Boise. Most of the damage was to roads and the golf course, with some damage to 12 homes. In the Grand Canyon country of Arizona, two people died in flash flooding as they attempted to cross Phantom Creek. A German couple was injured by lightning while they were watched a thunderstorm at an isolated point overlooking the Grand Canyon. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
11-12 September 1976...Japan's 24-hour rainfall record was set as 44.80 inches of rain fell at Hiso in Tokuhima Prefecture as a result of Typhoon Fran, which also was responsible for 167 deaths in Japan. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
12 September 1775...The Independence Hurricane caught many fishing boats on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland killing 4000 seamen, most from Britain and Ireland. (The Weather Doctor)
12 September 1857...The S.S. Central America sank while in the midst of a hurricane off the North Carolina coast after beginning to take on water the previous day (11^th). Approximately 400 people onboard were lost, the greatest single loss from a commercial ship due to a hurricane. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
12 September 1960...Hurricane Donna made landfall on central Long Island and then tracked across New England. Wind gusts reached 140 mph at the Blue Hills Observatory in Milton, MA and 130 mph at Block Island, RI. MacDowell Dam in New Hampshire recorded 7.25 inches of rain. Although a record tide of 6.1 feet occurred at the Battery in New York City, elsewhere fortunately the storm did not make landfall at the high tides so its effects were minimized. This was the first hurricane to affect every point along the East Coast from Key West, FL to Caribou, ME. (Intellicast)
12 September 1979...Hurricane Frederick smashed into the Mobile Bay area of Alabama packing 132-mph winds. Wind gusts to 145 mph were reported as the eye of the hurricane moved over Dauphin Island, AL, just west of Mobile. Frederick produced a fifteen-foot storm surge near the mouth of Mobile Bay. Winds gusted to hurricane force at Meridian, MS although the city is 140 miles inland. The hurricane was responsible for five fatalities and was the costliest in U.S. history causing $2.3 billion damage. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
13-16 September 2004….Hurricane Ivan affected coastal Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle, with landfall near Gulf Shores, AL early on the 16th. Before breaking loose of its mooring, a buoy just south of the Alabama coastal waters reported a peak wave height of 52 feet on the 15th. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
14 September 1988...Pressure in the eye of Hurricane Gilbert moving across the Caribbean Sea fell to 885 millibars (26.17 inches of mercury), the lowest recorded barometric pressure in the Western Hemisphere. Ultimately, 318 die in seven countries across the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.
15 September 1752...A great hurricane produced a tide (storm surge) along the South Carolina coast that nearly inundated downtown Charleston. However, just before the tide reached the city, a shift in the wind caused the water level to drop five feet in ten minutes. (David Ludlum)
16 September 1928...Hurricane San Felipe, a monster hurricane, which left 600 dead in Guadeloupe and 300 dead in Puerto Rico, struck West Palm Beach, FL causing enormous damage, and then headed for Lake Okeechobee. Peak winds were near 150 mph. The high winds and storm waves broke the eastern dike on Lake Okeechobee, inundating flat farmland. When the storm was over, the lake covered an area the size of the state of Delaware, and beneath its waters were 1836 victims. The only survivors were those who reached large hotels for safety, and a group of fifty people who got onto a raft to take their chances out in the middle of the lake. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
15 September 1995…The heavy rain from remnants of Hurricane Ismael that had formed in the eastern North Pacific produced up to ten inches of rain in southeastern New Mexico. In Hobbs water was waist deep on some streets and eight feet deep on soccer fields. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
16 September 1988...Hurricane Gilbert made landfall 120 miles south of Brownsville, TX in Mexico during the early evening. Winds gusted to 61 mph at Brownsville, and reached 82 mph at Padre Island. Six-foot tides eroded three to four feet of beaches along the Lower Texas Coast, leaving the waterline seventy-five feet farther inland. Rainfall totals ranged up to 8.71 in. at Lamark, TX. Gilbert caused $3 million in property damage along the Lower Texas Coast, but less than a million dollars damage along the Middle Texas Coast. During its life, Gilbert established an all-time record for the Western Hemisphere with a sea-level barometric pressure reading of 26.13 inches. Winds approached 200 mph, with higher gusts. Gilbert devastated Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (The Weather Channel)
17 September 1963...Nearly two and a half inches of rain fell at Yuma, AZ in 24 hrs. This rain, from Tropical Storm Katherina, was the most intense rain for Yuma during the period between 1909 and 1977. (The Weather Channel)
17-23 September 1989...Hurricane Hugo hit the Virgin Islands on the 17th, producing wind gusts to 97 mph at Saint Croix. Hurricane Hugo passed directly over the island of Saint Croix causing complete devastation and essentially cutting off the island's communications systems. A storm surge of five to seven feet occurred at Saint Croix. The only rain gauge left operating, at Caneel Bay, indicated 9.40 in. in 24 hrs. Hurricane Hugo claimed the lives of three persons at Saint Croix, and caused more than $500 million in damage. A ship, Nightcap, in the harbor of Culebra, measured wind gusts as high as 170 mph. On the 18th, Hugo hit Puerto Rico, producing a storm surge of four to six feet, and northeastern sections of the island were deluged with more than ten inches of rain. Hugo claimed the lives of a dozen persons in Puerto Rico, and caused $1 billion in property damage, including $100 million in crop losses. On the 21st, Hugo slammed into the South Carolina coast at about 11 p.m., making landfall near Sullivans Island. Hurricane Hugo was directly responsible for thirteen deaths, and indirectly responsible for twenty-two others. A total of 420 persons were injured in the hurricane, and damage was estimated at $8 billion, including $2 billion damage to crops. Sustained winds reached 85 mph at Folly Beach SC, with wind gusts as high was 138 mph. Wind gusts reached 98 mph at Charleston, and 109 mph at Shaw AFB. The highest storm surge occurred in the McClellanville and Bulls Bay area of Charleston County, with a storm surge of 20.2 ft reported at Seewee Bay. Shrimp boats were found one half-mile inland at McClellanville. On the 22nd, Hugo quickly lost strength over South Carolina, but still was a tropical storm as it crossed into North Carolina, just west of Charlotte, at about 7 a.m. Winds around Charlotte reached 69 mph, with gusts to 99 mph. Eighty percent of the power was knocked out to Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Property damage in North Carolina was $210 million, and damage to crops was $97 million. The greatest storm surge occurred along the southern coast shortly after midnight, reaching nine feet above sea level at Ocean Isle and Sunset Beach. Hugo killed one person and injured fifteen others in North Carolina. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)
17 September 1996…Remnants of Hurricane Fausto that had initially formed over the eastern Pacific and moved northeastward from Mexico reformed into a powerful coastal storm in Atlantic waters off the Del-Mar-Va Peninsula, before passing Cape Cod in eastern Massachusetts. Winds gusted to 50 mph and rainfall was up to four inches. Minor coastal flooding in the New York City metropolitan area. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)