WEEKLY WATER NEWS

DataStreme WES Week Seven: 13-17 March 2006

Water in the News:

(Thurs.) A portrait of braided river -- NASA recently released a photograph made by a crew onboard a spacecraft of a braided river that is flowing through erosional material in Tibet. [NASA]
(Thurs.) British suffering from drought -- London and southeastern England have been experiencing their second consecutive winter with below-average precipitation. The lack of adequate precipitation has resulted in various water restrictions. [USA Today]
(Thurs.) Potable water supply is a global problem -- A recent UN study claims that nearly 20 percent of the world's population lacks clean drinking water despite abundant supplies, due to environmental damage, poor water management and a lack of funds. [ENN]
(Wed.) Dam failure results in death in Paradise -- Torrential rain that fell across Hawaii's island of Kauai contributed to the failure of the earthen Kaloko Dam on Tuesday. At least one person was killed and seven people were missing as water flowed through the breached dam. Several houses were swept away and a major highway was cut, stranding tourists who could not reach the airport in Lihue. [CNN]
(Tues.) Stronger storms affect the mass and energy budget of the Earth -- Scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Columbia University have been analyzing satellite imagery of midlatitude storm systems. They conclude that although fewer storms have been detected, possibly because of increased global temperatures, the storms have produced more precipitation and resulted in increased temperature gradients between tropics and polar latitudes. [NASA GSFC]
(Tues.) African drought results in famine -- The director of the World Food Program recently reported that the lack of rain and worsening drought across east Africa is causing famine. [USA Today] Rain that fell across sections of east Africa earlier in March have been welcome, but have not been able to end the drought across the region. [USA Today]
(Tues.) Hurricanes and ocean eddies involved in "hostile takeovers" -- Scientists at Johns Hopkins University and Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a theoretical model that appears to explain how certain vortices, such as hurricanes and ocean eddies, can intensify by "hostile takeovers' of smaller neighboring systems. [EurekAlert!]
(Tues.) The nation's fleet of environmental satellites could be in trouble -- Budget cuts and cost overruns could seriously limit the number of satellites that the US government would launch in the next decade to monitor the planet's weather and climate. [USA Today]
(Tues.) Northern lakes appear to be thawing earlier -- An environmental group recently released a study entitled "On Thin Ice: The Melting of an American Pastime" that examined the ice cover records of more than 50 lakes in Maine, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York and Alaska. The group concluded that the lake ice was thawing about one week earlier than in the past. [USA Today]
Monitoring changes in polar ice caps -- NASA scientists using satellite-based mapping of the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica have concluded that these ice sheets have thinned, while sea level has correspondingly risen during a decade-long span of time. [NASA]
Precipitation finally reaches Arizona -- A late winter storm spread up to 14 inches of snow across northern Arizona and rain across southern sections of the state over the weekend. The region has been experiencing drought conditions. The official weather station for Phoenix reported 1.40 inches of rain on Saturday, ending a record 143 days without precipitation. [USA Today]
Fire weather updates --
- Fire officials in Arizona and New Mexico are concerned that the lack of substantial winter precipitation this year could cause an early start to the wildfire season across the Southwest. [USA Today]
- Rain fell across Kansas late last week only a day after more than 10,000 acres of grass land had been burned. This rain was quite welcome. [USA Today]
Avalanches could be deadly --
- As of late last week, as many as 86 people had been killed by avalanches in the Alps. Late season snowstorms along with more people skiing and snowboarding appear to have contributed to the rise in deaths. [USA Today]
- Earlier, five people, including two Americans, were killed by avalanches in the Swiss and French Alps at the beginning of the first full week of March. These avalanches were triggered by the heavy snowfall across the region. [USA Today]
- A skier was injured last week by an avalanche in northwestern Montana. [USA Today]
Lightning results in death in India -- Eleven people were killed and eight were injured by lightning in a 24-hour period as thunderstorms developed across central India a week ago. [USA Today]
Trees along streams could aid water supplies in Kansas -- The forester for the Kansas State Forest Service wants to have trees planted along the state's rivers as a means of improving and maintaining the water supply. [US Water News]
Ice sheets affected by rapid climatic change -- Researchers from Oregon State University have employed a new beryllium isotope dating technique to study the rocks left by the Scandinavian Ice Sheet more than 10,000 years ago. These researchers found that some of the ice increased during widespread warming because of increased snow. [EurekAlert!]
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

Although there are many positive aspects to dams (e.g., flood control, recreation, hydropower generation), dams also can 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:

13 March 1907...A storm produced a record 5.22 inches of rain in 24 hours at Cincinnati, OH. (12^th-13^th) (The Weather Channel)
13 March 1977...Baltimore MD received an inch of rain in eight minutes. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders - 1987)
13-15 March 1952...The world's 5-day rainfall record was set when a tropical cyclone produced 151.73 inches of rain at Cilos, Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. The 73.62 inches that fell in a 24-hour period (15^th-16^th) set the world's 24-hour rainfall record. (Accord's Weather Calendar)
13 March 1993...The "Great Blizzard of '93" clobbered the eastern US and produced perhaps the largest swath of heavy snow ever recorded. Heavy snow was driven to the Gulf Coast with 3 inches falling at Mobile, AL and up to 5 inches reported in the Florida Panhandle, the greatest single snowfall in the state's history. Thirteen inches blanketed Birmingham, AL to set not only a new 24 hour snowfall record for any month, but also set a record for maximum snow depth, maximum snow for a single storm, and maximum snow for a single month. Tremendous snowfall amounts occurred in the Appalachians. Mount Leconte in Tennessee recorded an incredible 60 inches. Mount Mitchell in North Carolina was not far behind with 50 inches. Practically every official weather station in West Virginia set a new 24-hour record snowfall. Farther to the north, Pittsburgh, PA measured 25 inches, Albany, NY checked in with 27 inches, and Syracuse, NY was buried under 43 inches. The major population corridor from Washington, DC to Boston, MA was not spared this time as all the big cities got about a foot of snow before a changeover to rain. A rather large amount of thunderstorm activity accompanied the heavy snow. Winds to hurricane force in gusts were widespread. Boston recorded a gust to 81 mph, the highest wind gust at that location since hurricane Edna in 1954. Numerous cities in the south and mid Atlantic states recorded their lowest barometric pressure ever as the storm bottomed out at 960 millibars (28.35 inches) over Chesapeake Bay. Some 208 people were killed by the storm and total damage was estimated at $6 billion-- the costliest extratropical storm in history. (Intellicast)
14 March 1944...A single storm brought a record 21.6 inches of snow to Salt Lake City UT. (The Weather Channel)
14 March 1960...Northern Georgia was between snowstorms. Gainesville GA received 17 inches of snow during the month, and reported at least a trace of snow on the ground 22 days in March. Snow was on roofs in Hartwell, GA from the 2nd to the 29th. (The Weather Channel)
15 March 1952...Over 72 (73.62) inches of rain fell on Cilaos, Reunion Island in the western Indian Ocean, the greatest global 24-hour total rainfall. (The Weather Doctor)
15 March 1988...More than one hundred hours of continuous snow finally came to an end at Marquette MI, during which time the city was buried under 43 inches of snow. Unseasonably cold weather prevailed in the southeastern U.S., with forty-one cities reporting record low temperatures for the date. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
16 March 1889...A war between the U.S. and Germany was likely averted as a hurricane sank all three U.S. and three German warships in the harbor at Apia, Samoa. Joint U.S., German and Samoan rescue efforts led to the Treaty of Berlin (1889) that later settled the dispute. (Accord's Weather Calendar)
16 March 1975...A single storm brought 119 inches of snow to Crater Lake OR establishing a state record. (The Weather Channel)
16 March 1987...Softball size hail caused millions of dollars damage to automobiles at Del Rio TX. Three persons were injured when hailstones crashed through a shopping mall skylight. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (The Weather Channel)
16 March 1989...A winter storm brought heavy snow and high winds to the southwestern U.S. Winds gusted to 60 mph at Lovelock NV, Salt Lake City UT, and Fort Carson CO. Snow fell at a rate of three inches per hour in the Lake Tahoe area of Nevada. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
17 March 1878...Late-winter thunderstorm produced thunder that boomed like cannon fire in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A lightning bolt entered a home, hurling a young woman sitting at the family piano across the room. (The Weather Doctor)
17 March 1993...A natural dam formed by a landslide three years earlier collapsed because of runoff from rainfall. A wall of water, debris and mud measuring 3 feet high by 45 feet wide crossed I-15 20 miles south of Cedar City, UT. Four injuries were sustained as several vehicles were rolled or tipped over. (Accord's Weather Calendar)
17 March 1998...Calgary, Alberta experienced its worst March snowstorm in 113 years, measuring 13 inches of snow at the airport and from 15 to 18 inches in other parts of the city. (The Weather Doctor)
19 March 1964...Up to 39 inches of snow fell at Cape Whittle for Quebec's greatest one-day snow total. (The Weather Doctor)