WEEKLY WATER NEWS

DataStreme WES Week Four: 12-16 February 2007

Water in the News

(Thurs.) Two hundred years of federal science and service are on display -- The NOAA Administrator and Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere recently unveiled an exhibit entitled "Treasures of NOAA’s Ark: Journey Through Time" that display the science, stewardship and service that NOAA and its predecessor agencies have engaged in for the last 200 years. [NOAA News]
(Thurs.) How Earth's climate did not suffer the same fate as Mars -- A team of scientists from the University of Chicago and the University of Colorado at Boulder report that their analysis of some of the oldest known sedimentary rocks found along the eastern shore of Hudson Bay in Quebec indicates that sufficiently high atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide prior to 3.75 billion years ago helped planet Earth have above freezing temperatures and avoid a fate similar to Mars by helping maintain higher temperatures. [EurekAlert!]
(Thurs.) Sacramento Rivers levees pose hazard -- Like many other states the levees along the Sacramento River in central California are weak and may fail under serious flooding. Old levees have not been maintained in most locations. [Wash. Post]
(Tues.) NOAA incident meteorologists provide help "Down Under" -- A group of Incident Meteorologists from the National Weather Service recently arrived in Australia to lend fire weather support to the stressed Australian Bureau of Meteorology as massive wildfires have caused at least one dozen deaths, destroyed hundreds of buildings and burnt thousands of acres of forests due to one of the worst droughts to hit that country in more than one century. [NOAA News]
(Tues.) Examining global change effects in Antarctica -- Researchers from the University of Texas at San Antonio recently completed a two-week trip to Antarctica onboard the Swedish icebreaker Oden as part of an international expedition to investigate the effects that the upward global temperature trend have had upon the size of the ice sheets that cover the ocean surrounding that continent. During their trip they made observations of sea ice, along with routine meteorological and oceanic observations. [EurekAlert!]
(Tues.) East Coast communities ready for Atlantic tsunami -- As many as nine communities along the East Coast from Florida north to Virginia have become certified by the National Weather Service as ready to respond to a possible tsunami that could travel across the western North Atlantic. A tsunami-detection monitor is currently deployed approximately 320 miles offshore of Charleston, SC. Seven tsunamis have been recorded along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts in the last 121 years. [USA Today]
(Tues.) Western drought sparks water battles -- A US Senator from Montana who is now the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee has set off another recent battle involving water across the parched West as he wants to tap water from a reservoir that stretches southward into Wyoming as part of the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area to feed a trout stream in his state. [MSNBC]
(Tues.) Desalination plant to be restarted -- A desalination plant operated by the US Bureau of Reclamation near Yuma, AZ that had been mothballed approximately 15 years ago is to be restarted in early March, on a trial basis. [US Water News Online]
Lake-effect snow continues to bury Upstate New York -- A persistent flow of cold air from the west across the open waters of Lake Ontario for nearly one week produced heavy accumulations of lake-effect snow across sections of Upstate New York to the east of the lake. Several locations in the Tug Hill Plateau and in Oswego County received snowfall totals from the current lake-effect snow event ranging between 85 and 115 inches by Sunday. [USA Today] A visible image from the MODIS instrument onboard one of NASA's orbiting satellites shows the lake-effect snow bands across New York State downwind of Lake Ontario, along with ice on several other lakes and the snow cover across Ontario, Pennsylvania and Ohio downwind of Lakes Huron and Ontario. [NOAA OSEI]
Effects of arctic air on the Sea of Okhotsk seen from space -- An image made one week ago by the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite shows the effect of the flow of arctic air from interior Siberia out over Russia's Sea of Okhotsk, with long streamer-like cloud streets over the open water, as well as the large ice floats that cover much of this sea, frozen because of the extended presence of cold air during the winter. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Tracking near surface winds in a tropical cyclone -- An image of near surface winds generated over one week ago by the SeaWinds Scatterometer on NASA’s QuikSCAT satellite shows the circulation around Tropical Cyclone Dora in the Southern Indian Ocean east of Madagascar. This tropical cyclone, a low-pressure system that formed over tropical waters ( the Indian Ocean's counterpart of a hurricane), reached a category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Intensity Scale. [NASA Earth Observatory] [Editor's note: Observe that the winds circulate in a clockwise fashion in toward the center of this Southern Hemisphere cyclone, the reverse of the counterclockwise low-level inflow into a Northern Hemisphere low-pressure system. EJH]
Next year's NOAA budget request announced -- The NOAA Administrator and Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere announced the NOAA request of $3.8 billion for its 2008 budget, with emphasis placed on several items, including support for the U.S. Ocean Action Plan, advancement of ocean science and research, improvement of weather warnings and forecasts and climate monitoring and research. [NOAA News]
Last year was warm -- Climatologists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) recently reported that their analysis of the annual average temperatures from around the world, including surface and satellite observations, leads them to conclude that 2006 was the fifth warmest year during the instrumental period extending back to 1880. [NASA Earth Observatory] Graphs of the temperature trends over the last century and maps of the surface temperature anomalies (arithmetic differences in observed and average temperatures) have been generated by GISS. [NASA GSFC] [Editor's note: Earlier, NOAA scientists at the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) reported that 2006 was also the fifth warmest since 1880. Additional graphics of temperature, snow cover and ice extent appear in this preliminary NCDC report. EJH ]
Flooding remained a problem in Indonesia -- Flood waters from torrential rains of over one week ago continued into the last week around Jakarta in Indonesia. Over 50 fatalities were reported. [USA Today]
Mercury found in river fish across the West -- The senior research ecologist at EPA's National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory in Corvallis, OR recently reported that a survey of over 2000 fish caught from the rivers of 12 Western states revealed mercury in most of the fish. He suggests that the mercury was from industrial pollution from around the world. [US Water News Online]
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: Controlling Indoor Humidity

In public buildings as well as individual homes, it is sometimes desirable to alter extremes of relative humidity so that living spaces are more comfortable. For human comfort, optimum relative humidity is between about 30% and 50%. When indoor air is exceptionally dry, a humidifier may be used to add water vapor to the air, but when indoor air is excessively muggy, a dehumidifier may be used to remove water vapor from the air.

As cold, dry winter air is drawn indoors and heated by a furnace, its relative humidity declines--sometimes to uncomfortably low levels. Suppose, for example, that outdoor air has a temperature of -20 ºC (-5 ºF) and relative humidity of 50%. If that air were brought indoors and heated to 21 ºC (70 ºF), its relative humidity drops to about 2% -- well below the optimal winter indoor relative humidity of 30% to 50%. At such very low relative humidity values, people often feel discomfort caused by dry skin and irritation of the mucus membranes in their nose and throat. Also, wood furniture dries out and may crack and become unjointed. Discharge of static electricity (e.g., after walking across a carpet and touching a metal doorknob) can be a nuisance in dry rooms.

One remedy for excessively low indoor relative humidity is a device known as a humidifier. A humidifier elevates the relative humidity of indoor air to more comfortable levels by evaporating water into the air (increasing the vapor pressure). A common humidifier design consists of a wheel that continually rotates a porous belt (or pads) into and out of a reservoir of water. A fan blows air through the wetted belt, water evaporates into the air stream, and the more humid air circulates through the dwelling.

On the other hand, a dehumidifier may be desirable during warm muggy summer days. In addition to discomfort caused by reduced evaporative cooling, high values of indoor humidity can increase the incidence of mold and mites. A dehumidifier lowers the relative humidity of indoor air to more comfortable levels by inducing condensation of water vapor (decreasing the vapor pressure). In a standard dehumidifier, a fan draws humid air past a cold refrigerated coil. Air in contact with the coil is chilled to saturation, water vapor condenses on the coils and liquid water drips from the coils into a collection reservoir or through a hose into a drain. Most dehumidifiers function best when the air temperature is at or above 18 ºC (65 ºF).

Click on forecast map for locations across the country where today's indoor relative humidity is expected to be too high or too low in the absence of any controls on indoor humidity. For an interactive applet (from the University of Wisconsin-Madison) that explores the relationships among temperature, dewpoint, and relative humidity, go to http://profhorn.meteor.wisc.edu/wxwise/museum/a7/a7exercise1.html. Follow instructions and note how the indoor relative humidity changes with changes in outdoor conditions.

Concept of the Week: Questions

A humidifier elevates the relative humidity by causing [(evaporation)(condensation)].
A dehumidifier reduces the relative humidity by causing [(evaporation)(condensation)].

Historical Events

12 February 1997...A combination of heavy surf and high winds contributed to the overturning of a U.S. Coast Guard motor life boat (MLB 44363) on a search and rescue mission when responding to a distress call from the sailing vessel Gale Runner in the stormy North Pacific Ocean off Washington State's Quillayute River Bar. Three of four crewmembers lost their lives in the first fatal sinking of this type of ship in its 35-year history. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (USCG Historian's Office)
13 February 1784...Ice floes blocked the Mississippi River at New Orleans, then passed into the Gulf of Mexico. The only other time this occurred was during the "Great Arctic Outbreak" of 1899. (David Ludlum)
13 February 1885...The "Friday the 13th" avalanche at Alva, UT killed sixteen persons, and left thirteen others buried for twelve hours before they were rescued. (David Ludlum)
13 February 1989...Showers and thunderstorms produced locally heavy rain and flash flooding from central Texas to western Pennsylvania. Up to ten inches of rain deluged western Kentucky in two days, with five-day totals ranging up to 13.16 inches at Gilbertsville Dam, KY. Flooding caused tens of millions of dollars damage, including $18 million damage at Frankfort, KY. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
13 February 1997...Ocean swells generated by a storm well to the northwest of the Hawaiian Islands generated surf with heights to 20 feet and some sets to 25 feet along the northern shores of the islands. A professional surfer was killed by 25-foot surf at Alligator Rock on Oahu's North Shore. Lifeguards aided more than thirty people. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
14 February 1954...A waterspout was observed two miles east of Baranof, AK, an unusual occurrence for Alaska, particularly in winter. Just prior to the formation of the waterspout, a "terrific wind from the south out of a bay inside Warm Springs Bay" lifted water 20 feet and looked "as if it were boiling". (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
15 February 1982...An intense cyclone (low pressure system) off the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland capsized the Ocean Ranger, a drilling rig, killing 84 persons, and sank a Soviet freighter resulting in 33 more deaths. The cyclone produced 80-mph winds that whipped the water into waves fifty feet high. (David Ludlum)
15 February 1998...A "rogue" wave from the Pacific Ocean swept into the harbor at Port Arena, CA. This wave continued through a harbor parking lot, depositing sand, debris and logs, as well as moving thirty parked vehicles. No injuries were sustained. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
16 February 1966...Heavy rain fell in Whenuapai, New Zealand, with 4.2 inches of rain falling in one hour, a new record for that time in New Zealand. (The Weather Doctor)
18 February 1967…Thirty-five members of several ski patrols gathered at Idaho's Skyline Ski Area southeast of Pocatello to study avalanche control. Unfortunately, an afternoon snowslide killed two people at the ski area while the class was being held. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)