WEEKLY WATER NEWS

DATASTREME WES WEEK FOUR: 11-15 February 2008

Water in the News

(Thurs.) New glider taken for a test -- Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and a local Massachusetts company recently completed the first test of their environmentally powered robotic vehicle or "glider" that uses heat energy extracted from the ocean for propulsion. [EurekAlert!]
(Thurs.) Global water crisis is looming -- The U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently warned that the planet is faced with a looming crisis over water shortages and that this crisis should be placed on top of the global agenda this year so action can be taken to prevent future conflicts over scarce water supplies. [US Water News Online]
(Thurs.) Tropical plant growth boosted by nitrogen pollution -- Ecologists at the University of California, Irvine have discovered that excess nitrogen in tropical rainforests, or "nitrogen pollution" in the air and river runoff from the application of nitrogen fertilizers, appears to boost plant growth in these rainforests by approximately 20 percent, which could have an impact upon long-term climate issues. [University of California, Irvine]
(Thurs.) Overall effects of warming trend could be masked in oceans by winds -- Scientists at the United Kingdom's University of Liverpool and at Duke University in the US claim that based upon a 50-year record of North Atlantic temperatures, variations in the large-scale wind patterns, such as the North Atlantic Oscillation, could be masking the overall effect of increases in global temperatures within the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean because of a complex pattern of heat storage within that basin. [EurekAlert!]
(Tues.) NOAA celebrates multiculturalism -- NOAA celebrates Black History Month 2008 by honoring "Carter G. Woodson and the Origin of Multiculturalism." Dr. Woodson was an author of several books on multiculturalism in America during the early 20th century. [NOAA]
(Tues.) Climate "tipping points" are identified -- An international team of scientists from the United Kingdom, the US and Germany has identified nine key components in the earth's climate system that could pass their "tipping points" or critical thresholds during this century that would have long-term climatic consequences, along with the estimated time that a major transition would occur. [EurekAlert!] The cited "tipping elements" or components in the climate system that could be affected by anthropogenic forcing include Arctic sea ice, ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica, the boreal forest, the Amazon rainforest, El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), monsoonal regimes in India and Africa and the Atlantic thermohaline circulation. [EurekAlert!]
(Tues.) Antarctic expedition reveals climatic importance of the Southern Ocean -- An international team of scientists participating in an Antarctic scientific expedition onboard the Alfred Wegener Institute's research vessel Polarstern recently reported on their preliminary findings concerning the role that the Southern Ocean has upon the past, present and future climate, including how the large quantities of plankton in surface waters affect the global carbon cycle. [EurekAlert!]
(Tues.) Reconstructed proteins serve as proxy paleoclimatic indicator -- Researchers from the University of Florida and their colleagues in the private sector have reconstructed proteins from ancient bacteria that can be used to determine a planetary temperature record extending back into the Precambrian period, which indicates a general planetary cooling from 3.5 billion to 500 million years ago. [EurekAlert!]
(Tues.) Winters in the Northeast appear to be warmer with less snow -- Although residents across the Great Lakes States might take exception due to this winter's snow, scientists at the University of New Hampshire claim that their analysis of weather data across the Northeast between 1965 and 2005 would indicate an increase in December through March temperatures of approximately 2.5 Fahrenheit degrees along with a reduction in the winter snowfall by as much as three inches in a decade across New England. Researchers at the Northeastern Regional Climate Center and the National Climatic Data Center also report reductions in snow across the Northeast, but some increases across the eastern Great Lakes. [MSNBC]
(Tues.) Rivers could provide clues to global carbon cycle -- A professor at Northwestern University along with colleagues from other nations has been studying how rivers process carbon compounds in an attempt to determine how carbon cycles through the planetary system. They conclude that carbon processing in rivers represents a larger component in global carbon cycling that previously thought. [EurekAlert!]
(Tues.) Another NOAA Weather Radio transmitter hits the airwaves -- A new NOAA Weather Radio-All Hazards transmitter was recently installed at Mt. Baldy near Salmon, ID that insures increased access to current weather information and forecasts across southeast central Idaho from the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Missoula, MT. Currently, over 850 NOAA Weather Radio transmitters are in operation across the US, its territories, possessions and adjacent coastal waters. [NOAA News]
Eye on the tropics -- As austral summer continues, tropical cyclones (low pressure systems originating in the tropics) remained active across the western South Pacific and South Indian Ocean basins:
- In the western South Pacific, Tropical Cyclone Gene finally dissipated near the midpoint of last week. This tropical cyclone became a major system, reaching category 3 status on the Saffir-Simpson Intensity Scale, causing damage and death in Fiji and Vanuatu. An image from the Japanese MTSAT satellite early last week shows the characteristic swirl of clouds surrounding Gene, along with the relatively clear central eye, a signature of many tropical cyclones. [NOAA OSEI] Shortly thereafter, an image generated from data collected by the scatterometer sensor on the QuikSCAT satellite shows the winds surrounding the Gene, forming a clockwise circulation around a Southern Hemisphere low pressure system with a traditional nearly calm eye. [NASA Earth Observatory]
- In the South Indian Ocean basin, the sixteenth tropical cyclone of the season for that basin developed as Tropical Cyclone Hondo early last week east of Diego Garcia. Hondo became a major Category-4 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Intensity Scale. As of late Sunday, Hondo was traveling to the south-southeast across the Indian Ocean. An image made from the data collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite shows the clouds circulating around Tropical Cyclone at about the time when this system reached category-4 status. [NASA Earth Observatory]
  Farther to the east, Tropical Cyclone 17S, also developed late last week, but remained relatively weak, reaching the intensity equivalent of a marginal tropical storm in the North Atlantic basin. It was beginning to dissipate as it moved eastward to the northwest of Australia over the weekend.
  The eighteenth tropical cyclone of the season, Tropical Cyclone Ivan, developed late last week over the waters of the South Indian Ocean west of Diego Garcia and reached category 1 status. It was moving to the southeast during the weekend. An image obtained from the METEOSAT satellite shows last week's three systems, Tropical Cyclones Hondo, Ivan and 17S. [NOAA OSEI]
Severe weather outbreak monitored from space -- One of the worst severe weather outbreaks to strike the nation in February ripped through the Mid-South last Tuesday, resulting in over 55 fatalities. An image generated from data collected by sensors onboard NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (TRMM) shows the heavy rainfall rates from the thunderstorms that accompanied this winter storm. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Flooding in the Southern Hemisphere -- Sequences of images obtained from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellites show the magnitude of flooding during January across Bolivia [NASA Earth Observatory] and in southern Africa. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Advisory council membership applications sought for a national marine sanctuary -- NOAA’s Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in northern Lake Huron is seeking applications for its advisory council, which encourages public participation in sanctuary management along with providing advice to the sanctuary's superintendent. [NOAA News]
International cooperation on mariculture program -- Researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey recently received a grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that is intended to enhance a collaborative effort with Egyptian and Israeli scientists in the development of a land-based integrated mariculture system in Egypt and Israel for a variety of marine products involving the recycling of fish stock excretions. [EurekAlert!]
Winds could be a major player in large fluctuations in fisheries -- Using data collected for more than fifty years as part of the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations program, researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography claim that changes in the near-surface wind patterns over the eastern North Pacific due to changes in the climate appear to be a major contributing factor in the mid-20th century collapse of the sardine population in ocean waters off the California coast. [Scripps Institution of Oceanography]
Coral reefs could be protected by an ocean "thermostat" -- Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Australian Institute of Marine Science report that natural processes may be acting to serve as an ocean "thermostat", which would help regulate sea surface temperatures especially in regions of the western Pacific Ocean with a certain temperature range, thereby helping protect some coral reefs from major damage caused by global climate change. [UCAR/NCAR]
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 -20ºC (-5ºF) and relative humidity of 50%. If that air were brought indoors and heated to 21ºC (70ºF), 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 18ºC (65ºF).

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)