WEEKLY WATER NEWS

9-13 June 2008

Water in the Earth System will return for Fall 2008 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 25 August 2008. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Water in the News:

• Eye on the tropics -- At the start of last week, two named tropical cyclones were found in the North Atlantic Basin and the Western North Pacific, but by the end of the week, the weather across the tropics became relatively quiet.
  In the North Atlantic Basin, Tropical Storm Arthur, the first named tropical cyclone of the 2008 hurricane season in that basin formed over the waters of the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Belize last weekend. This system moved inland and finally dissipated over Central America by early last week. Images of the clouds associated with this tropical storm and remnants of Tropical Storm Alma, the first named tropical cyclone of the season to form over the waters of the eastern North Pacific can be found in the NASA Hurricane Page. Images made obtained from the MODIS instruments on NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites show both systems. [NASA Earth Observatory]
  In the western North Pacific, Super Typhoon Nakri continued to travel to the northeast, passing to the south of the Japanese islands. This typhoon, which had earlier reached category 4 status on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, finally dissipated by midweek. Additional information and images of Typhoon Nakri are available. [NASA Hurricane Page] [Editor's Note: The notation appearing on this webpage is incorrect as all references to "eastern" should be replaced by "western" throughout this description. EJH]
• Flood hazard remains after earthquake -- Fearful that devastating floods could occur because of dam failures in the wake of last month's major 7.9-magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan Basin, government officials have lowered the levels of some reservoirs, as revealed by the recent image of Zipingku Reservoir made last week by instruments on Taiwan’s Formosat satellite. [NASA Earth Observatory] A strong aftershock over this past weekend shook a lake that had been generated by the May earthquake. [CNN]
• California is officially in a drought -- Last week, California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared the Golden State to be in a statewide drought following two years of below average precipitation that includes the driest spring (March, April and May) across northern sections of the state. The governor's declaration included a directive for the state's Department of Water Resources to speed transfers of water to the most drought-stricken areas, as well as to encourage water conservation. [MSNBC]
• Asian and African droughts are documented -- Images of the "vegetation anomaly" generated from data collected by satellite sensors describe the health of the vegetation and help researchers determine the effect of drought conditions upon the vegetation. An image from France's SPOT Vegetation last April shows the effects of the extreme drought that had developed across the Fertile Crescent region of Iraq and Syria during this past winter. [NASA Earth Observatory] Another SPOT image shows the drought conditions across Ethiopia and Somalia in eastern Africa. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Tornado season on a record pace -- Experts with NOAA's Storm Prediction Center and the National Severe Storms Laboratory recently announced that 2008 could set records for the numbers of tornadoes and tornado-related deaths due to the rash of tornado outbreaks during the first five months of the year. [NOAA News]
• Aid provided for Alabama shoreline restoration -- NOAA officials recently announced plans to invest money through its Restoration Center and "Living Shorelines" restoration practice to help local organizations restore Alabama's Mobile Bay and adjacent coastline. [NOAA News]
• Glory seen over Pacific from space -- An image made of a cloud deck over the eastern North Pacific Ocean by the MODIS sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite shows an optical phenomenon called a "glory", or a set of concentric rainbow-like rings due to interference (diffraction) patterns in the polychromatic sunlight reflected from the tops of the clouds. The image also shows Von Kármán vortices in the clouds due to islands of Mexico's Baja California. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Greening of southern California burn areas could pose risk -- A series of images obtained from the MODIS instruments on NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites from October 2007 through May 2008 shows a return of lush "green" vegetation across sections of southwestern California after last fall's devastating wildfires, followed by a drying of this vegetation by late spring, which could pose new wildfire danger. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Potential new approach to purifying drinking water -- Engineers at Duke University have demonstrated a potentially means of purifying drinking water using strands of a genetic material that would target a matching section of a gene found in a common waterborne fungus, causing the fungus to stop working. [EurekAlert!]
• Hawaiian VOG seen from space -- A photograph taken last month by an astronaut on the International Space Station shows the volcanic fog locally called VOG that spread across Hawaii's Big Island and surrounding waters from the Kilauea volcano. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• High-tech underwater robots unveiled -- Researchers at the University of Washington have designed and tested a small underwater robot called "Robofish" that can be used to communicate with the scientists or work with other underwater robots for submarine exploration. [University of Washington News]
• Women in the geoscience academic community -- A report issued by the American Geological Institute (AGI) Workforce Program shows that while the number of women obtaining degrees in the geosciences has increased in the last several decades, the percentage of female faculty members in the geosciences remains below the other sciences. [AGI] [Editor's note: This one-page pdf file requires a viewer. EJH]
• Climate change could threaten ocean life -- Researchers at the Climate Adaptation National Research Flagship, an organization within Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, warn that the changes in climate could have a profound influence on oceanic ecosystems and they encourage the international scientific community to conduct more research into studying these effects. [CSIRO]
• Glacial earthquakes could provide clues on ice stream movement -- Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, Penn State University and the United Kingdom's University of Newcastle have been studying seismic recordings and GPS (Global Positioning System) measurements across the Whillians Ice Stream in West Antarctica, finding that this ice stream moves two feet twice daily in an earthquake-like pattern, with the so-called "glacial earthquakes" having a magnitude ranging between 7.0 and 7.9. [NSF News]
• Ice found near the Mars Lander -- Scientists think that a relatively smooth slab of ice may be under the Phoenix Mars Lander, exposed when the craft landed late last month and the thrusters below away some of the Martian soil. [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.

Historical Events:

• 11 June 1965...Heavy rains fell on unusually deep snowpack in the high Uinta Mountains of Utah. After local midnight, a flash flood roared down Sheep Creek Canyon, destroying three recreational areas, seven bridges and five miles of newly paved roads. Seven people were swept away while sleeping at Palisades Campground. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 11 June 1972...Heavy showers brought 1.64 in. of rain to Phoenix, AZ, a record for the month of June. (The Weather Channel)
• 12 June 1983...The state of Utah was besieged by floods and mudslides. Streets in downtown Salt Lake City were sandbagged and turned into rivers. The town of Thistle was completely inundated as a mudslide made a natural dam. (The Weather Channel)
• 12 June 1991...On the same day that Mt Pinatubo in the Philippines awakened from its 635-year slumber, Typhoon Yunya crossed Luzon province. Mudslides and flooding caused many deaths and when added to the impacts of Pinatubo left more than a million homeless. (The Weather Doctor)
• 12-13 June 2000...With 15 to 20 in. of rain falling on parts of Grand Forks County in North Dakota, flooding waters washed out a gravel road to a depth of 30 ft west of Larimore. Two men in a vehicle were killed when they drove into this newly-formed canyon. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 13 June 1977...A tropical cyclone crossed the Arabian Sea from near the Laccadive Islands off southwest India and slammed into the island of Masirah, sultanate of Oman. Winds reached at least 104 mph and the 24-hour rainfall total was 16.95 inches. About 99% of buildings were damaged. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 13 June 1996...Thunderstorms dropped 5 to 8 inches of rain on Leverett and Montague, MA in 4 hours. Thirty miles of roadway were ruined, with all but one road in Leverett destroyed. Flash flooding destroyed a 200-foot long bridge, which was replaced by a 50-foot deep canyon. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 14 June 1903...The "Heppner Disaster" occurred in Oregon. A cloudburst in the hills sent a flood down Willow Creek, and a twenty foot wall of water swept away a third of the town in minutes, killing 236 residents and causing $100 million damage. (David Ludlum)
• 14 June 1990...Four inches of rain in about 75 minutes on the saturated headwaters of Pipe and Wegee Creeks and the Cumberland Run in southeastern Ohio created a wall of water 10 to 30 ft high that devastated the community of Shadyside. Twenty-four people were killed. One person reported ankle-deep water running down the side of a hill when he was seeking higher ground. Some bodies were found in the Ohio River 30 miles downstream. (Intellicast) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 14 June 1998...Flooding from 13.18 inches of rain falling in 24 hours at Atlantic, IA destroyed 21 homes. Saturated soil around Lake Panorama began sliding into the lake in the evening. Three homes "cracked" beyond repair as the ground sank 12 to 18 inches. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 15 June 1662...A fast was held at Salem, MA with prayers for rain, and the Lord gave a speedy answer. (David Ludlum)
• 15 June 1879...McKinney, ND received 7.7 inches of rain in 24 hours, a state record. This 24-hour state precipitation record has since been broken in June 1975 with an 8.10-inch reading. (The Weather Channel)
• 15 June 1957...East Saint Louis, IL was deluged with 16.54 inches of rain in 24 hours, a record for the state of Illinois. In July 1996, this record was broken when 16.91 inches fell. (The Weather Channel)
• Month of June...According to a 1969 US Army technical report, the average dewpoint temperature at Ras Andahglie and Assab, Eritrea (Ethiopia) average slightly more than 84ºF. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)

Return to DataStreme WES website

Prepared by AMS WES Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2008, The American Meteorological Society.