WEEKLY WATER NEWS

DataStreme WES Week Twelve: 1-5 December 2008

Water in the News:

(Tues.) Venice floods -- Winds and tides combined to flood central Venice, Italy with its highest water in decades, 1.56 m (5 ft) above normal. Even the famous gondolas couldn't operate as the access docks were under water. Extensive damage to homes has occurred. [BBC News]
Eye on the tropics --- With the end of the official hurricane seasons in both the North Atlantic and eastern North Pacific basins, neither basin experienced tropical cyclone activity during the last week. Likewise, no activity was found across the western North Pacific. Only the tropical North Indian Ocean was active. The ninth tropical cyclone of 2008 in the Indian Ocean basin, Tropical Cyclone Nisha (or 6B), developed last week over the waters between Sri Lanka and India. Moving westward, this cyclone made landfall along the southeast coast of India. An image of the clouds surrounding Tropical Cyclone Nisha was made by the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite. More information can be obtained about Nisha on the NASA Hurricane Page.
The 2008 hurricane seasons reviewed -- Although tropical storms and hurricanes could continue to form, the official 2008 hurricane season in both the North Atlantic and North Pacific ended yesterday Sunday, 30 November 2008. [AMS DataStreme Atmosphere] Hurricane forecasters at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center suggest that the reason for the very active Atlantic hurricane season was a combination of several factors that included a the phase of a multi-decadal signal that favored increased hurricane activity; a lingering La Niña event; and above average tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures at the height of hurricane season. [NOAA News]
Historic shipwreck found -- Maritime archaeologists from Ships of Discovery, an underwater archaeology research institute, recently announced that during a NOAA-supported diving mission in Atlantic waters off the Turks and Caicos Islands they discovered the wreck of the Spanish vessel Trouvadore, a historic slave ship that ran aground on a reef in 1842. [NOAA News]
Another space view of the California burn areas -- High-resolution imagery obtained from the Advanced Land Imager on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 satellite several weeks ago show the region between Riverside and Los Angeles, CA that experienced recent wildfires that were spread by Santa Ana winds. This burn region could be susceptible to mudslides if locally heavy rains fall across Southern California. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Water's role in shaping societies studied -- Norwegian professor, writer and film maker Terje Tvedt, of the Universities of Oslo and Bergen recently argued that historians and others in the social studies arena should be considering the unique and fundamental role that water has played in the shaping of societies throughout human history. He claims that water is essential for survival and that it remains the same in both time and space. [EurekAlert!]
"Phytocapping" a solution to greenhouse gas pollution -- Researchers from Australia's Central Queensland University report that planting of trees and other vegetation on top of sanitary landfills (garbage dumps) in a process called "phytocapping", could reduce the production and release of methane and carbon dioxide gases to the atmosphere during the biodegradation of organic material in the landfill. They also claim that the conventional approach to capping the site with compacted clay minimizes water percolation into the landfill, which delays the natural biodegradation process. [EurekAlert!]
"Green Great Wall" could improve environmental conditions -- A recent report published in the Journal of the American Water Resources Association indicates that the "Green Great Wall", an extensive forest shelterbelt project running across northern China parallel to the Great Wall, should improve climatic and hydrological conditions, with a projected increase in precipitation by up to 20 percent and a decrease in regional temperatures. [EurekAlert!]
Mercury levels in red snapper could be raised by shrimp trawling -- Research conducted at Texas Christian University and Louisiana State University indicates the sharp reduction in the population of popular red snapper in the coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico appears to be related to the shrimp trawling operations that have increased the level of toxic mercury in young snapper as the shrimp nets are dragged across and agitates deposits of mercury on the Gulf's floor. [EurekAlert!]
Ocean acidification grows at a rapid pace -- Scientists from the University of Chicago scientists claim that their research indicates the world's oceans are growing more acidic at a rate that is faster than previously thought. They have found that this increasing ocean acidity correlates with increasing concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide. [EurekAlert!]
Light pollution could affect coral reef health-- An international team of researchers from the US and Austria have developed the Lights Proximity Index that can be used to determine how the nighttime light pollution from urban areas, fishing vessels and oil/gas flares affects the health of coral reefs in the waters surrounding Puerto Rico, both directly and indirectly. [EurekAlert!]
Predicting iceberg calving -- Researchers from Penn State University, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and several other academic institutions claim that they have derived a relationship that should improve their climate models in predicting where icebergs would calve from parent ice sheets. These researchers report that the rate at which ice shelves spread appears to be the most important variable in when an iceberg breaks, while other factors involve the width of the ice shelf and its thickness. [EurekAlert!]
Past climates could provide view of future -- A comprehensive reconstruction of the extremely warm mid-Pliocene period (3.3 to 3.0 million years ago) conducted by the Pliocene Research, Interpretation and Synoptic Mapping (PRISM) group, which was led by the US Geological Survey, indicates that a sensitivity of the Earth's climate system to changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, as well as to strong influences by ocean temperatures and heat transport away from equatorial regions. [USGS]
An All-Hazards Monitor -- This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, drought, floods, marine weather, tsunamis, rip currents, Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and coral bleaching. [NOAAWatch]
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: Change in the Earth System

In 1881, Henri Louis Le Chátelier (1850-1936) formulated a general law of chemistry: "If a system at equilibrium is subjected to a stress, the equilibrium will shift in an attempt to reduce the stress." This reasoning provides insight into the behavior of systems. The interaction of subsystems within the Earth system involves the transfer of mass and energy. A stress or disturbance of a subsystem will thus affect the other subsystems to varying degrees.

The final week of the course is an appropriate occasion for us to revisit and reflect on the paradigm that guided our investigation of water in the Earth system and to consider how this system will react to stresses resulting from both natural and human disturbances.

The global water cycle encompasses the flow of water, energy, and water-borne materials, as well as their interactions with organisms in the Earth system. Water's unique combination of physical and chemical properties, its co-existence as vapor, liquid, and solid within the temperature and pressure ranges found on Earth, and its role as an essential ingredient of life, places it center stage in the interactive functioning of the planet's sub-systems. As the principal atmospheric greenhouse gas, water vapor brings temperatures into the range required for life on Earth. Powered by the sun, the water cycle couples the living and non-living components of Earth into an evolving system. Human activity is an integral and inseparable part of the water cycle, impacting and impacted by both the quantity and quality of water.

The burning of fossil fuels appears to be a major contributor to the increased amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere. Le Chátelier would describe this anthropogenic increase as a stress on the system. By altering the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, human activity may be modifying climate on a global scale. The Earth system and its various interdependent subsystems may respond to this disturbance by shifting to a new climate state. The interdependency of Earth's various subsystems and biogeochemical cycles implies that such a shift will have implications for the distribution of water within the global water cycle and for fresh water resources (e.g., changes in glacial ice cover, sea level, drought frequency).

Concept of the Week: Questions

After completing DataStreme WES, I now understand the global water cycle as a flow of [(mass) (energy) (both mass and energy)].
After completing DataStreme WES, I now understand that human activity [(may) (may not)] impact the Earth system with implications for the water cycle and water resources.

Historical Events:

2 December 1959...Malpasset Dam collapsed destroying the French Riviera town of Fréjus, killing 412 people. (Infoplease.com)
2 December 1972...The largest sinkhole in the US, "December Giant," formed in Alabama.
3-10 December 1926...Record rain fell on Yuma, AZ over a one week period. On the 4^th 1.10 inches of rain fell, and by the 10^th a total of 4.43 inches had fallen, to set an all-time December monthly record. The mean annual precipitation for Yuma is only 3.38 inches. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
3 December 1952...A remarkable display of sea smoke was seen in Hong Kong harbor. The sea-smoke, induced by a strong surge of arctic air, poured from the water of Kowloon Bay from 8 AM to 9:30 AM. The air temperature near the sea wall was 44 degrees. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
3 December 1982...Big Fork, AR received 14.06 inches of rain, setting a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the state. (NCDC)
4 December 1786...The first of two great early December storms began. The storm produced 18 inches of snow at Morristown, NJ, and twenty inches of snow at New Haven, CT. It also resulted in high seas at Nantucket which did great damage. (David Ludlum)
4 December 1964...One of the worst ice storms on record was in progress across Massachusetts and eastern New York. Ice accretions reached 1.5 inches in some places. Well over 80,000 homes lost power. Some homes did not have power for 5 days. (Intellicast)
4-13 December 1991...Tropical Cyclone Val with gusts to 150 mph caused $700 million damage. Seventeen deaths were reported in American and Western Samoa, with 95 percent of the houses in Savaii either destroyed or badly damaged. Savaii was essentially hit twice by Val as the system completed a loop on the 8^th. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
4 December 2003...A tropical depression became Tropical Storm Odette in the Caribbean well south of Kingston, Jamaica, becoming the first December tropical storm of record to form in the Caribbean Sea. Odette made landfall on near Cabo Falso, Dominican Republic on 6 December, causing eight deaths and destroying 35 percent of the banana crop. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
5 December 1949...A typhoon struck fishing fleet off Korea; several thousand men reported dead. (Infoplease.com)
5-9 December 1952...Fog and industrial pollution combined to form the worst smog experienced by London, England. Approximately 1000 tons of dirt particles were trapped in the air. Water droplets and sulfur dioxide combined to form sulfuric acid droplets. As many as 4000 deaths resulted, mainly the old and the ill. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
5-6 December 1968...A Genoa low (pressure system) brought heavy rain and snow to northern Italy. Venice received 4.21 inches of rain on the night of the 5^th-6^th, well above the December average rainfall of 2.40 inches. St. Mark's Square was flooded to a depth of 57 inches. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
6 December 1866...The first water supply tunnel for a U.S. city was completed for Chicago, IL. The Chicago Lake Tunnel extended 10,587 feet under Lake Michigan to a 5-foot inlet crib. The pumping station with the standpipe tower still stands at the intersection of Michigan Blvd and Chicago Ave., having escaped destruction in the 1871 Chicago fire. (Today in Science History)
6-8 December 1935...Severe flooding hit parts of the Houston, TX area. Eight persons were killed as one hundred city blocks were inundated. Satsuma reported 16.49 inches of rain. The Buffalo and White Oak Bayous crested on the 9th. (The Weather Channel)
6 December 1997...Between 4 to 8 inches fell in California's Orange County, the biggest rains in at least 70 years; Mission Viejo reported 10 inches. Areas such as the Rhine Channel in Newport Beach were so clogged with debris that they looked like landfills. Damage was estimated at $17.7 million. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
7-8 December 1703...A monstrous storm raked southern England and adjacent waters with winds in excess of 100 mph. Approximately 8000 deaths were the result of this storm, mostly at sea. Many naval and supply ships were anchored in harbors or in the English Channel. The Eddystone Lighthouse disappeared. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
7 December 1740...In early December two weeks of mild and rainy weather culminated in the worst flood in fifty years in the Lower Connecticut River Valley. The Merrimack River swelled to its highest level, and in Maine the raging waters swept away mills, carried off bridges, and ruined highways. (David Ludlum)
7 December 1987...Heavy rain fell across eastern Puerto Rico, with 19.41 inches reported at Las Piedras. Flooding caused $5 million damage. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)