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Wind Climatology At 87 Km Above The Rocky Mountains At Bear Lake Observatory--Fabry-Perot Observations Of Oh, V. B. Wickwar, I K. Monson, C M. Vadnais, D Rees

Reports

This paper presents the neutral -wind climatology at approximately 87-km 53 altitude from Utah State University's Bear Lake Observatory (BLO). a mid-latitude site 54 situated in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. The winds were determined using a very 55 sensitive Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) observing the OH Me inel (6-2) PI (3) line al 56 843 nm. The climatology. determined from monthly averages of the nightly evolution of 57 the geographic meridional and zonal wind components over forty· five months, has three 58 distinct seasonal patterns: winter (November- February), summer (May-Jul y), and late 59 Slimmer (August and September). The …

Announcements: February 1997

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Contents:

Local Authorities Confronting Disasters and Emergencies-Third International Conference

1997 National Conference on Delivering Health and Medical Services in Catastrophic Disasters

Book: Policy Making in an Era of Global Environmental Change

Drought In The United States: 1996 Summary And Historical Perspective, William O. Brown, Richard R. Heim Jr.

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Considerable variation in moisture conditions, on both a spatial and temporal basis, occurred in the contiguous United States during 1996. A tenth or more of the country experienced severe to extreme short-term (i.e., monthly) precipitation deficits during nearly half of the months, but in many months there were also large areas of excessive precipitation, which resulted in overall national conditions averaging near normal to wetter than normal. From a national perspective, long-term drought peaked at mid-year, when severe drought plagued the South and Southwest.

Famine And Drought: The Question Of Food Security In Zimbabwe, Joshua Chigodora

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

From the time that the London Missionary Society first took Zimbabwean rainfall records at Hope Fountain in 1888, the worst droughts on record are the consecutive dry spells from 1911 to 1914, the 1946–47 drought, the 1960 drought, and the 1972–73 rainy season, which was the driest period of colonial Zimbabwe. The country also had serious food shortages in 1903, 1916, 1922, 1933, and 1942. Although the people of precolonial Zimbabwe experienced recurrent droughts, they generally had well-developed coping mechanisms that prevented high death tolls (Iliffe, 1990).

Climatic Uncertainties And Recent Experiences In Medium-Range Weather Forecasting Over Kashmir, Badrul Hasan, Rehana Habib Kanth

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Successful crop management and production require a precise and thorough understanding of agroclimatic conditions of a region. A crop experiences a range of weather conditions during its vegetative and reproductive phases. Although the agronomic inputs at optimum levels decide satisfactory and stable crop yields, the range of weather and climatic optimum prevalent at important crop stages determine the ultimate yields. Thus, even with all inputs at our disposal, we cannot afford to ignore the environmental conditions experienced by the crop. Systematic and continuous measurements of weather elements provide basic data input for tuning any type of computer-based forecasting system. This …

Changing Climatic Scenarios And Strategies For Drought Management In The Indian Arid Region, A. S. Rao, J. P. Gupta, A. S. Faroda

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Western Rajasthan constitutes 62% of the 0.32 million km² that make up the hot Indian arid region (Figure 1). The average annual rainfall of the area varies from less than 100 mm (coefficient of variation [CV] = 70%) in the western parts to just above 500 mm (CV = 40%) in the eastern parts of arid Rajasthan. During July and August, the eastern parts of the arid region have an assured crop growing period of 12–15 weeks, whereas the western parts mostly depend on the vagaries of the southwest monsoon. The annual potential evapotranspiration rates are 3–8 times higher …

From The Director: February 1997, Donald A. Wilhite

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

In the October issue of Drought Network News, I briefly discussed two policy initiatives that developed in response to the severe and widespread drought that affected the Southwest and southern Great Plains states in the United States during 1996. The first of these activities, a multistate workshop (and its subsequent report), was coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This report was submitted to President Clinton in late August; it contained a series of recommendations that focused on short- and long-term issues. The second initiative, under the leadership of the Western Governors’ Association (WGA), was not available in final …

Potential Regional Impacts Of Global Warming On Precipitation In The Western United States, United States Department Of The Interior, Bureau Of Reclamation

Meterology

Snow and melting of the snowpack provide the principal supply of water to much of the Western United States. Whether global warming threatens this water supply is the focus of this research. This study builds upon a previous Global Climate Change Response Program investigation. Charts were generated of four geopotential height parameters for a domain covering the eastern North Pacific Ocean and western North America. Out of 131 total winter months (from 1946-89), 35 were selected as analogues.

Monthly mean precipitation values for areas in western Montana, northern Utah, and east central Arizona were compared with median values for the …

Nearly Synchronous Climate Change In The Northern Hemisphere During The Last Glacial Termination, Larry V. Benson, James Burdett, Steve Lund, Michaele Kashgarian, Scott Mensing

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The climate of the North Atlantic region underwent a series of abrupt cold/warm oscillations when the ice sheets of the Northern Hemisphere retreated during the last glacial termination (17,700–11,500 years ago). Evidence for these oscillations, which are recorded in European terrestrial sediments as the Oldest Dryas/Bølling/ Older Dryas/Allerød/Younger Dryas vegetational sequence, has been found in Greenland ice cores. The geographical extent of many of these oscillations is not well known, but the last major cold event (the Younger Dryas) seems to have been global in extent. Here we present evidence of four major oscillations in the hydrological balance of the …

Western Australian Salinity Action Plan, Agriculture Western Australia, Department Of Conservation And Land Management, Department Of Environmental Protection, Water And Rivers Commission

Natural resources published reports

Salinity is one of the State's most critical environmental problems, threatening major economic and social consequences. It is preventable and, in the long term, reversible. Complete elimination is not realistic, but we can dramatically reduce its impact.

Salinity is caused by replacing deep-rooted native plants with shallow-rooted crops and pastures. More rainfall passed below the root zone and accumulates as groundwater so that watertables rise. The groundwater mobilises natural salts in the soil as it rises and carries them towards the surface, eventually degrading land and streams.

Food Security In The Southern African Development Community States, Joshua Chigodora

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

The 1995–96 cereal harvest in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is the best within the last ten years. Provisional assessments project a regional maize surplus of 2.08 million tons, a 72% increase in production over the previous year’s harvest. Overall cereal production substantially increased in all countries except Tanzania, where the current cereal forecast of 3.73 million tons is a 14% drop from last year’s output of 4.34 million tons. Of special note are the exceptionally large increases in the area planted in cereals in war-ravaged Angola and Mozambique, for the first time in many years. Production trebled in …

Assessing The Impacts Of El Niño And Non-El Niño-Related Droughts Over India, R. H. Kripalani, Ashwini Kulkarni

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

It has now been recognized that the single most important key to the earth’s year-to-year climate variability is the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. El Niño episodes directly affect the climate of at least half the planet and in many instances result in heavy loss of life and resources. The global impacts of El Niño events have been summarized in a review article by Bigg (1990), while the role of ENSO in Indian monsoon rainfall variability is given in Krishna Kumar et al. (1995). During the ENSO warm/ cold extremes—i.e., El Niño/La Niña events—the majority of the episodes induce below/above-normal …

Moisture Deficit Index Evaluated For Dry Regions Of India, K. K. Nathan, S. K. Sinha

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

In India, about 70% of the cultivable land is rainfed. This includes areas where crops are rarely affected by drought and areas where crops experience moisture stress and often fail. The regions with the latter characteristics are often called dryland areas and the agriculture so practiced there is known as dryland agriculture. About 35% of the total cultivable land belongs in this category. To determine the magnitude of water deficiency in these regions, the moisture deficit index (MDI) has been evaluated for dryland stations in India. The MDI is usually determined on the basis of annual precipitation and annual potential …

Exploring The Potential For Using Enso Forecasts In The U.S. Corn Belt, Jennifer G. Phillips, Cynthia Rosenzweig, Mark Cane

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Interannual climate variability poses the greatest risk that farmers face. Until recently, seasonal climate forecasts have been weak and therefore rarely observed by farmers in making management decisions. Farm management is generally based on long-term mean expectations of climate and crop responses to local edaphic conditions. Currently, significant progress is being made in the skill level of predictions of seasonal to interannual climate, primarily because of new understanding of the teleconnections between ocean circulation and atmospheric processes. The El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) refers to fluctuations in both sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) in the eastern equatorial Pacific and in sea-level pressures in …

Meteorological Drought In Turkey: A Historical Perspective, 1930-–93, Murat Türkes

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

The climate of Turkey, which is mainly characterized by the Mediterranean macro climate, results from the seasonal alternation of frontal depressions with polar air masses and subtropical high pressures with subsiding maritime tropical and continental tropical air masses. Continental tropical airstreams from the northern African and Arabian deserts particularly dominate throughout the summer, by causing long-lasting warm (hot) and dry conditions over Turkey (except the Black Sea region and northeastern Anatolia). Turkey has an area of 779,452 km² and an average elevation of 1,132 m.

This study outlines some spatial and temporal characteristics of Turkey’s rainfall, particularly in terms …

Drought Continues In Hungary In 1995, Attila Bussay, Csaba Szinell

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

In 1995, Hungary again suffered from serious drought. Fortunately, drought has not extended over the whole country. It is primarily centered in the southeast, a plain area with significant agricultural production.

Meteorological conditions have been the most important factors in the evolution of the drought. The start of 1995 was not ideal; dry conditions during 1994 resulted in poor soil moisture at the beginning of the season. In Figure 1, the water shortage is indicated using the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), revealing the extraordinarily dry winter conditions in the east.

A Prototype National Drought Alert Strategic Information System For Australia, Ken D. Brook, John O. Carter

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Defining and categorizing drought in a quantitative and scientific manner are important national issues for Australian state and Commonwealth governments, landholders, and agribusiness. The challenge for modelers of Australia’s grasslands is to integrate biological models, geographic information systems (GIS), satellite imagery, economics, climatology, and visual high-performance computing into an Internet-deliverable application that can provide easily understood monitoring and prediction advice in near real-time— a national drought alert strategic information system.

Although NOAA satellite-derived imagery has been somewhat useful in the broad-scale spatial assessment of green cover, especially the spatial response of vegetation to rainfall events (Smith, 1994; Dudgeon et al., …

Changes In Drought Policies In New Zealand, Heather J. Keen, Lynmore Rotorua

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

New Zealand, lying in the South Pacific Ocean approximately 1,200 miles east of Australia, is subject to recurring droughts. Its two main islands are long and narrow, with high mountain ranges and hill country bisecting them from north to south. The predominant westerly winds, along with the mountain ranges and hill country, produce a marked orographic effect. Thus, the western side of the country, in general, records significantly higher annual average rainfall totals than does land on the eastern side.

The country has experienced a number of severe droughts throughout its history, especially in the east, where a number of …

Recent Advances In Seasonal Forecasting In Southern Africa, Leonard S. Uganai

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Climatic uncertainty posed by the looming possibility of unprecedented climatic change is presenting society with new challenges the world over. In recent years, demand for long-range seasonal to interannual climate forecasts has been on the rise as society grapples with climatic risk management in southern Africa. Although more investment is still required to bring weather services in the region to a level advanced enough to handle the emerging complex and economically justified user needs for climatic services and products, some commendable progress has already been made, particularly in providing seasonal forecasts in addition to the other traditional core services and …

Drought Preparedness And Management Training Seminar Conducted For West Africa

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

All of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) member countries of western Africa were represented at a seminar conducted in Banjul, The Gambia, 4–9 September 1995. The Training Seminar on Drought Preparedness and Management for Western Africa was conducted to improve awareness of drought and appropriate mitigation and preparedness technologies to reduce impacts. The seminar was organized by WMO and sponsored by WMO and the UN Sudano-Sahelian Office.

Effects Of Water Stress On Soybean Productivity In Central India, Ajay K. Srivastava, Diwakar Naidu, A. S. R. A. S. Sastri, J. S. Urkurkar, B. Das Gupta

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

In the Chhattisgarh plains in the agroclimatic region of central India (Figure 1), farms may be characterized by one of the following: unbunded lathyritic soils, bunded rice fields (rainfed), bunded rice fields (irrigated), unbunded black soils, or rice bunds. Under these five farming situations, different crop sequences have been in vogue. New crops and crop sequences are recommended by the Agricultural University from time to time based on experimental results.

In the unbunded black soils, farmers usually plant small millets and pigeon pea. However, based on experimental results, the University has recommended soybean followed by chickpea crop sequence under rainfed …

Toolibin Catchment Revegetation Manual, Avril Baxter

Natural resources published reports

In1983, heavy winter rains resulted in severe inundation and flooding of the lower parts of the Toolibin catchment. The damage to crops and pastures was immense and costly. Local farmers realised that they needed to work together to minimise the impact of heavy rainfall events on their farm productivity.

At the same time the Western Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) was concerned about the quality of both ground and surface water in the catchment area for Toolibin Lake, the last remaining wooded freshwater lake in the southern wheatbelt. This mutual interest led to the formation of the …

Drought Monitoring And Information Centre Established For Arid Zone Of South Africa, Louis G. Du Pisani, Reep Verloren Van Themaat, Francis Roux

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Drought policy in the Republic of South Africa has been extensively reviewed in Drought Network News (Bruwer, 1989; Bruwer, 1990a; Bruwer, 1990b). The protection of natural resources against deterioration (natural vegetation = veld) and the protection of rural communities and infrastructure against disruption of agricultural and socioeconomic development have always been major thrusts behind drought relief subsidies.

Since 1980, two important provisos for drought relief payments to stock farmers have been implemented: (1) a drought must assume disaster proportions (Bruwer, 1990b) and (2) stock numbers must not exceed the official carrying capacity (Department of Agricultural Development, 1992).

The pressure on …

Drought Returns To The United Kingdom, Terry Marsh

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

The privatization of the water industry in 1989 heralded a new era in water management in England and Wales, but it also coincided with the beginning of a period of volatile climatic patterns that have served to strongly underline a continuing vulnerability to unusual weather patterns. Following the very protracted drought that lasted until late 1992 in parts of eastern England, the resilience of water supply arrangements in the United Kingdom was again severely tested during a remarkably dry five-month spell beginning in the early spring of 1995. The water resources outlook at the beginning of this period was exceptionally …

Assessment Of Recent Droughts In Tamil Nadu, K. K. Nathan

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Tamil Nadu, a coastal state in south India, is prone to droughts. The climate of the state ranges from dry subhumid to semiarid. The state has three distinct rainfall climates: (1) advancing monsoon period (from June to September), with strong southwest winds; (2) northeast monsoon (from October to December), with dominant northeast winds; and (3) dry season (from January to May). The normal annual rainfall of the state is about 945 mm.

Tamil Nadu is classified into seven agroclimatic zones: northeast, northwest, west, southern, high rainfall, high altitude hilly, and Cauvery Delta (the most fertile agricultural zone). The Cauvery Delta …

Severe Drought In Italy: Characteristics, Impacts, And Mitigation Strategies, Giuseppe Rossi, Francesca Somma

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Following the severe drought event that occurred in Italy in 1988–90, the Italian Department of Civil Protection published a report, Drought in Italy 1988–90 (in Italian; edited by G. Rossi and G. Margaritora), containing a comprehensive description of the drought event, its impacts, and the mitigation measures adopted in the most affected regions.

Since the beginning of the drought, the Department promoted and coordinated a number of initiatives, aiming mainly to mitigate domestic and agricultural water shortages. The Department also formed a drought committee, which included representatives of various government agencies (in charge of hydrometeorological data collection and water supply …

Long-Range Forecasts Of Southwest Monsoon Rainfall Explored For India, J. B. Singh, R. P. Singh

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Southwest monsoon rainfall (received during June–September) determines the fate of millions of dryland farmers as well as the status of national food security in India almost every year. The need for information about southwest monsoon rainfall is great in these areas. An accurate long-range forecast can help farmers increase agricultural productivity in good rainfall years and negate the sudden downturns in agricultural production during anticipated drought years by giving farmers sufficient time to adopt drought-resistant crop varieties and appropriate crop, soil, and water management practices. The India Meteorological Department is now able to make all-India long-range forecasts of southwest monsoon …

The Role Of Drought In Determining The Reserve Water Sector In Israel, J. A. Allan

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Drought is a compelling environmental phenomenon. Drought is also an extremely important feature of the political economies of dry regions. This study will emphasize the political significance of drought. Droughts, and especially protracted drought, send much stronger signals about water availability to a much more comprehensively diverse range of water interests than any other single political factor or any combination of factors operating in a political economy. Drought affects water users as well as those involved at all levels in water allocation, water legislation, and water policy development and implementation. Natural systems decree that water shortages have to be endured. …

Queensland Drought Enters Its Fifth Year, Gary Bacon

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

The worst ENSO drought event to affect the state of Queensland this century has entered its fifth year. The drought, which commenced in March 1991, reached its maximum coverage in December 1993, when 51% of the state’s 1.7 million square kilometers were officially drought-declared. Currently, 41 full shires (local authority areas) and five part shires comprising more than 20,000 individual rural properties and covering 37% of the state are drought-declared.

Five-Year Drought Continues In Spain, Antonio Mestre Barcelo

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Spain is now facing its fifth consecutive year of severe drought. This event, which began in 1990, affects most of the country, with the exception of the north coast regions. The most affected regions are Andalucía, Extremadura, and Castilla–la Mancha, all of them located in the southern half of Spain. In some climatological stations of these areas, the five-year agricultural period from 1 September 1990 to 31 August 1995 is the driest quinquennium of this century. Mean percentage departures from normal rainfall exceed -20% in the southern half of the country and in some isolated areas of the Duero and …