Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

Droughtscape, Fall 2015, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Contents

Director’s column.

NDMC 20th anniversary 2

Employment opportunity

Third quarter 2015 climate summary

Third quarter 2015 impacts summary

Workshop in Ethiopia

San Antonio multi-hazard tournament

Healthy soil is drought buffer

U2U Award

Cost-benefit analysis for utilities managing drought

NDMC helps with rural poll questions on climate

Introducing our post-docs

South Korean visitors

Sea Level Rise In Virginia – Causes, Effects And Response, Tal Ezer, Larry P. Atkinson

Virginia Journal of Science

Sea level rise (SLR) along Virginia’s coasts and around the Chesapeake Bay as measured by tide gauges is analyzed and discussed. It is shown that the SLR rates vary between one location to another and in most locations the rates increase over time (i.e., SLR is accelerating). The latest science of SLR is reviewed and the causes of the high SLR rates in Virginia are discussed. The impacts of land subsidence and ocean currents (changes in the Gulf Stream in particular) on sea level are especially notable and important for predicting future SLR in Virginia. The consequences of SLR on …

Aulacoseira Stevensiae Sp. Nov. (Coscinodiscophyceae, Bacillariophyta), A New Diatom From Ho Ba Bê, Bac Kan Province, Northern Viêt Nam, D. Marie Weide

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

A new species of Aulacoseira Thwaites is described from piston core samples from Ho Ba Bê in the karst region of northern Viêt Nam. Although it closely resembles Aulacoaseira subborealis (Nygaard) Denys, Muylaert & Krammer, A. stevensiae Weide sp. nov. is designated a new species based mainly on morphological differences in the spines, including invariably inclined spines that are rounded, differences in the Ringleiste, areola pattern and overall size. Aulacoseira stevensiae is present throughout a core that spans the last 500 years. It was a major component of the diatom community, but the populations have recently decreased, possibly being outcompeted …

Examining Unmanned Aerial System Threats & Defenses: A Conceptual Analysis, Ryan J. Wallace, Jon M. Loffi

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The integration of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) into the already complex global aviation system presents new and unique hazards. While many studies have addressed the potential safety concerns of UAS integration, little research has been dedicated to the potential security implications. This study sought to identify potential uses and adaptations of civil UAS systems as weapons of terrorism or crime and potential UAS defenses. Researchers examined 68 academic studies, unclassified government reports, and news articles using Conceptual Analysis to systematically capture and categorize various threats. Using the collected data, researchers developed a UAS threat model for categorically evaluating potential threats. …

Source-Specific Molecular Signatures For Light-Absorbing Organic Aerosols, Amanda Susan Willoughby

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Organic aerosols (OA) are universally regarded as an important component of the atmosphere based on quantitative significance as well as the far-reaching impact they have on global climate forcing and human health. Despite the acknowledged importance, OA amounts and impacts remain the largest uncertainties regarding radiative forcing estimates. Incomplete chemical characterization of aerosol organic matter (OM) and a lack of concrete source apportionment is a major source of this uncertainty. The primary focus of this study is to provide much needed molecular details regarding ambient OA from key emission sources, and establish links between molecular and optical properties.

Complete chemical …

A Risk Assessment Of The Impacts Of Coastal Flooding And Sea Level Rise On The Existing And New Pump Stations 113, Norfolk, Va, David A. Pezza

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The author assessed the risk to a wastewater pump station and a planned replacement located nearby due to coastal flooding and rising sea levels. The locations for the pump stations are in the Larchmont neighborhood by the Lafayette River tidal estuaries in Norfolk, Virginia. The Lafayette River is a tributary to the Elizabeth River, which flows to the Chesapeake Bay. The low-lying areas along the river are subject to coastal surges caused by tropical and extra-tropical storms that flood the bay.

The region is considered one of the urban areas most exposed to the accelerating rate of rising sea levels. …

Coastal Ice-Core Record Of Recent Northwest Greenland Temperature And Sea-Ice Concentration, Erich C. Osterberg, Robert L. Hawley, Gifford Wong, Ben Kopec, David Ferris, Jennifer Howley

Dartmouth Scholarship

Coastal ice cores provide an opportunity to investigate regional climate and sea-ice variability in the past to complement hemispheric-scale climate reconstructions from ice-sheet-interior ice cores. Here we describe robust proxies of Baffin Bay temperature and sea-ice concentration from the coastal 2Barrel ice core collected in the Thule region of northwest Greenland. Over the 1990–2010 record, 2Barrel annually averaged methanesulfonic acid (MSA) concentrations are significantly correlated with May–June Baffin Bay sea-ice concentrations and summer temperatures. Higher MSA is observed during warmer years with less sea ice, indicative of enhanced primary productivity in Baffin Bay. Similarly, 2Barrel annually averaged deuterium excess (d-excess) …

The Lsu Department Of Otolaryngology – Head And Neck Surgery: A Decade In Review And A Vision For Our Future, Department Of Otolaryngology

LSUHSC Hurricane Katrina Archive: Reports & Presentations

"The LSU Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery: A Decade in review and a vision for our future" is a 10 page document extracted from a publication created the LSU Health Department of Laryngology on September 27, 2015.

The selected pages from this publication detail the forced temporary closure and relocation of LSU Health Sciences Center due to the impact of Hurricane Katrina, and the ways the Department of Otolaryngology continued their academic programming.

Odu's Ray Toll To Discuss Sea Level Rise On 'With Good Reason', Publicaffairs & Newsbureau, Old Dominion University

News Items

No abstract provided.

Crowdsourcing Global Wastewater Data, Don Mosteller, Sam Cohen, Cory Nestor, Angel Hsu, Omar Malik

Yale Day of Data

No time to waste: Crowdsourcing global wastewater treatment data

Worldwide, over 80 percent of wastewater is discharged into water bodies without undergoing treatment, severely impairing human well-being and ecosystem vitality along the way. National performance on wastewater treatment is difficult to quantify and is poorly understood due to a lack of common definitions, poor data collection standards, and limited historical data. To address this, the Yale Environmental Performance Index (EPI), a research group that produces a biennial ranking of country-level environmental performance, developed a first-of-its kind national wastewater treatment indicator.[1]

The indicator assesses wastewater treatment performance for 183 countries, …

Momentum Flux Estimates Accompanying Multi-Scale Gravity Waves Over Mt. Cook, New Zealand On 13 July 2014 During The Deepwave Campaign, Katrina Bossert, David C. Fritts, Pierre-Dominique Pautet, Bifford P. Williams, Michael J. Taylor, Bernd Kaifler, Andrea Dornbrack, Iain M. Reid, Damian J. Murphy, Andrew J. Spargo, Andrew D. Mackinnon

Publications

Observations performed with a Rayleigh lidar and an Advanced Mesosphere Temperature Mapper aboard the National Science Foundation/National Center for Atmospheric Research Gulfstream V research aircraft on 13 July 2014 during the Deep Propagating Gravity Wave Experiment (DEEPWAVE) measurement program revealed a large-amplitude, multiscale gravity wave (GW) environment extending from ~20 to 90 km on flight tracks over Mount Cook, New Zealand. Data from four successive flight tracks are employed here to assess the characteristics and variability of the larger- and smaller-scale GWs, including their spatial scales, amplitudes, phase speeds, and momentum fluxes. On each flight, a large-scale mountain wave (MW) …

A Scientific Basis For Regulating Deep-Sea Fishing By Depth, Jo Clarke, Rosanna Milligan, David M. Bailey, Francis Neat

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The deep sea is the world’s largest ecosystem, with high levels of biodiversity and many species that exhibit life-history characteristics thatmake them vulnerable to high levels of exploitation. Many fisheries in the deep sea have a track record of being unsustainable. In the northeast Atlantic, there has been a decline in the abundance of commercial fish species since deep-sea fishing commenced in the 1970s. Current management is by effort restrictions and total allowable catch (TAC), but there remain problems with compliance and high levels of bycatch of vulnerable species such as sharks. The European Union is currently considering new legislation …

Ionospheric Response To Infrasonic-Acoustic Waves Generated By Natural Hazard Events, M. D. Zettergren, J. B. Snively

Publications

"Recent measurements of GPS-derived total electron content (TEC) reveal acoustic wave periods of ∼1–4 min in the F region ionosphere following natural hazard events, such as earthquakes, severe weather, and volcanoes. Here we simulate the ionospheric responses to infrasonic-acoustic waves, generated by vertical accelerations at the Earth’s surface or within the lower atmosphere, using a compressible atmospheric dynamics model to perturb a multifluid ionospheric model. Response dependencies on wave source geometry and spectrum are investigated at middle, low, and equatorial latitudes. Results suggest constraints on wave amplitudes that are consistent with observations and that provide insight on the geographical variability …

Field Observations And Novel Methodologies For Carbon System Assessments In Coastal Waters, Bo Yang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coastal zones receive massive terrestrial inputs of nutrients and organic matter, and play an important role in biogeochemical cycles. The interactions of river inputs, ocean currents, atmospheric exchanges, anthropogenic influences, and biologically active ecosystems make CO₂ system studies in coastal waters highly challenging. This work focuses on improving our understanding of the CO₂ system in coastal waters through (1) development of a new methodology for measurements of CO₂ system parameters in the field; (2) observations of large spatial and temporal CO₂ system variations in coastal waters; and (3) characterization of the influence of organics on CO …

Insights Into The Challenges Of Modeling The Atmospheric Boundary Layer, Esa-Matti Tastula

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work approaches the topic of modeling the atmospheric boundary layer in four research projects, which are summarized below.

i) The diurnal cycles of near-surface meteorological parameters over Antarctic sea ice in six widely used atmospheric reanalyses were validated against observations from Ice Station Weddell. The station drifted from February through May 1992 and provided the most extensive set of meteorological observations ever collected in the Antarctic sea ice zone. For the radiative and turbulent surface fluxes, both the amplitude and shape of the diurnal cycles varied considerably among different reanalyses. Near-surface temperature, specific humidity, and wind speed in the …

Experts: Sea-Level Rise In Hampton Roads Is A 'Manageable Problem', Tamara Dietrich

News Items

No abstract provided.

More Coastal Nuisance Flooding Forecast For Coming Months, Associated Press

News Items

No abstract provided.

Self-Accleration And Instability Of Gravity Wave Packets: 1. Effects Of Temporal Localization, David C. Fritts, Brian Laughman, Thomas S. Lund, Jonathan B. Snively

Publications

"An anelastic numerical model is used to explore the dynamics accompanying the attainment of large amplitudes by gravity waves (GWs) that are localized in altitude and time. GW momentum transport induces mean flow variations accompanying a GW packet that grows exponentially with altitude, is localized in altitude, and induces significant GW phase speed, and phase, variations across the GW packet. These variations arise because the GW occupies the region undergoing accelerations, with the induced phase speed variations referred to as “self-acceleration.” Results presented here reveal that self-acceleration of a GW packet localized in time and altitude ultimately leads to stalling …

Bacteria Monitoring In The Upper Illinois River Watershed, Erin E. Scott, Brina A. Smith, Mansoor Leh, Blake Arnold, Brian E. Haggard

Arkansas Water Resources Center Technical Reports

This project focuses on the Upper Illinois River Watershed (UIRW; HUC 11110103), which is within the Boston Mountains and Ozark Highlands ecoregions in northwest Arkansas. Headwaters of the Illinois River originate near Hogeye, Arkansas and flow north through Savoy, then west into Oklahoma near Watts. The UIRW drains an area of 1952 km2 , of which 50.3% is pasture and grassland, 35.9% is forest, 8.8% is urban and suburban, 4.3% is transitional and 0.3% is water (Arkansaswater.org, 2015). Land use throughout the watershed is also changing, with increases in residential, commercial and industrial development. The IRW has been designated a …

Groundwater Chemistry Of The Weaber Plain (Goomig Farmlands): Baseline Results 2010–13, Adam Lillicrap, Richard J. George Dr, Arjen Ryder, D L. Bennett

Resource management technical reports

The Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA) is located in the north-east of the Kimberley region of Western Australia, near the town of Kununurra. The irrigation area was established in 1963 and over time developed to the current extent of 14 000 hectares (ha). The Weaber Plain (Goomig Farmlands) area is located north-north-east of the existing irrigation area, 30km from Kununurra, and has been identified as being suitable for irrigated agriculture for many decades. However, it was not until 2009, with state government support, that the 7400ha project commenced, with construction starting in 2010. State and Australian government environmental approvals required …

Household Bush Burning Practice And Related Respiratory Symptoms In Grenada, The Caribbean, Muge Akpinar-Elci, Kareem Coomansingh, James Blando, Larissa Mark

Center for Global Health Publications

The practice of household bush burning in Grenada occurs frequently, though it is not well documented. The effects of the emissions from bush burning on respiratory health of the population have never been researched in Grenada. The goal of the study was to measure the frequency of bush burning and to investigate the relationship between bush burning practice and respiratory health in Grenada. In this cross-sectional study, a questionnaire was used to gather information from households in the parishes of St. George and St. Andrew, Grenada. In total, 225 participants were recruited and their responses on household bush burning and …

Coastal Sediment Elevation Change Following Anthropogenic Mangrove Clearing, Heather Lyn Hayden, Elise F. Granek

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Coastal mangrove forests along tropical shorelines serve as an important interface between land and sea. They provide a physical buffer protecting the coastline from erosion and act as sediment “traps” catching terrestrial sediment, thus preventing smothering of subtidal coral reefs. Coastal development that removes mangrove habitat may impact adjacent nearshore coral reefs through sedimentation and nutrient loading. We examined differences in sediment elevation change between patches of open-coast intact and anthropogenically cleared red mangroves (Rhizophora mangle) on the east side of Turneffe Atoll, Belize, to quantify changes following mangrove clearing. Samples were collected over a 24 month period at five …

Umphlett Qci Sept 2015, Natalie Umphlett

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Highlights for the Basin

Temperature and Precipitation Anomalie

Streamflow

Heavy Rains Continued

Positive and Negative Impacts to Agriculture

Persistent Smoke from Wildfires

3-Month Precipitation and Temperature Outlooks

A Mechanism For Biologically Induced Iodine Emissions From Sea Ice, A. Saiz-Lopez, Christopher S. Blaszczak-Boxe, L. J. Carpenter

Publications and Research

Ground- and satellite-based measurements have reported high concentrations of iodine monoxide (IO) in coastal Antarctica. The sources of such a large iodine burden in the coastal Antarctic atmosphere remain unknown.We propose a mechanism for iodine release from sea ice based on the premise that micro-algae are the primary source of iodine emissions in this environment. The emissions are triggered by the biological production of iodide (I�) and hypoiodous acid (HOI) from micro-algae (contained within and underneath sea ice) and their diffusion through sea-ice brine channels, ultimately accumulating in a thin brine layer (BL) on the surface of sea ice. Prior …

Instrumenting The Unmanned Surface Vehicle, Dorado With A Novel, Miniature Gas Chromatograph: Toward A Rapidly-Deployable, Operational Protocol For Studying Dispersion In The Ocean, John Christopher L'Esperance

Link Foundation Ocean Engineering and Instrumentation Fellowship Reports

There exists a well-developed and maturing framework for understanding and predicting the circulation of water masses at scales of the world ocean down to the scales of ports and harbors. Ocean circulation models employing data-assimilative techniques, and operating in real time, can benefit from observational infrastructure established and maintained by researchers, governments, and other organizations around the globe. As an example, observations from moored instruments which facilitate the measurements of current velocities can be used to constrain or adjust the predictions made by ocean circulation models (OCM). There are, however, properties of oceanic flows which are less conducive to direct …

Global Projections Of Intense Tropical Cyclone Activity For The Late Twenty-First Century From Dynamical Downscaling Of Cmip5/Rcp4.5 Scenarios, Thomas R. Knutson, Joseph J. Sirutis, Ming Zhao, Robert E. Tuleya, Morris Bender, Gabriel A. Vecchi, Gabriele Villarini, Daniel Chavas

CCPO Publications

Global projections of intense tropical cyclone activity are derived from the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) High Resolution Atmospheric Model (HiRAM; 50-km grid) and the GFDL hurricane model using a two-stage downscaling procedure. First, tropical cyclone genesis is simulated globally using HiRAM. Each storm is then downscaled into the GFDL hurricane model, with horizontal grid spacing near the storm of 6 km, including ocean coupling (e.g., "cold wake" generation). Simulations are performed using observed sea surface temperatures (SSTs) (1980-2008) for a "control run" with 20 repeating seasonal cycles and for a late-twenty-first-century projection using an altered SST seasonal cycle obtained …

Nonstationary Internal Tides Observed Using Dual-Satellite Altimetry, Edward D. Zaron

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Dual-satellite crossover data from the Jason-2 and Cryosat-2 altimeter missions are used in a novel approach to quantify stationary and nonstationary tides from time-lagged mean square sea surface height (SSH) differences, computed for lags from 1 to 1440 h (60 days). The approach is made feasible by removing independent estimates of the stationary tide and mesoscale SSH variance, which greatly reduces the sampling error of the SSH statistics. For the semidiurnal tidal band, the stationary tidal variance is approximately 0.73 cm(2), and the nonstationary variance is about 0.33 cm(2), or 30% of the total. The temporal correlation of the nonstationary …

Indirect Evidence For Substantial Damping Of Low-Mode Internal Tides In The Open Ocean, Joseph K. Ansong, Brian K. Arbic, Maarten C. Buijsman, James G. Richman, Jay F. Shriver, Alan J. Wallcraft

Faculty Publications

A global high-resolution ocean circulation model forced by atmospheric fields and the M₂ tidal constituent is used to explore plausible scenarios for the damping of low-mode internal tides. The plausibility of different damping scenarios is tested by comparing the modeled barotropic tides with TPXO8, a highly accurate satellite-altimetry-constrained tide model, and by comparing the modeled coherent baroclinic tide amplitudes against along-track altimetry. Five scenarios are tested: (1) a topographic internal wave drag, argued here to represent the breaking of unresolved high vertical modes, applied to the bottom flow (default configuration), (2) a wave drag applied to the barotropic flow, …

Southeast Florida Coral Reef Fishery-Independent Baseline Assessment, Kirk Kilfoyle, Brian K. Walker, Dana P. Fisco, Steven G. Smith, Richard E. Spieler

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

Reef fishes are important biologic, ecologic, and economic resources of the marine ecosystem which must be managed for sustainability. Until recently, there was no long-term monitoring program in place to assess the condition of reef fish resources of the northern Florida Reef Tract (FRT) (northern Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Martin counties). An assessment/monitoring plan for the northern portion of the Florida reef tract was designed through a joint cooperative effort by scientists at the University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) and Nova Southeastern University …

Taxonomy Of The Bitentaculate Cirratulidae (Polychaeta), Stacy A. Tewari

Graduate Masters Theses

The bitentaculate cirratulid polychaetes are an important faunal element of both near shore and deep-sea benthic faunal communities. The true diversity of the family is currently unknown due to a large number of undescribed species and erroneously applied “cospmopolitan” names being applied to local species. Cirratulids have been misidentified even in the local waters near the University of Massachusetts Boston. The current study presents six new species from North America. Caulleriella venefica, Chaetozone anasimus, Chaetozone diodonta, and Chaetozone hystricosus are described from Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay where only two species had previously been reported. Aphelochaeta bullata …