Climate Commons^™

Results Of Precipitation Monitoring At Yucca Mountain, N. Mcginnis, Amanda Brandt

Publications (YM)

This is the final report presenting precipitation data collected under task ORD-FYO4-007 “Precipitation Monitoring at Yucca Mountain”. This task acquired data using tipping bucket rain gauges to measure, with known accuracy, the accumulation and timing of precipitation in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain. Operation of the tipping bucket precipitation monitoring network was assumed by the Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies (HRC) at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in March of 2001. Precipitation monitoring data collection concluded June of 2008. All data presented in this report were collected during that time.

National Clean Energy Summit Midday Keynote, Jon Huntsman

National Clean Energy Summit

Midday keynote

The Mayan Ice Cap: Glacial Geology And Paleoclimate Of The Northern Guatemalan Highlands, Alex Joseph Roy

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Sierra de los Cuchumatanes region of the northern Guatemalan highlands supported a large plateau ice cap with an area of -40 km2 along with a group of 5 cirque glaciers -1 to 2 km2 during the local last glacial maximum (LLGM). A comprehensive mapping reconstruction of the northern Guatemalan highlands is presented here, including glacial geology and an estimate of maximum ice limits from physical evidence and computer modeling. The glacial geologic map was produced via field mapping with global positioning system (GPS) surveying combined with aerial stereo photographic and topographic map analysis. This new field work on moraine …

Plant Community Response To Fire: A Chronosequence Study, Scott R. Abella, E. Cayenne Engel

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

Fires are becoming more prevalent events across the landscape in the southwestern US. Over the next several decades the already arid southwest is predicted to become warmer and drier, with longer summers, and an increase of “extreme” weather events such as lightening inducing thunderstorms. While the “hotter and drier” forecast may indicate less abundant plant life, and thus less available biomass for fuel, exotic invasive plant species are becoming more dominant across the landscape with increases in human travel and commerce. Exotic species (particularly many of the invasive grasses) are adding fuel for the fires to burn when the annuals …

Regional Analysis Of Trend And Step Changes Observed In Hydroclimatic Variables Around The Colorado River Basin, William Paul Miller, Thomas C. Piechota

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Recent research has suggested that changes in temperature and precipitation events due to climate change have had a significant impact on the availability and timing of streamflow. In this study, monthly temperature and precipitation data collected over 29 climate divisions covering the entire Colorado River basin and monthly natural flow data from 29 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) gauge locations along the Colorado River are investigated for trend or step changes using parametric and nonparametric statistical tests. Temperature increases are persistent (at least 10 climate divisions over 6 months in trend analysis) throughout the year over the Colorado River basin, whereas …

Session 9 - The Century Of Living Dangerously, Part Ii: Confronting Uncertainty, R. J. Bogumil

International Symposium on Technology and Society

Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) methodological limitations as well as environmental application-specific features confound much needed objective analysis and hope for equitable remediation of anthropogenic climate change. Issues addressed include: risk subjectivism, the difficulty of mathematical and computer model prediction-validity assessment associated with chaotic system dynamics, as well as standards of scholarship and the obstacle to societal reform posed by commercial, consumer-driven mass-media journalism.

Hotel Energy Use Contributes To Global Warming, Christine Faja

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Before learning about the consequences of global warming and the efforts hotels are making to reverse the effects, it is important to get a better understanding of what exactly is the phenomenon that scientists call global warming. According to the EPA (2006), the earth’s climate has changed several times since the beginning of Earth’s existence. The earth is hotter than ever. NASA has reported that the earth’s average surface temperature has risen from 1.2 degrees to 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1900. They also found that the warmest years have occurred within the last 15 years, with 1998 and 2005 being …

Yucca Mountain Climate: Past, Present, And Future, Saxon E. Sharpe

Publications (YM)

Evaluation of modern climate is necessary to relate climatic events to near-surface processes such as infiltration, runoff, and evapotranspiration. Modern climate information also aids in environmental analyses of repository design facilities and atmospheric dispersion models. Evaluation of past climate regimes, particularly temperature and precipitation, is needed to assess the relation of past climate to past hydrologic conditions. Estimates of potential future climate and hydrology are needed to evaluate repository performance.

Inside Unlv, Diane Russell, Cate Weeks, Shane Bevell, Mamie Peers, Lori Bachand

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

Inside Unlv, Cate Weeks, Brenda Griego, David Ashley, Mamie Peers, Shane Bevell, Gian Galassi

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

Evidence Of An Active Enso And Pdq During The Mid-Holocene From A Costa Rican Speleothem, April D. Azouz

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Although the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the most important source of inter-annual climate variability in the tropics, its Holocene history is poorly understood, particularly in Central America. A high resolution (-3.8 years/sample) paleoclimate record of Central American rainfall variability has been reconstructed from a U /Th-dated stalagmite (7890 to 6490 yrs B.P.) from Costa Rica to constrain the onset and variability of ENSO throughout the Holocene, and to determine its role in generating regional climate anomalies. I suggest drier conditions, forced by El Nino, are represented by higher 5180 values, and are correlative with higher 513C values, indicating that …

Uncertainty, Climate Change And Nuclear Power, David M. Hassenzahl

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

Long time-horizon environmental risks with potential for global impacts have increased in visibility over the past several decades. Such issues as climate change, the nuclear fuel cycle, persistent synthetic chemicals, and stratospheric ozone depletion share some characteristics, including intergenerational impacts, strongly decoupled incidence of risks and benefits, substantial decision stakes and extreme uncertainty. What is not well understood are the similarities and differences among sources and implications of uncertainty among these global environmental threats, especially those associate with current and future human behavior. This describes the uncertainties associated with managing two global concerns: the nuclear (fission) fuel cycle and anthropogenic …

Yucca Mountain Climate Technical Support Representative, Saxon E. Sharpe, Dick Reinhardt, Eric Smistad, Don Baepler, Amy J. Smiecinski

Publications (YM)

The principal investigator (PI), Saxon Sharpe, for Task ORD-FY04-012, DOE Cooperative Agreement DE-FC28-04RW12232, will serve as Yucca Mountain Climate Technical Support Representative for the Department of Energy (DOE) in a series of activities related to past, present, and future climate for the Yucca Mountain Project (YMP) climate program.

As stated in the Viability Assessment of a Repository at Yucca Mountain: “Climate and its changes over time directly affect system performance at Yucca Mountain.” Currently, information from climate studies is used in models that support the Total System Performance Assessment and Licensing Application. It is a model component of all key …

Climate: Past, Present, And Future, Saxon E. Sharpe, Rick Forester, Amy J. Smiecinski

Publications (YM)

Climatology and meteorology studies in the Yucca Mountain area have resulted in the following key observations and conclusions: • The present-day arid climate of the Yucca Mountain area can be understood in terms of global-scale atmospheric circulation and regional to-local physiographic features. In general terms, the area is under the influence of mid-latitude westerly winds and associated storm systems during the cool part of the year and and is under the influence of moist air advected from the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean and Gulf of California during the summer. Temperature and precipitation data from Nevada regions 3 and 4 (southern …

Fluctuations In Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha) Counts At Three Lower Columbia River Spawning Sites, Eric Michael Loomis

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Several hypotheses were developed to explore the pronounced increase in Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) returning to spawning grounds at the Cowlitz, Kalama, and Lewis Rivers, three tributaries of the lower Columbia River. The study was conducted using data compiled over a ten-year span from 1991-2001. Preliminary indications are that trends in climate are linked to these increases, with the absence of El Niño events and fluctuations in winter precipitation as likely explanations of these phenomena. The unique nature of Chinook life cycles causes them to utilize a variety of habitats that require ideal conditions for maximum survival rates. Correlations between …

Future Climate Analysis -- 10,000 Years To 1,000,000 Years After Present, Saxon E. Sharpe, Dwight Hoxie, Amy J. Smiecinski

Publications (YM)

The purpose of this report is to provide quantified estimates of temperature and precipitation and estimate the timing of climate states in the Yucca Mountain, Nevada, area for the period from 10,000 to 1,000,000 years beyond the present. Primary tasks are limited to: 1) selecting modern analog climate stations for three different magnitude glacial stages; and, 2) determining the timing of future climate states using orbital parameter data and Devils Hole and Owens Lake records. These estimates are intended to be used as input to models of the infiltration process to assess the performance of the natural and engineered systems …

Humidity And Temperature Boundaries For Biofilm Formation In Yucca Mountain, Terry Ann Else, Penny S. Amy, James Jay, Amy J. Smiecinski

Publications (YM)

To determine the long-term success of the recommended Yucca Mountain high-level nuclear waste repository, studies of bacterial colonization and biofilm development are needed. Bacteria involved in microbially-influenced corrosion and degradation are known to form biofilms with the potential to impact the integrity of repository packaging and structural materials. Temperature and humidity are environmental factors that can greatly affect biofilm formation. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the temperature and humidity conditions that affect biofilm formation. Microcosms, which simulated the repository environment of Yucca Mountain, were placed at temperatures ranging from 30° C to 70° C and in relative humidities ranging …

An Understanding Of Factors Controlling Isotopic Ratios Of Wine As A Potential Surrogate Of Past Precipitation, Eric Alan Caldwell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Precipitation, vapor water, ground water, soil water, grape berry and grape leaf water, grape must, and vintage wines were collected from northern California for stable isotopic analysis. An understanding of factors controlling isotopic ratios of wine allows evaluation of wine as a surrogate of past precipitation. Stable isotopic compositions of grape berry waters collected at Charles Krug Winery in Napa Valley. CA range from -31 to -17 per mil in 8D and +7.2 to +15.3 per mil in 8180, and plot along a transpiration line of slope 2. 7. Grape leaf waters range from -25 to +5 per mil in …

Calculated Current Velocity Data, U.S. Bureau Of Reclamation

Publications (WR)

Data collected at various stations around the Lake Mead vicinity. Air temperature, lake elevation, weather, and wind velocity is recorded, as well as the depth, magnitude, resolved angle, and bearing of the water currents.