Climate Commons^™

Droughts And Dew Bean Productivity In Northwestern Arid Rajasthan, India, Pratap Narain, R. S. Singh, D. Kumar

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Arid ecosystems constitute an important part of the world’s dry climates. The Indian arid zone is characterized by a harsh and fragile system, which influences the productivity (both quantitative and qualitative) and socioeconomic status of the inhabitants. The study discussed in this article was conducted in the Bikaner region, which is one of the most drought-prone districts of Rajasthan (Figure 1). Annual rainfall in the district is 268 mm, of which 85% occurs during the southwest summer monsoon (July–September). The region is known to experience extreme variations in diurnal and seasonal temperatures and high wind velocity, particularly during summers, associated …

Winter Drought In Iran: Associations With Enso, M. J. Nazemosadat

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

The Islamic Republic of Iran (Figure 1) has an area of 1,648,000 km² and a population of 65 million people (1995 estimate). The country has arid and semiarid climates and the occurrence of rainfall is unreliable, with a coefficient of variation as high as 70%. The average annual precipitation over the country is around 250 mm. Two mountain ridges, the Alborz and Zagros (Figure 1), which run east and southeast from the northwest corner of the country, play an influential role in determining the amount and spatial distribution of rainfall. The peaks of Alborz and Zagros are about 5,700 …

A Model Of Precipitation Rates In Kentucky, 1965-1996, Kevin Cary

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Hourly precipitation data from thirty cooperative stations in Kentucky from 1965 to 1996 were used to determine the diurnal distribution of precipitation rates. Descriptive summaries for the diurnal distribution for each climate division in Kentucky and for Kentucky as a whole were calculated. In each case, the trends were similar. Precipitation rates increased into the afternoon and then decreased until sunrise. A stochastic model was developed to estimate mean seasonal precipitation rates in Kentucky by using regional and localized parameters. More than half of the variation (r2 = 0.57) in precipitation rates can be explained by the following variables: 1) …

From The Director: Spring 2001, Donald A. Wilhite

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

I recently participated in an advanced course, “Management Strategies to Mitigate Drought in the Mediterranean: Monitoring, Risk Analysis, and Contingency Planning”, in Rabat, Morocco (May 21– 26). The course was organized by the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza (CIHEAM– IAMZ) and the Institut Agronomique et Veterinaire Hassan II in Rabat, Morocco, with contribution from the European Commission. The National Drought Mitigation Center’s Mark Svoboda also participated. Other lecturers included M. Wassif (Desert Research Center, Cairo); Eddy dePauw (ICARDA); Ana Iglesias (Universidad Politecnica, Madrid, and Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University); Karl Monnik (Institute for Soil, Climate and Water/ARC, South …

Ice Storm Damage To Virginia Coastal Plain Forests During The Christmas 1998 Ice Storm, Peter Elstner, Stewart Ware

Virginia Journal of Science

On December 23-25, 1998, a major ice storm struck southeastern Virginia. The storm-deposited glaze ice felled trees and limbs, causing a power outage and highway blockage. Between February and April, 1999, we recorded occurrence, severity, and type of damage to trees over 2.5 cm dbh in nine mostly gently sloping plots in Matoaka Woods at the College of William and Mary. Frequency and severity of damage varied with species and with size of trees. Canopy damage occurred in 75% of large Fagus grandifolia trees, but in only 6% of small Sassafras albidum stems. As a group, small (2.5 to 15 …

Karst Genetic Model For The French Bay Breccia Deposits, San Salvador, Bahamas, Lee J. Florea, John Mylroie, Jim Carew

Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Can Long-Term Variability In The Gulf Stream Transport Be Inferred From Sea Level?, Tal Ezer

CCPO Publications

Recent studies by Sturges and collaborators suggest a simple, but powerful, technique to estimate climatic changes in the transport of the Gulf Stream from the difference between the oceanic sea level calculated with a simple wind-driven Rossby wave model and the observed coastal sea level. The hypothesis behind this technique is tested, using 40 years of data (1950 to 1989) obtained from a three-dimensional Atlantic Ocean model forced by observed surface data. The analysis shows that variations in sea level difference between the ocean and the coast are indeed coherent with variations of the Gulf Stream transport for periods shorter …

Farming Systems To Manage Salinity. Farmer Directed Research, Development And Extension. Research Results 2001, Richard Olive

Natural resources published reports

More and more of Western Australia's agnicultural lands are becoming saline. Currently it is estimated that about 18 milliion ha of land are affected to a greater or lesser degree by salinity causing production losses estimated at about $70 million a year.

Unless ways are found to halt and reverse the salinisation of land it is estimated that another 4.4 million ha could become saline over the next 50 years.

Grain growers and the Federal Government, through the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC). are investing $12 4 million in R&D across Australia to develop productive solutions to the salinity …

Introduction To Special Section: Saz Project, T. W. Trull, Peter N. Sedwick, F. B. Griffiths, S. R. Rintoul

OES Faculty Publications

Oceanographic processes in the subantarctic region contribute crucially to the phys. and biogeochemical aspects of the global climate system. To explore and quantify these contributions, the Antarctic Cooperative Research Center organized the SAZ Project, a multidisciplinary, multiship study carried out south of Australia in the austral summer of 1997-1998. We present an overview of the SAZ Project and some of its major results.

Application Of Tree-Structured Regression For Regional Precipitation Prediction Using General Circulation Model Output, Xiangshang Li, David J. Sailor

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study presents a tree-structured regression (TSR) method to relate daily precipitation with a variety of free-atmosphere variables. Historical data were used to identify distinct weather patterns associated with differing types of precipitation events. Models were developed using 67% of the data for training and the remaining data for model validation. Seasonal models were built for each of 2 US sites: San Francisco, California, and San Antonio, Texas. The average correlation between observed and simulated daily precipitation data series is 0.75 for the training set and 0.68 for the validation set. Relative humidity was found to be the dominant variable …

The Influence Of Wave– And Zonal Mean–Ozone Feedbacks On The Quasi-Biennial Oscillation, Eugene Cordero, Terrence R. Nathan

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

The effects of wave and zonal mean ozone heating on the evolution of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) are examined using a two-dimensional mechanistic model of the equatorial stratosphere. The model atmosphere is governed by coupled equations for the zonal mean and (linear) wave fields of ozone, temperature, and wind, and is driven by specifying the amplitudes of a Kelvin wave and a Rossby–gravity wave at the lower boundary. Wave–mean flow interactions are accounted for in the model, but not wave–wave interactions.

A reference simulation (RS) of the QBO, in which ozone feedbacks are neglected, is carried out and the results …

Announcements: Fall 2000

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Contents:

2000 National Disaster Medical System Conference

Management Strategies to Mitigate Drought in the Mediterranean: Monitoring, Risk Analysis and Contingency Planning

Potential Use Of Noaa/Avhrr Satellite Data For Monitoring Environmental Change In Turkey, Ali Umran Komuscu

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

In Turkey, desertification has been taking place in areas of low rainfall and minimal vegetative cover. In particular, the central, eastern, and southeastern parts of the country are vulnerable to desertification because of erosion, deforestation, and degradation of vegetative cover. Rivers of those regions are characterized by very high sediment yields. Nearly 60% of the country’s soils are subjected to severe erosion and approximately 450 million tons of sediment are carried to rivers each year. Meanwhile, wind erosion has been a very effective desertification process in central and southeastern parts of the country, where annual rainfall varies around 400–500 mm/year. …

Workshop On Drought-Related Issues In Fars Province, Iran: Critical Points And Resolutions, M. J. Nazemosadat, S. Amin, A. A. Kamgare-Haghighi, D. Khalili

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

As a result of the occurrence of overwhelming severe drought over most parts of the Islamic Republic of Iran, an educational/professional workshop on drought issues was held at the College of Agriculture, Shiraz University in Iran, October 18–19, 2000. The workshop was sponsored by the College of Agriculture, the office of Fars Provincial Government, the Agricultural Bank, and Shiraz Abfa Company. The workshop was mainly focused on the assessment of drought impacts and severity in Fars province, in the southern part of Iran.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by some of the parliament members (from Fars province), the Chancellor of …

From The Director: Fall 2000, Donald A. Wilhite

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

The NDMC hosted the first annual “Drought Monitor Forum” in November. Most of the readers of Drought Network News are probably aware of the Drought Monitor web site (http://enso.unl.edu/ monitor/index.html) and the products that are provided to users. (Mark Svoboda of the NDMC provided an overview of the Drought Monitor product in the Winter/Spring 2000 issue of Drought Network News.) This weekly product, jointly produced by the NDMC, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, has been widely accepted in the United States, and other countries are considering the adoption of a similar technique for mapping drought …

Improving Drought Early Warning Systems In The Context Of Drought Preparedness And Mitigation, Donald A. Wilhite, M. V. K. Sivakumar, Deborah Wood

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Effective drought early warning systems are an integral part of efforts worldwide to improve drought preparedness. Timely and reliable data and information must be the cornerstone of effective drought policies and plans. In pursuit of the goal of improving the effectiveness of drought early warning systems, participants of the experts meeting were asked to address three fundamental questions:

1. What is your assessment of the current status of drought early warning systems?
2. What are the shortcomings, limitations, and needs for drought early warning systems?
3. How can drought early warning systems be improved to better support drought preparedness and …

Using The Spi To Monitor The 1999-2000 Drought In Northeastern Argentina, Roberto Zanvettor, Andres Ravelo

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Drought risk is a major concern across many regions of Argentina because precipitation is extremely variable. One of these regions, the Pampas, is the main agricultural and livestock production area, extending over 60 million hectares. This region was recently surveyed to detect, monitor, and assess the occurrence of drought using a network of 27 meteorological stations and the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), developed by McKee et al. (1993). The SPI has various categories that define drought intensities. A period is considered humid when the SPI value is greater than +1 and a period is considered dry when the value of …

Effects Of Planetary Wave-Breaking On The Seasonal Variation Of Total Column Ozone, Terrence R. Nathan, Eugene C. Cordero, Long Li, Donald J. Wuebbles

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

The effects of planetary wave breaking on the seasonal variation of total column ozone are investigated using a zonally averaged chemical-radiative-transport model of the atmosphere. The planetary wave breaking effects of zonal wavenumbers k=1 and k=2 are significant in the middle latitude stratosphere during Northern Hemisphere (NH) winter, whereas only wave k=1 is important during Southern Hemisphere (SH) winter. The mixing and induced meridional circulation due to the planetary wave breaking increases the seasonal variation of total column ozone in NH (SH) middle latitudes by ∼20% (∼10%).

Conclusions And Recommendations From The Central And Eastern European Workshop On Drought Mitigation

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

The importance of prevention and planning in drought mitigation was the impetus for the Central and Eastern European Workshop on Drought Mitigation, held April 12–15, 2000, in Budapest-Felsoőgöd, Hungary. The workshop was organized and sponsored by several Hungarian agencies: the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; Ministry for Environment; Ministry of Transport, Communication and Water Management; Research and Development Division of the Ministry of Education; and Hungarian Meteorological Service. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), European Commission Joint Research Centre (EC JRC–ISPRA), European Regional …

India’S Arid Region And The Current Drought, Pratap Narain, K. D. Sharma, A. S. Rao, D. V. Singh, B. K. Mathur, Usha Rani Ahuja

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

We recently surveyed some of the drought-affected areas (Figure 1) in the Indian arid region in a publication entitled “Strategy to Combat Drought and Famine in the Indian Arid Zone.” This article is a summary of the report.

The present drought in the arid and semiarid regions of India is due to the cumulative effect of inadequate rainfall during 1997–99. Twelve states in India are in the grip of severe drought, with Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh (Table 1) being the most affected. The Indian arid zone encompasses 32 million ha and is highly prone to droughts and …

The Drought In Chile And La Niña, Juan Quintana

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Precipitation is one of the climatic elements most affected by the presence of La Niña in Chile. An important precipitation deficit begins during La Niña events, from latitude 45°S to the north. This deficit prevails most of the year, with winter (April–September) being most vulnerable to these anomalies. The central region of Chile (30°S to 40°S) has negative anomalies, with precipitation values 35% to 100% below the climatologic annual average. These rain deficiencies in Chile are determined by the persistence of anomalies of anticyclonal circulation of middle and subtropical latititudes and an area of anomalies of cyclonic circulation in the …

Talking Imperative For Grieving Farmers, Others, Cheryl Alberts

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Farmers who are losing their livelihoods to the drought shouldn’t be surprised to feel depressed or angry, and neither should people around them. After all, these farmers are suffering a very real loss and they are grieving.

Farmers who lose a crop in many ways will react as have people who have lost loved ones, said John DeFrain, family and community development specialist at the University of Nebraska here. That is, they go into shock, denial and anger, and not necessarily in that order.

The loss of a crop means a loss of time, expenses, identity and, in some cases, …

From The Director: Summer 2000, Donald A. Wilhite

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

We had a fairly good response to the call in the previous issue of Drought Network News for readers to receive future issues online. I would encourage more of you to consider this option, as it will save distribution costs and expedite receipt of the newsletter. If you are willing to receive the newsletter electronically, please contact Kim Klemsz ([email protected]). Our plan is to notify you via e-mail when each new issue of Drought Network News is available. Back issues of Drought Network News are also available online.

At this writing, I am making final preparations for the Expert Group …

Announcements: Summer 2000

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

Contents:

Disaster Management Workshops

Fifth Annual Conference on Crises and Disasters Management

DROUGHT 2000 Conference: Impacts, Policy, and Technology

16th Annual International Conference on Contaminated Soils, Sediments and Water

The Climatic Impact Of La Niña-Related Droughts In Entre Rios (Argentina), Alicia E. Codromaz De Rojas

Drought Network News (1994–2001)

The National Institute of Tecnologia Agropecuaria (INTA) at Parana, Entre Rios (Argentina), has a farming experimental station (E.E.A.) located at 31.5°S and 60.31°W, 110m above sea level. A meteorological observatory has existed at the site since 1934.

The region has a temperate humid climate and receives an average annual rainfall total of 1,000 mm. Distribution is monsoonal, with October–April rains accounting for 73% of the annual total.

Since August 1998, the area has been affected by La Niña, and experts expected the conditions of the cold episode to persist into 2000. The La Niña event in the humid Pampean region …

Growth In Colorado And The West: Trends And Issues [Outline], James N. Corbridge Jr.

Water and Growth in the West (Summer Conference, June 7-9)

4 pages.

Contains references.

Environmental Impacts Of New Solutions: Two Case Studies, Lori Potter, Michael Freeman

Water and Growth in the West (Summer Conference, June 7-9)

32 pages.

Contains footnotes and references.

Groundwater And Growth Management In The New West: Evolving Law And Practice, A. Dan Tarlock

Water and Growth in the West (Summer Conference, June 7-9)

13 pages.

The Water Development-Growth Relationship: Case Studies, Edward F. Harvey

Water and Growth in the West (Summer Conference, June 7-9)

7 pages.

Climate Variability And Western Water: What Can We Expect?, Roger S. Pulwarty

Water and Growth in the West (Summer Conference, June 7-9)

7 pages.