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Widespread Drought | Earth Wise

September 7, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

As the U.S. enters the last part of the summer, fully one-third of the country is experiencing at least a moderate level of drought. Much of the West is reaching severe drought conditions and New England has been unusually dry and hot. In total, over 50 million Americans are living in drought-affected areas.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor program, more than 93% of Utah, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico are experiencing drought to some degree. More than 60% of both Utah and Colorado are in severe drought. More than three-quarters of Oregon, Arizona, and Wyoming are also in drought. And most of these areas had no sign of drought this time last year.

Severe drought conditions result in stunted and browning crops, limited pasture yields, dust storms, reduced well water levels, and an increase in the number and severity of wildfires.

Warm air temperatures and minimal snowfall in spring set the stage for this summer’s drought conditions. A ridge of high pressure over the northeastern Pacific Ocean pushed the jet stream farther north than usual. And, once again, there has been a failure of the southwestern monsoon in Arizona and New Mexico and the Four Corners region. Monsoon rains provide half of the year’s precipitation in many of those areas.

Instead, there has been extreme heat in the region. Phoenix has already smashed the record for the most days over 110^oF in a calendar year (42 as of August 18), with five months to go. Las Vegas hasn’t seen measurable rainfall since April, and Cedar City, Utah has recorded a record low of 0.05 inches of rain this summer.

Conditions are not expected to get better for a couple of months.

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A Third of the U.S. Faces Drought

Photo, posted May 7, 2014, courtesy of Tyler Bell via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Too Many Bison | Earth Wise

May 8, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The population of large herbivores in Yellowstone National Park has undergone many dramatic changes over the course of time. The numbers of both the iconic Rocky Mountain elk and bison have gone up and down as a result of human interactions.

Bison, of course, once were a dominant species from east of the Appalachians to west of the Rocky Mountains, with most of an estimated 30 million living on the Great Plains. As the west was settled, bison populations plummeted and by the late 1800s, they were nearly extinct.

When Yellowstone was established, there were exactly 22 bison in the park. By 1925, there were more than 750 in the park and culling of the herd in the park’s Lamar Valley was practiced for the next four decades.

The elimination of predators like grey wolves and cougars in the early 1900s caused both elk and bison populations to mushroom and both underwent culling. When culling was ended in 1968, there were 4,000 elk and 100 bison. Within 20 years, those numbers were 20,000 and 1,000. Reintroducing wolves and cougars reduced the elk population to about 5,000, but bison numbers have continued to grow, now reaching about 4,000.

While the long-term recovery of the Yellowstone bison herd is a major conservation success story, the fact is that bison are powerful ecosystem engineers. Large numbers of them disrupt species distribution across scrub steppe and grasslands because of what they eat, trample, and rub their horns and bodies on. They have a tremendous capacity to limit the structure and composition of ecosystems.

Park administrators have complicated management decisions to make to take into account the often wide range of ecological effects that abundant large herbivores can have on ecosystems.

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Bison in northern Yellowstone proving to be too much of a good thing

Photo, posted August 10, 2016, courtesy of Brian Gratwicke via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Climate Change And El Niño

December 2, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The term El Niño refers to a large-scale ocean-atmosphere climate interaction linked to a periodic warming in sea surface temperature across the central and east-central equatorial Pacific Ocean. Amazingly, the phenomenon was originally recognized by fishermen off the coast of South America in the 1600s, with the appearance of unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean.

According to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme El Niño events, leading to intensifying droughts, worsening floods, and shifting hurricane patterns.

The study, led by scientists in China and the US, looked at data from 33 El Niños dating back to 1901. Since the 1970s, El Niños have been forming farther to the west in the Pacific Ocean, where temperatures are warmer. Strong El Niños can cause severe drought in dry climates such as Australia and India, intense flooding in wetter climates such as the US Pacific Northwest and Peru, and more hurricanes to form in the Pacific and fewer in the Atlantic.

Before 1978, 12 out of 14 El Niños formed east of the International Dateline. Since 1978, all 11 have formed in the central or western Pacific Ocean a shift of hundreds of miles. There have been three so-called super El Niños since the shift – in 1982, 1997, and 2015. These have set new average temperature records and triggered catastrophic natural disasters.

With rising global temperatures, El Niños are likely to continue to intensify, with major impacts on human societies around the world.

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Climate Change is Making El Niños More Intense, Study Finds

Photo, posted January 20, 2016, courtesy of Los Angeles District via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Air Quality In The U.S.

November 13, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Globally, poor air is a serious problem. According to the World Health Organization, exposure to air pollution is linked to the premature deaths of an estimated 7 million people every year. In fact, 91% of the people on the planet live in places where air pollution exceeds WHO guideline limits.

In the United States, air pollution has dramatically improved over the last four decades due in large part to federal regulations put in place under the Clean Air Act of 1970. Fine particulate matter (known as PM2.5) and other pollution, including ozone, sulphur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide, have all decreased during this time span.

But according to recent research, this trend has unfortunately done an about-face. New data reveals that air pollution has increased nationally since 2016. An analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that, on average, fine particulate pollution increased 5.5% across the country between 2016 and 2018.

This increase in fine particulate pollution was associated with nearly 10,000 additional premature deaths in the United States during that time period.

According to researchers, there are several factors likely causing this uptick in unhealthy air, including increases in both driving and the burning of natural gas. Wildfires out west are also thought to be a major contributor.

The researchers also suggest that a decrease in enforcement of the Clean Air Act may also be playing a role. The law put in place strict air pollution standards for vehicles, factories, power plants, and other sources, and is credited with saving hundreds of thousands of lives.

It’s time for clean air to be recognized as a basic human right.

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America’s Air Quality Worsens, Ending Years of Gains, Study Says

Photo, posted April 6, 2007, courtesy of Brett Weinstein via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Monster Tumbleweeds

October 18, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Tumbleweeds have long been seen as symbols of America’s old west. Tumbleweeds are a structural part of the above-ground anatomy of a number of species of plants known as diaspores. Diaspores are essentially seed dispersal units. In a few seed plants, they comprise most or all of the plant. Once they are mature and dry, they detach from the roots and roll around due to the force of the wind.

There is a new species of gigantic tumbleweed – the Salsola ryanii – that is expanding its territory in the American west. It is the result of a relatively unusual genetic process known as polyploidy, which produces offspring with multiple sets of chromosomes. Researchers believe that that the new hybrid species of tumbleweed is healthier than earlier versions. As a result, one geneticist described Salsola ryanii as a nasty species replacing other nasty species of tumbleweed in the US.

These tumbleweeds can grow up to 6 feet tall. Tumbleweeds in general are invasive plants that cause traffic accidents, damage agricultural operations, and cause millions of dollars in property damage. Last year, the town of Victorville in the California desert was buried in them, piling up to the second story of some houses.

Salsola ryanii has a relatively small range, but it is expanding rapidly. The new study determined that it is more vigorous than its predecessors, which are invasive in 48 states. The plant is an annual but tends to grow on the later side of winter. It is one of the only things that is still green in late summer. With summer rains increasing as the climate changes, these monster tumbleweeds are poised to wreak havoc. The experts are warning that there should be efforts to suppress them before they take over.

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Monster tumbleweed: Invasive new species is here to stay

Photo, posted February 27, 2018, courtesy of Tracie Hall via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

2018 Was A Wet Year

March 20, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Recent news reports noted that 2018 was the fourth hottest year on record. But the changing climate is not just about temperature. 2018 was also the third-wettest year since 1895, when steady record-keeping began.

Overall, the U.S. recorded 4.68 inches more precipitation in 2018 than the 20th century average. But all that rain and snow was nothing like evenly distributed. The eastern half of the country – especially in places like North Carolina and Virginia – saw record amounts of precipitation, while most of the West remained stuck in drought.

The warming climate leads to precipitation extremes at both ends, meaning that wet places are likely to get wetter and dry places drier. There has been a marked upward trend in short-duration extreme events. For example, Cyclone Mekunu dumped almost 13 inches of rain on Salalah, Oman in 36 hours, more than double its annual average rainfall.

In the southeast and eastern U.S., the trend toward stronger storm events is mostly driven by strong warming of the oceans that fringe their shores. Warm oceans evaporate more water into the air and warm air holds more water than cooler air. Warmer, moisture-laden air acts like a blanket over the land, keeping heat trapped near the ground. Many of the states that had their wettest-ever years also set records for high minimum temperatures – their coldest temperatures were less cold than in the past.

Air temperatures are projected to warm up even further in the coming years and, as a result, many scientists are anticipating that extreme precipitation events will only get more extreme. The pattern of drought in the west and wetness in the east is likely to stay.

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2018 was the U.S.’s third-wettest year on record—here’s why

Photo, posted August 18, 2018, courtesy of Jim Lukach via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Losing Forests Is Felt Far Away

July 6, 2018 By EarthWise 2 Comments

Large areas of forests in our country are vulnerable to drought, fires and disease. When forests are heavily damaged, there are well-known local impacts: drier soils, stronger winds, increased erosion, loss of shade and loss of habitat.

FEMA And Climate Change

April 13, 2018 By EarthWise 1 Comment

In 2017, the United States spent a record $306 billion on weather and climate-related disasters, making it the costliest and most damaging year on record. The wildfires out west, Hurricanes Irma, Maria, and Harvey, the Minnesota hailstorm, and the midwest drought are just some of the costly examples. Officials say that already-bloated figure will increase further in the coming years as temperatures rise.

Cold And Snow From Global Warming

April 4, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The Arctic has been experiencing record warm temperatures and record low sea ice levels. During February, there were nine days in a row with temperatures averaging 27 degrees above normal and often above freezing. Over the previous 20 years, there were only two previous readings above freezing in February – once in 2011 and once last year.

The Great American Eclipse

August 18, 2017 By EarthWise

On Monday, August 21, there will be a total solar eclipse visible in a band across the entire contiguous United States. The last time that happened was in June of 1918. In fact, the last time a total solar eclipse was visible anywhere at all in the continental U.S. was in 1979. So, this is a big deal for American eclipse watchers and millions of us will be heading for some part of the 65-mile-wide band of totality that wends its way from Oregon to South Carolina.

Migrating Trees

July 11, 2017 By EarthWise

The changing climate is having a marked effect on forests in this country. In particular, trees along the U.S. eastern seaboard are changing their range as they slowly seek to escape rising temperatures.

[Read more…] about Migrating Trees