Death Valley averages about two inches (50 mm) of rain a year, but it’s been on the dry side there in 2007, making what happened there this week all the more remarkable: Prior to today the yearly rainfall total in Death Valley was 0.10 of an inch. As of 2 p.m. PT, Death Valley had …
Robert Krier has a fascinating piece in this morning’s San Diego Union Tribune suggesting a linkage between arctic melting and drought in the Southwest: Three years ago, computer forecast models predicted that in 2050, the reduced ice mass would cause climate shifts that would result in a drought in the western United States. But the …
I’ve been incredibly busy lately, with a couple of fun but time-consuming outside projects going on, so I secretly harbored a fantasy this year: that the New York Yankees (my chosen baseball organization) would not make the playoffs. That likely labels me as not a true fan. Maybe that’s so. Being a Yankee fan takes …
From AFP: Prime Minister John Howard warned against linking Australia’s worst drought on record to doomsday forecasts about climate change Wednesday, saying “a sense of proportion” was needed.
New NASA data in Eos today shows remarkable melting in Greenland: A new NASA-supported study reports that 2007 marked an overall rise in the melting trend over the entire Greenland ice sheet and, remarkably, melting in high-altitude areas was greater than ever at 150 percent more than average. In fact, the amount of snow that …
The price of Australian wine is predicted to soar as the country’s crippling drought threatens to halve next year’s grape harvest.
Today’s paper of the day is Regional climate change over eastern Amazonia caused by pasture and soybean cropland expansion: Field observations and numerical studies revealed that large scale deforestation in Amazonia could alter the regional climate significantly, projecting a warmer and somewhat drier post-deforestation climate. Sampaio, G., C. Nobre, M. H. Costa, P. Satyamurty, B. …
Rio Grande Originally uploaded by heinemanfleck. Looking south down the Rio Grande from the Paseo del Norte Bridge in Albuquerque Sunday, Sept. 23, 2007. That’s maybe 450 cubic feet per second of flow, which is getting down toward what they call “base flow“. That’s the minimum flow in a desert river, the point at which …
Hoover Dam – Small Version Originally uploaded by heinemanfleck. From our trip to the New Mexico State Fair a week ago. It’s a scale model of Hoover Dam, the great monument to America’s confidence in its ability to tame the great Colorado River and make the desert bloom. I’ve always loved the triumphant architecture of …
Continue reading ‘Water in the Desert: Muscular Americana Edition’ »
Sawmill Park Originally uploaded by heinemanfleck. Wandering on the bike today, I stumbled (rolled?) into this lovely little new park in the Sawmill neighborhood, just north of Albuquerque’s Old Town.