Environmental_Science – Page 4

Water Stress

Where I live, we have been without appreciable rain for nearly two months.

My garden wilted. My flowers wilted. The leaves on the trees started dropping early. But I have no real problem. I may be concerned for my garden, but I can take a hose and water it. I could do the same for my flowers, but I know they will survive and will return when the rain comes back. And I am sure the rain will come back.

Where I live, when compared to other places, we are water rich. We have clean water that flows from our taps whenever we want it. Where I lived before was along a wide meandering river that flowed down from up-state. My water came from a well. In my current location, I have water from the city. Both of these areas may be considered water rich. But where I had a well, I had to work at it a bit and have the well drilled deeper. Why? Because the water level of the native aquifer was slowly but continually falling.

Why was it falling? Was there less rain? No. There was plenty of rain throughout the state and the region. In many instances, it seemed there was too much rain. So why was the level of the ground water aquifer falling? Because there were more people. There were more people upstream and all along the river’s banks. There were more people taking surface water and ground water for their personal use and for industrial use, and in my state for agricultural use. So the aquifer level was falling – and it continues to fall.

About every five years I would notice my pump was struggling to lift water up the well. I would need to call a well-driller and have my personal well drilled deeper and deeper. This was not a solution. If anything, I was exacerbating the problem.

In that state, along the Atlantic coast, the total population of 24 coastal counties grew between 2000 and 2007. Several of the counties lost population or had a low growth rate, but half of the coastal counties had a growth rate greater than 15%. All these new people and their jobs were using more and more water. The counties up river were experiencing even more growth. The metropolitan areas drew in more and more people. And they took their share of the surface water and the ground water.

But compared to many places in our country and around the World, these 24 coastal counties were water rich. Some of the population increase was due to people moving into the state from other states. Part of it was the growth of the existing population. Both of these trends continue. It can be seen even on the state level that the more people there are, the more water is needed.

When you look at the World, our nation as I have mentioned is water rich. The September 14, 2019 issue of Science News, including an article , “One in four people live in a place of high risk of running out of water”. The article highlighted a growing, World-wide water crisis. It discussed a series of tools used by the World Resources Institute to calculate what is considered a high level of “water stress”. The article states that the World’s use of water increased 150% from 1961 to 2014. In that same time frame the World Bank indicates that the World’s population has more than doubled, from 3.1 billion to 7.2 billion. At a glance it might appear that the World’s population has learned to reduce their water requirement. But in actuality it indicates, that overall, the World’s people have less access to water.

In a water rich country like the United States, this is not evident, unless you have a well that you have to push deeper every few years. But for many people in the World safe and adequate water supplies is an issue.

As the World population grows toward 8 Billion, this issue will get worse. New methods of water use that conserve water will be needed, and new sources of water, such as the salt filled oceans, will have to be tapped. This will require improved – or new – technologies to prepare the water for consumption, including desalination of ocean water, and new distribution processes to get the water to the people, the animals, and the crops that need it.

The picture of the map is taken directly from World Resources Institute, https://www.wri.org/aqueduct/ .

The Science News article may be found at, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/one-4-people-lives-place-high-risk-running-out-water .

Yellow – Rain

I have always thought that yellow was a good color for rain wear. It shows up!

On the most gloomy and rainy days you can see a person in a yellow rain coat even when they are a good distance off. A a recent study reported this week by several science news organizations that provides information related to another benefit.

In the recently published journal article, the authors describe their study in which they polled participants in 55 different countries. They present their findings that the color yellow can give rise to feelings of joy, a yellow-joy association. However, the level of rise of joy was found to be dependent on the climate and physical environment of the country. Less than 6% of the participates in Egypt found joy in yellow. The countries in which there were more sunny days did not rate high on a yellow-joy association. But in Finland where the weather is not as sunny, and clouds and fogs and plenty of snow all abound, the color yellow leads to expressions of joy in 88% of the participants.

The study not only investigated emotions related to yellow, the 6,625 participants across the 55 countries were asked to rate their emotional feelings of 12 colors. The countries in which the study was conducted span the globe and include all continents except Antarctica. The study is representative of many cultures and climatic conditions.

Of the twelve colors, only yellow could be specifically linked to an increase of emotions and be related to environmental conditions the participants found within their home country.

Across the full set of participants, the study found a yellow-joy association in over 48% of the participants. But as presented earlier the countries in which sunshine was prevalent had a lower association. In the countries where sunshine was less prevalent, there was significantly higher yellow-joy association.

When I was a child I had a long skirted yellow rain “slicker”. I remember enjoying rainy days because when I was outside I could enjoy the world in a different way. There were puddles to jump in. I could feel the rain being blown into my face. I could hear the wind blowing through the canopy of the trees. I not only enjoyed the experience, but according to the study my enjoyment may well have been enhanced due to the yellow slicker that I was wearing. The picture below is based on a drawing I made when I was a child. It provides an expression of my feelings at that time, in the rain.

Today, I have a yellow rain suit. Now there are streams in the woods that I enjoy forwarding. The grey skies to me mean that I can enjoy the natural aspects of the woodlands and fields, and still experience what is not an every-day occurrence. And wearing my yellow rain suit becomes an amusing experience for me – and perhaps for the squirrels too. The color yellow can make you happier. When the sky is grey and there’s a chance for being moody, put on yellow and enjoy the day.

The study by D. Jonauskaite (et. al.), The sun is no fun without rain: Physical environments affect how we feel about yellow across 55 countries, is published on-line in The Journal of Environmental Psychology, as a pre-proof edition.

3 BILLION

Three Billion birds are gone. And all in just 50 years. It happened in the trees and fields. It happened where there were no longer any trees and where the fields had been treated with pesticides. It happened when a cat left out at night brought home a bird it had killed – as a gift – but in this reckoning it might as well have been in a tiny body bag. It happened without much notice. It happened in our yards, at our offices, along our streets, on our favorite country road. It was happening all around us. But it happened without much of a hue and cry.

There might have been a Fall when you said, “That “V” of geese overhead looks smaller than when I was a child”. But geese have found places to stay without going farther north.

And your cat seldom brings home birds, and then its only one. Its not only roaming domestic cats; its the wild, feral cats. The lower end of the estimate for feral cats in the United States is 65 million. If that number of cats each dropped one bird per year at someone’s doorstep that would surpass the 3 Billion count over the 50 year time frame.

And Dogs are not free of the blame. Ground dwelling birds and their nest are particularly susceptible to dogs. The dogs may catch the bird and will most often eat the eggs if they are in the nest. I’ve seen both of these events happen.

Another ferocious animal that can decimate bird populations are feral pigs. A pig will eat anything, acorns and other nuts, snakes, lizards and other reptiles, young dogs, eggs in ground nests, and birds. Feral pigs are worst in the southeast United States from North Carolina to Texas and Oklahoma. And California has a large population of feral pigs as well. These wild pigs can decimate wildlife populations. They can also severely damage the habitat for birds reducing nesting and breeding area.

These bird deaths can invade your home and office building. Did you hear that thump? It was a bird that thought the sky reflected in your penthouse window was a space to fly through. The bird flew right into the window. Buildings, especially high rise building, end up being death traps for bird. The light of the big cities compound the problems for birds on their historical migration path. Studies by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the University of Michigan, reveal the scope of these issues. The Cornell study named Chicago as the worst city for bird deaths from flying into windows. This is chiefly because the city and its tall buildings, including the tallest in the U.S., is on the historical Mississippi flyway. The flyways are highways in the sky that birds follow on the migrations.

Birds in the United States are in trouble, animals, construction activities, wanton destruction of breeding and nesting area, office buildings, confusion due to lighting; all these are playing a role in the loss of bird populations in the United States.

What will we miss? We will miss the sight of birds wheeling in the air. We will miss their song in our yard, in our city parks, out in the countryside. Insects will be less in control and will feast more freely on our plants and crops. A fictional movie from 1971 played on this idea. The Hellstorm Chronicles, implied that the results of insect populations breeding without any natural check on it and the horrifying results. A loss of birds can result in the loss of a lot more.

What is it that we have lost in the 50 years since 1970? We have lost 3 billion birds. We have lost their song, their beauty and their economic benefit. It has been gradual, but it is real. According to an article in Smithsonian magazine, the loss of 3 billion birds equates to a loss of more than 29% of the bird population in the United States.

Take four quarters out of your pocket and throw one away. Every time you want to buy something for a dollar, you only have 75 cents in your pocket. You go away unsatisfied. That’s where we are heading.

Quoting from To a Skylark, by Percy Shelley.

Hail to thee, Blithe Spirit!

Bird thou never wert,

That from Heaven, or near it,

Pourest thy full heart

In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.

Higher still and higher

From the earth thou springest

Like a cloud of fire;

The blue deep thou wingest,

And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.

How, knowing this, could we ever let it pass?

The Cornell study and that of the University of Michigan mentioned about are summarized in an article that may be found at https://www.dezeen.com/2019/04/08/skyscrapers-usa-birds-death-studies/
Both the article in Dezeen magazine and on the Cornell Lab for Ornithology website present actions that can help stop the decline.
The Smithsonian article may be found at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/north-america-has-lost-nearly-3-billion-birds-180973178/.
The art for this article is a modified version of he art on this catastrophic loss of American birds at https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/.
The entire poem To a Skylark may be found at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45146/to-a-skylark .
Sign-up for Cornell Lab of Ornithology (Birds) eNews which may be found https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/enews .

Sweeping the Sky

This morning was a wonderful Fall morning. It was clear. It was cool. As the sun came up it burnished the tops of the trees down in the woods. Some high, thin clouds were out to greet the sun. And as they passed overhead they were swept by the top most branches on the sun-lit trees.

At least it appeared that way.

But these trees did not touch the clouds. As the clouds drifted by they only appeared to be swept by the upper branches. However, this is not always the case. On mornings when the day is foggy, the clouds can engulf and move through the trees, and the trees clear out lines in the fog.

But today it appeared that the trees might be touching the clouds. Yet this was only my perspective. In reality, the trees did not touch the clouds. They touched the sky.

The real effect of the trees extends way beyond their height.

The leaves on the trees are the main component in clearing the atmosphere of carbon dioxide (CO2). The leaves absorb the CO2 and use it in the photosynthesis process. Photosynthesis, roughly translated, means, made from light. The light provides the energy of the sun to the trees. The trees use the energy from the sun to change CO2, absorbed from the air, into glucose (C6H12O6) for the tree’s metabolism. Through photosynthesis the tree manufactures C6H12O6 to enhance its own growth. This process uses water (H2O) drawn up from the soil in which the trees roots are bound. From the process glucose is produced, as well as oxygen (O2). But more O2 is produced than the tree requires of its own use. The excess O2 is released back into the atmosphere. There the oxygen is available for our use with every breath we take, and for all other creatures. It is not only the trees that carry out photosynthesis but all plants with chlorophyll use this process to enhance their growth. And thereby they all release the excess O2 into the atmosphere.

The basic chemical reaction that takes place using the energy from the sun is shown as follows;

This is the respiration of trees. Through this process we are supplied with the oxygen that we need for life, to run our own metabolism, and by which we grow and succeed. This is true for birds, for creatures in the trees and creatures on the ground, and for fish in the sea. The trees support us all.

The pumping of O2 into the atmosphere can be seen on the Keeling Curve (see article dated 02/15/2019, the Keeling Curve). The level of CO2 is measured and shown on the curve as a saw tooth edge. The rise and fall of this saw toothed edge come about as the leaves on the trees open in the Spring, and the CO2 falls. Then when the leaves fall from the trees in Autumn, the CO2 rises.

The trees sweep up CO2 from our atmosphere and replace it with oxygen, O2.

The trees hold our atmosphere in place. They are “sky anchors” which bind the chemical makeup of the atmosphere close to the earth where we can all use it. We must treasure our trees and protect them.

However, as the world population soars, more land for farming is required, for both subsistence farming and large scale farming. The land is also required for living space. As whole forests are cut down and burned, each of us needs to work to replace the trees. The Nature Conservancy is leading a campaign called “Plant a Billion Trees”, https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/plant-a-billion/. Its goal is to stimulate reforestation. Large scale efforts like this and even individuals planting trees in their garden can ensure clean air for all of us. The trees are “sky anchors” that can hold the sky in place.

Starling Starlings

Fall is almost upon us. The leaves on the mid-Atlantic are beginning to change. They are taking on their yellow and russet colors. When the morning sun first hits the tops of the trees they look like gold.

We are having our first string of cool mornings. Its great to sit outside and listen to the day start. The birds are singing and welcoming the sun. The chipmunks are running under foot with more stores for their winter larder. The last of the hummingbirds are still around although we are not putting out nectar for them any longer. I have seen two hummingbirds in the last two days. They stop and look at me in my chair before they fly on. They need to move on south. Its going to be cold here this winter.

But the greatest shows of the Fall are going to be the Starlings and Cowbirds as they come together in massive flocks that will lift off and swirl and pirouette in the sky forming fantastic images of depth and shadow. I will see some of these when I go out to the countryside and hike the trails that look across fields and are bordered by trees where the birds perch in the evenings.

Over the last few mornings I have watched Starlings gather in the treetops of the nearby woods. The fly in in small groups of five to twelve birds. They gather and squawk and chirp as more groups come in. A small group may lift off but they settle back when the entire group does not rise with them. The first day I saw them, it was a small group of less than 50 birds. The next day there were upwards of 300 birds, and the day after that there were at least 2,000 birds. When they rose in the air the sound of their wings drowned out the traffic from the nearby roads. They would swirl once or twice with the thicker portions of the flock becoming darker with the greater mass of birds. But the depth and shadow would shift and rotate as the birds lifted and eventually flew off to the south east.

These birds are not native to North America. They were first imported in 1890 and sixty birds were released into Central Park in New York City. Why? Supposedly because they are mentioned in Shakespeare. But their mention is not a pleasant one nor for beauty or pleasure. In Henry IV, Part I, Act I, Scene III, Hotspur, who is in rebellion against the king, fantasies of teaching a Starling to say the name of the king’s enemy, Mortimer. Hotspur will give the bird to the king in whose court the bird will continually speak the name of Mortimer, and the bird’s utterances will “keep his [the kings] anger still in motion.”

The birds released in 1890 in New York City survived the winter and began to flourish. Now, nearly one hundred and twenty years later, The Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) have become widespread across North America. They number into the hundreds of millions.

The clouds of birds that wheel in their flocks, are known as murmurations. From a distance, they may be amazing. But up close these large groups of birds create a hazard. They are noisy. The ground below their night perches become fouled with their droppings. Clouds of these birds have caused planes to crash. They can devastate crops in the field. A US Department of Agriculture article stated that in 2000, the damage by Starlings to agricultural crops was estimated at $800 million. And millions more have been spent on trying to chase the birds away from airports, from significant buildings, and neighborhoods. The birds are an invasive species. They are truly pests.

Yet when I watch my few Starlings in these Fall mornings, I am amazed at their flocking and flight.

But I watch them closely to make sure that they are not taking up evening residence.

Other articles on Starlings may be found in the New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/01/opinion/100-years-of-the-starling.html

and in the Smithsonian magazine, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-invasive-species-we-can-blame-on-shakespeare-95506437/.

The USDA article may be found at https://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_damage/nwrc/publications/07pubs/linz076.pdf.

Road Side Apollo 8

When I have a chance to drive across country I look for new roads and new sights. That’s part of the fun of traveling, to see and learn about new places and ideas. But I also look for remembered sites, places I have seen before and remember with enthusiasm.

On a recent trip into the mid-west, I drove across Ohio on Interstate 70. Not always the best way to see the country, but I was in a hurry to get back home. While I was on the road I looked for a remembered place. I would often drive that road in the 1970s. I had favorite places along that route that I liked to see. There was a campground outside of Indianapolis, where I could stop and pitch my tent and spend the night. I often stopped there back in those days, nearly 50 years ago. I looked for it on this trip and may have seen it on the south side of the road. But now it was more modern, and there were more recreational vehicles than there were sites for tents or small trailers.

The other place I looked for along that road was a barn. It was an old barn even 50 years ago. I would see it whenever I drove back and forth to Chicago. This barn stood out from the others I would see along that rural route. It was not big, but it had a mural painted on the side that faced the road. The barn was less than 500 yards from the road and was well cared for as were the house next to it and the fields surrounding it. What made this barn stand out was the mural of the Earth rising over a lunar landscape, as seen during Apollo 8’s 1968 orbit across the far side of the moon.

At the time it was a very famous picture. Its image or images based on it could be seen in many places. People were fascinated by it. It was views like this that caused the popularization of the phrase ”big blue marble” as that was what the earth looked like from space. It was also pictures like this that tugged at the American consciousness, and perhaps the international consciousness, of how beautiful, and yet how fragile, our home, Earth, actually might be. These were the early days of the environmental movement. The government of the United States worked with the people of the United States to pass legislation to improve and protect the environment in which we all live. The Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act were all enacted in the 1970s. The people wanted these laws enacted to improve and protect the environment and human health, and the government responded.

When I would see that barn, well into the 1970s, I would feel pride in our accomplishments in space and in protection of the environment. And I knew that the people who had painted this mural on their barn felt a similar pride. We accomplished a great deal in the 1970s and into the 1980s. The environment is now cleaner. Pollution is now less. And yes, yards and roadsides and the air and water are now cleaner than they had been in the 1950s and 1960s, because of environmental action. It was a great time in which improvements were everywhere. And it still a great time, and the potential to change and improve continuous all around us. It is on our curb, in our front yard, in our town, in our nation, and in the international community at large. But each of us must still act to protect it! It is our responsibility.

On this recent trip. I did not see the barn with its iconic “Earth-rise”. I may have been removed or it might have collapsed due to age. It might be a parking lot now. But the image with always be with us. That picture of our fragile home hung in the blackness of space can always remind us of the necessity to keep it clean and to improve it for its growing population.

Thank you to whoever you were that painted that mural. Perhaps I will see another on my next cross country trip.

Long Range F.O.X.

Who is up for a nice long walk? How about a trek across 2,000 plus miles of frozen ice north of the Arctic Circle?

A young, female Artic Fox was ready for it, and so off she went. She walked (or picturing a fox, she trotted) from Norway’s Svalbard archipelago (well west of Norway in the Arctic Ocean.) to Ellesmere Island well to the east of mainland Canada. She had previously been fitted with a radio collar by the Norwegian Polar Institute and was tracked as she covered the 2,175 miles. The straight-line distance between the two points is 935 miles. So, it is evident that the fox wandered a bit on her path. Her path took her across the frozen Arctic Ocean and across, or if she stayed on the frozen sea ice (which I doubt) near to, the northern end of Greenland. According to The Guardian article in which I first read about the fox, she took 76 days to make the trek. That gives an average distance of 29 miles per day. The article also stated that she walked an astonishing 96 miles on one of those days. Why the burst of speed? Maybe she saw what she was following and wanted to get closer. Perhaps something was following her, and she wanted to get away.

What could have been the reason for such a walk? Its reason enough for me just to see what’s on the other side of the distant hills. But a walk of this distance is much, much further than I have ever walked. At one time I had entertained the idea of walking across the United States, but for numerous reasons that did not happen. However, I generally walk between 600 and 800 miles in a year. That may be no great distance compared to hikers and walkers of a higher order. But for me, each mile and each hour spent outside enjoying whatever weather the day grants me, is a delight. The enjoyment can be multiplied by the animals and other people I might meet on the trail.

Which reminds me of a verse from a great hiking song – The Happy Wanderer, or “I love to go a-wandering”.

“I wave my hat to all I meet
  And They wave back to me
     And blackbirds call so loud and sweet
        From ev’ry green wood tree”.

I wonder what the little fox met along her track. Were there other foxes? Perhaps she saw a polar bear, and perhaps the bear’s attention was why she put in the 96 mile day. Did she see a narwhale rising at its breathing hole, first its pike piercing the air and then its rounded form lifting high out of the water. Or perhaps she heard the singing of the Beluga whale.

When the fox started her trek in March 2018, her fur may have still been pure white. She blended in well with the ice and snow all around her. When she arrived in Ellesmere Island in July she was likely covered in her summer coat of brown. The Artic Fox changes color throughout the year in order to match the seasonal landscape of her environment. In Winter, she is white. In Summer, she is brown to dark brown to black. And in-between her fur is changing and has a grizzled appearance. This in-between “morph” is called Blue. So, often the Artic Fox is called the Blue Fox. Wikipedia has good article, titled Artic Fox. It describes her well, and has excellent pictures of the fox in its habitat and in its different colorations.

The little vixen’s trek across the Arctic Ocean was doubtlessly a grueling journey. I hope she found what she was looking for.

The Wikipedia article may be found at, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_fox .

The full lyrics for The Happy Wanderer may be found at, https://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/frank_weir/the_happy_wanderer.html .

The map in the art work is from Google Earth. The dotted line between the starting point and the arrival point on Ellesmere Island indicates a supposed path in order to show the distance the fox trotted. The picture of the fox is taken from The Guardian, https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/fantastic-arctic-fox-animal-walks-3500km-from-norway-to-canada/ar-AADJfsy?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=spartandhp .

At’ta boy, Boaty

First of all – it’s good to be back. I apologize for the lengthy dry spell in my blogs, but it could not be helped (see blog post “Sorry-but there was an accident”, 6/29). I am glad to be back. And I am very glad that you are back reading my articles. I hope that my recovery will soon allow me to get back out to experience the joy of long hikes in the woods.

Recently, there have been numerous articles regrading Boaty McBoatface, and I want to salute the vessel, the drone, the scientists, and the findings.

First the vessel. You may remember in 2016 there was a public request by a British government bureau, the British Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), to submit names for a new scientific vessel. The vessel was a 425 foot (129 meter), $300 million ocean-going ice breaker and research vessel dedicated to the study of the oceans of the Antarctic regions.

I need to mention the importance of the protein provided by the oceans to the world’s population. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in 2014 “ten percent of the world’s population depends on fisheries for their livelihoods, and 4.3 billion people are reliant on fish for 15 percent of their animal protein intake.” [1] The oceans are an important resource and must be studied and protected.

The name for the vessel that the majority of people, those who visited the NERC website, recommended was Boaty McBoatface. I believe the world agreed it was a very funny, but a rather silly, name for a vessel of its size and importance.

The vessel, due to its expense and significance, was eventually named Royal Research Ship (RRS) David Attenborough after the famed broadcaster and natural historian. This name had also scored highly on the NERC website. But what then to do with that great and popular name of Boaty? The scientific community decided to use the name for a new and important drone vehicle. The new drone was planned for exploration of the oceans and specifically to collect data related to the temperature regions/levels of the ocean water surrounding Antarctica.

The new Boaty McBoatface submersible, is a research drone which can be launched and recovered from a larger research vessel. The submersible drone is a Autosub Long Range (ALR). Boaty McBoatface is the first of its class and is designated ALR-1. According to the NERC, the ALR submersibles can be at sea for weeks to months. This length of time and data gathering capability is far longer than research drones that are currently utilized by the NERC. Other autonomous vehicles of the Boaty class are planned for development, construction, and use for research of the Southern Ocean and perhaps others of the world’s seven seas.

ALR Boaty McBoatface, has been in the news recently for its data collection during its first scientific voyage. The data provides information regarding the effect of increasingly stronger winds on the rise of ocean surface water temperatures. This is one of the many feed-back loops related to global warming. According to an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) [2], ALR-1 (Boaty), traveled 112 miles on its first voyage. Its path took it through high walled underwater valleys of the Orkney Passage in the depths of the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. The vessel measured temperature, salinity (saltiness), as well as the turbulence at different depths.

The findings of Boaty’s maiden voyage reveal how increasingly stronger winds on the surface of the Southern Ocean create turbulence deep under the surface. This turbulence results in a mixing of the warm water at the middle levels with the colder waters from the depths of the Southern Ocean. This mixing causes the temperature of the waters in the lower level to warm and move upward through the water column. This can be a significant factor in rising sea levels. As the warmer water raises the overall ocean temperature, the water tends to expand due to the warming and thus causes the sea level to rise. If the deep-water warming contributes to a warming of the ocean’s surface waters this may increase the rate of evaporation from the surface into the atmosphere which can contribute to more rain and snow inland and greater strength to ocean storms.

According to the PNAS article, the significance of the findings of this previously undocumented mixing mechanism of the overturning circulation in the Southern Ocean is a better understanding that the deep-ocean waters are rapidly laundered through intensified near-boundary turbulence and boundary–interior exchange. As the conditions triggering this mechanism are common to other branches of the overturning circulation, the findings highlight a requirement for representing the newly-understood circulation in computer models of the overturning in the Southern Ocean and its effect of rising ocean water temperatures.

Congratulations to Boaty and the entire research team.

The artwork for this blog post is based on Figure 2 of the PNAS article (graph (D) showing the potential vorticity in red and blue and the neutral density of the deep water shown by the black contour lines). The image of the ALR-1 is taken from the internet.

[1] http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/248479/icode/, Oceans crucial for our climate, food and nutrition

[2] Rapid mixing and exchange of deep-ocean waters in an abyssal boundary current, PNAS first published June 18, 2019 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1904087116

Doggie, Doggie

Not everything outside is pleasant. Some of the unpleasant things are just nature’s way, like mosquitoes, angry wasps, and poison ivy. These can be often be avoided by an informed hiker who watches where they step and is careful in what they do.

But some unpleasantness on the trail is – well – caused by our fellow hikers.

It’s all about sharing the trail.

Today it often seems that sharing the trail is not just with fellow hikers but with their dogs as well.

Don’t get me wrong, I like dogs. I have lived with several at different times. They were a wonderful addition to my life, and I miss them. They were a delight. And I hope when they met other people at home, or on the trail, or at the beach, or in the neighborhood that they (and I ) were courteous to my neighbors and to their dogs and other pets.

Today however there seem to be more dogs than ever. You see them with their owners in stores (including food stores which I think in most areas is against local ordnances), you see them in restaurants, and in the neighborhoods. Thankfully, the days of letting dogs run loose is far behind us. Most often when I see a dog it is on a leash as most should be when out in public. The leash enables better control and can keep the dog safe.

In order to be courteous, the first of the two major things for a dog and owner is to know where they are allowed and where they are not allowed. If you are not sure, ask. Ask the store manager if you can bring your dog inside. Ask the restaurant owner if you can have your dog with you at the table. And read the signs in public parks.

The second major thing is to make sure your dog is trained in how to act around other people and their pets. This is huge! No one wants a dog to jump on them – even in a friendly manner. No one wants their dog to be attacked or otherwise intimidated by another dog. And dogs like to be trained. It gives them a sense of pride. And its not hard. It takes a certain level of commitment by the owner to ensure their dog knows not to pull on the lease, and knows how to sit and stay, and how to be quiet.

In my walks and hikes I have seen extremely bad examples of dogs with absolutely no training who are basically wild and often aggressive. And I have often seen dogs that are exceptionally well trained and basically are at peace with their surroundings. In these later cases the dog, and the owner, and I are all glad to share the trail.

One last thing, and this is totally to the owners. Sure, you dog has to “go”. We all get that. And thank you to the vast percentage of folks who clean up after their dogs. But after you have cleaned it up – PLEASE take it with you. Most National Parks no longer have trash receptacles. You are expected to take your waste with you when you go. And this includes those little plastic bags of dog waste. No one is going to come behind you and pick it up. Please put it in your car and take it home and dispose of it there. No one wants to have to start a nice walk in the woods with the sight of waste bags all around the trail head.

Pick it up. Pack it out. Share the trail.

Grand Canyon – Sweet

So I asked my question.

“I was here 50 years ago. How much has the Canyon eroded since I was here last?”

I was standing at the edge of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. I was talking to a park ranger who looked like she would appreciate my curiosity – and also looked like she would know the answer.

She answered, “The Canyon erodes about the thickness of a piece of paper each year.”

“So,” I said, “that’s 50 sheets of paper, a tenth of a ream, about three-quarters of an inch. I thought I saw the difference.”

And yes, I did see a difference. Not when I peer over the edge and look outwards towards where I can see the Colorado River, but when I look around. There are more people at the Canyon then there had been in November of 1973. The Park is more modern. The trails look better than they had 50 years ago. But the trail down into the Canyon looked just as challenging.

In both my visits to the South Rim, 50 years ago and now, there was snow on the ground. The snow adds to the beauty of the Canyon, as the rocks and trees and shadow are accentuated by the stark white of the snow. But caution is necessary as the trails can be icy and slippery. But with snow or sun caution is always necessary as with the added erosion of the past 50 years its a long way down – plus a bit.

During this visit I would not hike the South Kaibab trail; I would do my hiking on the rim trail. But in 1973 I wanted to see how far down I could get before I had to come back up at day’s end. I started early in the morning with a light pack that I bought the day before in which I had an extra pair of gloves, some sardines and crackers, and something to drink. I don’t think they sold water in bottles back then. I was layered against the cold and had on my sea-duty rain jacket with a hood. It was heavy over my denim jacket, but it would certainly keep me dry. I also had on my woolen watch cap.

I had my copper bound walking stick and was ready to begin my descent. It was cold and clear, and I was the only person on the trail. It was great. The views of the Canyon opening to me were exhilarating. I could look back millions of years as I passed the rock face of the trail wall. I took time to think of all the history that had passed in the first few yards, and then I was well down into the prehistory of the Earth.

It was the uplift of the Colorado Plateau that allowed the marvel of the Grand Canyon to become. About 70 million years ago tectonic forces lifted an area that is now within Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. As mountains formed and snows and rains fell the nascent Colorado River began its journey off the Colorado Plateau down to the Gulf of California. The River began to cut its way through the uplifted plateau as it sought to reach sea level. As it picked up sediments from its sources it flowed across the uplifted plateau like liquid sandpaper. The rushing River gouged and polished its way down to its present level. As the River grew so did the feeder streams that flowed into it; each cutting its own side canyon. The Canyon sides collapsed as the River cut deeper. This collapse created the width of the current Canyon. Rain and freezing water and trees and wind worked their own patterns of erosion on the Canyon walls, dislodging rocks that would tumble down towards the River below.

And here was another difference. As I hiked down in 1973 I kept an eye on the weather at the Canyon rim. I could l see clouds gathering and knew that it was snowing at the top. After reaching Skeleton Point and eating my sardines and crackers, I knew it was time to turn back in order to get out of the Canyon before the weather worsened. I was trudging up the last half mile in snow, leaving my footprints behind me. The wind was blowing the snow, and I had my hood up. Then I heard something. It sounded like the thumping of distant thunder. I put my hood back so I could hear better. There was a rumble and rattle of above me. I looked up and saw a good size rock rolling down the Canyon side in my direction. I took several steps backwards and watched as the rock landed on the trail where I had been standing and bounded further down and out of sight in the direction of the River.

I had witnessed the process of the Canyon. Things change. That rock is now in a different place and the level of the Canyon floor is now lower. And I can tell the difference.