Maryland
NOAA's
Community Efforts were showcased during wetlands restoration
initiatives at a tidal marsh in Baltimore Harbor. The 10-acre
clean-up site sits at the head of a tidal tributary receiving
waters from three urban watersheds. For flood buffering, erosion
control, bank stabilization, water quality improvement, and
economically essential nurseries, the wetlands are key to the
environmental health of the Chesapeake Bay.
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Click pic for larger image --
Bill Hogarth, Acting Assistant Administrator for
NOAA Fisheries,
led over 50 NOAA volunteers in marsh clean-up and
restoration activities.
Photo: Bill Folsom, NOAA Fisheries
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Click pic for larger image --
Garry
Mayer, Deputy Director of Office
of Habitat Conservation, takes a break with Morgan
State University students.
Photo: Bill Folsom, NOAA Fisheries
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South Pole
Each year we delay, we lose a year of history. That's
how Boulder scientist, Jim Butler, explains the urgency of his
recent work in the South Pole. Along with Andy Clarke, also
of NOAA's Climate Monitoring
and Diagnostics Laboratory, and university scientists, Jim
recently searched snowpacks in the South Pole for 100-year-old
air samples. The team wants to know what air quality was like
over the last century.
Timing is critical because as snow turns to ice it's no longer
possible to draw air from the snow. It is the pockets of air
trapped in snowpacks that provide scientists with a historical
record of gases present in the atmosphere. Researchers analyze
this record for clues to how human activity has influenced atmospheric
processes. In just a few years, samples will no longer be available
for the entire 20th century, a time of rapid population, agricultural
and industrial growth.
Published
studies by the same team indicate that the atmosphere's composition
has changed dramatically over the past 100 years, presumably
because of human activities.
Large
amounts of the historic air will be stored in a NOAA air archive
in Boulder. This archive will be accessible for future analyses,
to answer questions not yet thought of, and for scientific techniques
yet undiscovered.
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Click pic for larger image --
Camp
KOA at the South Pole joins
the network of same-name campgrounds across the U.S.
In January, in - 11 to - 40 ° F, scientists lived
for two of their four weeks in these tents. The triangular
tent in the rear is identical to that used by the
first South Pole explorers in the early 1900s.
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Spectacle
On Ice NOAA and other scientists are the first
to ever camp at the South Pole for research purposes.
Jim Butler (left) and Andy Clarke (fourth from left),
both of NOAA's Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics
Laboratory in Boulder, celebrate with colleagues
from Princeton University and Bowdoin College.
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--Click pic for larger image --
Jim
Butler (left) joins a University of Wisconsin
scientist in drilling for century-old air
samples that will reveal how human activity affects
our atmosphere.
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Midwest
New Forecast Technology, introduced in January at the
National Weather Service's
Grand Forks, ND office, is yielding more detailed river
forecasts with longer lead times. The Advanced Hydrological
Prediction Service is a web-based suite of information tools
that, according to city officials, is making a real difference
in preparing and mitigating floods.
This
advanced information was not available before the historic floods
of 1997 and 1993. The January 2001 outlook signaled the possibility
of severe flooding, now a major concern in the Dakotas and Minnesota
where rainfall has pushed several rivers above flood stage.
Rain combined with melting snow has created quite an unusual
event, according Kenneth King, head of hydrological services
for the weather service's central region. Visual displays and
information for the new prediction service are developed at
the National Weather Service River Forecast Centers.
Hawaii
Tsunami
Awareness Month kicked off in Hawaii with a proclamation
and month-long agenda of events. Governor Benjamin Cayetano
joined NOAA employees, tsunami survivors, and state officials
in issuing the proclamation.
Mike Blackford (sixth from left) and Charles McCreery
(right)
pitch in to educate the public about tsunamis. Each directs
one of
NOAA's two Tsunami Warning Centers in Hawaii.
The earthquake in Seattle last February should be a wake-up
call to the looming, deadly threat of tsunamis, according to
Charles McCreery, director of NOAA's
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii. He explained that
while we can't accurately predict when and where earthquakes
will occur, we can determine if a tsunami is generated and help
the public stay out of harm's way.
Tsunamis
are not one huge wave but several waves that behave like surges
of water rapidly carrying debris ashore. Large tsunamis can
destroy everything in their path and cause fires if fuel lines
or storage areas are breached. In recorded history, close to
200,000 people have died from tsunamis. They can be triggered
by earthquakes, landsides, underwater slumps, volcanic eruptions,
and even meteor impacts.
Hawaii's
most devastating tsunamis resulted from distant earthquakes
and arrived many hours later. With today's fast speed communications,
NOAA's two Tsunami Warning Centers in Hawaii can warn about
distant tsunamis with adequate time to evacuate.
For more information about Tsunamis -- visit NOAA's
Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program web site.
Florida
South Florida droughts and Atlantic ocean temperatures
are linked according to a new study by scientists from NOAA's
Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory and
the South Florida Water Management District. To be published
next month in Geophysical Research Letters, the study
finds that a transition to multidecadal warm conditions in the
North Atlantic Ocean is underway. The result may be less frequent
droughts and/or more frequent flooding.
The
study looks at past North Atlantic sea surface temperature shifts
between warm and cool phases that lasted two to four decades
each. The average annual input to Lake Okeechobee, one of South
Florida's premiere water reserves, increases by as much as 40%
during warm phases. However, NOAA scientist David Enfield warns
that Florida droughts such as the present one will still occur,
although they may be less frequent. He adds that the projections
are based only on natural cycles observed in the past when land
use and development pressures weren't as great. We may now be
entering an era so affected by humans that the natural cycle
of water availability may be overcome by demand-induced scarcity.
NOAA is working with the South Florida facility to learn about
the role climate variability plays in regional water management
decisions. By adapting management strategies to climate patterns
in the North Atlantic Ocean, water managers hope to better meet
sometimes competing flood control, water supply and environmental
needs.
South Carolina
NOAA Fisheries is allocating $500,000 new dollars to
help strengthen patrols of fisheries along the South Carolina
coastline. The funds will further help protect the area's other
marine resources and foster public education about the importance
of marine resources.
In extending a joint enforcement agreement between NOAA and
the state's Department of Natural Resources, the funds will
continue support of the state's offshore patrols for compliance
with federal fishing protections for mackerel and snapper-grouper,
and fish such as shark, dolphin, marlin, swordfish, and tuna.
Protections include the Endangered Species Act and the turtle
excluder device.
Dale
Jones, chief of NOAA
Fisheries Office for Law Enforcement, said that NOAA and
the state have been building a partnership over the past three
years that has encouraged more contact among law enforcement
personnel, recreational fishermen and boaters along South Carolina's
coast.
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