But he said the wind-carried pollens from trees grasses and weeds that cause seasonal allergies are very light and stay airborne for a long time.
For example only when forecasters can predict a great number of dry days in a row without any rain (such as a severe drought) can pollen predictions be made.
The 2014 top 10 list put together by the International Institute for Species Exploration at the SUNY College of Environmental science
Perhaps the cuddliest is the olinguito (Bassaricyon neblina) a mini-carnivore that lives in the trees of Andean cloud forests.
A large low-pressure system cut off from the jet stream has formed over the Southwest and looks to bring several inches of rain to the Southern Plains.
It will slowly trundle across the region over the next few days pulling up juicy moisture-laden air from over the Gulf of mexico.
and it is impossible to tell exactly where storms will form and drop the most rain
but this looks like our surest bet for awhile#Gary Mcmanus Oklahoma s state climatologist told Climate Central.#
#oeit looks like it might rain a lot#he said. And while that will certainly help ease the effects of the drought it won t come close to ending it.
#which contributes to dust storms he said. In Texas 240 counties were designated primary natural disaster areas#by the U s. Department of agriculture in April along with several counties in Oklahoma.
or send them to more northerly locales Brian Fuchs another Drought Monitor author told Climate Central.
The Southern Plains drought began with unusually dry and hot conditions that fell into place in October 2010 then persisted as wet season after wet season came up dry due to factors like La Nina (the counterpart to El nino
or other extreme event can be attributed to climate change steadily increasing average temperatures caused by the rise of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere only serve to exacerbate the impacts of droughts.
And climate change is expected to amplify regional patterns so that already arid areas become drier while the water they re missing will fall on already wet areas according to reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the U s. government.
The water woes for the Southern Plains have continued this year as the storms that have moved over the area have zipped through dumping rain on ground that is baked hard from heat
and unable to absorb that much water that quickly. These storms have also tended to drop rain on the eastern parts of Oklahoma and Texas
which need it less Mcmanus said. Swaths of western Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Panhandle have seen more than 30 days go by without even a quarter of an inch of rain falling some have seen even more than 100 days.
And May is typically the wettest time of year for some of those spots. The low-pressure system that looks to be aiming for the region this week is really a different animal#Mcmanus said
because it is expected to move slowly potentially making it easier for the ground to actually soak up the rain.
Forecasts currently have up to 3 inches of rain falling in the broader region with some localized areas getting heavier rains
Of course with such huge rain deficits in place a couple inches will be just a chink in the armor#of the drought as Mcmanus put it.#
#oeyou re not going to end the drought with this rainfall#he said. But you can definitely improve it especially the short-term impacts.#
The soggy weather which could last through the Memorial day weekend may dampen outdoor holiday plans but
Originaly article on Climate Central. o
#Plan to Build'CSI Elephant'Uses DNA Forensics to Track Poachers (Op-Ed) This article was published originally at The Conversation.
#The Two Wildfires Everyone Should Be Talking About (Op-Ed) Wally Covington is the director of the Ecological Restoration Institute a Regents'professor of forest ecology at Northern Arizona University and one of the world
Covington has been studying the ecology of southwestern forests since the 1970s and his research has led to decades of improved evidence-based conservation techniques.
But this year since the arrival of monsoon rains in July the height of Arizona's fire season has seemingly come to a close.
As anyone in the West knows the weather can change on a dime and there is plenty of fuel in the forests left to burn.
Based on the longstanding research at the Ecological Restoration Institute of Northern Arizona University these treatments included protecting the older trees mechanically thinning small young trees in select areas around the community to remove unnaturally high densities of trees
and can ignite hundreds of spot fires as far as 4 to 6 miles (6 to 10 km) ahead of a blaze in high winds.
in addition to excess fuels climate change is influencing the frequency and size of fires. One of the ways this is playing out is in the boom and bust of wet and dry seasons.
Forest restoration vital to ecosystems and to Arizona While the San juan and Slide fires provide good examples of successful treatments they are also clear indications that Arizona leaders cannot be complacent.
The results of areport from my colleagues at the Ecological Restoration Institute suggest that without conducting broader restoration
In the face of global climate change the best hope for those of us in fire-prone areas is to have restored ecosystems to more natural and self-regulating conditions.
so they too are able to endure disturbances like fire insects disease and climate change.
</a p><p>There's no mistaking the odor of burning rubber for the fresh smell after a summer rain
With the deep snow and the cold winter probably they didn't have access to the normal food supply
and it was a lot colder this winter Rich Hallett a research ecologist with the U s. Forest Service told WNYC.
So they went after the trees. 6 Invasive Pests Threatened by Cold weather The trees which even in winter have some carbohydrates mostly sucrose) in the vascular tissue beneath their bark had been gnawed by rats all the way around the base of the trunk a practice called girdling that usually kills a tree.
or halted by extended periods of cold weather. Given that temps have gotten really cold and not for one night but for an extended period there's a tendency for a lot of people to hope for insect mortality Deborah Mccullough a professor of entomology
If the snow gets really deep and it's hard for young rats to jump across the snow
and get to the food then cold temperature might actually cause some mortality urban ecologist Steve Sullivan of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museumin Chicago told Fox news Chicago.
But urbanites who are hoping that last winter's unusually bitter weather resulted in a rat Armageddon may be disappointed.
Sullivan doesn't expect a major die off from cold for a tough smart animal like the rat.
I've been working in the Amazon for 25 years originally studying the ecology and behavior of spider monkeys but not until today have
150 million protected acres the largest tropical forest conservation project in the world global ecological impact.
and contribute to protecting a place that helps stabilize our planet's climate harbors one in ten known species
Opening the windows Wind is not a good friend to people with seasonal allergies Bassett told Live Science.
But when the weather gets warm it's tempting to let fresh air and cool breezes into your home or car.
Wash hair at the end of the day to avoid transferring pollen to your pillowcase and sleeping on a pollen cloud Bassett advised.
and ecology Sandra Rehan lead NHAES researcher and assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of New hampshire's College of Life sciences and Agriculture (COLSA) said in a statement.
and natural ecosystems have experienced rapid declines in population and diversity over the past several years research from NHAES shows.
Loss of habitat and agricultural environments as well as the widespread use of pesticides and chemicals in farming are believed to be contributing to the current bee crisis throughout the United states. The value of pollination to agriculture is estimated at more than $200 billion each year worldwide
The Nubian ibex has a special way to deal with the hot dry climates of the African and Arabian mountains:
Both isoprenes and terpenes interact with sunlight to create a sort of natural smog. This haze is where the Great smoky mountains get their name.
Terpenes may be the reason that climate change has yet to influence temperatures in the Smokies
and because forests absorb a lot of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere slowing climate change it would make little sense to go after killer trees in the war against pollution.
As a night photography instructor I'm always encouraging students to integrate inspiring landscape elements in their photographs to create stunning night-sky compositions.
While one of my cameras shot time-lapse footage of the Milky way moving across the sky behind the tree
and processed it through the Lightroom 5 software twice once for the sky and once for the foreground.
I then manually blended the image of the sky and the image of the foreground in Photoshop CS5 using some selective noise reduction sharpening
In the sky on that night there was an incredible amount of green and a bit of maroon-colored airglow#faint light emitted by molecules in the atmosphere
#Three Foods That Help Prevent Slippery Roads This article was provided by Accuweather. com. Government agencies in the United states spend $2. 3 billion every year to battle winter weather conditions according to a study sponsored by the New york state Department of transportation.
and safe during snowfall transportation departments continue to investigate and implement new sometimes unusual strategies.
Unconventional sources of salt brines such as beet juice potato and cheese byproducts are decreasing costs lowering environmental impacts
Accuweather. com spoke with several transportation department officials about their seemingly offbeat solutions for winter weather conditions.
Winter Weather Center Beet juice As an agricultural byproduct created through the sugar beet process beet juice brine is a useful tool for many highway departments.
which allows the roadway to retain more even after rainfall. Beet Heet has provided positive results for Penndot as they test the product on Route 422 in Butler County Pa.
The potato juice is mixed with a traditional salt brine at varying ratios depending on the temperatures and weather conditions.
when we've already got snow or ice on the ground to help salt brines work at a lower temperature Hatcher said.
Hatcher said Agricultural brines are friendly to the environment because they have reduced corrosive effects. He continued In Tennessee these agricultural brines are going to continue to be used
Clearing snow and ice from roadways is of the utmost importance to provide the highest level of safety for travelers.
Unconventionality aside these innovative brines are lowering costs lessening environmental impacts and providing safer roads.
and even salt brines will prove to have a tremendous impact on road safety environmental concerns and cost savings.
or even sand and works in greenhouse facilities so it can be used in nearly any climate.
Mississippi Floods, and a Great City Disappears The mysterious abandonment of one of North america's first big cities may be linked to a massive Mississippi river flood 800 years ago a new study finds.
In the bottom of an oxbow lake next to Cahokia Ill. which was the most powerful and populous city north of Mexico in A d. 1200 lie the buried remains of a flood that likely destroyed the crops and houses of more than 15000 people.
Researchers investigating pollen records of Cahokia's farming and deforestation discovered distinctive evidence of the flood:
but the catastrophic flood could have shaken the confidence of the town sited near modern-day St louis Munoz said.
and exciting to discover this flood happened right in the middle of a key turning point in Cahokia's history Munoz said.
Pollen grains buried in nearby Horseshoe Lake show farming at Cahokia intensified starting about A d. 450 accompanied by rapid deforestation.
Farming and deforestation picked up again in the 1800s with the arrival of Europeans. Many theories have been offered for the city's abandonment such as climate change
and political battles but researchers disagree on the ultimate cause. No one knows where the Cahokia people went
#New Report Puts Price tag on Climate Change in U s. NEW YORK Climate change poses multiple and significant risks#to the U s. economy particularly along coastlines
The report the first to quantify the damage the American economy could sustain from unabated climate change was compiled by the nonpartisan Risky Business Project a venture launched in October
and cochaired by former New york city mayor Michael Bloomberg former Treasury secretary Henry Paulson and former hedge fund manager and environmental activist Thomas Steyer.#
#oeit makes the true costs for inaction on climate change frighteningly clear#Bloomberg said at a press conference here announcing the report s release.
not only protect Americans from the worst effects of climate change but also grow and better insulate the American economy the project s members said.#
While the report focused primarily on the most likely climate change scenarios to occur it also examined the less likely
The report used climate projections through 2100 and what the participants said was a standard risk-assessment approach used by businesses to estimate how rises in temperature sea level
and other impacts of climate change would affect various parts of the U s. economy and different geographic regions of the nation.#
Sea level rise and storm surge are defined likely in the report as having at least a 2-in-3 chance of occurring--to increase the average cost of coastal storms in the East by $2 billion to $3. 5 billion over just the next 15 years.
When combined with anticipated changes in hurricane activity such as stronger storms the report found that average total annual losses from coastal storms could reach $35 billion.
Bloomberg raised the specter of Hurricane Sandy as an example of how the effects of global warming can exacerbate a storm s impact.
A graphic showing how climate change shifts the odds for extreme events. Sea level rise also poses a risk separate from its amplifying effects on storms surge as it increasingly encroaches on valuable coastal property.
The report estimates that by 2050 between $66 billion and $106 billion worth of such property will likely be below sea level nationwide.
and has increased non-storm related flooding said Donna Shalala a Risk Committee member and president of the University of Miami.#
Those simultaneous trends would drive the need for more power generation which could simply add more carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the climate system.
U s. agriculture faces threats as a changing climate shifts where and how well particular crops grow.
Waves in the Atmosphere Fueling Extreme Weather One Great View of Earth for the Summer solstice Atmosphere May be Getting In gear for El Niã o Follow the author on Twitter@Andreatweather
Original article on Climate Central o
#It Takes A lot More than Carrots to Beat Cancer (Op-Ed) This article was published originally at The Conversation.
whether various climate agencies would officially pronounce the arrival of that infamous climate phenomenon. So far no clear-cut El Niã o has been declared
and dissections of the most recent seasonal forecasts and trends in ocean temperatures and winds as if they were the latest juicy plot twist on Scandal#or Game of Thrones.#
We care because this seemingly isolated event is just one part of the global climate system
and can actually have major influences on the weather and climate around the world from the U s. to Australia to eastern Africa.
For example El Niã o shifts atmospheric patterns in a way that typically brings more rain to the southern U s. but drought to Indonesia.
Those changes can in turn have economic and health consequences such as altering the crop yields in agricultural markets or providing a more conducive environment for the spread of malaria.
Because of these impacts groups at the U s. National Centers for Environmental Prediction or NCEP (which is part of the National Oceanic
The atmospheric changes it spurs tend to tamp down on tropical cyclones and hurricanes in the Atlantic ocean basin something denizens of the Caribbean and Gulf and East coasts of the U s. surely appreciate.#
#oein an El Niã o year you have winners and losers#Walter Baethgen a senior research scientist with the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University s Earth Institute said in an IRI video.
Exactly what impacts are seen and when they emerge can depend on the timing of an El Niã o the current event is expected to emerge late this summer or early in the fall.
But even while one is building it can still influence weather conditions as this event seems to be doing.
The strength that a full-blown El Niã o achieves can also affect the impacts it brings for example the excess rains that parched California so desperately needs seem only to be a feature of a strong El Niã o.#oethere is a lot of variety in exactly how strong
which they peak#said IRI director Lisa Goddard during a press call held by the climate communication group Climate Nexus. So all of these differences can influence (El Niã o s) regional climate impacts.#
#El Niã o is a cyclical climate phenomenon that occurs every 3 to 5 years (though that return period can be as short as 2 and as long as 7 years.
or coupled with as atmospheric scientists say changes in the trade winds over the region. In neutral conditions these winds blow from east to west across the basin piling up the warm water in the western portion of the basin near Indonesia.
But during El Niã o the winds relax and the warm water slides back east like a ball rolling down a hill.
The warm water fuels thunderstorms in the atmosphere overhead which in turn warms the atmosphere through a process called latent heating.
The shift in where the warm water is and the increase in the heat the ocean releases cause a shift in this storminess
and heating which affects one of the main circulations of the atmosphere the Hadley circulation.
which in turn causes further changes in atmospheric flow including to the jet stream over the Pacific.#
While the atmospheric conditions with the current anticipated event haven t yet shaped up to the point that NCEP
#oeit s fairly confident but it s not a slam dunk#Anthony Barnston IRI s chief forecaster told Climate Central.
But there are places that have fairly reliable#climate effects orteleconnections Barnston said. The most robust effects are related precipitation.
Both Indonesia and northern South america typically see below-normal rains that can lead to drought
while more rain is seen typically over southeastern South america eastern equatorial Africa and the southern U s. The above-average rainfall in the southern U s. is linked to the changes in the jet stream as it tends to funnel more storms over the region.
There is interestingly one tiny area of northern South america along the coasts of Ecuador and Peru that actually sees increased rainfall.
The rains are driven by the warmer waters just off the coast as they fuel storm activity.
Such rains were seen actually earlier this spring when a particularly warm blob of water worked its way over to the eastern Pacific and fueled storms.
Not all of the changes linked to El Niã o always occur: El Niã o is linked to a less active monsoon over India leading to drought conditions there
but this effect was missing during the 1997-1998 El Niã o one of the strongest on record.
while the former is linked to the stronger jet stream (and is the more robust of the two connections).
That background seasonal climate helps determine what the impacts of the El Niã o are.#
#oethe seasonality--what the weather and the climate is typically at that time of year--is important to how ENSO impacts it#Goddard said.
because the Pacific jet stream is weaker in the summer so any changes to it make less of a difference than for the stronger winter jet stream said NCEP forecaster Michelle L Heureux.
Californians are hoping that the El Niã o will bring enhanced winter rains to make up for the disappointing rainy seasons of the past 3 years
But the El Niã o rains in Southern California are correlated best with strong El Niã os.
(though wheat from areas that see more rain could offset this). Countries like the U s. are more resilient in the face of such effects than places like Mozambique
Places that see more rain could see negative as well as positive impacts. A little rain can be helpful in places like southeastern South america
but too much can expose crops to disease. Excessive rains can also have health impacts: In Kenya during the 1998 El Niã o rains caused catastrophic flooding that seriously damaged health infrastructure and spread malaria and Rift valley fever.
Those impacts are why forecasters like Barnston Goddard and L Heureux are working to better predict El Niã os
and understand the climate impacts they have. It is also why places like the IRI
and the World meteorological organization are working to disseminate what we do know about El Niã o
#oethere have been major improvements in the understanding of El Niã o its climate effects and associated impacts over the past several decades within and importantly outside the scientific community#said Maxx Dilley director of the WMO s Climate Prediction and Adaptation Branch.
An IRI study conducted earlier this year and found for example that agricultural interests are increasingly using El Niã o forecasts to prepare for future seasons.
Original article on Climate Central
#Parrot Facts: Habits, Habitat & Species Parrots are members of the Order psittaciformes which includes more than 350 bird species including parakeets macaws cockatiels and cockatoos according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information system (ITIS).
Australia South america and Central america have the greatest diversity of parrot species. Not all parrots like warm weather though.
Some parrots like to live in snowy climates. A few cold-weather parrots are maroon-fronted parrots thick-billed parrots and keas.
With their colorful plumage and ability to mimic human speech parrots are very popular pets.
and can copy sounds that they hear in their environment; they can even copy human words and laughter.
At the Queens Zoo we're always outside no matter the weather. During Hurricane Sandy in 2012 we came
and checked in on the animals. While many people were snowed in earlier this year I would shovel my car out
And during times when we have high winds we place the big cats off-exhibit to a secure holding area to safeguard against anything that could fall.
Sometimes the potential dangers are not environmental but from the animals themselves. Part of my job is transporting alligators on and off exhibit during the changing of the seasons.
For tens of thousands of years buffalo fundamentally shaped Native american cultures and engineered the ecology of prairie ecosystems.
There is growing recognition that the absence of buffalo has led to deterioration of the ecological integrity of grasslands diminished the health of our people and led to an incalculable cultural loss.
which has disrupted important ecosystem functions of native grasslands and relegated wildlife to small parcels of protected lands.
Ecological restoration will require extensive native prairies that can support free-roaming buffalo that can fulfill their natural ecological role
Developing a modern culturally relevant vision for the conservation of iiniiwa could lead to unique opportunities to restore ecological spiritual
and cultural integrity to prairie ecosystems managed by native peoples. Tribes and First Nations in Canada and the United states own
However our combined voice and expressed political unity will help us achieve broader support for ecological restoration
and help return iiniiwa to its rightful place in prairie ecosystems and native cultures. Follow all of the Expert Voices issues
Results analyzed by the Environmental Working group showed that 98 percent of conventional apples had pesticide residue on their peels.
Deforestation drought and shifts in global temperature are all altering butterfly habitat. Monarch butterflies in particular face a highly specific threat from humans:
This week NRDC petitioned the U s. Environmental protection agency (EPA) to urgently reexamine how and where glyphosate is used
My wildlife expert colleagues at NRDC are recommending several steps that the EPA can take to protect monarchs.
The EPA could also consider requiring safety zones free of herbicides in and around farms to protect monarch-friendly habitat.
however so the EPA needs to ensure that whatever replaces glyphosate isn't just substituting one harm for another.
This knowledge gives the EPA an opportunity to muzzle a direct threat to butterflies. Immediately limiting the use of glyphosate
Food waste also produces about one-quarter of U s. methane emissions making it a source of climate pollution that needs to be addressed.
So industrial agriculture adds to climate pollution while also bearing the brunt of its effects such as extended droughts
and heat waves that wither crops in the field and heavy rains that drown out spring plantings.
We are paying dearly for the way we eat. But while our food system may be unsustainable it's not unfixable.
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011