“USGS and partner science show that there are many causes of dust storms. Two contributing factors are low vegetation cover and disturbance to soil surfaces.” Quoted from the USGS science feature.
“The critical low levels of freshwater in Tuvalu and Tokelau are just further wake-up calls about the vulnerability of SIDS [small island developing States] to the threats posed by increasing demands on natural resources…” Quoted from the United Nations press release.
“The Bastrop County Complex Fire in southern Texas started on September 4, 2011. By September 13, 2011, the fire was 70 percent contained, but had scorched 34,068 acres (13,787 hectares). The Advanced Land Imager on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this image of the affected region on September 12, 2011.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory press release.
“The large scale project CLIMAITE, led by Risø DTU, has published its first synthesis paper in the renowned journal Global Change Biology, and the conclusion is perhaps a little surprising that the predicted increase in plant growth, due to more CO2 in the atmosphere is noticeably limited when combined with higher temperatures – and especially summer droughts.” Quoted from the Technical University of Denmark news release.
With a nationwide average temperature of 77 degrees, last month was the fourth hottest July on record. NOAA’s long-term (1901-2000) average temperature for July is 74.3.
“More of the United States was in exceptional drought in July 2011 than in any other month in the past 12 years, according to the National Climatic Data Center. The worst of the drought is spread across Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, and Louisiana. But 26 percent of the lower 48 states experienced severe to extreme drought in July. On the other hand, about 33 percent of the contiguous United States experienced exceptionally rainy weather in July. The wet weather occurred largely in the Northern Plains and Western states.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory image release.
“Nearly 12 percent of the contiguous United States fell into the “exceptional” classification during the month, peaking at 11.96 percent on July 12. That level of exceptional drought had never before been seen in the monitor’s 12-year history, said Brian Fuchs, UNL assistant geoscientist and climatologist at the NDMC.” Quoted from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln news release.
“Drought in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti is pushing tens of thousands of people from their homes as millions face food insecurity in a crisis visible from space. ESA’s SMOS satellite shows that the region’s soil is too dry to grow crops.” Quoted from the ESA press release.
The worst drought in over half a century has depleted food supplies and ruined crops in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Djibouti and adjacent areas of Africa. This video features comments from Jeremy Sachs, Earth Institute Director; Anthony Lakes of Unicef; and, Kenneth Lusaka an agricultural expert.
ABCNews has a webpage with suggestions on how you can help.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has posted an article on Spring 2011 U.S. Climate Extremes. It summarizes the unusual tornado, flooding, drought and wildfire problems that have been seen in the United States so far this year.
A prolonged drought in Texas has resulted in very low water levels at Lake Buchanan and Lake Travis which have been relied upon to provide drinking water for several cities, irrigation water for rice farmers, cooling water for power plants, recreation opportunities for visitors and water for many other purposes.
Drought conditions in Texas have gotten progressively worse over the past few weeks with over 1/2 of the state rated as “extreme” or “exceptional” by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
“A sediment core from a South American lake revealed a steady, sharp drop in crucial monsoon rainfall since 1900, leading to the driest conditions in 1,000 years.” Quoted from the University of Pittsburgh news release.
Earthquakes in Haiti and China; floods in Pakistan and China; a heat wave in Russia; drought in African nations and China; landslides in China and more. The Brookings Institution and London School of Economics have prepared: A Year of Living Dangerously: A Review of Natural Disasters in 2010.
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