Tennessee’s 1000-year flood: Rainfall at 15 sites exceeded Hurricane Katrina maxima

What is a 100 year flood? A 100 year flood is an event that statistically has a 1% chance of occurring in any given year. A 500 year flood has a .2% chance of occurring and a 1000 year flood has a .1% chance of occurring. The map below relates [the] amount of rainfall that […]

Graph of the Day: Projected Oil Spill Path to 26 May 2010

Shoreline assessments and overflights continued today as planned. As anticipated, areas of oil moved closer to the Chandeleur Islands today.  With winds forecast from the north, this will tend to push the oil away from shore. However, the threat of oil impacting the coastline remains high. 
 The Unified Area Command for the Deepwater Horizon/BP […]

Prolonged dry spells cause food security crisis in the Sahel

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Date: 19 May 2010 In 2009, agricultural production has been seriously affected in parts of the Sahel following late onset of rains, prolonged dry spells and significant pest infestations. The eastern and central parts of the Subregion were most affected with cereal outputs estimated to have […]

Graph of the Day: Latitudinal movement of US bird species by habitat, 1960s-2006

Christmas Bird Count (CBC) show that the warmer winters in recent decades have played an important role in shifting winter bird ranges to the north. CBC data from the mid-1960s through 2006 show that 170 (56%) of the 305 most widespread, regularly occurring species have shifted their ranges to the north, whereas only 71 species […]

World's oceans steadily warming up

  Reporting by Daniel FinerenLONDONThu May 20, 2010 4:31am EDT (Reuters) – The top layer of the world’s ocean has warmed steadily since 1993, a strong sign of global warming and a key driver of sea level rise, according to a study by an international team of scientists. “The ocean is the biggest reservoir for […]

Graph of the Day: Projected Oil Spill Path to 22 May 2010

NOAA extended the boundaries of the closed fishing area in the Gulf into the northern portion of the loop current as a precautionary measure to ensure seafood from the Gulf will remain safe for consumers. The closed area is now slightly less than 19 percent of the Gulf of Mexico federal waters. Dr. Jane Lubchenco, […]

Graph of the Day: Locations of Oil and Gas Platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, 2005

This GIS shapefile data layer shows the location of offshore oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. The platform information was made available by Minerals Management Service, and has been reprojected from the NAD 27 datum to NAD 83 to be consistent with the remainder of the data in this GIS. Since 1982 […]

NOAA: Hottest April and hottest Jan-April on record

NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center has published its monthly State of the Climate Report.  It pretty much matches the NASA data. An emeritus physics professor writes me cautioning against the use of the word ‘anomaly’ since, “In many people’s mind, the word ‘anomaly’ means something unusual that is a temporary phenomenon.”  He suggests “change,” which […]

Artificial barrier island plan awaits approval from Corps of Engineers

By Richard Rainey, The Times-PicayuneMay 17, 2010, 6:27PM Gov. Bobby Jindal said the state expects to know by the end of the week if the Army Corps of Engineers will green-light a $350 million project to rebuild Louisiana’s barrier islands as a natural shield against the massive oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico. Jindal […]

Graph of the Day: Projected Oil Spill Path to 20 May 2010

Riser Insertion Tube Leak Mitigation Tactic is Tested The Unified Area Command reports that overnight the Riser Insertion Tube Tool was successfully tested and inserted into the leaking riser, capturing some amounts of oil and gas. The oil was stored on board the Discoverer Enterprise drill ship 5,000 feet above on the water’s surface, and […]

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