North American Weather Modification Council的动态

Great article with lots of interesting stuff about the importance of the different types of earthworms. #earthworms #GWCT #AllertonProject https://lnkd.in/ei_K-9r8

May 20, 2024 - By?Emily C. Dooley?- UC-Davis, "Thawing Permafrost May Be Driving Degradation ---- Dozens of #Alaska’s most remote streams and rivers are turning from a crystal clear blue into a cloudy orange, and the staining could be the result of minerals exposed by thawing permafrost, new?research (https://lnkd.in/dNWkareP)?in the Nature journal Communications: Earth and Environment finds. For the first time, a team of researchers from the National Park Service, U.S. Geological Survey, the University of California, Davis, and other institutions have documented and sampled some of the impaired waters, pinpointing 75 locations across a Texas-sized area of northern Alaska’s Brooks Range. These degraded rivers and streams could have significant implications for #drinkingwater and #fisheries in #Arctic watersheds as the #climate changes, the researchers said. “The more we flew around, we started noticing more and more orange #rivers and #streams,” said lead author Jon O’Donnell, an ecologist for the NPS’ Arctic Inventory and Monitoring Network. “There are certain sites that look almost like a milky orange juice. Those orange streams can be problematic both in terms of being toxic but might also prevent migration of fish to spawning areas.” Visible from space O’Donnell first noticed an issue when he visited a river in 2018 that appeared rusty despite having been clear the year prior. He began asking around and compiling locations while grabbing #water samples when possible in the remote region, where helicopters are generally the only way to access the rivers and streams. “The stained rivers are so big we can see them from space,” said Brett Poulin, an assistant professor of environmental toxicology at UC Davis who was a principal investigator in the research. “These have to be stained a lot to pick them up from space.” Poulin, whose expertise is in #waterchemistry, thought the staining looked similar to what happens with acid mine drainage, except no mines are near any of the impaired rivers, including along the famed Salmon River and other federally protected waters. One hypothesis is that the #permafrost, which is essentially frozen ground, stores minerals and as the climate warmed, the metal ores that were once locked up were exposed to water and oxygen, resulting in the release of acid and metals. “Chemistry tells us minerals are weathering,” Poulin said. “Understanding what’s in the water is a fingerprint as to what occurred.” ...Acidic water releasing metals Some samples from the impaired waters have a pH of 2.3 compared to the average pH of 8 for these rivers. This means the sulfide minerals are weathering, resulting in highly acidic and corrosive conditions that release additional metals. Elevated or high levels of iron, zinc, nickel, copper and cadmium have been measured. “We see a lot of different types of metals in these waters,” Evinger said. “One of the most dominant metals is iron. That’s what...” #Alaska Continue reading

Excited to share my recent research published in?Geophysical Research Letters. In this study, we explored the distinct impacts of fog and rainfall on vegetation changes. ????? Check out the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gM7psW98

“Bio-energy versus fluvial energy ...” ? It has long been known that aquatic, riparian and floodplain animals can influence the dynamics of sediments and organic matter in rivers, sometimes with profound geomorphological implications. ? While river channels, along with riparian and floodplain forms as well as their hydrologic/hydraulic dynamics are all influenced strongly by biological processes, the precise influence of macroinvertebrates on entrainment and transport of river sediments on these processes remains poorly understood. ? Recently, an energy-based approach was adopted to explore the capacity of benthic animals to move surficial, gravel-bed particles in field and laboratory settings with the results then used to assess the relative significance of biological and physical benthic processes. ? Results in fact showed that in 11 British gravel-bed rivers, the maximum energy content (i.e., calorific content) of macroinvertebrate communities generally matched the flow energy associated with median discharges and, at multiple sites.? Surprisingly, such discharges often exceeded that of the 10-year return interval flood. ? These findings, albeit limited, suggest that the influence of macroinvertebrate communities in either promoting or suppressing, the mobilization of the bed may be large compared to equivalent values of fluvial energy. ? Based on these findings, it was concluded that in the gravel-bed rivers studied, the macroinvertebrate community's potential to perform geomorphic work matches or exceeds the stream power during most of the year. ?Although this study examined biological and fluvial energy systems separately, it is important to recognize that in nature, these systems are indeed highly interactive. ? For study details, please see Johnson et al. (2024) in Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, “Accounting for the power of nature: Using flume and field studies to compare the capacities of bio-energy and fluvial energy to move surficial gravels”

The first paper of my PhD dissertation is out! In this work, we evaluate the primary landscape characteristics and anthropogenic activities that explain spatial differences in water balances in the US. Many thanks to Margaret Garcia and Maurizio Mazzoleni for their work on this! Link to the article: https://lnkd.in/dFJfVXD3

Appreciated this comprehensive but quick to read analysis from Alpha Lo! It discussed the dance of water and geology, the importance of soil in replenishing groundwater, the idea of hydraulic redistribution (the dance between trees, roots, groundwater, and hydration), the human reliance on and depletion of groundwater … and ultimately how tree roots and groundwater work together to hydrate landscapes. These are some of the elements of our natural ecosystem that we need to understand and preserve for sustained and quality life on earth … important to myself and friends working in #foodsecurity and #agriculturaldevelopment, #waterefficiency and #conservation, and #landscapemanagement and #restoration! https://lnkd.in/gTaD_SUH

‘Silicate rocks such as volcanic basalt naturally react with CO2 dissolved in water to produce solid carbonates in a process geologists call weathering. The process can be accelerated if the rock is ground into dust to increase the surface area exposed to water. This has encouraged a number of companies to begin spreading large volumes of such rock dust on farms across the world in order to take advantage of “enhanced weathering” to capture more CO2.’ #science #CO2 #crop #climate_resilience

The second paper of the day!? The paper on soil moisture memory is finally out! Beware, soil memorizes past events! Key Points of Paper: 1- Atmospheric forcings, land use and management, and soil processes and mechanisms explain how and why soil moisture memory emerges in ecosystems. 2 - The nonlocality of moisture memory, its spread across different regions, and its interaction with large-scale climate phenomena are underexplored. 3- Further advances in land surface models and closer integration of model simulations and observations are needed to characterize moisture memory better. Wulf Amelung,?Cosimo Brogi,?Jacopo Dari,?Alessia Flammini,?Heye Bogena,?Luca Brocca,?@Hao Chen,?Jannis Groh,?@Randal D. Koster,?Kaighin McColl,?Carsten Montzka,?Shirin Moradi,?Arash Rahi,?Farnaz Sharghi, and?Harry Vereecken #SoilMoistureMemory #SoilMemory #SoilMoistureAnomalyPersistance

This may be an interesting new method for monitoring forest moisture/transpiration (and could be used to validate work to boost water availability through Low-tech process-based restoration, beaver dam analogs, etc.)