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chasingplainandsmiple · 4 months

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Say S-No-w More

With the potential for significant snowfall within the forecast for Sunday night into Monday morning, I want to take some time to discuss the timing and what to expect in terms of snowfall acclamations. Please note that winter weather forecasting is extremely difficult to forecast and subject to change with new data that comes in.

Beginning Sunday evening, a cold arctic airmass will be pushing through the Central and Southeast United States. With this cold airmass will be a 1036 mb arctic high being located over the northern Plains. With this high pressure settling over the northern Plains, extremely cold air will be pushing as far south as Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. In combination of the cold air and High pressure system, there will be cold front that will be stretching from the Gulf of Mexico into the Northeast United States. With these two features, there will be a plume of moisture that will be wedged in between the two allowing the potential for widespread snowfall across Missouri, Arkansas, West Tennessee, and northern Mississippi.

Timing of the precipitation will begin late Sunday evening and will continue into Monday afternoon across a large portion of West Tennessee, North Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri, where temperatures will be below freezing for the majority of the event and will remain below freezing in the following days after. Across northern Texas into Texarkana region , they will see mostly mix of freezing rain and/or sleet for much of this time period as there will be a warm layer within the boundary layer allowing the development of sleet or freezing rain to occur. This area of freezing rain and sleet will likely extend into portions of southern Arkansas into northern Louisiana by Monday morning and eventually into portions of Central Mississippi by Monday evening. Total ice accumulations are expected to be focus in Texas, Arkansas and portions of northern Louisiana. In Central Mississippi, there is a little more uncertainty on how much and exactly where ice will accumulate.

As for snowfall, this is the area where snowfall accumulations are expected to be higher. Again this is subject to change as new model data comes and the higher resolution models become available. While a lot of the model guidance has been back and forth with the amounts, it is not unreasonable to think widespread 2 to 4 inches of snow will occur across this area. While it is not set stone, the higher snowfall amounts will be focus along I-40 and north. Places further south, especially those closer to the wintry mix zone or even the sleet/freezing line mark should expect lower snowfall accumulations. The trend in the recent model data is for the heavier snowband to set up along I-40. This is not for certain as model guidance has been struggling with this placement of this for the last couple of days.

As a reminder, this forecast is subject to change base off new data as they come in, especially when it comes to snow and ice accumulations. While I did not discuss in great detail, expect cold temperatures across a large portion of the southern United States and expect them to say for a good portion of the week.

01/12/2024 6:30 PM CST

#snow #meteorology #winter weather

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der-kkrieger · 5 months

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Are the Florida Keys Warm in Winter?

The Florida Keys, with their tropical climate, are known for providing warm and pleasant weather throughout much of the year. Winter in the Keys is a particularly attractive season for visitors seeking a respite from colder temperatures elsewhere.

During the winter months, which span from December to February, the Florida Keys experience mild and enjoyable temperatures. Daytime highs typically range from the mid-70s to low 80s Fahrenheit (24-29°C), creating an inviting environment for outdoor activities. The nights are cooler but still relatively mild, with temperatures rarely dropping below the mid-60s Fahrenheit (18°C).

One of the main reasons for the warm winter climate in the Keys is their geographical location. Situated at the southernmost tip of Florida, the islands benefit from the moderating influence of the surrounding warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. This maritime influence helps to keep temperatures relatively stable and prevents extreme fluctuations.

Visitors to the Florida Keys during the winter can enjoy a variety of outdoor activities, including snorkeling, diving, fishing, and exploring the unique ecosystems of the islands. The pleasant weather makes it an ideal time to experience the vibrant marine life, coral reefs, and natural beauty that the Keys are renowned for.

It's worth noting that while winter is generally warm in the Keys, occasional cold fronts can bring cooler temperatures for short periods. However, these events are typically brief, and the overall winter climate remains comfortable for those seeking a warm escape.

In conclusion, the Florida Keys offer a warm and inviting escape during the winter months, making them a popular destination for travelers looking to enjoy the beauty of the tropics without the chill of colder climates.

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nbmsports · 9 months

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18 Days of Extreme Heat in Phoenix With No End in Sight

On Monday, Phoenix reached a miserable milestone: It was the first time since 1974 that it had 18 days in a row of 110-degree or more temperatures. On Tuesday, it was poised to break that 49-year-old record and hit Day 19. The forecast called for a high of 115 degrees Fahrenheit.People in the Southwest are used to brutal summers. Phoenix has had plenty of days that soar past 100 degrees. Water misters spritz patios, and neighborhoods and playgrounds clear out in the midday sun. Monsoons usually sweep through with refreshing relief. But this stagnant summer is testing even the hardiest, and putting many more people at risk.“It just feels awful,” said Mazey Christensen, 20, a scooper at Sweet Republic, an ice cream shop in Phoenix.Business at the store has been steady; on blistering days, customers tend to go for fruity flavors like watermelon sorbet and pineapple whip. But they mostly visit the shop later in the day when the sun is not so scorching.The temperatures are “very extreme,” said Matt Salerno, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix. “We’re talking 10 degrees above where they normally are.” The city set another heat record on Monday: eight consecutive days in which the overnight temperature never dipped below 90 degrees.The heat is particularly brutal and inescapable at the sprawling homeless encampment in central Phoenix known as “The Zone.”There are barely any trees and, this July, people have been suffering second-degree burns after they pass out or fall asleep on the hot asphalt and sidewalks.There are few sources of running water other than donated bottles and portable wash stations. So a spigot outside a shelter often has a line of people pouring water over their heads and filling up five-gallons jugs to take back to their tents.“It just sucks it right out of you,” said Charles Outen, 49, who said he had spent the summer hopscotching between cooling centers during the day and sleeping at local churches at night to avoid the heat.For many in the city and across the Southwest, the searing temperatures have come with little relief: The monsoon season — which typically brings cooling thunderstorms to the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico — is arriving later than usual.And all across the South, the heat has been not only strikingly severe, but also abnormally persistent.This week, hot and humid conditions were expected to worsen along the Gulf Coast and throughout the Southeast, according to the Weather Service. Across the country, about 100 million people are under heat alerts. And even parts of Northern states, including Michigan, New York and Vermont, have recently broken daily temperature records.In Palm Springs, Calif., a desert resort city in Southern California, residents and tourists have been trying their best to keep cool in temperatures that spiked to around 115 degrees.Zach Stone, who lives in his car, says the heat inside the vehicle is unbearable. To find relief, he came to the Demuth Community Center, where he worked on a puzzle in the gym.“They have bread and water and there’s vending machines and bathrooms, and that’s a huge convenience,” he said.The heat can be especially brutal for those who were already dealing with medical conditions like cancer, diabetes, drug addiction and heart disease, said Dr. Jerald Moser, a co-director of the emergency department at the Tucson Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz., where the heat wave has brought in more patients than usual. Temperatures are forecast to exceed 110 degrees there this week.People without shelter or access to water are especially at risk, Dr. Moser said, adding that many of them wind up in emergency rooms after being found incapacitated on the ground, sometimes with secondary burns from the scorching sidewalks.“We see people passing out from full-blown heat stroke with a core body temperature of 104 degrees,” he said.The persistent heat in the Southwest is the result of a high-pressure system that has been parked over the region for weeks. It has been particularly stubborn this year, delaying cooling storms.The monsoon schedule varies from one year to the next, said Michael Crimmins, an environmental science professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson, so while it is not yet clear whether climate change is to blame for the heat wave’s persistence, it has very likely made the daily high temperatures even higher.In Texas, the heat this year has prompted cotton plants, especially in the southern parts of the state, to bloom early. “It’s running ahead of time, which is not good,” said Josh McGinty, an agronomist with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service whose office in Corpus Christi is bordered by cotton fields.Normally during this time of year, a few bulbs would be starting to unfurl. Instead, Mr. McGinty said, “every fruit on the plant is open, and they shouldn’t be. The heat is just shutting the plants down. They’re in survival mode at this point.” But even that, he said, is better than last year, when the cotton crop suffered even more because of droughts.Farther east, residents of Southern states are bracing for a long spell of hot and muggy days. Heat indexes, which measure how hot it feels outside while accounting for both temperature and humidity, were expected to surpass 100 degrees this week in many cities including Jackson, Miss., Montgomery, Ala., and Tallahassee, Fla.On Monday afternoon, Ralph Horton was driving east along Interstate 20 to his home Tallapoosa, Ga., when he stopped in Vicksburg, Miss., for a break.He was traveling from Texas, where he had spent a few days. “Oh my gosh, it was hot,” he said.On Monday, he stood on an overlook with a view of the Mississippi River, anticipating a different kind of heat — the kind that is oppressive even when the temperatures don’t reach triple digits. “The humidity is killer in this part of the country,” Mr. Horton said.The spot where he stood was already under a heat advisory, with heat indexes forecast to reach around 110 degrees on Tuesday.Reporting was contributed by Maggie Miles, Jack Healy and Sheryl Kornman. Source link Read the full article

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sataniccapitalist · 1 year

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#florida

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greysbible · 2 years

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Rain today

#Rain today software

This will continue to result in unsettled weather around here. While direct impacts from this system will be more likely towards S Texas and NE Mexico, any moisture with it will likely get pulled into the stalled boundary across our area. This could become our next tropical depression by today or Saturday. Talkin’ Tropics: The tropical disturbance located over the SW Gulf of Mexico now has a high 70% chance for development over the next 48 hours as it drifts northwestward. Hottest 110.7 ☏ Nellis Air Force Base, NV Coldest 36.3 ☏ Tin City Airways Facilities Sector, AK Windiest 31. Make sure you keep an umbrella close by! Temperatures through the week ahead will stay below normal in the lower to middle 80s each afternoon. Rain Last Hour 0in Recorded at Tucson, Tucson International Airport Updated 18 mins ago (1.4 miles away) Get an account to remove ads View More Real-Time Extremes Nation State County. With deep tropical moisture surging in and another boundary approaching from the north, rain chances will remain elevated through all of next week. Coverage is expected to be a bit higher on Sunday with waves of rain and storms likely. It will be slightly warmer out tomorrow afternoon if you’re one not seeing any rain with highs near 90 degrees. The South East and eastern England are set to be hit by thunderstorms and heavy rain tomorrow as the Met Office issued a yellow warning. Showers and storms will likely start to flare up by the afternoon and evening hours. The active weather pattern is forecast to continue into the weekend as the front lifts more to the north. New Jersey nighttime temperatures this weekend will be more typical of early September than mid-August, forecasters say. Otherwise, it will be humid and mild out as lows fall to the lower 70s. weather: Much needed rain soaking state today. As soon as images are sent to our website it is presented to you as a visitor. The image show the rain above the UK and Ireland.

#Rain today software

Our software will detect the device and present the rainimages in the best possible way on your screen. A few showers or storms could also linger throughout the overnight hours as well. The realtime rain information can be consulted by PC, tablet and telephone. High temperatures will rise to the middle and upper 80s this afternoon under mostly to partly cloudy skies. Locally heavy rainfall, lightning, and gusty winds are possible with any storms. The deluge of the Lower Mississippi Valley continues on Thursday as a low-pressure system continues to draw in Gulf moisture. (WLBT) - Scattered downpours and thunderstorms will once again be around at times today, especially for those near and south of I-20 where a boundary is draped overhead.

#Rain today

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rjzimmerman · 3 years

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Excerpt from this story from Yale Climate Connections:

Attributing extreme events to climate change – including those highly reported though the media – is a difficult task frequently requiring lots time to complete rigorously. The usual mantra is that climate change did not cause X, but climate change did contribute significantly to its intensity and/or its frequency. Which raises the question: “By how much?”

But experience on the ground sometimes makes that attribution to climate change a no brainer. How so? Because no other influence can explain many of the recent events because there is no precedent for their having ever been happened before. Call them “Never Before” in history events (NB4s).

The mundane “Who cares?” version of an NB4 event can be found in the time series of an index of annual mean surface temperature. The five-year trend comparison has been de rigueur for decades, but over just the past 20 years, the “This has been the hottest year ever” framing has been assigned to five of those years.

Another example of a time series worrisome to many experts involves Hurricane Harvey, in 2017. Harvey stalled over Houston for nearly two days. It dropped 42 inches of rain while it was just hanging around with nowhere to go. Stalling of hurricanes has been attributed to a reduced temperature difference between the poles and the tropics. It is a signature of climate change that now includes Ida over Louisiana. In Houston, climate change caused the third “500-year flooding” event in four years – certainly a damaging NB4.

In the summer of 2020, leaking methane from the melting permafrost across tundra in Siberia released methane that spontaneously ignited when temperatures well above the Arctic Circle exceeded 100oF. The high temperatures are a product of global warming, but the interaction with the tundra is a very troubling NB4.

Hurricane Ida was the second Category 4 (nearly a Cat 5) storm to make landfall in Louisiana in two years. Ida tied the record for gaining intensity when approaching landfall. The cause of that rapid intensification? Temperature of the Gulf of Mexico waters provided fuel to buttress the intensity. Those water temperatures across the Gulf ranged between 88oF and 90oF to a depth of 150 feet – never before in recorded history.

Subsequently, how is it possible that more than 15 times as many people died from exposure to Ida in eight mid-Atlantic states than in Mississippi and Louisiana combined? Because the severity was unexpected, and many people were unprepared.

In New York City, sustained rain for one hour exceeded three inches during Hurricane Henri in early August, an all-time record. Less than two weeks later, the remnants of Ida piled on with a new all-time record of 3.15 inches for New York City and 3.24 inches for Newark, New Jersey. Surely another NB4, and especially for piling on. IDA was an NB4 event at least three times over.

#climate change #extreme weather

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kuramirocket · 3 years

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MEXICALI, Mexico — Lucía Laguna carries her fate tattooed on her face — from the corner of her mouth to her chin, black lines surf across her coppery skin — the tribal art honoring her people will also serve an important function later on.

“After my death, it will be guide me to my ancestors. With the tattoo, they will recognize me and can take me where they are," she said, as she talks on the banks of the Colorado River.

But under the merciless sun, Laguna, 51, worries about the fate of the river and its impact on the Cucapá, her Indigenous people. A searing drought is exacerbating the deadly heat in a region that long ago saw its river flow diminished, after almost a century of U.S. engineering projects.

"Cucapá means people from the river, that's why we are fighting for it," she said, pointing to a decrease in the river's flow she is seeing every year. “We cling to the river and fight because it gives us water so that the fish can arrive and we can earn our livelihood. But it is a fight that seems that we will never win," she said, disheartened.

Mexico is experiencing the worst drought in three decades. NASA images from the recently released Landsat 8 satellite showed the extremely low levels of the Villa Victoria dam, one of the capital's main water reservoirs.

According to meteorologists, three quarters of the country suffers from drought; in 16 of the 32 states, it affects their entire territory. Thus, 60 large reservoirs, especially in the north and the center, are below 25 percent of capacity.

"Over the past 70 years, the temperature in Mexico has a clear and conclusive increasing trend. In the last decade, it increased very rapidly and that rise is even higher than the average for the planet," Jorge Zavala Hidalgo, general coordinator of the National Meteorological Service, said.

Rainfall has always fluctuated, he explained, but now the rain is concentrated in fewer days. "And that is bad because we all want it to rain — but nobody wants it to flood, especially the farmers, because that destroys the crops. That is why we are studying everything that is happening."

The increase in temperature especially affects the forests, which go from being a paradise of greenery to time bombs for fire risks. As of May 5, 562 forest fires had been registered, 27 percent more than in 2020. And the burned area grew 69 percent, reaching almost 900,000 acres.

"There is more drought and therefore the vegetation is waiting for someone to arrive, light a leaf and from there, the fire begins," said César Robles, deputy manager of the Fire Management Center of Mexico's National Forestry Commission. "The area affected by fires is directly correlated with the increase in temperature and the decrease in rainfall."

An area resident, Imelda Guerra Hurtado, 43, pointed to the barren lands of El Zanjón, an arid, semi-desert enclave that reaches the banks of the Colorado River delta.

She remembers her grandparents taking her fishing — and points to areas that used to have water.

"Sometimes we feel that we are dying of thirst. Although many deny it, the climate has changed," she said. "We have always lived off the fish in the river, since I can remember. Now we can only fish once a year and it is our main livelihood."

U.S. engineering and their consequences

The Cucapá are one of the five native tribes of Baja California, and they descend from the Yuman people. According to official data, there are now only between 350 and 400 members of the Cucapá people but, in the 19th century, Western colonizers documented between 5,000 and 6,000 nomads who organized into clans.

"You have to understand that these Indigenous people see the entire region, both the part of Mexico and the United States, as their territory. In their traditions, it is remembered that they received a lot of water and, little by little, they were running out of that flow," said Osvel Hinojosa-Huerta, director of the Coastal Solutions Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

The history of the Colorado River, and the problems it suffers today, is an ode to progress and engineering that tried to tame nature. It is the most important water system in northwestern Mexico. It is essential for farming in a semi-desert region.

In the 19th century, the river reached Mexico with a wild power of about 42,000 cubic feet per second. At the beginning of the 20th century, however, the United States began struggling to convert the arid regions of the Southwest to arable land, thus undertaking engineering works to divert water to the Imperial Valley of California.

"From 1922, everything started badly," Hinojosa-Huerta said. The United States did a study to divide the water from the Colorado River and, coincidentally, it was the 10 wettest years in the basin." Thus, a distribution was made on paper that included more water (16 percent) than there actually is. And then the reservoirs began to be built.

Treaties, dams — and then climate change

In 1936, the Hoover Dam was inaugurated, between Nevada and Arizona, which lowered the flow to 164 cubic meters per second for Mexico. In 1944, a bilateral treaty was signed that guaranteed Mexico about 1.8 million cubic meters of water per year, but most of it goes to agriculture.

The agreement did not consider the rights of the Cucapá people and their ancestral relationship with the river. But it affected their traditional ceremonies, causing a shortage of fruits and grains, and the trees and shrubs used to make houses, boats and clothing. "Nobody asked us anything," Guerra said.

In 1966, the Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona was erected, and the river's flow decreased to 8 cubic meters per second. But what no one seemed to count on, between treaties and dams, was climate change.

"In Mexicali, it has never rained," Hinojosa-Huerta said, "the flow that reaches the region and that supports agriculture comes from snowfall 2,600 kilometers [1,600 miles] in the Rockies."

It all depends on precipitation in Wyoming and Colorado, but since 2002 snowfall has been below average, depleting the river and resulting in a "desolating panorama," he said.

Years of warmer temperatures, a failed rainy season last summer and low snow cover have combined to cause Mexico's Baja California rivers to decline.

Hell on Earth

But heat also kills. In 2019 there were at least eight deaths in Mexicali associated with high temperatures; in 2020, they were 83.

"People cannot live with those temperatures, that is, people die", Zavala said, "although they are used to the heat, even small increases break the threshold for the human body to survive."

On Aug. 14, 2020, Mexicali registered 122 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking the record of 121 that dated from August 1981.

Froilán Meza Rivera, a veteran journalist and writer from northern Mexico, consulted the archives of the Secretariat of Hydraulic Resources. It appears that in July 1966, in Riíto, a Mexicali community, a thermometer reached an unprecedented figure of 140 degrees Fahrenheit. And that was its limit: the mercury rose to the top and could not measure any more.

It would be the highest figure in the world: according to the World Meteorological Organization, the highest recorded temperature is 134 degrees Fahrenheit on July 10, 1913, in California's Death Valley.

The region is exposed to the worst possible scenarios in terms of a climate emergency, according to Roberto Sánchez Rodríguez, an academic from the Colegio de la Frontera Norte. "Governments have mismanaged resources, and that is why there is less water available," he said.

Fishing

Since 1993, the fishing territory of the Cucapá has been included in the Upper Gulf of California and the Colorado River Delta Biosphere Reserve, which has a surface area of 2.3 million acres. This protected area was created to preserve the flora and fauna, such as the vaquita porpoises and the totoaba, which are at the brink of extinction.

"We abide by the rules, we know that species have to be protected because we are an Indigenous people, we use the nets and equipment that the government asks of us and we do not go out when it's not our turn," said Rubén Flores, captain of a panga, a boat used for traditional fishing.

An earthquake in 2010 also affected fishing. "It left us huge cracks that got bigger, and that doesn't allow us to fish like before," said Hilda Hurtado Valenzuela, 68, president of the Sociedad Cooperativa Pueblo Indígena Cucapá, one of the associations that groups together the people who are still fishing.

Sitting on a plastic chair near the patio of her home in El Indiviso, a semi-desert piece of land, she said she likes to get away from the sun. For a long time, she has not seen the sun as a source of life but as a tough enemy who takes out her tribe, destroys the river and forces them to forces them to do their chores and work at night during the harshest moments of summer.

"Unbearable"

"The heat here is unbearable, we have never experienced this. There are even people living on the streets who die because they cannot stand the temperatures," Valenzuela said. "And it also affects the animals because less water arrives from the river and the fish breed with the mixture of fresh water and salt, so there are fewer and fewer fish."

The townspeople insist that they do not fish the totoaba, whose swim bladder is considered a delicacy in the Asian market for its supposed medicinal and aphrodisiac properties (when it reaches China it costs $55,000 or $60,000).

But the intense demand leads to fishing with professional nets, thus also trapping the vaquitas and leaving them on the brink of extinction.

Various environmental and journalistic investigations have pointed to the Dragon Cartel, a criminal network with Mexican, American, Chinese and other intermediaries who conspire to exploit and fish the totoaba in that region.

Flores said that just by looking at the sky, he knows what the weather will be like. That's why he shakes his head disapprovingly every time he sees the relentless sun.

"Something strange is happening here. It is as if the sun lasts longer, so the fish do not like that heat. They are born less and weigh less." It used to take them two days to fish for curvina, now it takes them a whole week, he said, looking at the river.

The intense drought also has affected the fish's reproduction, so they must go further and further out, with poorly prepared boats, with small engines and without much fuel.

"We comply with everything, but the people of the surrounding towns also fish and don't (comply) —and many times we're punished for that, said Paco, a veteran fisherman with more than 25 years of experience.

"And we must also be careful because the narco is there, they follow our routes through the area and they fish in order to hide tons of drugs underneath. We tell the police, but nobody does anything," said Paco, whose last name is being withheld for fear of retaliation.

"I want the river to stay"

Lucia Laguna considers herself a guardian of the Cucapá, keeping alive their language, customs and traditional clothing to preserve them. Her memory is one of the most important reservoirs of the Cucapá past.

Kneeling on the banks of the Colorado River, she touches the dark water with special devotion while reciting an ancient song. Two little girls are with her.

"My tata [grandfather] fishes because without that we cannot eat. I too would like to be a fisherman, because I really like the river and being here," Marleny Sáenz, 10, said.

"I want the river to stay, to have our traditions," she said. "I like to sing because it is part of me, I feel very proud to be part of this town."

It is a ritual that they used to celebrate on the banks of the river. From time immemorial they burned the cachanilla, a wild plant with a fresh aroma, while chanting their songs so that the fishermen would be lucky in their long expeditions at sea.

"It is about opening paths, so that everything goes well," Laguna said.

"We are paying the consequences of the pollution of other people. The people of the cities have to understand that we are affected by what they do. They do not live alone in the world," she said sadly, touching the water and singing to the river.

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newstfionline · 3 years

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Saturday, August 21, 2021

Landlords look for an exit amid federal eviction moratorium (AP) When Ryan David bought three rental properties back in 2017, he expected the $1,000-a-month he was pocketing after expenses would be regular sources of income well into his retirement years. But then the pandemic hit and federal and state authorities imposed moratoriums on evictions. The unpaid rent began to mount. Then, just when he thought the worst was over, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced a new moratorium, lasting until Oct. 3. David, the father of a 2 1/2-year-old who is expecting another child, fears the $2,000 he’s owed in back rent will quickly climb to thousands more. The latest moratorium “was the final gut punch,” said the 39-year-old, adding that he now plans to sell the apartments. Most evictions for unpaid rent have been halted since the early days of the pandemic and there are now more than 15 million people living in households that owe as much as $20 billion in back rent, according to the Aspen Institute. A majority of single-family rental home owners have been impacted, according to a survey from the National Rental Home Council, and 50% say they have tenants who have missed rent during the pandemic. Landlords, big and small, are most angry about the moratoriums, which they consider illegal. Many believe some tenants could have paid rent, if not for the moratorium. And the $47 billion in federal rental assistance that was supposed to make landlords whole has been slow to materialize. By July, only $3 billion of the first tranche of $25 billion had been distributed.

Student loans (WSJ) The Biden administration announced it will wipe out $5.8 billion in student loans held by 323,000 people who are permanently disabled. This means the Education Department will discharge loans for borrowers with total and permanent disabilities per Social Security Administration records. Currently there is $1.6 trillion held in student loan debt, much of which could be eliminated through executive action.

New England preps for 1st hurricane in 30 years with Henri (AP) New Englanders bracing for their first direct hit by a hurricane in 30 years began hauling boats out of the water and taking other precautions Friday as Tropical Storm Henri barreled toward the Northeast coast. Henri was expected to intensify into a hurricane by Saturday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Impacts could be felt in New England states by Sunday, including on Cape Cod, which is teeming with tens of thousands of summer tourists. “This storm is extremely worrisome,” said Michael Finkelstein, police chief and emergency management director in East Lyme, Connecticut. “We haven’t been down this road in quite a while and there’s no doubt that we and the rest of New England would have some real difficulties with a direct hit from a hurricane.”

Booming Colo. town asks, ‘Where will water come from?’ (AP) “Go West, young man,″ Horace Greeley famously urged. The problem for the northern Colorado town that bears the 19th-century newspaper editor’s name: Too many people have heeded his advice. By the tens of thousands newcomers have been streaming into Greeley—so much so that the city and surrounding Weld County grew by more than 30% from 2010 to 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, making it one of the fastest-growing regions in the country. And it’s not just Greeley. Figures released this month show that population growth continues unabated in the South and West, even as temperatures rise and droughts become more common. That in turn has set off a scramble of growing intensity in places like Greeley to find water for the current population, let alone those expected to arrive in coming years. “Everybody looks at the population growth and says, ‘Where is the water going to come from?’” [one local professor] said.

Everything’s Getting Bigger In Texas (AP, CNBC, Forbes) Texas has long been a popular destination for newcomers, thanks to cheaper land and housing, more job opportunities, lower taxes, and fewer regulations. There’s also the great weather, food, schools, and medical facilities, the abundant resources and year-round recreation and outdoor activities, artistic and cultural events, fairs, festivals, music venues, and the diverse and friendly people—you know, just to name a few. Texas has always been a business-friendly environment, which has certainly not been lost on tech and financial companies headquartered in strictly-regulated and high-priced states like California and New York. There are 237 corporate relocation and expansion projects in the works in Texas just since the pandemic hit. Tech giant Oracle moved its headquarters to Austin in late 2020; Tesla is building its new Gigafactory there, and Apple will have its second-largest campus there as well. Both Google and Facebook have satellite offices in Austin, and the file hosting services company Dropbox will be leaving San Francisco for Austin. Recently, the global real estate services firm CBRE and multinational financial services behemoth Charles Schwab moved their headquarters from California to the Dallas area. Hewlett Packard’s cofounders were two of the original grandfathers of Silicon Valley, who started their company in a Palo Alto garage in 1939. Now, the corporation is moving its headquarters from San Jose to Houston. And the number of mega-wealthy individuals who’ve moved to Texas are too numerous to mention. It’s not just big cities like Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio that are seeing an influx of people—bedroom communities are growing by leaps and bounds as well—places like New Braunfels, located in the Texas Hill Country, Conroe, 40 miles north of Houston, and McKinney, just 30 minutes up U.S. 75 from Dallas.

‘Bracing for the worst’ in Florida’s COVID-19 hot zone (AP) As quickly as one COVID patient is discharged, another waits for a bed in northeast Florida, the hot zone of the state’s latest surge. But the patients at Baptist Health’s five hospitals across Jacksonville are younger and getting sick from the virus faster than people did last summer. Baptist has over 500 COVID patients, more than twice the number they had at the peak of Florida’s July 2020 surge, and the onslaught isn’t letting up. Hospital officials are anxiously monitoring 10 forecast models, converting empty spaces, adding over 100 beds and “bracing for the worst,” said Dr. Timothy Groover, the hospitals’ interim chief medical officer.

Grace heads for a second hurricane hit on Mexican coast (AP) Hurricane Grace—temporarily knocked back to tropical storm force—headed Friday for a second landfall in Mexico, this time taking aim at the mainland’s Gulf coast after crashing through the country’s main tourist strip. The storm lost punch as it zipped across the Yucatan Peninsula, but it emerged late Thursday over the relatively warm Gulf of Mexico and was gaining energy. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Grace’s winds were back up to 70 mph (110 kph) early Friday and were expected to soon regain hurricane force. It was centered about 265 miles (425 kilometers) east of Tuxpan and was heading west at 16 mph (26 kph). The forecast track would take it toward a coastal region of small fishing towns and beach resorts between Tuxpan and Veracruz, likely Friday night or early Saturday, then over a mountain range toward the heart of the country and the greater Mexico City region. Forecasters said it could drop 6 to 12 inches (15 to 30 centimeters) of rain, with more in a few isolated areas—bringing the threat of flash floods, mudslide and urban flooding.

“Self-determination 1, Human Rights 0” (Foreign Policy) Most Latin American governments offered little official support to the U.S. War in Afghanistan when it began in 2001. At the time, Venezuela put forward a blistering critique of meeting “terror with more terror,” and then-Cuban leader Fidel Castro said U.S. opponents’ irregular warfare abilities could draw out the conflict for 20 years. Over the weekend, as the Afghan government collapsed and chaos engulfed Kabul’s airport, today’s leaders of Cuba and Venezuela echoed their critiques while foreign ministers of other Latin American countries diplomatically issued statements of concern about Afghanistan’s humanitarian needs. Chile and Mexico made plans to accept Afghan refugees, and several countries signed on to a joint international statement protecting Afghan women’s rights. To many in Latin America’s diplomatic and foreign-policy communities, the dark events in Afghanistan confirmed the importance of the principle of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs. The extended U.S. presence in Afghanistan was “the same mistake as always: trying to build democratic states through the use of force,” Colombian political scientist Sandra Guzmán wrote in El Tiempo. Many Latin Americans stressed that methods other than military interventions should be used to work toward human rights, even as they acknowledged how challenging it can be to make progress. “Self-determination 1, human rights 0 #Afghanistan,” tweeted Uruguayan political scientist Andrés Malamud after Kabul fell.

Afghanistan war unpopular amid chaotic pullout (AP) A significant majority of Americans doubt that the war in Afghanistan was worthwhile, even as the United States is more divided over President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and national security, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Roughly two-thirds said they did not think America’s longest war was worth fighting, the poll shows. Meanwhile, 47% approve of Biden’s management of international affairs, while 52% approve of Biden on national security. The poll was conducted Aug. 12-16 as the two-decade war in Afghanistan ended with the Taliban returning to power and capturing the capital of Kabul. Biden has faced bipartisan condemnation in Washington for sparking a humanitarian crisis by being ill-prepared for the speed of the Taliban’s advance.

The U.S. Blew Billions in Afghanistan (Bloomberg) The rapid collapse of Afghanistan’s government to the Taliban fueled fears of a humanitarian disaster, sparked a political crisis for President Joe Biden and caused scenes of desperation at Kabul’s airport. It’s also raised questions about what happened to more than $1 trillion the U.S. spent trying to bring peace and stability to a country wracked by decades of war. While most of that money went to the U.S. military, billions of dollars got wasted along the way, in some cases aggravating efforts to build ties with the Afghan people Americans meant to be helping. A special watchdog set up by Congress spent the past 13 years documenting the successes and failures of America’s efforts in Afghanistan. While wars are always wasteful, the misspent American funds stand out because the U.S. had 20 years to shift course.

Western groups desperate to save Afghan workers left behind (AP) The Italian charity Pangea helped tens of thousands of Afghan women become self-supporting in the last 20 years. Now, dozens of its staff in Afghanistan are in hiding with their families amid reports that Taliban are going door-to-door in search of citizens who worked with Westerners. Pangea founder Luca Lo Presti has asked that 30 Afghan charity workers and their families be included on Italian flights that have carried 500 people to safety this week, but the requests were flatly refused. On Thursday, the military coordinator told him: “Not today.” Dozens of flights already have brought hundreds of Western nationals and Afghan workers to safety in Europe since the Taliban captured the capital of Kabul. Those lucky enough to be rescued from feared reprisals have mostly been Afghans who worked directly with foreign missions, along with their families. European countries also have pledged to evacuate people at special risk from the Taliban—feminists, political activists and journalists—but it is unclear exactly where the line is being drawn and how many Afghan nationals Western nations will be able to evacuate.

#headlines #news

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csnews · 5 years

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As More Diverted Floodwaters Head Their Way, Dolphins Keep Dying in Louisiana

Julie Dermansky - May 10, 2019

As an unprecedented amount of floodwater makes its way down the Mississippi River, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today opened the Bonnet Carre Spillway for the second time this year. Done to prevent New Orleans from being flooded, the action marks the first time the spillway, which diverts the Mississippi’s nutrient- and pollutant-heavy freshwater into Lake Pontchatrain, has been opened twice in the same year.

The historic opening of the spillway is happening in the midst of an ongoing and mysterious dolphin die-off in the Gulf of Mexico and the same week that the United Nations released its most comprehensive report on the state of biodiversity.

The report warns that the rate species are going extinct is speeding up and can only be slowed by simultaneously combating climate change and directly protecting species and their habitats. But in Louisiana, despite more frequent and intense extreme weather and the current dolphin die-off, the local, state, and federal governments are showing little political appetite to deal with either.

Only yesterday the Corps announced it would open the spillway again this year, but quickly moved up the planned date of May 14 to May 10 after regional rainfall caused the Mississippi River to rise 6 inches in 24 hours, with more rain expected this weekend.

The diverted freshwater will make its way from Lake Pontchartrain to the Breton and Mississippi Sounds, where a dolphin die-off is underway. The Breton Sound, a fish- and oyster-rich estuary where salt and freshwater meet, is located about 35 miles southeast of New Orleans and leads into the Gulf of Mexico. Historically, freshwater from the Mississippi River fed the sounds, but devices like locks and dams have drastically reduced the water flow into them over the years, creating more brackish environments than normal. These water-control mechanisms, created to protect human developments along the Mississippi River, allow for controlled releases such as the one today.

A Meeting Postponed

This morning, May 10, inclement weather postponed a meeting scheduled for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the lead agency investigating the dolphin deaths to meet with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF); the Army Corps of Engineers; the National Audubon Society; and local officials and fishermen in St. Bernard Parish to discuss how to respond to the dolphin die-off.

“Everything is weather-related in Louisiana,” said Randy Myers of LDWF when he alerted me of the postponed meeting. His comment comes off as particularly poignant in a state where climate science deniers continue to govern as if humankind's role in climate change were insignificant.

On May 1, Gov. John Bel Edwards tripled-down on climate denial at the Grow Louisiana Coalition “Oil and Natural Gas Industry Day” in Baton Rouge. Edwards acknowledges that the climate is changing but diverges from mainstream climate science by saying he is unsure what humanity's role is. His stance is echoed by his administration’s efforts to welcome new oil and gas industry projects in the state, including numerous petrochemical plants.

‘This is not normal’

George Ricks, a fishing charter boat captain, and founder of The Save Louisiana Coalition, was disappointed that the meeting with NOAA was canceled. He and other fishermen in St. Bernard Parish have taken to monitoring the recent dolphin die-off on their own. I accompanied him on a monitoring trip on May 7. We found three dead dolphins in three hours.

“This is not normal,” Ricks said, visibly upset when our boat approached each dolphin. In the 52 years he has been out on the water in this area, he had only come across two dead dolphins, and those were likely killed by boat strikes, he told me. This year he started spotting dead dolphins on April 10. Two were found within two miles of each other. Since then, he has documented 36 dead dolphins, including the three we found that day.

Ricks cringes when he hears people talk about how natural it is for freshwater from the river to come into the estuary. “If the Mississippi River was a babbling brook, we would be OK,” he says, “but we are talking about the second-most polluted river in the United States, loaded with benzene, mercury, phosphates, nitrates, all the fertilizer from farming practices — the same river causing the dead zone in the gulf every year, but that is what we have emptying into our estuaries, and this is the result of it. These animals just can’t take it.” For oystermen, the opening of the spillway is always a cause for concern because it leads to plummeting water salinity levels as the freshwater suddenly dilutes the estuary’s brackish waters, which can kill the oysters they harvest.

Watching for Impacts

Today, an LDWF press release said the agency is continuing to monitor the area’s fish and wildlife, an effort began with the first spillway’s opening on Febuary 25. It is monitoring Louisiana’s oyster, shrimp, and crab populations, as well as impacts to federally managed marine mammals and sea turtles.

“It is likely some oyster beds will see an impact, especially if salinities remain low and water temperatures rise,” said Patrick Banks, LDWF Assistant Secretary for Fisheries, “but we are confident that the areas will be able to rebound just as Mother Nature intended.”

St. Bernard Parish President Guy McInnis declared a state of emergency today due to the second spillway opening because it will impact hundreds of his parish’s residents who depend on the local seafood industry. The parish government wrote in a statement on its social media page that preliminary feedback from the LDWF suggesets the dolphins might be suffering from freshwater lesions due to the Bonnet Carre Spillway’s openings, but the science isn’t conclusive on the die-off’s cause. Ricks doesn't think enough is being done to uncover the cause of the dolphins’ demise. He wonders if politics are preventing an aggressive investigation into the die-off and believes that if the public became aware that the river’s water is implicated in killing dolphins, then public opinion might turn against the diversion projects, which are key to the state’s Coastal Master Plan to rebuild and protect Louisiana’s diminished coast.

These projects, the proposed Mid-Barataria and Mid-Breton sediment diversions, are part of the state's plan to reduce coastal land loss. While the projects have wide support, they required a waiver from the Marine Mammal Protection Act, to all construction without further study of whether they will harm marine mammals, including dolphins.

I asked the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries when it last monitored the dolphin die-off situation. Myers told me the agency is activity monitoring but couldn't tell me the specifically the last time the agency checked in the Breton Sound. With more Mississippi River water headed that way, Ricks plans to keep a watchful eye on the area, with or without the help of government agencies.

A Glimpse of the Future?

Criticism of the two proposed diversion projects comes mostly from oystermen and charter boat operators but the projects’ supporters readily dismiss the criticism, saying the state has to do something to protect and rebuild the disappearing coast. Louisiana has been losing coastal land for decades due to damage done by the oil and gas industry, extreme weather events and sea level rise worsened by climate change and subsidence, among other causes.

Ricks insists he isn’t just opposing the sediment diversions because the projects will impact his business. He also points to the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers report, released in March, on managing the Lower Mississippi River Delta. According to this report, “the morphologic modeling results for the diversion scenario analyses show net land gain in the near vicinity of the diversion outlets and net land loss farther away from the outlets.” In other words, these types of projects would likely build the same amount of land in one area that they erode elsewhere.

Ricks sees the report as a vindication of his belief that the sediment diversion projects could end up destroying as much land as they create.

Warnings Coming True

In March, NOAA forecasters noted the high risk of “major flooding due to well-above-normal precipitation, snowmelt, saturated soils, and frozen ground” in areas feeding the Mississippi River this spring.

And this week, NOAA reported that 313 river gauges across the United States showed levels above flood stage. All but five of those gauges were in the U.S. heartland, mostly within the Mississippi River watershed.

Just last year federal scientists warned that impacts to the Gulf of Mexico region, such as worsening floods, heat waves, and sea level rise, will intensify as the globe continues warming. While a global chorus of scientists say there is still time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, that time is quickly running out.

#news #wild #death #cetacean #dolphin

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phroyd · 5 years

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‘The changes have become more radical’: farmers are spending more time and money trying to grow crops in new climates

Chris McGreal in Langdon, Missouri

Richard Oswald did not need the latest US government report on the creeping toll of climate change to tell him that farming in the midwest is facing a grim future, and very likely changing forever.

For Oswald, the moment of realisation came in 2011.

The 68-year-old lives in the house he was born in and farms 2,500 acres with his son, some of it settled by his great-great-grandfather. The land sits where the Missouri river valley is about four miles wide.

Growing up, Oswald heard tales of a great flood in 1952 which prompted the army to construct levees.

“The next flood wasn’t for another 40 years, in 1993. Heavy rains day after day after day after day until the runoff water and the rain just overpowered the river and the levees,” said Oswald. “Both the ’52 and ’93 floods lasted three weeks. They were abnormal.”

Then came the big Missouri river flood in 2011.

“Heavy rains and heavy snow in the Dakotas and Montana created a huge amount of water. That flood lasted here almost four months. More rain than anybody really ever has any memory of coming down the river,” he said.

Oswald’s farm was underwater for much of that time and the corn lost. Missouri declared a state of emergency. Crops were ruined or never planted. Grain prices surged.

The flooding was memorable in its own right but Oswald also sees it as marking a shift in weather patterns which has forced him to farm differently.

“When I was a kid, my dad would say an inch of rain was a good rain. That’s just what we needed. Now we get four inches, five inches, six inches in one sustained wet spell that lasts two or three days. I don’t ever remember that as a boy. I’ve never seen the sustained wetness in the land that we have now. Even though the river hasn’t gone on the land it’s raised the water table so that the rains that we’ve had this fall, which have been unusually heavy, make it muddy. Continually muddy,” he said.

On 23 November, the National Climate Assessment warned of “substantial damages” across the US in the coming years from increasing wildfires in the west to flooding in the east. But the sharpest rise in temperatures will be between the coasts as the midwest endures longer and hotter summers, heavier rains and droughts that collectively are predicted to significantly reduce US agricultural production.

“Expected increases in challenges to livestock health, declines in crop yields and quality, and changes in extreme events in the United States and abroad threaten rural livelihoods, sustainable food security, and price stability,” said the 1,600-page report, the work of 13 federal agencies.

Climate change is likely to make it harder to grow crops, and to make those that do grow more vulnerable to diseases and pests because of rising humidity. The report said heat and diminishing air quality will take its toll on livestock. Farmers will collectively have to spend billions of dollars to adapt. The effects are already seen from prolonged drought in Kansas and torrential rains in Iowa.

Before the flood in 2011, Oswald, a Missouri river valley crop farmer, was skeptical about the warnings that rising temperatures heralded a more difficult future. Since then, the routines of planting and harvesting that his family has pursued on the same land for five generations have given way to a haphazard cycle governed by waves of extreme heat and intense rains.

“The changes have become more radical. The way the rains come down and the temperatures. You’re constantly trying to manage it,” said Oswald, a former president of the Missouri Farmers Union. “There’s so much unknown about the weather now that it’s pretty hard to do much about it.”

As his son, Brandon, works a combine harvester up and down a field, Oswald kicks the soil with his foot.

“If you look at this, it’s pretty dry right on top but not too far down it’s mud. Two weeks ago there was water standing here from all the rain and the inability of the soil to absorb that much moisture because the level of the river was such that the water level was pretty close to the top of the ground here,” he said.

That mud makes it difficult to plant and to harvest. The rains narrow the number of days when Oswald can get a crop in the ground. If it forces him to delay planting the corn, that means the soybeans will go in late. Worst of all, Oswald said, is that it is all so unpredictable. Where planting was typically spread over the same few days in spring and summer every year, now it can vary by weeks.

Gene Takle, one of the authors of the climate change report and director of the climate science programme at Iowa State University, traces the sharply increased rainfalls to rising temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico. He said that for centuries, the gulf’s waters have been carried as moisture into the midwest and delivered consistent rainfalls that made the region America’s breadbasket.

But as temperatures have risen so has the amount of moisture in a dome of vapour over the Gulf of Mexico. Takle said that at the same time climate change has moved a pressure centre in the Atlantic, known as the Bermuda high, westwards and closer to a band of low pressure over the Rocky mountains creating higher windspeeds across parts of the midwest. That, in turn, has intensified the flow of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico.

The result is heavier rains dumping huge amounts of water on to fields, alongside rising temperatures.

“Humidity is the the key, the smoking gun, for the increase in our rainfall,” said Takle, a professor of agronomy and of geological and atmospheric sciences.

Takle said that heavy rains in 2013 forced farmers in north-western Iowa to abandon planting altogether on more than 700,000 acres, more than 10% of the state’s land. That came a year after Iowa was hit by widespread drought that also hit the crop harvest.

Some farmers are installing drainage systems to cope with the higher rainfalls, a sign that they know climate change is here to stay. Others are buying expensive new equipment that allows them to plant more seeds in the narrowing windows between rains.

Takle, who grew up on a farm and whose brother still farms in Iowa, said the intense rains have a long-term impact, too. Scientists calculate that dry soil is unable to absorb the water from a rainfall of more than about 1.25in over 24 hours. After that the water starts to erode the soil.

“You start to get excess water moving down slope surfaces and carrying with it any nutrients and nitrogen and phosphates or soil particles,” he said. “We’re getting more of the soil erosion promoting rainfalls. Farmers are using cover crops in the spring period to have some some residual vegetation on the surface to protect it from these extreme events.”

Standing amid his soybeans, Oswald nods north toward the hills on the edge of the valley.

“We farm some upland fields up over that hill a couple of miles,” he said. “They’re rolling hills and they’re terraced. They have structures on them to help control the runoff of the water. But when you have those big rains, none of the terraces or the dams can keep up with that as well as they should. So you have more erosion.”

The size of harvests is already falling. This year, heavy rains have hit soya bean crops, delaying planting or washing out the plants in parts of the midwest, including Iowa.

Alongside the rains are increasing temperatures.

“This year we saw 100-degree temperatures in May which is very unusual,” said Oswald. “I don’t ever remember that in my lifetime or even heard about it. That’s a first ever.”

The Missouri Climate Center recorded that temperatures were above average throughout the spring and summer this year, with September on average 3F warmer than during the 20th century

In the short term, higher temperatures have had some benefit because in parts of the region they extended the growing season and contributed to bigger harvests.

“In the midwest we have about nine days more now than we did 50 years ago,” said Takle. “Part of the increase in yields that we’ve been experiencing over the last 20 or 30 years definitely has been due to the earlier planting and the longer growing season.”

But Takle said those benefits are being lost, and will be reversed in the coming years, as rising temperatures combine with the heavy rains to make growing ever more difficult. He said corn is vulnerable to high temperatures during pollination.

A decade ago, Oswald was on the fence about climate change.

“At a certain point you just have to look at what’s going on in your own world and try to decide what you think the impacts of that are,” he said.

As Oswald’s thinking changed, so did his determination to persuade others of the reality of climate change. As president of the Missouri Farmers union, he had some success in getting a discussion going among its members. But he said climate change is politically charged among farmers in part because some see it as a stick to beat them over their practices.

“One of the problems farmers have is when we start talking about environment, a lot of times Sierra Club comes to mind and Sierra Club is pretty radical in their approach. When you have a group that says cows are the problem, you need to get rid of all the cows, and raising corn is a problem, we need to get rid of all the corn, then you’re not going to have a lot of farmers who want to join in and follow you,” he said.

Still, Oswald believes that denial is in retreat. Where farmers, including him, were once skeptical they now see the change with their own eyes. The problem is what to do about it.

“A lot of them will say there’s nothing we can do about it so we might as well not worry because we can’t have an impact, we just have to live with it,” he said.

But he said as climate change bites, farmers are increasingly accepting of the science as they are forced to spend more money on equipment and seeds to maintain current crop yields.

“It’s become almost an annual assault on their ability to produce good crops. So they are now starting to ask questions and I think are listening a little more to what the scientists are saying about the potential future.”

Phroyd

#kansas #climate change #environment #us weather #agriculture

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donaldsonbruus79 · 2 years

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Ferrous bis-glycinate is an example of among these compounds that has been established for human nutrition.Normal cardiac function needs the coordinate activity of all the cells in the heart.These chelators are called, "bidentate". Chelating agents have various usages in biochemistry and biology: They constitute nutrient remedies for microbes as well as plants in hydroculture.

Chelant-enhanced phytoextraction might nevertheless have a role in enhancing the uptake of important trace metals.In the Gulf of Mexico the wells are usually completed as perforated and cased or frac packed.Therefore, adding chelants to a soil increases not just the complete liquified metal focus yet additionally transforms the main route of plant metal-uptake from the symplastic to the apoplastic pathway. The determined bacterial stress with EDTA degrading abilities are all aerobic, gram adverse bacteria.ethylenediamine tetra acetic acid, (EDTA), citric acid (CA), oxalic acid (OA), tartaric acid (TA) and malic acid (MA) were applied independently along with control (without chelating agents) under various Pb regimes.The findings of Hugenschmidt. High relaxivity is also crucial for MRI comparison agents.Sequestering representatives are extra responsive as a result of the visibility of a number of active sites.Chelating agents have one active site per molecule, while sequestering agents have several active sites per molecule.Polyphosphate is used to sequester soluble iron atoms that remain in settled water before it is chlorinated or that leach off of iron pipelines in water circulation systems.A sequestering representative borders one more particle or atom and holds it "in seclusion. Steel complexes of change aspects are well known here, chelation happens within a much bigger variety of elements.The most known Chelating Agents are EDTA (Ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid) and also their sodium salts and DTPA (Diethylenetriaminepenta acetic acid). Chelators function by binding to metals in the bloodstream.The pK worths of some complexanes are provided listed below. Diagnostic imaging (MRI, SPECT, FAMILY PET), molecular imaging, tumour treatment and luminescent materials are just a couple of examples.An extremely close adverse correlation exists in between ALAD task and PbB; the no impact degree is around 10 g PbB/dl as well as ALAD is clearly prevented for PbB in the range of 10-40 g/dl, for that reason it is particularly beneficial for the recognition of metabolic results such as those taking place in the basic population.The degree of "acceptable" iron problem to preserve in chronically transfused individuals via using chelation has actually just recently been called into question.In addition, deferoxamine, typically given in higher doses of as much as 60 mg/kg/d as a continual intravenous mixture, can turn around heart problems and also minimize heart iron burden as gauged by T2 * MRI.Studies have revealed a reduction or stablizing of serum ferritin degrees and also liver iron concentrations in the majority of, however not all, clients with transfusional iron overload. EDTA and DTPA to proceed driving the need of Chelants: Chelants (EDTA/DTPA) find extremely particular applications throughout various markets and are chosen based on their sensitivity to pH and also temperature level, together with their selectivity as well as performance in removing steel ions.Hydrosulfite application prices can be reduced in addition to brightness reversion.Metal chelation of ligands minimized the task of EDTA as well as DTPA.Some typical chelators consist of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), dimercaptosuccinic acid, and also dimercaprol. For thousands of years, guy used steels for needs and also progression, without projecting regarding downsides of such custom.The removal methods can be about identified in 2 categories: (a) those that leave the toxic components on the soil, debilitating them to avoid their movement, and (b) those that get rid of pollutants from the soil, potentially waiting for future uses.The remediation of soils is an impelling need, as well as various methods are made use of and also studied for reaching this goal., to their possible environmental influence.

#chelators

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sciencespies · 3 years

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Shark teeth from millions of years ago solve mystery of Earth's ancient climate

https://sciencespies.com/environment/shark-teeth-from-millions-of-years-ago-solve-mystery-of-earths-ancient-climate/

Shark teeth from millions of years ago solve mystery of Earth's ancient climate

Tens of million years ago, sand tiger sharks hunted in the waters off the Antarctic Peninsula, gliding over a thriving marine ecosystem on the seafloor below.

All that remains of them today is their sharp pointed teeth, but those teeth tell a story.

They’re helping solve the mystery of why the Earth, some 50 million years ago, began shifting from a “greenhouse” climate that was warmer than today toward cooler “icehouse” conditions.

Many theories about this climate shift focus on Antarctica. There is geologic evidence that both the Drake Passage, which is the water between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula, and the Tasman Gateway, between Australia and East Antarctica, widened and deepened during this time as Earth’s tectonic plates moved.

(Copernicus Marine Services/European Union)

Above: A map of the ocean surface temperature as measured by satellites shows the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, marked by dark lines. Antarctica’s sea ice appears in light blue.

The wider, deeper passages would have been necessary for the waters of the major oceans to come together and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to form. That current, which flows around Antarctica today, traps cold waters in the Southern Ocean, keeping Antarctica cold and frozen.

The now-extinct sand tiger shark species Striatolamia macrota was once a constant in the waters around the Antarctic Peninsula, and it left exquisitely preserved fossil teeth on what is now Seymour Island near the tip of the peninsula.

By studying the chemistry preserved in these shark teeth, my colleagues and I found evidence of when the Drake Passage opened, which allowed the waters of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans to mix, and what the water felt like at the time.

The temperatures recorded in shark teeth are some of the warmest for Antarctic waters and verify climate simulations with high atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.

Oxygen captured in very sharp teeth

Sand tiger sharks have sharp teeth that protrude from their jaw to grasp prey. A single shark has hundreds of teeth in multiple rows. Over a lifetime, it sheds thousands of teeth as new ones grow.

Important environmental information is encoded within the chemistry of each tooth and preserved there over millions of years.

Illustrations of sand tiger shark teeth used by the scientists. (Christina Spence Morgan)

For example, the outer layer of a shark’s tooth is composed of an enameloid hydroxyapatite, similar to enamel in human teeth. It contains oxygen atoms from the water the shark lived in. By analyzing the oxygen, we can determine the temperature and salinity of the surrounding water during the shark’s life.

The teeth from Seymour Island show that the Antarctic waters – at least where the sharks lived – stayed warmer longer than scientists had estimated.

Another clue comes from the element neodymium, which adsorbs and replaces other elements in the outer enameloid of the tooth during early fossilization.

Each ocean basin has a distinct ratio of two different neodymium isotopes based on the age of its rocks. Looking at the ratio in the shark teeth allows us to detect the sources of the water where the shark died.

If conditions are stable, the neodymium composition would not change. However, if neodymium composition does change in fossil teeth over time, that indicates changes in oceanography.

Big sharks, warm water

We studied 400 teeth from Seymour Island, from all ages of shark, juvenile to adult, from individuals living between 45 million to 37 million years ago. The combination of tooth size and chemistry yielded some surprising clues to the past.

Some of the teeth were extremely large, suggesting these ancient Antarctic sand tigers were larger than today’s sand tiger shark, Carcharias taurus, which can grow to about 10 feet long.

(Jlencion/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA)

Above: A modern sand tiger shark, also known as a grey nurse shark, shows its rows of teeth.

In addition, water temperatures the sharks lived in were warmer than previous studies involving Antarctic clam shells suggested. It’s possible the difference was between waters closer to the surface and deeper on the sea floor, or the sharks whose teeth we found may have spent part of their lives in South America.

Today’s sand tiger sharks track warm waters. They spend summer and early fall between coastal Massachusetts and Delaware, but when waters cool off, they migrate to coastal North Carolina and Florida. Because their teeth continuously form and move forward almost like a conveyor belt, there are some teeth within the jaw that represent a different habitat than where a shark is living.

It is possible that the ancient sand tiger sharks also migrated, and when Antarctic waters cooled off, they headed north to warmer waters at lower latitudes.

The teeth suggested that the sharks’ water temperature then was similar to the water temperatures where modern sand tiger sharks can be found today. Carbon dioxide concentrations were also three to six times higher than today, so scientists would expect amplified temperatures in the regions.

Finally, the neodymium in the fossil sand tiger shark teeth provides the earliest chemical evidence of water flowing through the Drake Passage that aligns with tectonic evidence. The early timing of the Drake Passage opening, but the delayed cooling effect, indicates there are complex interactions between Earth’s systems that affect climate change.

What about their northern cousins?

Sand tiger sharks were found around the world during the Eocene, suggesting they survived in a wide range of environments. In the Arctic Ocean, for example, they lived in brackish waters that are less salty than the open ocean 53 million to 38 million years ago and were much smaller than their southern cousins off Antarctica.

Differences in the saltiness of the tiger sharks’ habitat and size of the sharks also show up in the Gulf of Mexico during this time. That range of environmental tolerance bodes well for the modern sand tiger sharks’ survival as the planet warms once again.

Unfortunately, the pace of warming today is faster and may be beyond the sand tiger shark’s ability to adapt.

Sora Kim, Assistant Professor of Paleoecology, University of California, Merced.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

#Environment

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rjzimmerman · 5 years

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This article from New Republic, written by Eric Holthaus, a meteorologist and journalist who lives in Minnesota, supports the observations, conclusions, and worries that I wrote about in my post yesterday about the confluence of several climate change-related events happening right now in Louisiana. Excerpt:

The storm’s timing is unique: In 168 years of hurricane records, a July hurricane in Louisiana has only happened three times, and all of those occurrences have been within the past 40 years. There’s a growing body of research that shows that as the Gulf of Mexico waters warm because of climate change, early-season hurricanes like proto-Barry could become more common. (Right now, water temperatures in the Gulf are at near-record levels, more typical of peak hurricane season.)

More concerning than the storm’s early timing, however, is its bad timing. The Mississippi River has been continuously flooding southern Louisiana since January 6, the longest flood in recorded history for the river in this region. Spring floods aren’t supposed to last until mid-July, and after 185 days of high water, it’s unclear Louisiana could handle any more. A potential worst-case scenario could prove disastrous for Louisiana, and shows how unprepared we are for the scary new era of overlapping climate disasters.

In recent years, extreme river floods have begun happening with increasing frequency as the spring rains arrive earlier each year as the atmosphere warms. In 2011, a flood came dangerously close to breaking the levee system upstream from New Orleans. At that time, officials feared that in a worst-case scenario, parts of the levee system could “slide into the river” if the earthen barriers became too saturated with floodwaters.

A river levee breach would be an entirely different type of flooding disaster than what occurred during Hurricane Katrina, but possibly no less devastating. Depending on where exactly a breach occurred, it may not be possible to return the Mississippi River to its previous state. This would cripple America’s agricultural and petrochemical industries, deal a potentially fatal blow to New Orleans, and change the course of American history.

Of course, it’s possible none of this will happen. But the odds are growing that, if not this week, it will happen someday soon. Even if Barry steers away from Louisiana, this won’t be the last time the region has to deal with the dual threat of extreme late-season flooding and extreme early-season hurricanes. As the climate continues to warm, the atmosphere will continue to be able to hold more moisture, increasing the likelihood of intense rainfall in already-wet areas.

#New Orleans #Louisiana #Tropical Storm Barry #climate change

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newstfionline · 5 years

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Headlines

A Rush to the Street (NYT) global political shifts have created increased expectations of democratic accountability--even in autocracies--at the same time that authoritarianism is on the rise around the world. Those two trends are colliding, giving citizens more to object to just as they increasingly feel entitled to object. Also, rising distrust of political establishments is leaving many citizens wary, even in democracies, of relying on the ballot box alone. Instead, they are taking to the streets.

Trade, climate change, Iran focus as G-20 leaders meet (AP) Trade and geopolitical tensions, and the looming threat of climate change, are on the agenda as the presidents of the United States and China and other world leaders gather in Osaka, Japan, for a summit of the Group of 20 major economies. While prospects for detente in the trade war between the U.S. and China are in the spotlight, many participating are calling for a broader perspective in tackling global crises.

Trump Tells Putin: Don’t Meddle in U.S. Elections (Reuters) President Donald Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday not to meddle in the U.S. elections, appearing to make light of a scandal that had led to a two-year investigation into his campaign’s contact with the Kremlin during the 2016 elections.

US economy grew at solid 3.1% rate in first quarter (AP) The U.S. economy grew at a healthy 3.1% rate in the first three months of this year, but signs are mounting that growth has slowed sharply in the current quarter amid slower global growth and a confidence-shaking trade battle between the United States and China.

Central American Migrants Plead to Seek Asylum in U.S., Not Mexico (Reuters) Several Central American migrants seeking asylum in the United States were allowed to return there on Thursday after being forced to wait in one of Mexico’s most violent cities, supported by faith leaders who oppose the controversial U.S. migration policy.

U.S. Slaps Sanctions on Two Former Venezuelan Officials (Reuters) An ex-Venezuelan electricity minister and another former official at the country’s electricity ministry on Thursday were placed under U.S. sanctions for corruption and charged separately for their respective roles in an alleged bribery scheme, U.S. officials said.

Brazilian Air Force plane busted at G-20 Summit (Bloomberg) Police found 39 kg of cocaine in the luggage of a crew member on a Brazilian Air Force plane taking President Jair Bolsonaro’s advance party to the G-20 summit.

105 degrees in France: the toll of extreme heat (Vox) Oppressively hot weather has broken records across Europe this week as a heat wave bakes the continent. Monthly and all-time temperature records were broken Wednesday in parts of Germany, Poland, France, Spain, and the Czech Republic. Clermont-Ferrand, France reported a record high of 105.6 degrees Fahrenheit. And forecasters expect parts of France could see temperatures rise to 110 degrees Fahrenheit by Friday. This week’s sweltering weather is concerning because there are several key factors that make people in Europe vulnerable to extreme heat. These factors converged to a devastating effect in the summer of 2003, when a heat wave baked the continent with temperatures 13 degrees above the average normal for the region. The heat killed at least 30,000 people and caused 13 billion euros in financial damages. Some estimates put the death toll as high as 70,000. At the time, it was the hottest summer for Europe since the 16th century.

Albania President, Prime Minister in Conflict Over Elections (AP) Albania’s political conflict took another twist Thursday as the president announced what he said was a new date for municipal elections while the prime minister and his governing Socialists insisted the votes would go ahead as scheduled this weekend.

Attacks on Turkish Observation Post in Syria’s Idlib Kill Soldier: Ministry (Reuters) One Turkish soldier was killed and three others were wounded on Thursday when their observation post in Syria’s Idlib region was attacked by shelling and mortar fire, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.

Iraqi General, U.S. Marine Dispute Murder Charge Against Navy SEAL (Reuters) An Iraqi general and a U.S. Marine testifying in the murder trial of a U.S. Navy SEAL said on Thursday they never saw the platoon leader stab a wounded detainee in the neck, disputing the central allegation in the prosecution’s war crimes case.

‘We only want to sell our oil,’ Iran official says (Reuters) Iran’s main demand in talks aimed at saving its nuclear deal is to be able to sell its oil at the same levels that it did before Washington withdrew from the accord a year ago, an Iranian official said on Thursday.

Protesters Storm Bahraini Embassy in Iraqi Capital Baghdad (AP) Protesters stormed the Bahraini embassy compound in Baghdad Thursday night, removing the flag from above the building and replacing it with a Palestinian banner in protest against a conference held in the gulf nation to promote peace between Arabs and Israelis.

Malaysia Plans to Decriminalize Drug Use to Battle Addiction (AP) Malaysia’s government plans to drop criminal penalties for the possession and use of drugs in small quantities to battle addiction, but stressed the move is not akin to legalizing narcotics.

UN Puts Brakes on Peacekeepers’ Pullout From Sudan’s Darfur (AP) The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Thursday to put the brakes on the withdrawal of the joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Sudan’s vast western Darfur region as the country deals with a political crisis.

One dead, several wounded in two suicide bomb attacks in Tunisian capital (Reuters) Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in separate attacks on police in the Tunisian capital on Thursday, killing one police officer and wounding several other people, the government said. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the explosions.

Nearly 250 Arrested in Ethiopia After Foiled Coup (Reuters) Nearly 250 people have been arrested in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa and the city of Bahir Dar since a coup attempt was foiled, the state-run Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Thursday.

#headlines

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