For the more sophisticated in the Inkstain audience (either scientifically or geographically), I usually try to translate units from those we use here in America to their metric equivalents. But I realized I had no idea what the standard metric equivalent was for our quaint river flow metric – cubic feet per second. Malcolm to …
Roger Pielke Sr. and I have been having a polite disagreement today over at his blog on how to think about Richard Seager’s paper last month in Science on the risk of future drought in the southwest. Roger argues Seager’s work is contradicted by a 1997 paper by Trenberth and Hoar arguing for stronger El …
Rio Grande, May 19, 2007 Originally uploaded by heinemanfleck. I’ve been otherwise occupied over the last week, so I haven’t been paying my usual attention to the river. But when I went out yesterday for a bike ride, it was wonderfully high – 3,700 cubic feet per second through Albuquerque, which I think is the …
That Handsome Devil Originally uploaded by heinemanfleck. One of the cultural advantages of all the concrete we use to channelize our storm runoff is the essentially unlimited canvas it offers.
This must seem silly to folks who don’t have access to potable water at all, but those folks probably aren’t reading my blog. Here in the first world, we care about how our water tastes, and the folks in San Diego, California, are trying to figure out how to best market desalinated seawater, so they …
On the latest La Nina forecast, out today, along with the New Mexico streamflow forecast that came out yesterday: The Climate Prediction Center’s monthly El Nino – La Nina update is out today with an increasingly solid forecast of a La Nina (meaning dry here) winter of 2007-08: [A]tmospheric and oceanic conditions continue to indicate …
Government officials in South Carolina are on drought alert: The Drought Response Committee put the entire state in an incipient drought Tuesday, which is the first of four stages of drought. The declaration warns water system managers to closely monitor their reservoirs. The Department of Natural Resources also will begin to more carefully monitor conditions …
reading: Everett Rogers’ History of Communication Study, suggested by a friend after I bemoaned the fact that, despite being a communications professional, I’m woefully ignorant about communication blogs: Nature’s new Climate Feedback blog looks promising, but I’m curious about something. The comments look suspiciously like a lot of the same people who show up at …
Stuff I wrote elsewhere: Describing current New Mexico drought conditions is a bit of a puzzle. Out in my Albuquerque garden this morning, I was pulling weeds easily out of damp soil, and the plants, with no supplemental water, are going bonkers. Yet I’ve been writing stories about surface water supply problems. What gives?
Here in the arid west, one of the real pressing questions is the effect of reclaimed water on fairways and especially putting greens: Although deficit irrigating can be practiced for short periods, adequate LFs are essential for the long-term success of golf courses irrigated with reuse water. Good to know.