Due to the current economic situation, IEDRO cannot expect one of our main supporters - the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - to continue supporting our critical efforts at the same level as in the past. We must seek operating funds from other sources.
All of us are in this same fragile economic boat. We cannot expect our generous private donors to increase their contributions.
However, there is something everyone can do at no additional expense. IEDRO has established an AMAZON store. When you order through our IEDRO Amazon Store, you get the same great products, the same guarantees, the same prices. The only difference is that IEDRO receives 6% of the purchase price directly from Amazon. If only 10% of the visitors to our IEDRO website order $10 worth of items from our Amazon Store, that would bring IEDRO enough funds to establish a completely new data rescue site in a developing country.
So, before you look online for that special gift for a loved one or a product that will make your life a bit easier, please shop for it through our IEDRO Amazon web store. Help IEDRO to make the lives of all of us, a bit easier and safer.
Thank you!
Rick
Dr. Richard Crouthamel, D.Sc.
Executive Director
International Environmental Data Rescue Organization (IEDRO)
By Ran Meng
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Small island developing states (SIDS) which comprise Barbados, Dominica and Trinidad and Tobago, among others, are the most at risk to some of the adverse effects of climate change. Climate change may damage the coral reef ecosystem and reduce mangrove coverage. It also causes erosion of the coastal shoreline, threatening SIDS with complete loss of beaches or inundation.
Paleoclimatogy strives to piece together climate information from the past. Coral reefs not only support SIDS financially by attracting tourists, but help protect their shorelines as well. In addition, they are valuable paleoclimate indicators. For millions of years, coral reefs have been in the oceans experiencing changes in climate. Like tree rings, coral reef indicators are considered what is called "proxy data" because they provide a preserved historical reference of the past. Examining corals allows scientists to study climate conditions from hundreds or thousands of years ago. They then can see trends and help us understand the reasons for and effects of changes in climate.
A diamond-tipped drill is used to extract the core from corals for scientific study. Corals extract calcium carbonate from ocean waters to form skeletons. When the temperature of the ocean changes, the calcium carbonate densities in the skeletons also change. This difference in densities causes seasonal growth rings which scientists study to determine climate conditions during the periods of growth. Using these growth bands, for example, scientists can date the coral to a specific year.
Mangroves are various kinds of medium-height trees and shrubs that grow in salty coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics. Mangroves provide an important ecosystem that help to protect the integrity of SIDS. They prevent sea water from encroaching in low-lying areas into the lower course of river systems. Additionally, they support neighboring ecosystems such as coral reefs and sea grasses.
Major factors affecting mangroves are rising sea level, increased air and sea surface temperatures, precipitation fluctuations and changes in storminess. How all these affect mangrove growth is not well understood. Based on paleoenvironmental data of decades or longer, mangrove response to past sea level fluctuations can help scientists predict mangrove response to future sea level fluctuations.
Sea level changes have been traditionally estimated from tide gauge measurements. Tide gauges are usually positioned on piers and measure the sea level relative to a nearby benchmark, but can be inaccurate because of volcanic or earthquake activity or changes in glaciers.
The problem with collecting this type of data is that a minimum of 20 years of local tide gauge records is necessary to obtain an accurate trend in relative sea level. For sites that have local tide gauge records of less than 20 years, sea level trends can be calculated using TOPEX/Poseidon satellite altimetry data combined with historical global tide gauge records.
The measurement of radioisotope activity in shallow sediment cores is one method to study the change in elevation of the mangrove surface over recent decades, which gives an indication of how sea levels have been changing relative to the mangrove surface. Although American Samoa and the Federated States of Micronesia have some information on mangrove sedimentation rates from radioisotope activity profiles, there is a lack of greatly needed data on how the sea level is changing relative to mangrove surfaces.
Analysis of historical remotely sensed imagery, such as aerial photographs and satellite imagery, that show mangrove seaward margins can be used to observe trends of mangrove movement, known as margins (erosion or seaward progression). From this, scientists can determine whether the movement can be correlated with an observed trend in sea level and therefore predict future mangrove movement. The availability of historical shoreline imagery is crucial for observations of shoreline movement to predict mangrove margins; the longer the time period covered by available imagery, the more accurate observations can be made.
Mangroves and coral reefs are not only vital ecosystems that nurse rare species, but are instrumental in protecting and sustaining the integrity of SIDS. Important data collected from coral reefs and the monitoring of mangrove movement help scientists to derive important trends in climate change which allows for a deeper understanding of climate and its global impact.
References
Unit 1 Lesson 4: Coral Reefs as Indicators of Paleoclimate. Project
Oceanography: 2000, www.marine.usf.edu
Tide Gauge Sea Level. CU Level Research Group: University of Colorado: May 17, 2010,
www.sealevel.colorado.edu
Ed: B.M. John, A. Bellot, ECU. Mr. and Mrs. Martin Parry. Initial
National Communication of the Commonwealth of Dominica Under the
United Nations Framework: November, 2001,
www.unfccc.int
Gilman, E., H. Van Lavieren, J. Ellison, V. Jungblut, L. Wilson, F.
Areki, G. Brighouse, J. Bungitak, E. Dus, M. Henry, I. Sauni Jr., M.
Kilman, E. Matthews, N. Teariki-Ruatu, S. Tukia, K. Yuknavage. 2006.
Pacific Island Mangroves in a Changing Climate and Rising Sea. UNEP
Regional Seas Reports and Studies No. 179. United Nations Environment
Programme, Regional Seas Programme, Nairobi, KENYA.
www.unep.org
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The Atmospheric Circulation Reconstructions over the Earth (ACRE) initiative provides a global estimate of weather patterns going back over 200 years. ACRE links projects to recover historical weather observations ranging from ship logs, to global efforts in weather and climate reconstruction. The reconstructions use the latest technology and every source of historical data available. These reconstructions are highly relevant for the assessment of extreme weather.
ACRE is led by five core partners: the Queensland State Government in Australia, the Meteorology Office Hadley Centre in the United Kingdom, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Earth System Research Laboratory and Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado in the United States, and the Universities of Giessen in Germany and Bern in Switzerland. This core team provides an umbrella that links more than 35 projects, institutions and organizations around the globe. In 2010, ACRE and its activities were ratified by the World Meteorological Organization Commission for Climatology, extolled in a letter of recognition from the Global Observing Systems Information Centre Secretariat, and endorsed by the Joint WMO-IOC Technical Commission on Oceanography and Marine Meteorology Expert Team on Marine Climatology and by the World Climate Research Programme.
For most users of long-term climate reconstructions, raw observations are cumbersome. Significant value may be added to raw observations by assimilating them into a global, gridded, dynamic reconstruction of a weather condition. Contemporary international reconstructions, or "reanalysis" of global weather, only extend as far back as 1948. A historically longer database is desirable to provide a larger sample of weather and climate over time necessary to explore the extremes of weather and patterns of climate change. The historical land- and ocean-based weather observations recovered by ACRE have already provided a mass of new global data for the last 140 years.
Projects and studies that are known to be using the ACRE facilitated data and reanalysis for weather and climate applications are:
- Extremes, climate modes and reanalysis-based approaches to agricultural resilience
- Variability of large-scale atmospheric circulation indices and storminess for the Northern Hemisphere
- Investigation of key climate drivers of rainfall variability plus tracks and intensities of tropical and extra-tropical cyclones.
More information about ACRE can be found at www.met-acre.org
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The 2011 Community Meeting of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) was held in Boulder, CO at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research on August 8-12. About 200 AMS members, from across the public, private and academic sectors, attended.
The overarching theme of "Building a Stronger Weather and Climate Enterprise - Keeping the Economy Moving" was punctuated by the recent debt ceiling legislation. The first day of the meeting was dedicated to educating the attending leaders about the likely effects of the 2012 budget on various sectors of the weather enterprise. The speaker pointed out that the upcoming budget is the smallest since Dwight Eisenhower was president. Thehe science community should feel fortunate to have only a relatively small decrease in its government funding. Ultimately though, the final outcomes depend on the actions of the budget committee that must cut $1.2 billion in November and another $900 million in January.
There has been an increased demand for weather and climate decision support services. Some recognize that impact-based forecasting is necessary. The weather enterprise as a whole, as represented at the AMS Community Meeting, believes that the more observations and data accumulated, the better mankind will be prepared to withstand or prevent multibillion-dollar weather disasters. They urge for National Network of Networks, a newer technology, and the replacement of aging satellites.
Leaders like John Snow have agreed there is a need for data and social science research but it should be packaged into usable information. "Research goes often where data is available and more data is needed…but it's not the data itself that is important, it is a means to an end. The data we have now is overwhelming. We need information." Arguments like this are important when discussing the IEDRO mission. IEDRO collects decades' worth of weather observations and makes these data available to scientists worldwide.
Two IEDRO staff persons attended the 4th Annual ACRE Workshop, held in conjunction with the EC FP7 EURO4M and ERA-CLIM plus AHRC Historic Weather in Amsterdam which occurred September 21-23rd.
Tom Ross, liaison for the National Climatic Data Center, discussed IEDROs efforts and plans for growth and Penny Paugh, Manager of Public Relations shared ways to raise funds. Networking sessions were offered every day of the conference that was highly beneficial to all data rescue attendees. There is a growing force to pull together data rescue effort worldwide. IEDRO is proud to be playing a leadership role.
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By Teddy Allen
Together, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico are collectively known as the Intra-American Sea (IAS). While these bodies of water may share a common title, there is much spatial variation between the IAS regions. Within the Caribbean Sea we find the windward (eastern) and leeward (western) island chains and within each region there is also much environmental variability.
One particular case of environmental variability is rainfall. While in general the entire IAS basin experiences a type of bimodal rainfall pattern (2 spikes) with peaks in the late spring and late summer. A mid-summer rainfall depression (MSD) in the middle of the wet season is also characteristic of this area. However, the MSD varies across the IAS in terms of onset (occurring earlier / later in the summer) and also in terms of magnitude (the actual difference between the MSD and its neighboring late spring and late summer rainfall peaks).
One interesting application of the MSD is to understand if and how this rainy mid-summer season dip affects farmers within the IAS. After analyzing various atmospheric datasets that show regional rainfall variation, I hypothesized that the MSD has a weaker agricultural effect in the windward isles versus the leeward chain. This was concluded from the higher total rainfall that the windward side receives relative to the western portions of the Caribbean Sea. In addition, trends from remotely sensed vegetation data from the NASA MODIS satellite helped to support this hypothesis as well.
Overall, I suspected that the MSD has a noticeably weaker influence upon the economic livelihoods of small island eastern Caribbean food producers than western Caribbean farmers. The verification of this hypothesis ultimately allows for a more focused mid-summer rainfall early warning system. Rather than making broad scale IAS rainfall forecasts, forecasters can then produce regional farming specific MSD forecasts for areas only where the MSD has an agricultural impact.
To test this hypothesis I spent three weeks last August on a whirlwind tour of three windward island nations: Trinidad, Barbados, and Dominica. My purpose was to conduct comprehensive interviews with local food producing farmers on each island to determine their perceptions of rainfall variability and overall climate change. The ultimate goal was to assess whether or not the MSD was an obstacle to their agricultural output. I aimed to compare these responses from a previous research trip in Jamaica (leeward island) where we discovered that the MSD is a major growing season challenge. In Jamaica, knowledge of the MSD can allow for various protective measures in terms of irrigation and special types of planting.
Overall, I found that in these islands the MSD is largely a signature of the climate data and is not perceived by farmers to be a threat to their crops. This is largely due to the higher rainfall totals that the windward side experiences relative to the leeward side. In addition, the magnitude, or the mid-summer rainfall dip, is much less compared to the leeward islands. Together, these factors offset any hydrologic change that the MSD can induce upon crop success in the mid-summer months. However, there are periods of variability and low total rainfall from various years that do have an impact on crop success.
I was able to examine rainfall records within these islands thanks to the fact that they had a freely available historical rainfall time series record. In Dominica, the data exists, but needs to be requested. Usually requests are granted free of charge for those intending to use the data for research related purposes, such was my case (Thank you Dominica National Weather Service!). I know that in some nations this type of data exists, but is available only for a fee. In my case, the access of freely available historical data had an enormously positive impact on my research, which is intended to support agricultural related rainfall forecast systems.
Throughout my trip I was overwhelmed by the warmth and support of all of the farmers that I interacted with. As a whole, they are unaccustomed to researchers visiting their farms and asking them questions. It was apparent that they were eager to share their stories and to describe changes in both farming and climate. Climate exerts a minor influence for crop success within these islands because of the abundance of rainfall and sunshine. But, the majority of farmers agreed that climate change is responsible for an increase in temperature. This has an impact on their farming as it stresses the crops and also limits actual labor time in the farms due to the heat. The greatest stress for the farmers across this region was due to limited government support and difficulty with market access. This seems to be the trend for many nations that depend on farming for local provisions. In some cases this difficulty has forced farmers to pursue alternative employment, which can leave local food production vulnerable to deficient supplies for a growing population.
Human dimension applications in climate research are a vital link between science and users. It is very important for scientists to be knowledgeable and familiar with the needs and perceptions of those that feature in their research. Thus, when in doubt, pack up and meet those involved. They may confirm or reject suspicions and may deliver a surprise about what else fits in the equation. Keep in mind though that, "People don't care about how much you know until they know how much you care."
By Penny Paugh
Trinidad and Tobago are part of a cluster of islands in the southern Caribbean between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Venezuela. Barbados lies 250 miles north-east of the two islands.
Because of their size and small island geography, the current rise in global temperature has placed the islands under threat from intense tropical storms that cause flooding, loss of homes and loss of clean water. Between the months of June and December, the islands historically experienced brief, intense showers - inundated by heavy flooding repeatedly over the past two decades.
These storms have immobilized commuters, compromised infrastructure and wreaked havoc on the public transportation system. Forests, which have the ability to prevent soil erosion and act as barriers to storms, have been raised to build exclusive residential communities. The mix of flooding with residential building has resulted in mudslides.
From January to May, drought plagues the central interior of each island. January 2010 was intensely dry and February was even drier as rainfall fell short by 95%. Conditions for bush fires were ripe — with the number more than doubled of the previous year. By the middle of March 2010, the islands had had no rainfall in 31 days; it was then that the meteorological office confirmed that the country was experiencing a meteorological drought.
Climate change also threatens to bring more insect-borne diseases. Flooding leaves stagnant bodies of water that provide a breeding environment for mosquitoes. Similar to Malawi, a year-on-year increase in temperatures will lead to increased domestic water shortage. Residents will use stagnant, polluted water over having no water at all. Such conditions will provide ideal conditions for the spread of Dengue Fever, malaria and similar diseases.
Last, but not least, with the melting of Greenland and the Arctic, the islands can expect a dramatic rise in sea level. Besides flooding of the coastline, the islands can expect storm damage, salt water contamination of fresh water supplies, flooding of coastal wetlands and barrier islands, as well as an increase in the salinity of estuaries.
To understand and accurately predict climate changes, it is critical that weather data spanning hundreds of years be collected. In addition to climate change, digitized historic weather observations can enable countries to:
- Improve community planning; change requirements for constructing and reinforcing buildings, bridges and public services to withstand predicted severe weather.
- Educate farmers concerning the real frequency of drought; and educate them to plant more appropriate crops and how much to save for the famine years to avoid starvation.
- Enable public health officials to forecast the direction and speed of insect-borne disease outbreaks, enabling them to take preventive measures and save thousands of lives.
- Provide flood prediction models with historic precipitation and runoff relationships, dramatically improving flood and mudslide warning accuracies.
References
Sea Level Rise, Greenpeace International, www.greenpeace.org
Chaguanis, Trinidad and Tabagos, Greenhouse Challenge, www.greenhousechallenge.org
Baffin, Barbados Face Similar Climate Threats: Inuit Leaders Seek Common Front against Warming, Nunatsiaq Online, February 1, 2011, www.nunatsiagonline.ca
Geography of Trinidad and Tabagos, Wikepaedia, en.wikipedia.org
Kimberly Castillo, More Rainfall This Dry Season: 2011 Forecast, Trinidad Express Newspapers, February 6, 2011, www.trinidadexpress.com
Trinidad and Tabagos Newsday, Rainy Season Almost Here, May 16 2011, www.newsday.co.tt
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Give the planet a present while you shop at our three Amazon pages. Each page allows you to do your shopping at no extra cost to you while IEDRO receives a percentage of what you buy.
IEDRO Designs: proudly wear our exclusive IEDRO apparel and spread our mission to others!
Fair Trade Shop: spice up your home or life with handmade accessories like African masks and jewelry from developing countries from around the world.
IEDRO Amazon Shop: do all your Amazon.com shopping at our store!
SENAMHI (Bolivian National Meteorological Service) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with IEDRO for the beginning of a Data Rescue and Digitization (DR&D) project. Last year, Dr. Sharon LeDuc, IEDRO's chief scientist and former deputy director of NOAA's NCDC visited SENAMHI and provided them with a PowerPoint presentation on the DR&D project. IEDRO plans to send a technical team to Bolivia immediately to start work on the project.
The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) announced the new affiliations of Drs. Joe Friday and Sharon LeDuc with IEDRO in the July issue; see pages 925 - 926.
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Managing Editors
Pennell Paugh
Ran Meng
Scientific Reviewer..................Ned Guttman
Web Design Manager..............Silvana Gabriell
Lu Valmidiano
Writers/Editors
Teddy Allen
Pennell Paugh
Ran Meng
Toni Rosati
Photographs/Graphics...................Ran Meng
Translators Coordinator ...............Dario Di Franco
Spanish Coordinator .....................Dario Di Franco
Fatima Da Silva
Portuguese Coordinator..................Talita Pinheiro
Mandarin Simplified
Gang Fu
Lu Valmidiano
Lucy Xie
Xun He
French Coordinator...............Mark Roberts
Virginie Noel-Silva
Magali Cicujano
Marielle Guirlet
Christine Casbar
Barbara Joly
Italian
Elisa Vitale
Elisa De Boni
Wojciech Malinowski
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