Jolie Rouge

Hurricane Dolly may have shrunk Gulf 'dead zone'
By JANET McCONNAUGHEY, Associated Press Writer
Mon Jul 28, 7:57 PM ET

NEW ORLEANS - The oxygen-starved "dead zone" that forms every summer in the Gulf of Mexico is a bit smaller than predicted this year because Hurricane Dolly stirred up the water, a scientist reported Monday.

There is too little oxygen to support sea life for about 8,000 square miles — just under the record of 8,006 square miles recorded in 2001, said Nancy Rabalais, head of the head of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. "If it were not for Hurricane Dolly, the size of the Dead Zone would have been substantially larger," she said in a news release sent from the consortium's research vessel, the Pelican, as she returned from her annual mapping cruise. Rabalais measures the area during the same period each year.

Scientists had predicted that flood runoff would bring so much fertilizer and other nutrients into the Gulf that the area of low oxygen would be a record 8,300 to 8,800 square miles. Those nutrients feed microscopic plants at the surface, which die and fall to the bottom. Their decomposition uses up the salty layer's oxygen.

Additionally, the fresh water from the Mississippi River and salt water in the gulf don't mix well and form layers, keeping oxygen from filtering through to the sea bottom. The oxygen-depleted, or hypoxic, waters can be deadly to fish, shrimp, crabs and clams.

The Mississippi River's nitrogen levels in May were 37 percent higher than last year and the highest since measurements began in 1970, Rabalais said.

Based on that, R. Eugene Turner of Louisiana State University predicted the oxygen-starved area would cover 8,800 square miles, and Donald Scavia of the University of Michigan estimated it would be 8,300 to 8,700 square miles.

But Dolly's winds and waves mixed up the layers of water, stirring in oxygen, especially along the western and shoreward areas, Rabalais said.

Another load of nutrients may be headed toward the dead zone as runoff from the mid-June floods in Iowa reach the Gulf of Mexico, said Steven F. DiMarco, an associate professor in the oceanography department at Texas A&M who also studies the dead zone. "I expect that pulse to be making its way out in a few weeks. It could extend this year's hypoxic zone or dead zone further into the summer — maybe even in September," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080728/...P4yQVxaFxH2ocA


On the Net:

LUMCON hypoxia information: http://www.gulfhypoxia.net/

Rabalais maps: http://www.gulfhypoxia.net/research/...ecruises/2008/

and http://www.gulfhypoxia.net/research/.../2008/gmap.asp

NOAA map (scroll down): http://ecowatch.ncddc.noaa.gov/hypoxia

__________________
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

Jolie Rouge

Future Fury: Hurricane Effects Will Only Get Worse
Andrea Thompson Senior Writer LiveScience.com
Fri Sep 19, 7:02 AM ET

The Caribbean and Gulf Coast have seen a spate of devastating hurricanes in recent years that have cost billions of dollars and thousands of lives. As residents recover from the latest hits, they may wonder about the potential for future Gustavs and Ritas; Ikes and Katrinas.

Hurricanes, of course, are nothing new to the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, where tropical storms form between June and November each year. But many factors, both natural and man-made, can affect the number, strength, size and impact of the storms that form each season. For example, the recent surge in storms followed an almost two-decade lull that was part of a natural cycle in hurricane formation.

During that lull, new coastal residents built homes in what they thought was a paradise. But now they've found out just how susceptible they are to nature's wrath. And it looks like the situation might only get worse.

Coastal build-up

In 2003, more than half the U.S. population (or about 153 million people) lived along the Gulf and Southeastern U.S. coastline - an increase of 33 million people from 1980 - and that number is just expected to keep rising.

The buildup of these communities in recent decades and the environmental damage that development has caused exacerbate the impact of hurricanes. "There's been an explosion of population along our coast," said Amanda Staudt, a climate scientist with the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). "That's just putting a lot more people in harm's way."

This is particularly true in Florida, Texas and North Carolina, where populations are increasing the fastest. Hurricanes are especially a threat for homes right on the beach or on barrier islands, such as Galveston, because they receive the full brunt of a hurricane's storm surge.

Coastal features such as barrier islands and wetlands act as natural protection against a hurricane's storm surge, slowing it down and absorbing some of the impact. Studies have shown that every mile of wetlands reduces storm surge by about 3 to 9 inches and every acre reduces the cost of damages from a storm by $3,300, Staudt said. "Our wetlands and barrier islands ... are our first line of defense," she said.

But the development boom in coastal areas has damaged these natural defenses, putting coastal residents even more at risk. "The more we develop, the more we lose," Staudt told LiveScience.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that since the 1700s, the lower 48 states have lost more than half of their wetlands. While not all of that acreage loss is right along the coast, and some is likely a result of natural changes along the shoreline, a good chunk is due to development.

For instance, some of the Katrina damage to New Orleans was partly a result of the damage to the protective wetlands along Louisiana's coast. Development and subsidence, or outright sinking, of the state's coastline today mean that Louisiana loses an area of wetlands equivalent to the size of 32 football fields every day, according to the NWF.

Many hurricane experts have warned for years against destructive coastal development and imprudent policies that encourage people to build in coastal areas, but that often doesn't stop the building.

Warmer seas

Meanwhile, the oceans are growing warmer. Global ocean temperatures have risen by about 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit (0.1 degrees Celsius) in the last 30 years. And hurricanes are fueled by the warm, moist air over the tropical Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. The warmer the ocean surface, the more energy is available to fuel a storm's ferocious winds.

Scientists have predicted that as global warming continues to heat up the ocean, hurricanes could become more frequent, more intense or both, and several scientists think that change is already evident.

As sea surface temperatures rise, they provide more fuel to the convection that drives the swirling storms. This added energy could notch up the speed of hurricanes' winds (though several scientists say the winds can only increase so much). One recent study suggested that the strongest hurricanes in particular would get a bump from warming waters.

The rainfall brought by hurricanes could also increase because as the Earth's atmosphere also warms, it can hold more moisture. Studies have shown that one of the most damaging parts of a storm can actually be the rain it dumps on inland areas. Rising sea levels could increase the damage wrought to coastal areas by a hurricane's storm surge.

Warmer water, and more of it, could also mean more opportunities for storms to form. Another recent study suggested that global warming could extend the hurricane season; as the warm water areas in the Atlantic expand, there could be more opportunities for storm formation, particularly early in the season.

Natural cycles

Of course, the changes man has made to coastlines and the climate system aren't the only thing affecting the intensity of any particular hurricane season. Mother Nature provides plenty of variation as well.

Natural fluctuations in the climate that occur over a matter of years, such as El Nino and its sister La Nina, can also affect how busy the Atlantic hurricane season is.

El Nino events, which occur when tropical Pacific waters become warmer, can change the flow of prevailing air currents and stifle hurricane development in the Atlantic. Forecasters think that an El Nino event was the reason for the calm 2006 hurricane season, which came after two of the busiest years for hurricanes on record. La Ninas (when tropical Pacific water become cooler) typically mean more hurricanes.

Another natural cycle, called the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, can affect hurricane frequency over several decades through changes in sea surface temperatures, and is thought to be linked to the relative lull in hurricanes during the 1970s and 80s.

While natural cycles can affect hurricane activity from year-to-year or even decade-to-decade, most climate scientists think that global warming will continue to fuel these storms, and accompanied by the increasing coastal population and environmental degradation, lead to the "increasing destructive power of storms," Staudt said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/...oPTbxggvWs0NUE

__________________
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

Jolie Rouge

Lessons from disasters like Ike
By the Monitor's Editorial Board
Fri Sep 19, 5:00 AM ET

Nearly a week after Galveston Island took a severe beating from hurricane Ike, a Kroger grocery store has finally opened for business, grilling up fajitas for its employees. With the Texas island still not ready to take back evacuees, the open store is at least one encouraging sign of normalcy.

For that is the aim of rescue and relief workers, government officials, neighbors, and perfect strangers who all assist in the aftermath of any disaster – to help residents return to as normal a life as possible.

But normalcy has its downside in America's hazard-prone areas. If it means rebuilding exactly as everything was before the hurricane, fire, or earthquake, then business-as-usual is itself hazardous. The country has learned to do some key things differently in the wake of several years of weather whammies. One of them is to adopt stricter building codes that save lives and money.

New building and landscaping standards spared five communities from San Diego's fierce fires last year. In 1992, when the worst mainland hurricane in US history slammed into Florida, 27 Miami-area houses built to hurricane-resistant standards suffered no structural damage, while other homes nearby were flattened.

Florida now has the most stringent hurricane building codes in the country. After Katrina and Rita in 2005, Gulf states caught on, with Louisiana, for instance, passing a statewide code. Structures along the Mississippi coast are being rebuilt on stilts.

Good job, except for this huge oversight. The rebuilding, with few exceptions, is taking place in the same spots that were wiped out. As naturally as snow falls, people want to build in warm places with beautiful beach vistas – no matter that they're on a vulnerable barrier island such as Galveston.

One thing that would discourage the pounding of pylons in obvious danger zones is market-priced property insurance. It's telling that private insurers have for the most part pulled out of the Gulf coastal areas. As of Nov. 30, State Farm won't renew even existing policies for customers within 1,000 feet of the shoreline.

Customers have therefore swarmed to subsidized state insurance programs, and, of course, should these fail, there is always the National Flood Insurance Program. Or not. Congress is wrangling over renewal of the program, which expires Sept. 30. Sadly, both House and Senate bills perpetuate low-cost insurance that only encourages more building in dangerous zones.

In the absence of correcting market forces, populations along the coastal counties of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts have popped up like beach umbrellas. In 1980, about 67 million people lived in these counties, according to the US Census Bureau. In 2006, just over 88 million. And little has discouraged developers – at least before the housing bust – from marching up the tinder-dry hills of California.

State and local governments should either wean themselves from taxpayer-subsidized, low-cost insurance – or block off the most vulnerable areas. It is possible. After the 1977 Red River flood, Grand Forks, in North Dakota, marked off a "no build" zone near the river. Two decades ago, South Carolina began a gradual retreat from the sea – redrawing its baseline at the shore every 10 years.

Now in Texas, the land commissioner, Jerry Patterson, is proposing that new coastal construction be set back at 60 times the erosion rate – for example, 60 feet for every foot of erosion. Before Ike, he was blasted by local officials who said the restrictions would erode development and resulting tax revenue.

With so much washed out to sea or piled up as debris, Galveston – and other communities – should be welcoming Mr. Patterson's proposal. To prepare for disasters, America should not just batten down, but step back.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080919...HSz69i43is0NUE

Sounds good except for ....

__________________
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

Jolie Rouge

excellent resource :
http://www.coastalamerica.gov/text/p...fragfringe.pdf

__________________
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?