In science news this week: Cloud seeding for snow: Does it work? Scientists report first quantifiable observations; Predicting snowpack even before the snow falls; Dust on snow controls springtime river rise on the Colorado River; Restoration for recharge: Reconnecting surface and groundwater; Modifications enhance fish passage on San Francisquito Creek; Climate change and snowmelt – turn up the heat but what about the humidity?; Drier and wetter: The future of precipitation variability; and more …
Cloud seeding for snow: Does it work? Scientists report first quantifiable observations: “For the first time, scientists have obtained direct, quantifiable observations of cloud seeding for increased snowfall — from the growth of ice crystals, through the processes that occur in clouds, to the eventual snowfall. The National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported project, dubbed SNOWIE (Seeded and Natural Orographic Wintertime Clouds — the Idaho Experiment), took place from Jan. 7 to March 17, 2017, in and near Idaho’s Payette Basin, located approximately 50 miles north of Boise. … ” Read more from Science Daily here: Cloud seeding for snow: Does it work? Scientists report first quantifiable observations
Predicting snowpack even before the snow falls: “As farmers in the American West decide what, when and where to plant, and urban water managers plan for water needs in the next year, they want to know how much water their community will get from melting snow in the mountains. This melting snow comes from snowpack, the high elevation reservoir of snow which melts in the spring and summer. Agriculture depends on snowpack for a majority of its water. Meltwater also contributes to municipal water supply; feeds rivers and streams, boosting fisheries and tourism; and conditions the landscape, helping lessen the effects of drought and wildfires. ... ” Read more from Science Daily here: Predicting snowpack even before the snow falls
Dust on snow controls springtime river rise on the Colorado River: “A new study has found that dust, not spring warmth, controls the pace of spring snowmelt that feeds the headwaters of the Colorado River. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the amount of dust on the mountain snowpack controls how fast the Colorado Basin’s rivers rise in the spring regardless of air temperature, with more dust correlated with faster spring runoff and higher peak flows. The finding is valuable for western water managers and advances our understanding of how freshwater resources, in the form of snow and ice, will respond to warming temperatures in the future. … ” Read more from NASA here: Dust on snow controls springtime river rise on the Colorado River
Restoration for recharge: Reconnecting surface and groundwater: “Overdrawing groundwater can not only cause the ground to sink, it can also lead to a river or lake disappearing. In most rivers and lakes, the water surface you see above ground is the same elevation as the water below ground, and any changes to the groundwater level will affect the water at the surface. Surface water helps maintain the groundwater supply when it can slow down enough to seep into the water table. For rivers, this can happen on floodplains and in pools, or when water is forced around and under objects like logjams and boulders. However, if the groundwater level begins to drop, it can affect the flow of water above ground – if it drops too far, streams can stop flowing. This is especially common on streams that have become disconnected from their floodplains or streams that have been artificially “cleaned” of logjams and boulders, a historical land-use practice. However, stream restoration can help address this problem, illustrated by an example on Baker Creek in the Mattole River watershed of northern California. ... ” Read more from the FishBio blog here: Restoration for recharge: Reconnecting surface and groundwater
Modifications enhance fish passage on San Francisquito Creek: “Fish passage in nearby San Francisquito Creek has been enhanced, thanks to modifications Stanford made to a concrete roadway creek crossing in the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve. The roadway is used by maintenance and emergency vehicles when officials need to access areas of the preserve, according to Tom Zigterman, director of water resources and civil infrastructure. Stanford’s Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve is a 1,193-acre natural laboratory located in the eastern foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. … ” Read more from Phys Org here: Modifications enhance fish passage on San Francisquito Creek
Climate change and snowmelt – turn up the heat but what about the humidity? “It’s said on sticky summer days: “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.” That holds true in the winter too, and could hold the key to the future of snowpack and water resources in the American West. In a new study published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of Utah professor Paul Brooks and University of Nevada Reno professor Adrian Harpold show that changes in humidity may determine how the contribution of snowpack to streams, lakes and groundwater changes as the climate warms. Surprisingly, cloudy, gray and humid winter days can actually cause the snowpack to warm faster, increasing the likelihood of melt during winter months when the snowpack should be growing, the authors report. In contrast, under clear skies and low humidity the snow can become colder than the air, preserving the snowpack until spring. … ” Read more from the Science Daily here: Climate change and snowmelt – turn up the heat but what about the humidity?
Drier and wetter: The future of precipitation variability: “Precipitation variability — the swing from dry to wet and back again — will continue to increase across the majority of the world’s land area as the climate warms, according to a new study led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The researchers expect precipitation variability to become greater from day to day, year to year, and even decade to decade. The new research, published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, provides results from sophisticated computer simulations that predict that there will be both more droughts and more floods within the same areas as the climate warms. The findings are relevant for water managers who need to make long-range plans. … ” Read more from AtmosNews here: Drier and wetter: The future of precipitation variability
Tracking wastewater’s path to wells, groundwater: “We often “flush it and forget it” when it comes to waste from toilets and sinks. However, it’s important to be able to track this wastewater to ensure it doesn’t end up in unwanted places. A group of Canadian scientists has found an unlikely solution. Tracing where this water ends up is hard to measure: What’s something found in all wastewater that will allow us to account for all of it? The answer, of all things, is artificial sweeteners. These have several advantages over other compounds sometimes used to track wastewater in the environment. “They are very specific to wastewater and have very few other possible sources in the environment,” explains John Spoelstra, a research scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. … ” Read more from Science Daily here: Tracking wastewater’s path to wells, groundwater
Maven’s XKCD Comic Pick of the Week …
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About Science News and Reports: This weekly feature, posted every Thursday, is a collection of the latest scientific research and reports with a focus on relevant issues to the Delta and to California water, although other issues such as climate change are sometimes included. Do you have an item to be included here? Submissions of relevant research and other materials is welcome. Email Maven
