Friday, January 31, 2014

[californiadisasters] If You Like To Eat, You Should Really Be Worried About California's Drought



If You Like To Eat, You Should Really Be Worried About California's Drought


Alissa Scheller | Huffington Post

Posted:  |  Updated: 01/31/14 EST

California had record low rainfall in 2013. It was potentially the driest year in the last 500 years, according to tree rings, and dry weather is expected to last through 2014. The state's $44.7 billion agriculture industry may take a significant hit, and prices for foods that are water-intensive to produce -- such as beef, milk, and tomatoes -- might start reflecting California's water woes.

See full size image here.

Infographic by Alissa Scheller for the Huffington Post.

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/31/california-drought-food-p_n_4704299.html


__._,_.___


Be sure to check out our Links Section at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/links
Please join our Discussion Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters_discussion/ for topical but extended discussions started here or for less topical but nonetheless relevant messages.




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[californiadisasters] California drought prompts first-ever 'zero water allocation'



California drought prompts first-ever 'zero water allocation'

January 31, 2014, 2:04 p.m.

Officials Friday said that for the first time ever, the State Water Project that helps supply a majority of Californians may be unable to make any deliveries except to maintain public health and safety. 

They also said they were cutting releases from large reservoirs in the northern part of the state to preserve supplies in the face of what could be the worst drought in modern California history.

“It’s about holding back water so we’ve got it tomorrow,” said Chuck Bonham, director of the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The zero allocation for the State Water Project is the first in the sprawling system’s 54-year history. It will be reassessed monthly and could be adjusted upward if storms drop snow and rain on the parched state in the next three months.

Most of the contractors that get water from the project have other sources, such as storage and groundwater, and state Department of Water Resources Director Mark Cowin stressed that the delivery cut did not mean faucets would run dry.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the state project’s largest customer, has said it has enough supplies in storage to get the Southland through this year without mandatory rationing.

Cowin said it was necessary to take aggressive action now to ensure water would be available later for people, farms and fish. “This is not a coming crisis. ...This is a current crisis,” he said.

The State Water Resources Control Board announced that it is temporarily dropping requirements for reservoir releases to maintain environmental standards in California’s water hub, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

The board is also telling junior rights holders in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins that they will have to curtail diversions from rivers and streams. Officials said most of the 5,800 junior diverters, who are primarily agricultural, have access to groundwater or other sources.

In another step, the board is limiting pumping from the delta to exports necessary for human health and safety, an action that in effect eliminates irrigation deliveries from the delta to the San Joaquin Valley.

Cowin called the actions “largely unprecedented but also unavoidable.”


Source: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-california-drought-zero-water-allocation-20140131,0,4678128.story


__._,_.___


Be sure to check out our Links Section at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/links
Please join our Discussion Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters_discussion/ for topical but extended discussions started here or for less topical but nonetheless relevant messages.




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[Geology2] Volcanic Lake Database Launches 28 Years After Nyos Disaster



Volcanic Lake Database Launches 28 Years After Nyos Disaster

  • by Daniel Kelly
  • — January 30, 2014
lake_nyos

Cameroon’s Lake Nyos in western Africa. (Credit: Flickr User jbdodane via Creative Commons)

The 1986 carbon dioxide release from Lake Nyos in Cameroon killed 1,700 people by some estimates. Others place the number higher.

The unusual natural disaster was highly publicized, as people around the world struggled to make sense of the lake’s sudden gas release. Government officials in the African nation were stumped. They interviewed witnesses, surveyed the land nearby and even dared to step near the shore of a lake that had just suffocated every living animal within a 15-mile radius.

Cow_killed_by_Lake_Nyos_gasses

Cow killed by Lake Nyos gasses. (Credit: Jack Lockwood, U.S. Geological Survey)

Nyos rests in a crater on the flanks of an inactive volcano. A pocket of magma runs beneath, and its CO2-saturated water comes from the same area underground. Investigators looked at those features, guessing that a small eruption from the dormant volcano could have caused a limnic eruption – a very rare form of overturn that causes a lake to release its dissolved carbon dioxide into the air.

But scientists weren’t sure. Some theorized a landslide or earthquake was involved. Or that cool rainwater falling on one side of the lake caused a turnover. The precise cause of the release is still unknown, but the event laid bare a scientific shortcoming: Lake Nyos and very few volcanic lakes had been studied enough.

This is possibly because much of the world’s population doesn’t live near volcanic lakes – and neither do leading researchers. Much of research funding goes to projects that have clear, quick benefits for those populous societies: clean drinking water, air or soil. And the costly, sometimes dangerous, travel to remote locations near volcanoes is discouraging.

 

Sabalan_Volcanic_lake

Sabalan Volcanic Lake, northwestern Iran. (Credit: Omid Jafarnezhed via Wikimedia Commons)

The International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior (IAVCEI) – an organization that studies everything around volcanoes and the earth’s crust – formed a commission to advance the study of volcanic lakes. It has supported expanded research ever since. Before the Nyos event, there was none.

The IAVCEI publishes results of the commission’s findings in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research – the February 2014 edition features a promising announcement. Almost 30 years after the Nyos disaster, scientists have compiled a database of volcanic lakes.

lake_chadburn_volcanic_lake

Chadburn Lake as seen from a helicopter, Yukon Territory. Volcanic ash gives its water different hues. (Credit: Flickr User grampymoose via Creative Commons)

It’s called VOLADA and it’s the first database of its kind. It covers 474 lakes, a number that was surprisingly high to the scientists, which just goes to show the still-extensive lack of knowledge about these lakes. Authors note in the journal: “Many of the compiled lakes were almost unknown, or at least unstudied to date.” They hope their open-access database, complete with interactive working tools, will reduce that number.

http://www.lakescientist.com/volcanic-lake-database-launch-28-years-after-nyos-disaster/
--


__._,_.___


Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[californiadisasters] 314 years ago Sunday, a megathrust earthquake devastated the region ... ready for another?



314 years ago Sunday, a megathrust earthquake devastated the region … ready for another?

Posted by James Smith on January 29, 2014

Digging into the soil at the Effingham Inlet in British Columbia, Canadian scientists have confirmed that a city-destroying megathrust earthquake in the Northwest is due.

314 years ago Sunday, a megathrust earthquake devastated the region … ready for another?

January 28, 2014 | By Jake Ellison

Never missing the opportunity to scare the living daylights out of us, earthquake experts in Washington remind us that this past Sunday was the 314th anniversary of the last megathrust quake in the  Cascadia Subduction Zone that would have wiped out a big part of Seattle and the infrastructure of the region had we all been there.

And we are due for another one.

So, the Cascadia Region Earthquake Workgroup has updated its scenario document for what that magnitude of quake would do to us now.

big quake zone 600x503 314 years ago Sunday, a megathrust earthquake devastated the region … ready for another?

THE CASCADIA SUBDUCTION ZONE: The geography of northern California, Oregon, Washington, and southern British Columbia is shaped by the Cascadia subduction zone, where the North American Plate collides with a number of smaller plates: the largest of these is the Juan de Fuca Plate, flanked by the Explorer Plate to the north and the Gorda plate to the south. These smaller plates “subduct” (descend) beneath the North American Plate as they converge along a 700-mile long (1,130 km) boundary. A large portion of the boundary between the subducting and overriding plates resists the convergent motion, until this part of the boundary breaks in a great earthquake. Above: Schematic view of the source area for the largest Cascadia earthquakes. (Image adapted from U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1707 (page 8), Atwater et al., http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/pp1707/)

The group said in the news release:

The very advances that are the foundations of our modern communities create vulnerability along with convenience said Michael Kubler, Cascadia Region Earthquake Workgroup (CREW) President. The revised Cascadia scenario is a crucial tool for regional leaders to use in developing policies and plans for the next earthquake. Events over the last few years have expanded our understanding of earthquake science and the hazards faced by our region from a future Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake.

For a bit more background, here’s some of the story we wrote last summer proclaiming … Canadian study confirms megathrust earthquake is due in NW:

Digging into the soil at the Effingham Inlet in British Columbia, Canadian scientists have confirmed that a city-destroying megathrust earthquake in the Northwest is due.

The Cascadia Subduction Zone running the length of the coast from northern Vancouver Island down to California last slipped and shook the surface of the Earth 300 years ago, and that was just the latest of 22 such quakes in the past 11,000 years.

The scientists, whose work is published in the latest Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, used a new aging model for identifying and dating disturbed sedimentary layers in a core raised from the inlet.

The disturbances appear to have been caused by large and megathrust earthquakes that have occurred over the past 11,000 years, According to a science news site run by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

http://www.prepperpodcast.com/314-years-ago-sunday-a-megathrust-earthquake-devastated-the-region-ready-for-another/
--


__._,_.___


Be sure to check out our Links Section at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/links
Please join our Discussion Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters_discussion/ for topical but extended discussions started here or for less topical but nonetheless relevant messages.




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[Volcano_Vista_HS] VVHS Announcements--Friday, January 31, 2014



Best Buddies will meet today during lunch. We will be passing out t-shirts and talking about upcoming activities.

Valentine's Day is coming up! Stop by E-hall to pick up a gift for that special someone! We will be selling body scrubs and hand soap. There's no better way to say Happy Valentine's day!

NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY: Our next meeting is Monday, February 3rd, at lunch in Mrs. Green's room. This is an important meeting because it is the only time we will be meeting in February due to the Presidents' Day Holiday. The tutoring schedule needs to be finalized, especially for Language Honor Society members, and preparations for election of next year's officers must be made. There will also be updates on fundraising, community service and the plans for this year's induction and awards ceremony. Check the Facebook page for your status in meeting lettering requirements. See you Monday at lunch in E 214.

Congratulations to all 500 students that received a 3.5 GPA or higher for the fall semester.  Administrators will be coming around this week to recognize you in front of your 5th period classes.  On Friday, we will have a special ceremony and surprise for you in the main gym at the end of 7th period.  Please hang onto your certificate that will be your pass to get out of class and into the gym.  Great job Hawks and we encourage everyone to strive for the best grades possible.

Winterball tickets are on sale today for $15.00 in the Activities Office during lunch. You must have your current student ID to purchase a ticket. If you are bringing a guest that does not attend Volcano Vista please have the completed permission slip with you when you purchase your tickets. Each student is limited to one ticket and one guest. Ticket prices will increase to $20.00 on February 4th. $1.00 of each ticket will go to Make-a-Wish.

Buy a Make-a-Wish star from any senate member or from the activities office.

Spirit week begins next week for Winterball:

Monday is Nerd Day.

Tuesday is Dress as your Favorite VVHS Teacher Day

(Teachers you can dress as you favorite student-no sagging pants please)

Wednesday is Twin Day

Thursday is Opposite Day

Friday is Olympic Day:

  • Faculty and staff wear black

  • Seniors wear blue

  • Juniors wear red

  • Sophomores wear green

  • Freshmen wear yellow.

  • These are all the colors of the Olympic Rings.

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOU MUST BE IN DRESS CODE.

Were you hoping to take Yoga next year? If you were, and can't find it on your course card, sign up for Aerobics and Body Conditioning! Yoga is offered every other year, and is very similar to Aerobics and Body Conditioning.  We will see you next year!" Please see Coach Kowalski or Coach Nord if you have any questions.

Attention Hawks who want to take DECA next year.  When you are completing your registration card, please enroll in Business, Marketing and Finance I.  This Business class is what we refer to as DECA!  When you register for a business class you also become part of the DECA Club.  We look forward to having you in our class and club next year!

COUNSELING:

An admissions officer from UTAH STATE will be here on Friday, Jan. 31, during lunch.  She will meet with students in the Career Center, Rm. E224.

The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is the most widely used multiple-aptitude test battery in the world. As an aptitude test, the ASVAB measures your strengths, weaknesses, and potential for future success. The ASVAB also provides you with career information for various civilian and military occupations and is an indicator for success in future endeavors whether you choose to go to college, vocational school, or a military career.  The test will be given in the Volcano Vista High School lecture hall on Wednesday, February 12th from 7:30am to approximately 12pm.  To schedule yourself for the test, please sign up in the JROTC classroom no later than February 5th.  If you have any questions please contact Major Campbell.

ATHLETICS:

  • Softball try-outs begin on Monday, Feb. 3. Bring your cleats, gloves and physicals to the try-out.  Be at the softball field at 2:45.  Also, softball players remember to work in the snack bar this next week.

  • All student-athletes interested in joining the track and field team this year need to make sure they have a physical on file with the school by February 11th. Also, all sprinters, jumpers, throwers, and distance runners, there will be one hour of pre-season practice Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the next two weeks. Please plan on attending so you can get into the flow of things. See you out there!

  • B. Basketball plays at home on Friday against Hobbs.

  • Swim this Saturday at West Mesa.

  • Wrestling will be in the Metro Championship this Friday and Saturday at Eldorado

During lunch today please remember to throw your trash away. Thanks for keeping Volcano Beautiful!

And remember . . .

As always . . .

It's Great to be a Hawk



__._,_.___


For more information, go to our web site: http://www.volcanovistahawks.com



Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[californiadisasters] California flu deaths jump 50 percent from last week



California flu deaths jump 50 percent from last week; Sacramento among hotspots

By Phillip Reese | Sacramento Bee
Published: Friday, Jan. 31, 2014 - 11:27 am

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/01/31/6118424/california-flu-deaths-jump-50.html#storylink=cpyThe number of flu-related deaths in California rose by 52 to a total of 147 so far this season -- and Sacramento County has one of the highest death rates, according to state figures released today.

The number of flu-related deaths in California rose by 52 to a total of 147 so far this season -- and Sacramento County has one of the highest death rates, according to state figures released today.

About 1.2 of every 100,000 Sacramento County residents under the age of 65 have died from the flu so far this season, almost triple the statewide rate. Much of the Central Valley also has flu death rates well above the state average.

Statewide, the number of flu deaths so far has eclipsed the total number of deaths during all of the last flu season by a wide margin.

“This influenza season continues to be a severe one as the increasing number of influenza-related deaths indicates,” said Dr. Ron Chapman, director of the California Department of Public Health. “Once again I urge all Californians to get vaccinated, because it is the best defense against influenza.”

This map shows flu death rates among Californians under 65 so far this flu season. About Tableau

Sources: California Department of Public Health; U.S. Census data
Note: State data sometimes lags data reported separately by counties. Currently, county health officials say Sacramento County has seen 18 flu-related deaths.
Source: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/01/31/6118424/california-flu-deaths-jump-50.html



__._,_.___


Be sure to check out our Links Section at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/links
Please join our Discussion Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters_discussion/ for topical but extended discussions started here or for less topical but nonetheless relevant messages.




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[californiadisasters] California drought: Beer helps tiny Wine Country town



California drought: Beer helps tiny Wine Country town

Kevin Fagan | San Francisco Chronicle
Updated 7:36 am, Friday, January 31, 2014

If Cloverdale manages to dodge the drought disaster descending on it, it will be because of beer. And some conservation.

But largely because of beer.

In November, when it seemed clear that tough, dry times were setting in, the Bear Republic craft brewery gave $466,143 to the tiny Wine Country town to start drilling two new wells, which in turn would help the company expand beer operations. Without that money, the city wouldn't have been able to dig.

And without those new wells, the town's taps could run dry. State officials on Wednesday placed it on a list of 17 communities that are in danger of running out of water in 100 days.

"The whole water situation doesn't look good at all, no matter how you look at it anyway," said Cloverdale Vice Mayor Robert Cox, standing downtown Thursday in the unseasonably warm January sunshine. "The Russian River is where we get our water, and it's just about dry. There's no rain. About the only good news on the horizon is those new wells.

"We'd be in really bad shape without them."

Slaking thirst

At 8 million gallons a year, the craft brewery is one of the biggest water consumers in the area, but it's also ahead of the curve when it comes to conservation. It uses 3 1/2 gallons of water to make a gallon of beer, compared with the industry average of 6 to 1, and it's testing a recycling system that could cut usage by 10 percent.

Still, if it wants to expand beyond the 1 million cases of Racer 5 IPA and other beers it ships internationally every year, it needs more water. Hence, the wells.

"Everyone wins in this one," said Bear Republic co-owner Richard Norgrove Sr. "When we first went to the city and said we'd like to expand, they said they didn't have enough water to support that. So I said, 'What would it take?' And this is what we came up with."

Conservation order

By themselves, however, those wells won't see Cloverdale through what's shaping up as a dirt-dry year. City planners reckon that in May the water system could start falling short of supplying the 1.5 million gallons that Cloverdale's businesses and 8,500 residents soak up every day.

So last week, the City Council declared a mandatory 25 percent water conservation order for everyone and everything in town. The idea is to carry Cloverdale to July 1, when the wells will start supplying about 600,000 gallons a day. Bear Republic will use about 1.5 percent of that.

Even then, conservation will be necessary, unless the rains that have stubbornly avoided California suddenly materialize.

"Contrary to what the state says, I really don't believe we will entirely run out of water," said City Manager Paul Cayler. "Our focus right now is not panicking. It's telling people to conserve."

Dying lawns

Under the cutback order, watering lawns is "strongly discouraged." Many residents such as Vice Mayor Cox have already had the sprinklers turned off so long their lawns are brown or near to it.

Hosing down driveways and walkways is prohibited, and restaurants can provide drinking water only upon request.

Penalties for those who don't cut back 25 percent will escalate from nasty letters from the city to disconnection of water service.

The downtown Eagles Nest Deli and Grill has taken the mandate one step further. It's offering only bottled water - nothing from the tap.

"It's hard for us, because we didn't use much water as it was," said waitress Denise Benner. "We only gave out 5 gallons a week to customers, and we use all recycled water in the dishwasher.

"I don't know what else we can do - tell people they can't flush the toilet? I sure don't want to smell that."

Importing hay

Stroll the charming downtown, with its hip new sculptures of abstracts and nudes, and there is little that immediately evokes a drought. For that, you have to go to the edges of the city.

There, the hills are a parched tan normally seen in August, the sheep and other farm critters are munching on trucked-in hay instead of homegrown grass, and many grape growers are cutting back buds on their vines to reduce crops.

The typically surging Russian River is a wide strip of rocks with a trickle running down the middle. Lake Mendocino, which sits 37 miles north and feeds the river, is at only 35 percent of average for this time of year.

Rain was little help

"It hasn't been this bad around here since 1976, '77, and probably even before that," said Jack Hiatt, taking his daily stroll across the First Street Bridge spanning the Russian, the river that doesn't really look like a river anymore. "That little bit of rain we had this week just brushed the dust off the weeds, so now they're even more of a fire danger than before."

Hiatt, a 67-year-old volunteer firefighter and retired vineyard owner, is a sixth-generation Cloverdale resident. He doesn't see much dribble at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.

"This kind of drought has never happened here before, as near as any of us can tell," he said. "It's all new. I don't know what's ahead, but it doesn't look good."


Source: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/California-drought-Beer-helps-tiny-Wine-Country-5191883.php


__._,_.___


Be sure to check out our Links Section at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/links
Please join our Discussion Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters_discussion/ for topical but extended discussions started here or for less topical but nonetheless relevant messages.




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[Geology2] Quake Hike Series: Point Reyes and the San Andreas Fault in Marin County



Quake Hike Series: Point Reyes and the San Andreas Fault in Marin County


marin-county-bear-valley-earthquake-trail-sign by Suzy Rosenburg on Flickr

Tectonic landscapes make for some lovely scenery. Also, as a resident of such a shaky state, it is a good idea to get to know the earthquake fault that makes California earthquake country.

The San Andreas Fault is at essence "plate boundary on land", the boundary between the Pacific & North American plates. It is a strike/slip or transform fault that runs over 700 miles long as the crow flies.

In Marin County, the San Andreas Fault runs the length of Tomales Bay in West Marin, passing through the communities of Stinson Beach, Bolinas, Inverness, Olema, and Point Reyes Station. This is a part of the world where you can see the effects of Pacific Plate as it slides northwest with respect to the North American Plate. The plates are moving past each other at a rate of about 2.5 inches per year, about the same rate that fingernails grow.

Tomales Bay by DBerry2006 on Flickr

Tomales Bay by DBerry2006 on Flickr

The geology of Point Reyes is visible in the rock and flora differences in the east and west sides of Tomales Bay, which is the fault trace in this area. The east side is variegated sandstone, shale, and clays overtopped with grasslands, chaparral, and occasional oak trees.

The west side is almost all granite, and covered with a thick forest of oak, pine, spruce, bay, and fir trees. The granite that makes up the Point Reyes Peninsula has traveled far north along the San Andreas Fault from its source in the Southern Sierra Nevada.

As much of the land on either side of Tomales Bay is park land, it's a great place to hike along the San Andreas Fault. The All Things Marin blog suggests the easy, ranger-guided "On Shaky Ground" hike along the fault trace within the Point Reyes National Seashore.

Point Reyes by Michael_Peck on Flickr

Point Reyes by Michael_Peck on Flickr

Knitting Nurse blog describes what she considers her favorite hike: a day-long trek out to the end of Point Reyes. The hike she describes is 9.5 miles to the point and back, but it takes in forests, beaches, and vistas of grazing tule elk.

The Marin Independent Journal describes a vigorous 8.5 mile hike that takes you to Bolinas Ridge capped with stunning vistas of the tectonic landscape. A day-long hike, the trail starts in the trees, then wanders through marshes, grasslands and rolling hills, all created by the action on the fault.

The USGS has published a great resource for exploring the San Andreas Fault in the San Francisco Bay Area that maps out hiking trails all over the fault zone. You can also get free trail guides online and at the ranger station at Point Reyes.

Slurp by dotpolka on Flickr

Slurp by dotpolka on Flickr

Before you head up on your hike, you can stock up on snacks in West Marin's gourmet shops, bakeries, and restaurants in Point Reyes Station, Bolinas, Olema, and Marshall. And while you're there visit some oyster farms along Tomales Bay.

So take advantage of the dry weather we are having, and take a day to explore the beauty of West Marin's tectonic landscape.


Source: http://www.totallyunprepared.com/2014/01/quake-hike-series-point-reyes-san-andreas-fault-marin-county/



__._,_.___


Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[californiadisasters] Paint design approved for USFS C-130H air tankers



Paint design approved for USFS C-130H air tankers

Wildfire Today - Posted on January 31, 2014

C-130H paint design

C-130H paint design, by Scheme Designers

The Chief of the U.S. Forest Service has approved the paint design for the seven C-130H aircraft the agency is receiving from the Coast Guard. The National Defense Authorization Act required the transfer of the C-130Hs plus 15 Shorts C-23B Sherpas from the military. The C-130Hs are being converted by the Air Force into air tankers, while the Sherpas will be used to deliver smokejumpers and cargo and to perform other wildfire support missions. The C-130Hs will be owned by the USFS but will be operated and maintained by contractors. Some of the Sherpas will be flown by agency personnel and others by contractors. All of the Sherpas will all be maintained by private companies.

The paint for the C-130Hs was designed by a company in New JerseyScheme Designers. Craig Darnett, their founder and CEO, told Fire Aviation that they have also designed the paint for other USFS aircraft, including the DC-3 and some smokejumper planes. Other examples of their work can be found at Airliners.net.

If someone is restoring an automobile that is at least 27 years old, as these C-130Hs are according to our research, paint is the very last step in the process. Five of the seven have to go through a 10-month wing box replacement, and then the rest of the conversion process can begin, including cutting a hole in the belly and installing a retardant tank system.

Initially bringing the 22 aircraft into the agency will be extremely complex and time-consuming, with FAA approvals, inspections, evaluating, painting, writing then awarding contracts for maintenance and pilots, deciding on a tanking system, contracts for installing tanking systems, avionics, etc. And, developing a comprehensive PLAN of how to manage the aviation assets now and in the future. The Air Force will do some of this, other than the planning, before the actual final transfer of the C-130s to the USFS (the Sherpas will not receive retardant tanks), but the Forest Service has to be involved in the decision making. Then, after the 22 aircraft are completely up and running, managing the programs on a continuing basis is not simply a part time job for one person.

Below are some other paint designs on USFS aircraft:

McCall DC-3 retirement

J-42, a US Forest Service DC-3, retires. USFS photo, taken at Ogden, Utah, October 24, 2012.

Redding smokejumpers' Shorts 330 Sherpa

Redding smokejumpers’ Shorts 330 Sherpa. USFS photo.

Smokejumper aircraft, N143Z

Smokejumper aircraft, N143Z. USFS photo.

USFS IR aircraft, Cessna Citation Bravo

One of the U.S. Forest Service’s Infrared aircraft, their Cessna Citation Bravo, N144Z

Lead planes at Cheyenne

Lead planes at Cheyenne, WY, May 7, 2013. These were not government owned, but were under contract to either the USFS or BLM. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

Fire Watch helicopter

The U. S. Forest Service’s Fire Watch Cobra helicopter. July 28, 2011.

US Forest Service infrared aircraft N149Z

USFS infrared aircraft N149Z at Phoenix in 2013

Source: http://fireaviation.com/2014/01/31/paint-design-approved-for-usfs-c-130h-air-tankers/



__._,_.___


Be sure to check out our Links Section at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/links
Please join our Discussion Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters_discussion/ for topical but extended discussions started here or for less topical but nonetheless relevant messages.




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[californiadisasters] Snow Surveyors Find Sparse Snowpack Drought Retains Grip on California



Snow Surveyors Find Sparse Snowpack
Drought Retains Grip on California

SACRAMENTO -- Freshly fallen snow from late-arriving storms brightened the scenery but did not end California’s drought. The winter’s second snow survey today found far too little water in the still scant snowpack.

“This winter remains dry, making it very unlikely our record drought will be broken this year,” said DWR Director Mark Cowin. “Now more than ever, we all need to save every drop we can in our homes and places of work.”

Manual and electronic readings today record the snowpack’s statewide water content at only 12 percent of average for this time of year. That is a mere 7 percent of the average April 1 measurement when the snowpack normally is at its peak before melting into streams and reservoirs to provide about a third of the water used by California’s cities and farms.

Prior to today, the lowest snowpack water content readings for this time of year were 21 percent of average for the date in 1991 and 1963, 22 percent in 1976, 25 percent in 1977 and 35 percent in 2012, the first year of the drought now pushing its way into a third consecutive year. These statewide records go back to 1960.

Today’s electronic readings indicate that water content in the northern mountains is 6 percent of normal for the date and 4 percent of the April 1 average. Electronic readings in the central Sierra show 15 percent of normal for the date and 9 percent of the April 1 average. The numbers for the southern Sierra are 14 percent of average for the date and 8 percent of the April 1 average.

DWR and cooperating agencies conduct manual surveys on or about the first of the month from January to May. The manual measurements supplement and check the accuracy of real-time electronic readings.

Not only is water content in the mountain snowpack – often referred to California’s largest reservoir – low, but so are the state’s major water supply reservoirs.

The reservoir storage from winter 2012 storms that got most of California through last year’s (calendar year 2013) record dry weather is depleted, with each day reducing the odds rain and spring snowpack runoff will replenish supplies before summer.

Lake Oroville in Butte County, the State Water Project’s (SWP) principal reservoir, is only at
36 percent of its 3.5 million acre-foot capacity (54 percent of its historical average for the date). Shasta Lake north of Redding, California’s and the federal Central Valley Project’s (CVP) largest reservoir, is at 36 percent of its 4.5 million acre-foot capacity and 53 percent of its historical average for this time of year. San Luis Reservoir, a critical south-of-Delta pool for both the SWP and CVP, is at a mere 31 percent of its 2 million acre-foot capacity (39 percent of normal for the date).

Not only was 2013 California’s driest calendar year on records going back to 1895, but this month may go into the records as the driest ever January.

State Climatologist Michael Anderson noted that statewide, only 1.53 inches of rain was recorded from October through December, also the lowest aggregate total in records going back to 1895. The aggregate average for the period is 7.87 inches. California’s average aggregate rainfall for the entire Water Year (October 1-September 30) is 22.90 inches, mean -
ing the state needs more than 21 inches added to the October-December total just to get back to normal.

“We are in record dry territory and this needs to be stressed,” said Anderson.

With California facing its driest year on record, Governor Brown declared a drought State of Emergency earlier this month and directed state officials to take all necessary actions to prepare for water shortages. This week, CAL FIRE announced it hired 125 additional firefighters to help address the increased fire threat due to drought conditions, the California Department of Public Health identified and offered assistance to communities at risk of severe drinking water shortages and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife restricted fishing on some waterways due to low water flows worsened by the drought. Also this week, the California Natural Resources Agency, the California Environmental Protection Agency and the California Department of Food and Agriculture released the California Water Action Plan, which will guide state efforts to
enhance water supply reliability, restore damaged and destroyed ecosystems and improve the resilience of our infrastructure.

Governor Brown has called on all Californians to voluntarily reduce their water usage by 20 percent and last week, the Save Our Water campaign announced four new public service announcements that encourage residents to conserve. Last December, the Governor formed a
Drought Task Force to review expected water allocations and California’s preparedness for water scarcity. In May 2013, Governor Brown issued an Executive Order to direct state water officials to expedite the review and processing of voluntary transfers of water and water rights.

Electronic snowpack readings are available on the Internet at:

Reservoir conditions are found here:

For a broader snapshot of current and historical weather conditions, see DWR’s “Water Conditions” and “Drought” pages:

Water Conditions Page

Drought Page

Source: http://www.water.ca.gov/news/newsreleases/2014/013014.pdf



__._,_.___


Be sure to check out our Links Section at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/links
Please join our Discussion Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters_discussion/ for topical but extended discussions started here or for less topical but nonetheless relevant messages.




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

Re: [Geology2] RE: I'll Promise You the Moon





So it looks like I might get to use my original impact extrusion mechanism on a one-time-only basis after all.

Regards,

Ben Fishler

Well if nothing else you have to give Ben credit for researched originality.  I have studied the moon for years knowing that the given scientific explanation for its creation was severely flawed.  Then along comes Ben with the answer that meets far more of the explanation needs than what we have today.  It is not accepted of course so maybe I have to put it aside.

BRS



__._,_.___


Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___