Climate and Ag in the news
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Sammy Fretwell of The State has published two related stories this week on the growth of very large farms which are replacing forests in South Carolina. In one article it says that “In the past four years, out-of-state agribusinesses have purchased nearly 10,000 acres in the Edisto River basin, chopped down forests and established mega…
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If you are interested in watching the progression of the summer melting of the ice sheet on Greenland, you will find the web site for the National Snow and Ice Data Center useful. You can see daily updates of the melting conditions from satellites at https://nsidc.org/greenland-today/. Why do we care? A melting Arctic can change energy…
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The bright orange and pink clouds in Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” have long been thought to be a product of a volcanic eruption, most likely the very large eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. Volcanic eruptions shoot sulfuric acid droplets and ash high into the atmosphere, producing spectacular sunsets around the world that have been linked…
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As I was browsing today, I ran across this really interesting article on how most people are killed or injured by lightning. Surprisingly, direct strikes only cause issues 3-5 percent of the time. The greatest cause of problems is ground current, where lightning hits the ground and travels along the surface (especially if the ground…
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Last week a group of water experts from around the State of Georgia gathered together in Athens GA to discuss results of their research on water availability in the Southeast at the biennial Georgia Water Resources Conference. Lee Shearer of the Athens Banner-Herald wrote an article this week describing some of the information presented there.…
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As I write this, heavy rains associated with an upper level low moving up the East Coast are battering parts of eastern North Carolina. Many of these same communities were devastated by Hurricane Matthew in its trek along the Atlantic Coast last fall. That is why it was so sad to read this article in…
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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a short story this morning describing the fires that are currently affecting parts of the Okefenokee Swamp and adjacent areas in southeast Georgia and northeast Florida. While fires are a natural part of the climate there and are needed to clear out invasive species and provide nutrients to the soil, they…
Posted in: Climate and Ag in the news