Tools for climate and agriculture
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If you are following Hurricane Harvey, you know that one of the hazards most likely from the storm is torrential flooding rains. People in Texas have been warned that if they live in a flood plain, they should evacuate. Of course in the case of Harvey, there is likely to be so much rain that…
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In my meetings this week I was reminded that many farmers use USDA planting zones to determine what varieties of trees and crops to plant. Hardiness zones are related to the average coldest day of the year. Here is an interesting comparison of how these zones have changed over time due to the warming trend…
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NOAA has a new tool in their Climate Resiliency Toolkit which allows you to look at the migration of a variety of sea life over time. It’s called OceanAdapt and you can read about it at https://toolkit.climate.gov/tool/oceanadapt or go directly to the link at https://oceanadapt.rutgers.edu/regional_data/. It includes information for dozens of different species and covers…
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According to a recent New York Times article, a recent study in Geophysical Research Letters has shown that sea levels in parts of the Southeast are rising at six times the global average rise. Scientists have proposed a new mechanism for this oddity: Two large-scale atmospheric patterns had intersected to push up the water off the…
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As I walked out in the yard today I noticed that my vinca ground cover is losing all of its leaves. Even though it has not been that hot (for early August, anyway), the lack of any appreciable rain has taken its toll on the plants. I usually only see those conditions during a drought.…
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Now that we are entering the peak Atlantic hurricane season, emergency managers and others who have to plan for the impacts of a tropical system need every tool they can get to help assess threats and identify areas of concern before the storm is upon them. NOAA’s Hurricane-Induced Coastal Erosion Hazards tool can help managers…
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Have you ever seen an insect or plant that you could not identify and wondered what it was? This new (to me, at least) app, allows you to snap a picture and get an immediate suggestion for what the picture is showing. What’s more, it locates the photo by GPS to allow researchers to track…