FLOOD. (PART 1)

FLOOD. (PART 1)

A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Flooding may result from the volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake, which overflows or breaks levees, with the result that some of the water escapes its usual boundaries. While the size of a lake or other body of water will vary with seasonal changes in precipitation and snow melt, it is not a significant flood unless such escapes of water endanger land areas used by man like a village, city or other inhabited area.

Floods can also occur in rivers, when flow exceeds the capacity of the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders. Floods often cause damage to homes and business if they are placed in natural flood plains of rivers. While flood damage can be virtually eliminated by moving away from rivers and other bodies of water, since time out of mind, people have lived and worked by the water to seek sustenance and capitalize on the gains of cheap and easy travel and commerce by being near water. That humans continue to inhabit areas threatened by flood damage is evidence that the perceived value of living near the water exceeds the cost of repeated periodic flooding.

PRINCIPAL TYPES and CAUSES.

Flooding of a creek is due to heavy monsoonal rain and high tide, and flash flooding is caused by a severe thunderstorm.

Riverine. Slow kinds: Runoff from sustained rainfall or rapid snow melt exceeding the capacity of a river´s channel. Causes include heavy rains from monsoons, hurricanes and tropical depressions, foreign winds and warm rain affecting snow pack. Unexpected drainage obstructions such as landslides, ice, or debris can cause slow flooding upstream of the obstruction.

Fast kinds: Include flash floods resulting from convective precipitation (intense thunderstorms) or sudden release from an upstream impoundment created behind a dam, landslide, or glacier.

Estuarine. Commonly caused by a combination of sea tidal surges caused by storm-force winds. A storm surge, from either a tropical cyclone or an extratropical cyclone.

Coastal. Caused by severe sea storms, or a result of another hazard (e.g. tsunami or hurricane). A storm surge, from either a tropical cyclone or an extratropical cyclone, falls within this category.

Catastrophic. Caused by a significant and unexpected event, e.g. dam breakage, or a result of another hazard (e.g. earthquake or volcanic eruption).

Muddy. A muddy flood or mud slide is generated by run off on crop land. A muddy flood is produced by an accumulation of runoff generated on cropland. Sediments are then detached by runoff and carried as suspended matter or bedload. Muddy runoff is more likely detected when it reaches inhabited areas. Muddy floods are therefore a hillslope process, and confusion with mudflows produced by mass movements should be avoided.

Other. Floods can occur if water accumulates across an impermeable surface (e.g. from rainfall) and cannot rapidly dissipate (i.e. gentle orientation or low evaporation). When a series of storms are moving over the same area. Dam-building beavers can flood low-lying urban and rural areas, often causing significant damage.

EFFECTS.

Primary effects. Physical damage. Can damage any type of structure, including bridges, cars, buildings, sewer systems, roadways, and canals.

Casualties. People and livestock die due to drowning. It can also lead to epidemics and waterborne diseases.

Secondary effects. Water supplies. Contamination of water. Clean drinking water becomes scarce. Diseases. Unhygienic conditions. Spread of water-borne diseases. Crops and food supplies. Shortage of food crops can be caused due to loss of entire harvest. However, lowlands near rivers depend upon river silt deposited by floods in order to add nutrients to the local soil.

Trees. Non-tolerant species can die from suffocation.

Economic. Economic hardship, due to: temporary decline in tourism, rebuilding costs, food shortage leading to price increase, etc.

Part 2 will follow...

Thank you for reading!!

Starry.

TORNADO.

TORNADO.

This article is about the weather phenomenon called Tornadoes.

A tornado is often referred to as a twister. The funnel itself is the thin tube reaching from the cloud to the ground. The lower part of the tornado is surrounded by a translucent dust cloud, kicked up by the tornado´s strong winds at the surface.

A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. Tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes, but are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel, whose narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of debris and dust. Most tornadoes have wind speeds less than 110 miles per hour (117 km/h), are approximately 250 feet (80 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers) before dissipating. The most extreme can attain wind speeds of more than 300 mph (480 km/h), stretch more than two miles (3 km) across, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles (more than 100 km).

Various types of tornadoes include the landspout, multiple vortex tornado, and waterspout. Waterspouts are characterized by a spiraling funnel-shaped wind current, connecting to a large cumulus or cumulonimbus cloud. They are generally classified as non-supercellular tornadoes that develop over bodies of water. These spiraling columns of air frequently develop in tropical areas close to the equator, and are less common at high latitudes. Other tornado-like phenomena that exist in nature include the gustnado, dust devil, fire whirls, and steam devil.

Tornadoes have been observed on every continent except Antarctica. However, the vast majority of tornadoes in the world occur in the Tornado Alley region of the United States, although they can occur nearly anywhere in North America. They also occasionally occur in south-central and eastern Asia, the Philippines, northern and east-central South America, Southern Africa, northwestern and southeast Europe, western and southeastern Australia, and New Zealand. Tornadoes can be detected before or as they occur through the use of Pulse-Doppler radar by recognizing patterns in velocity and reflectivity data, such as hook echoes, as well as by the efforts of storm spotters.

These are several different scales for rating the strength of tornadoes. The Fujita scale rates tornadoes by damage caused, and has been replaced in some countries by the updated Enhanced Fujita Scale. An FO or EFO tornado, the weakest category, damages trees, but not substantial structures. An F5 or EF5 tornado, the strongest category, rips buildings off their foundations and can deform large skyscrapers. The similiar TORRO scale ranges from a TO radar data, photogrammetry, and ground swirl patterns (cycloidal marks) may also be analyzed to determine intensity and assign a rating of a tornado.

Thank you for reading my blogs!!

Starry.

"THE AMAZON RAINFOREST." (PART 2)

"THE AMAZON RAINFOREST." (PART 2)

DEFORESTATION. Deforestation is the conversion of forested areas to non-forested areas. The main sources of deforestation in the Amazon are human settlement and development of the land. Prior to the early 1960s, access to the forest´s interior was highly restricted, and the forest remained basically intact. Farms established during the 1960s were based on crop cultivation and the slash and burn method. However, the colonists were unable to manage their fields and the crops because of the loss of soil fertility and weed invasion. The soils in the Amazon are productive for just a short period of time, so farmers are constantly moving to new areas and clearing more land. These farming practices led to deforestation and caused extensive environmental damage. Deforestation is considerable, and areas cleared of forest are visible to the naked eye from outer space. Between 1991 and 2000, the total area of forest lost in Amazon rose from 415,000 to 587,000 square kilometres, with most of the lost forest becoming pasture for cattle.

In addition, Brazil is currently the second-largest global producer of soybeans after the United States. The needs of soy farmers have been used to validate many of the controversial transportation projects that are currently developing in the Amazon. The first two highways successfuly opened up the rain forest and led to increased settlement and deforestation. At the current rate, in two decades the Amazon Rainforest will be reduced by 40%.

CONSERVATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE.

Environmentalists are concerned about loss of biodiversity that will result from destruction of the forest, and also about the release of the carbon contained within the vegetation, which could accelerate global warming. Amazonian forests are estimated to have accumulated 0.62 = 0.37 tons of carbon per hectare (a little over 2 acres) per year between 1975 and 1996.

One computer model of future climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions shows that the Amazon rainforest could become unsustainable under conditions of severely reduced rainfall and increased temperatures, leading to an almost complete loss of rainforest cover in the basin by 2100. However, simulations of Amazon basin climate change across many different models are not consistent in their estimation of any rainfall response, ranging from weak increases to strong decreases. The result indicates that the rainforest could be threatened through the 21st century by climate change in addition to deforestation.

From 2002 to 2006, the conserved land in the Amazon Rainforest has almost tripled and deforestation rated have dropped up to 60%. About 1,000,000 square kilometres (250,000,000 acres) have been put onto some sort of conservation, which adds up to a current amount of 1,730,000 square kilometres (430,000,000 acres). It is safe to say that the Amazon Rainforest will eventually perish and develop into a savannah five million years in the future even if all human deforestation activity ceased permanently.

IMPACT OF AMAZON DROUGHT.

In 2005, parts of the Amazon basin experienced the worst drought in one hundred years, and there were indications that 2006 could have been a second successive year of drought. A 23 July 2006 article in the U.K. Newspaper "The Independent" reported Woods Hole Research Center results showing that the forest in its present form could survive only three years of drought. Scientists at the Brazilian National Institute of Amazonian Research argue in the article that this drought response, coupled with the effects of deforestation on regional climate, are pushing the rainforest towards a "tipping point" where it would irreversibly start to die. It concludes that the forest is on the brink of being turned into savannah or desert, with catastrophic consequences for the world´s climate. Even if all human activity that negatively affects the health and stability of the Amazon rainforest should cease permanently, the rainforest will eventually destroy itself and become a savannah after five million years. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the combination of climate change and deforestation increases the drying effect of dead trees that fuels forest fires.

Thank you for reading!!

Starry.

"THE AMAZON RAINFOREST." (PART 1)

"THE AMAZON RAINFOREST." (PART 1)

The Amazon rainforest also known as Amazonia or Amazon jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America. This basin encompasses seven million square kilometers or 1.7 billion acres. The majority of the forest is contained within Brazil, with 60% of the rainforest, followed by Peru with 13%, and with minor amounts in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Surinam and French Guyana. The Amazon represents over half of the planet´s remaining rainforests, and it comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world. The Amazon rainforest was short-listed in 2008 as a candidate to one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature by the New Seven Wonders of the World Foundation. As of February 2009 the Amazon was ranking first in Group E, the category for forests, national parks and nature reserves.

History. The rainforest was likely formed during the Eocene era, following the evolutionary appearance of angiosperm plants. It appeared following a global reduction of tropical temperatures when the Atlantic Ocean had widened sufficiently to provide a warm, moist climate to the Amazon basin. The rainforest has been in existence for at least 55 million years, and most of the region free of savannah-type biomes during that time period.

Following the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, the extinction of the dinosaurs and the wetter climate may have allowed the tropical rainforest to spread out across the continent. There is evidence that there have been significant changes in Amazon rainforest vegetation over the last 21,000 years through the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and subsequent deglaciation. Analyses of sediment deposits from Amazon basin paleolakes and from the Amazon Fan indicate that rainfall in the basin during the LGM was lower than for the present, and this was almost certainly associated with reduced moist tropical vegetation cover the basin.

Based on archaeological evidence from an excavation at Caverna da Pedra Pintada, human inhabitants first settled in the Amazon region at least 11,200 years ago. The first European to travel the length of the Amazon River was Francisco de Orellana in 1542. The rainforest has been predicted to destroy itself and become a savannah sometime before 5,000,000 CE. While all the current animals (including present-day birds, insects, mammals, and reptiles) that inhabit the Amazon rainforest will be extinct by this date, new animals will evolve to take over the new savannah.

Biodiversity. Wet tropical forests are the most species-rich biome, and tropical forests in the Americas are consistently more species rich than the wet forests in Africa and Asia. As the largest tract of tropical rainforest in the Americas, the Amazonian rainforests have unparalleled biodiversity. One in ten known species in the world live in the Amazon Rainforest. This constitutes the largest collection of living plants and animal species in the world.

The diversity of plant species is the highest on Earth with some experts estimating that one square kilometer may contain over 75,000 types of trees and 150,000 species of higher plants. One square kilometer of Amazon rainforest can contain about 90,790 tonnes of living plants. The green leaf area of plants and trees in the rainforest varies by about 25% as a result of seasonal changes. Leaves expand during the dry season when sunlight is at a maximum, then undergo abscission in the cloudy wet season. These changes provide a balance of carbon between photosynthesis and respiration.

The rainforest contains several species that can pose a hazard. Among the largest predatory creatures are the Black Caiman, Jaguar and Anaconda. In the river, electric eels can produce an electric shock that can stun or kill, while Piranha are known to bite and injure humans. Various species of poison dart frogs secrete lipophilic alkaloid toxins through their flesh. There are also numerous parasites and disease vectors. Vampire bats dwell in the rainforest and can spread the rabies virus. Malaria, yellow fever and Dengue fever can also be contracted in the Amazon region. They could be deadly...Be careful!! Thank you for reading!! STARRY.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, THE 4TH OF JULY!!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, THE 4TH OF JULY!!

GOD BLESS THE HOME OF THE BRAVE,

AND THE LAND OF THE FREE!!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!

STARRY DAWN.

If you wish to visit an inspirational and patriotic Christian American Website with outstanding Video-Poems and wonderful messages, I´ll give you the link. Don´t miss the Patriotic Gallery!!

http://www.openmyeyeslord.net/

TRIBUTE TO COROLLA WILD HORSES OF THE OUTER BANKS.

"TRIBUTE TO COROLLA WILD HORSES OF THE OUTER BANKS."

There is nothing more beautiful to watch these wild horses and ponies roaming freely on the beach by the sea. There is a wonderful history about them...

I shall soon return to tell the story.

Spanish and Arabian/Barb horses were brought to the "New World" from the 1519 to mid-century. Horses were carried on the decks of Spanish ships and pushed overboard to swim ashore when the ships got near the shore. In a hostile environment, the Spanish settlers became ill and weakened, unable to care adequately for their livestock. North Carolina´s Outer Banks remained isolated for centuries and have been the last area of the State to be populated to saturation. This means there was little opportunity for adulteration of the Spanish blood line. The shallow sounds and marshes of the Outer Banks, while isolating and separating them from the mainland, were not impassible for young stallions traveling from island to island, gathering satellite herds and setting up new pasturage. Examinations by Veterinarians and horsemen, who are familiar with the Spanish-type horses, reveal too many similarities to ignore.

Our ongoing study of the Corolla herds provides DNA and data on behavioral and temperamental characteristics, which are common to them and to Spanish Barb/Arabian horses. The Corolla Wild Horses carry the distinguishing features of Spanish type horses. Their even temperament, endurance, size, and the startling beauty which crops up frequently in the Banker Horses all point strongly to their dramatic history.

These beautiful wild horses are the remnants of once numerous herds of Spanish stock which ran and roamed free along the pristine sandy islands of our coast of North Carolina. The Spanish Mustang Registry is satisfied that the Banker Horses, in particular the Corolla strain, are as lineally pure to the 16th Century Spanish importations as can be found in North America today.

THANK YOU FOR READING!!

STARRY DAWN.

"Hurricanes and Tropical Storms."

"Hurricanes and Tropical Storms."

A hurricane is a very powerful, sometimes violent storm with strong winds and heavy rains.

A hurricane is a powerful, spiraling storm that begins over a warm sea, near the equator. When a hurricane hits land, it can do great damage through its fierce winds, torrential rains, inland flooding, and huge waves crashing ashore. A powerful hurricane can kill more people and destroy more property than any other natural disaster.

Hurricanes are given a different label, depending on where they occur. If they begin over the North Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, or the Northeast Pacific Ocean, they are called hurricanes. Like storms that occur in the Northwest Pacific Ocean west of the imaginary International Date Line are called typhoons. Near Australia and in the Indian Ocean, they are referred to as tropical cyclones or tropical storms.

Hurricanes are severe tropical storms that form in the southern Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Hurricanes gather heat and energy through contact with warm ocean waters. Evaporation from the seawater increases their power.

Hurricanes rotate in a counter-clockwise direction around an "eye". Hurricanes have winds at least 74 miles per hour. When they come onto land, the heavy rain, strong winds and heavy waves can damage buildings, trees and cars. The heavy waves are called a storm surge. Storm surges are very dangerous and a major reason why you must stay away from the ocean during a hurricane warning or hurricane.

Scientists have only been studying hurricanes for about 100 years. But there is evidence of hurricanes occurring long in the past. For example, geologists (scientists who study the earth) believe that layers of sediment in a lake in Alabama was brought there by a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico as long as 3,000 years ago. There is also evidence in Florida of hurricanes more than 1,000 years ago. One of the first human records of hurricanes appears in Mayan hieroglyphics.

Hurricane Classification:

Hurricanes are classified into five categories, based on their wind speeds and potential to cause damage.

Category One: Winds 74-95 miles per hour.

Category Two: Winds 96-110 miles per hour.

Category Three: Winds 111-130 miles per hour.

Category Four: Winds 131-155 miles per hour.

Category Five: Winds greater than 155 miles per hour.

In the U.S., the official hurricane season is from June 1 to November 30, but hurricanes can happen any time of the year. Hurricanes are named by the National Weather Service.

Important terms to know:

Hurricane Watch: A hurricane is possible within 36 hours. Stay tuned to the radio and television for more information. The hurricane center is tracking the storm and trying to predict where it may come ashore.

Hurricane Warning: A hurricane is expected withing 24 hours. You may be told to evacuate. You and your family should begin making preparations to evacuate. If your area is having an evacuation, remember to take your Disaster Supply Kit. Do not forget to make plans for your pets if you must evacuate!!

A History of Big Hurricanes.

Hurricane Andrew: This hurricane hit on August 24, 1993 in southern Florida. It then turned and hit Louisiana. More than a million people had to leave the area due to the storm. Heavy rains and tornadoes were part of the hurricane´s destructive power. Until Katrina, Andrew was the most expensive hurricane in the history of the U.S.

Hurricane Floyd: This hurricane, which struck in September 1999, brought so much rain that 13 states were issued federal disaster declarations, more declarations for a single event than ever before. More than $500 million of federal money was spent on helping states recover. North Carolina was hit the hardest of any state.

Hurricane Katrina: This August 2005 storm was the most destructive and costly natural disaster in U.S. history. It produced damage estimated at $75 billion in the New Orleans area and along the Mississippi coast. Katrina was responsible for approximately 1,200 reported deaths, including about 1,000 in Louisiana, 200 in Mississippi, and seven in southern Florida.

Hurricane Rita: The third Category 5 hurricane of the 2005 season, this destructive and deadly storm devastated portions of southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana and significantly impacted the Florida Keys.

TROPICAL STORMS.

A tropical storm or tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a large low-pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain.

Tropical cyclones feed on heat released when moist air rises, resulting in condensation of water vapor contained in the moist air. They are fueled by a different heat mechanism than other cyclonic windstorms such as northeasters, European windstorms, and polar lows, leading to their classification as a "warm core" storm systems.

The term "tropical" refers to both the geographic origin of these systems, which form almost exclusively in tropical regions of the globe, and their formation in maritime tropical air masses. The term "cyclone" refers to such storms´cyclonic nature, with counterclockwise rotation in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise rotation in the Southern Hemisphere. Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by names such as hurricane, typhoon, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, and simply cyclone.

While tropical cyclones or tropical storms can produce extremely powerful winds and torrential rain, they are also able to produce high waves and damaging storm surge as well as spawning tornadoes. They develop over large bodies of warm water, and lose their strength if they move over land. This is why coastal regions can receive significant damage from a tropical cyclone, while inland regions are relatively safe from receiving strong winds. Heavy rains, however, can produce significant flooding inland, and storm surges can produce extensive coastal flooding up to 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the coastline.

Although their effects on human populations can be devastating, tropical cyclones can also relieve drought conditions. They also carry heat and energy away from the tropics and transport it toward temperate latitudes, which makes them an important part of the global atmospheric circulation mechanism. As a result, tropical cyclones or tropical storms help to maintain equilibrium in the Earth´s troposphere, and to maintain a relatively stable and warm temperature worlwide.

Many tropical cyclones or tropical storms develop when the atmospheric conditions around a weak disturbance in the atmosphere are favorable. The background environment is modulated by climatological cycles and patterns such as El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Others form when other types of cyclones acquire tropical characteristics. Tropical systems are then moved by steering winds in the troposphere; if the conditions remain favorable, the tropical disturbance intensifies, and can even develop an "eye". On the other end of the spectrum, if the conditions around the system deteriorate or the tropical cyclone makes landfall, the system weakens and eventually dissipates. It is not possible to artificially induce the dissipation of these systems with current technology.

THANK YOU FOR READING!!

STARRY DAWN.