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Roots of Deadly 2010 India Flood Identified; Findings Could Improve Warnings

By Guest PostNovember 14, 2012Environmentarabian sea, bay, bengal, big thompson canyon, black hills, clouds, colorado, desert, dramatic rain, flash flood, himalayas, indian town, kristen rasmussen, leh, moisture, mountain, natural disaster, plains, reanalysis data, remote region, robert houze, satellite images, south dakota, storms, tibetan plateau, torrential downpour, total rainfall, university, valley, warning, Washington, weather forecaster

On the night of Aug. 5, 2010, as residents slept, water began rushing through Leh, an Indian town in a high desert valley in the Himalayas.

Average total rainfall in the area for August is about a half-inch. During this 24-hour period more than 8 inches fell, causing severe damage and leaving 193 dead, hundreds missing and thousands homeless.

“Flash flooding events don’t happen often but when they do they are some of the scariest, most dangerous and quickest natural disasters that can happen,” said Kristen Rasmussen, a University of Washington graduate student in atmospheric sciences. “But now that we know what types of conditions to look out for, flash flood warnings in remote regions of India might be possible.” (more…)

2001-02 Drought Helped to Shift Rocky Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak into Epidemic

By Guest PostNovember 5, 2012Environment19th century, alpine research, Arctic, beetles, boulder, british columbia, climate, colorado, continental divide, drought, dynamics, epidemic, episode, evan pugh, forest, front range, lodgepole pine, mountain, native insect, new mexico, North America, northern, pine beetle, ponderosa pine, precipitation, rocky mountains, tania schoennagel, teresa chapman, thomas veblen, university, warmer climate, western slope, wyoming

A new University of Colorado Boulder study shows for the first time that episodes of reduced precipitation in the southern Rocky Mountains, especially during the 2001-02 drought, greatly accelerated development of the mountain pine beetle epidemic.

The study, the first ever to chart the evolution of the current pine beetle epidemic in the southern Rocky Mountains, compared patterns of beetle outbreak in the two primary host species, the ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine, said CU-Boulder doctoral student Teresa Chapman. The current mountain pine beetle outbreak in the southern Rockies — which range from southern Wyoming through Colorado and into northern New Mexico –is estimated to have impacted nearly 3,000 square miles of forests, said Chapman, lead study author. (more…)

CU Research Shows Warming Climate Threatens Ecology at Mountain Research Site West of Boulder

By Guest PostApril 20, 2012Environmentamerican pika, amy miller, andrew fountain, Antarctica, boulder, changes in climate, climate station, colorado, continental divide, ecological change, ecosystem, forest, glacial lake, human dimension, island of moorea, john marr, katie suding, lter, mark williams, meteorological station, mountain, mountain range, nevada, niwot ridge site, North America, puerto rico, subalpine forest, tahiti, talus slopes, threshold, tundra, united states, university of colorado, warming temperature, wetland

A series of papers published this month on ecological changes at 26 global research sites — including one administered by the University of Colorado Boulder in the high mountains west of the city — indicates that ecosystems dependent on seasonal snow and ice are the most sensitive to changes in climate.

The six papers appeared in the April issue of the journal BioScience. The papers were tied to data gathered at sites in North America, Puerto Rico, the island of Moorea near Tahiti, and Antarctica, which are known as Long-Term Ecological Research, or LTER, sites and are funded by the National Science Foundation. CU-Boulder’s Niwot Ridge site, one of the five original LTER sites designated by NSF in 1980, encompasses several thousand acres of subalpine forest, tundra, talus slopes, glacial lakes and wetlands stretching up to more than 13,000 feet on top of the Continental Divide. (more…)

Tag Archives: mountain

Roots of Deadly 2010 India Flood Identified; Findings Could Improve Warnings

2001-02 Drought Helped to Shift Rocky Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak into Epidemic

CU Research Shows Warming Climate Threatens Ecology at Mountain Research Site West of Boulder