Colorado: Sequestration threatens more stream gages

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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A gage along Straight Creek, near Dillon, Colorado.

More cuts possible for critical stream monitoring efforts

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — It’s hard enough to make water management decisions if you have all the information at your fingertips, but the job is about to get even more difficult for resource managers.

The U.S.Geological Survey recently announce it will discontinue operation of up to 375 streamgages nationwide due to budget cuts as a result of sequestration. Additional streamgages may be affected if partners reduce their funding to support USGS streamgages.

Currently, the USGS is looking at shutting down three gages in Colorado: on Halfmoon Creek, near Malta, on the Arkansas River below John Martin Reservoir and along the Gunnison River, near Grand Junction. (more…)

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Study projects earlier sea-level rise threat to islands

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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Midway Atoll is likely to face serious flooding problems as sea level rises. Photo courtesy NASA.

Dynamic modeling suggests serious flooding threats much sooner than thought

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Low-lying islands may be facing more global warming trouble than previously thought.

New modeling that includes storm wind and wave action shows some islands could face regular inundation within the next few decades as sea level rises.

Even if the islands are not permanently submerged, ocean flooding is likely contaminate freshwater supplies, damage agriculture and infrastructure and threaten important bird, sea turtle and marine mammal habitat. (more…)

Filed under: biodiversity, climate and weather, Environment, global warming, wildlife | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Colorado: Drones eyed for greater sage-grouse monitoring

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

Public invited to learn more about the use of unmanned aircraft at a demonstration in Kremmling

FORT scientist and Raven-A sUAS pilot Leanne Hanson launches the drone. USGS photo.

FORT scientist and Raven-A sUAS pilot Leanne Hanson launches the drone in the San Luis Valley as part of an effort to monitor sandhill cranes.  USGS photo.

Greater sage-grouse. Photo courtesy USFWS.

Greater sage-grouse. Photo courtesy USFWS.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — State and federal scientists may use small drones to monitor greater sage-grouse in their breeding grounds, and will offer the public a chance to see how the technology works starting next week.

The planned test flights are a collaboration between Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Geological Survey. The agencies will conduct test flights to evaluate whether the small unmanned aircraft can save time and money and offer a safer and enhanced alternative to gather greater sage-grouse data.

The low-flying aircraft may be able to get more detailed counts of the threatened birds, and may even help biologists find previously unknown leks.

“The aircraft proved successful in other recent wildlife inventory projects conducted by USGS,” said Lyle Sidener, area wildlife manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife in Hot Sulphur Springs. “We are interested to see if greater sage-grouse will tolerate the craft flying near their leks at the lower altitudes necessary to provide useful data.” (more…)

Filed under: biodiversity, Colorado, Colorado Division of Wildlife, Colorado State Parks, endangered species, Environment, wildlife | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

USGS water study details evapotranspiration rates

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

Mapping may help water managers prepare for climate change

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Large parts of the arid intermoountain West lose more than half the precipitation that falls to evapotranspiration. Map courtesy USGS.

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — At least 80 percent of the precipitation that falls in the hot and dry American Southwest is lost to evapotranspiration, U.S. Geological Survey scientists said in a new report that will help resource managers plan for the future.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Water Resources, is the first to map average evapotranspiration rates across the continental United States. Knowing those rates is important because ir’s part of the equation for determining the amount of water available for people and ecosystems.

Evapotranspiration is the amount of water lost to the atmosphere from the ground surface.  Much of this loss is the result of the “transpiration” of water by plants, which is the plant equivalent of breathing. (more…)

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Stream impacts start at earliest stages of urban development

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Bob Berwyn
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Aquatic diversity diminishes quickly

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Streams are much more sensitive to development impacts than previously believed, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey study. The research shows that  loss of sensitive species in streams starts at the initial stages of urban development. For example, by the time urban development had approached 20 percent in watersheds in the New England area, the aquatic invertebrate community had undergone a change in species composition of about 25 percent. (more…)

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Arctic climate: USGS scientists document walrus response to shrinking summer sea ice cover

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

A Walrus in the Chukchi Sea during a tagging survey onboard the Norseman II in June 2010. Photo courtesy Sarah Sonsthagen , U.S. Geological Survey.

New study a first step in understanding long-term impacts to walrus populations

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey say walruses in the Arctic are responding to shrinking summer sea ice by arriving earlier at their northern feeding grounds on the broad continental shelf of the Chukchi Sea.

When the sea ice over the continental shelf melts completely in the fall, they “hauled out” onshore in large aggregations and foraged for food closer to shore. Hauling out refers to the behavior associated with seals and walruses of temporarily leaving the water for sites on land or ice, according to the study published in the journal Marine Ecology.

The researchers said they’re not exactly sure how this may affect walrus populations in the long run, however it is known that immature walruses are more susceptible to mortality from trampling onshore, Additionally, hauling out onshore and using nearshore feeding areas may require more energy. (more…)

Filed under: biodiversity, climate and weather, Environment, global warming, Marine biology, ocean conservation | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

USGS plans high-tech aerial survey of Long Valley Caldera

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

USGS scientists carefully monitor the Long Valley Caldera for signs of a potential eruption.

New 3D maps to help pinpoint hazards in California’s Eastern Sierra

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — Scientists have long been monitoring the seismically active Long Valley Caldera, on the east slope of the Sierra Nevada, where boiling springs and periodic swarms of earthquakes manifest the magma bubbling just beneath the surface of the Earth.

Popular Mammoth Mountain was built by a series of volcanic eruptions between 220,000 and 50,000 years ago, as were many of the other visible geologic features in the area. The most recent eruption in the region was about 250 years ago, when Mono Lake’s Paoha Island formed from an eruption.

Along with the potential risks, the near-surface magma also represents a tremendous energy resource, and at least one company, Mammoth Pacific LP, has tapped into the heat to produce electricity.

The Long Valley is one of the most geologically active areas in the country, watched carefully for signs of any renewed activity. (more…)

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Global warming may be upping Snake River metals pollution

Posted on September 12, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Study reports fourfold increases in levels of zinc in the Upper Snake River

Scientists have measured huge increases in concentrations of zinc in Deer Creek, near Montezuma, Colorado. Bob Berwyn photo.

Lower water levels resulting from earlier snowmelt may leave streamside rocks exposed to weathering for longer periods of time, resulting in increasing concentrations of metals in Colorado streams like the Snake River. Bob Berwyn photo.

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — Even without significant impacts from abandoned mines or other human activities, concentrations of heavy metals in the upper Snake River have increased by as much 400 percent in recent decades, with potentially serious consequences in a watershed that, in certain reaches, is already deadly to aquatic bugs and trout.

The also study illustrates the potential for comparable increases of metals in similar Western watersheds, said USGS scientist Andrew Todd, lead researcher on the project.

The observed spike in metals sent researchers on a quest to try and figure why levels of zinc and other metals are increasing so dramatically in the small headwaters streams above Montezuma, Colorado. Concentrations of zinc, for example, have increased fourfold in the past 30 years.

By default, they think global warming may be a significant factor.

“This is a really undisturbed watershed as far as anything that might change the water chemistry,” said USGS scientist Andy Manning. “It’s really important to be clear about the conclusions. What we found is that the concentrations are going up. Then we laid out some hypotheses, and the cause appears to be climate warming, in general,” Manning said. (more…)

Filed under: climate and weather, Colorado, Environment, global warming, rivers, Summit County Colorado, Summit County news, water | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Global warming: Signs of evolution, adaptation evident in populations of Arctic shrews

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Water shrews are native to northern Rockies and parts of the Pacific Northwest. Photo courtesy USFWS.

Studies of small mammals could help inform wildlife management in the face of climate change

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — U.S. Geological Survey scientists say various species of shrews in the Arctic have evolved rapidly in response to past climate changes, making them good test subjects to project how current climate change scenarios might play out.

Since the tiny mammals breed quickly and don’t migrate, they illustrate how species might change in response to global warming, showing both ecological and evolutionary responses to local conditions year-round. (more…)

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Global warming: USGS studies try to localize climate modeling data to predict impacts to specific river basins

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Response often depends on local conditions

One of the biggest puzzles for resource managers is how global warming will affect stream flows and water supplies.

July 2011 high water on the Blue River in Breckenridge was followed by one of the earliest runoff seasons on record in 2012. Many climate models suggest that stream flows will be less consistent and tend toward extremes.

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — While most climate change models are in agreement that warmer temperatures will have a significant long-term effect on stream flows and water supplies, the modeling is just now starting to get to level of individual rivers.

In one of the most recent studies, the U.S. Geological Survey tried to forecast changes in 14 river basins across the country, including Colorado’s Yampa River — one of the few drainages where there is still more supply than demand. (more…)

Filed under: climate and weather, Colorado, Environment, global warming, rivers, Summit County news, water | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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