El Nino, La Nina, and our Extreme Weather

U.S. Geological Survey reports that the drought we have experienced this last year is the worst that has occurred in the last 500 years, with water flow levels at close to half those of the drought years in the 1930's!  The USA just endured its third-hottest summer on record.  For the entire year to date, the US is having its warmest year since records began in 1895, reported by the National Climatic Data Center.   Arctic ice has shrunk to its lowest level on record.  

Why are some of our winters filled with rain and deep snow and others not?  Part of the answer come from examining natural changes in our atmosphere, ocean currents, and ocean temperatures. All parts of our ocean/air system are inextricably connected!  However the patterns found have proven difficult to predict and are not clearly understood.   British meteorologists were the first to notice in the 1920's that a strong rainy season in India usually occurred at the same time as droughts in Australia.

They observed a relationship between periods of high air pressure in the eastern Pacific Ocean and periods of low air pressure in the western Pacific. 

It was not until the mid twentieth century that fluctuations in ocean temperatures off the west coast of South America were called by the name “El Nino”

El Niño refers to one extreme in the oscillation cycle — with above-average sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific Ocean.  El Nino usually brings wetter winters  to central California.  It appears that El Nino conditions are forming at this time.  Hurrah!

The opposite stage in the cycle, La Niña, shows below-average sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific.

Another pattern that influences our winter weather in the U.S. is the Arctic Oscillation (AO), - a pattern in atmospheric pressure between the Polar Regions and the middle latitudes. The AO has a cold phase, which brings higher pressures over the Polar Regions and lower pressures over the middle latitudes; the warm phase brings the opposite conditions. The AO fluctuates on the order of weeks and months.  There also appears to be a link between the AO and Atlantic hurricanes.

But the extreme patterns that we are seeing doesn't seem to be explained by normal changes in atmospheric cycles.  Us humans are changing the nature of our own atmosphere!  One critical factor is the greenhouse effect caused by increasing CO2 in the air. 

In addition to visible light, sunlight also contains Infrared heat radiation.  This is the part of sunlight that we feel as heat on our skin.  Infrared coming from the sun is quite high frequency and can easily pass through glass and air. 

 When it is absorbed by dark colored material on earth – that warm material now serves as a heat source and radiates its own infrared heat– but as a heat source it is much cooler than the sun.  Cooler object radiate a frequency much longer wave than that from the sun... When it attempts to travel back out into space, it encounters the CO₂ in the air like a mirror – and reflects  back to earth.  The more CO₂ in the air the more infrared heat is reflected and trapped in our atmosphere.  This effect is well studied and beyond doubt. 

The concentration of CO₂ in our atmosphere reached 395 parts per million by June 2012.  This current concentration is substantially higher than the 280 ppm concentration present in pre-industrial times, with the increase largely attributed to the burning of fossil fuels.  

 And still we have politicians who encourage us to burn more coal and drill more oil!

The graph below has been climbing much faster now than in the 1960s; despite some attempts to slow down emissions, the quantity of gas added to the atmosphere is doubling every 30-35 years

Level of CO2 in the atmosphere, 1958-2007 

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Notes 9.7.12

Notes 9.7.12

Photos this week show our town of Niles California (a district of Fremont CA)- it is a true community of people - We are close to metropolitan areas - but in many ways we are like a small town.

1.  As we close in on the election I have been listening to a lot of  political speeches. I am ready now to offer my own personal political  platform! 

·      I believe that the focus of a strong America should be upon making sure that all of our people have a fair chance at getting basic necessities...medical care, education, equal opportunities, meaningful work.  Care of people should come before corporate profits.  Trickle down politics has been long since disproved.

Main street in Niles

·      I believe in an America where government functions in a bipartisan manner to shape compromise legislation to help all of our people to prosper.

·      I believe in the America of “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”... the America where new immigrants can contribute and join in the American dream.   New waves of immigrates continue to revitalize America.

Niles has a history of historic trains and also the early film making industry

·      I believe in an America where education is within the reach of all – not only for the wealthy few. I believe that the future of our nation depends on educating all capable persons.

·      I believe in an America that values its labor unions as well as its corporations.  There is dignity in hard work, both physical and mental.  There is dignity in uniting together and speaking with one voice.

Celebrating our early history in silent films with a "look alike" contest

·      I value an America that recognizes the need for laws that restrict human greed, that protect our health and financial securities with well-formed regulations.

·      I believe in an America that recognizes the value of collecting taxes proportionally to the wealth of each - no loop holes.– So that we can develop and maintain the collective social amenities that lead to a quality life for everyone. 

Thai Cultural Night at the Niles Thai Buddhist Temple

·      I want to live in an America that maintains its public infrastructure of roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, libraries, and parks.  

·      I believe in an America where decisions are made not by those who have the most money to buy influence, not by special interest lobbies, but by well selected representatives of the people coming together in a congress dedicated to working together to develop policy  - not to engage in party politics or to obstruct the process.

Alameda Creek as it leaves the hills and flows into Niles

·      I believe in an America of justice for all – for women and men, for every ethnic and religious group, for the right to marry the person you love.

·      I believe in an America that maintains a separation of church and state – where the religious beliefs of one group are not imposed on others. 

Thai Buddhist Temple at the west end of Niles

-     I believe in an America that rewards and remembers the sacrifices made my veterans - giving us years of their lives, and sometimes their future wholeness in body and mind.  I believe in an America wise enough to distinguish those times when military force is truly necessary and those times that international problems can be solved with other means.

Sunday afternoon at the Florence Bar - our "Biker bar"

·      Politicians speak of America as a land of special opportunities – It's true for many of our people , but not for all.  

·      I do not believe that corporations should have the rights of individual people, nor do I believe in gun control laws that permit ownership of assault weapons. 

·     Being a good American means to be vigilant and willing to engage in the hard work of making the blessings of America within the reach of everyone.  I don't believe in handouts for all but opportunities for all...

Alameda Creek was once used to power famous and profitable  flour mill

2.  I’m back supervising new high school science and math teacher in the schools of Oakland Ca.  Today I saw two excellent young teachers with well mannered students in a school in the midst of an impoverished inner city community.  I love to see attentive students in well taught classes learning new ideas and new skills – but my heart yearns for them to be able to break free of their environment with so many negative influences. 

looking east on Niles Alvarado Blvd. - our main street

 I want them to find a way to make use of their potential by going on to college – but how on earth will they be able to meet the costs?  This is a brain drain that is dragging America down ...  what potential doctors, research idea developers, social and political leaders are lost because of lost opportunites.  If a person is told by word and deed that he or she is inferior – over and over again – year after year... they internalize the message... that is the chief burden to be removed from many of these young people.  It doesn't work to tell this person to “try harder” . 

The 4th Sunday in August is Antique Fair sunday - all the streets are shut down - and it is a day long festival

3.  Overnight my zucchini have slowed way down  The leaves are starting to look old with spots of fungus forming.  Tomatoes still coming in – we collect them fresh and whole into gallon bags and freeze for winter use.  I started seeds in a planting tray so that I can have Kale and Lettuce (several varieties) to set out... I hate to say it – but I see signs that summer to giving way to fall.  Even the sky looks different. Nights and mornings are cooler.   Reports from NOAA (the national weather group) report that ocean conditions are shaping up to be an El Nino year... that would be good for winter rain...

Recommended link of the week: http://www.pissedonpolitics.com

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...Notes for the week...

1.   Zucchini Jungle!

Three zucchini  plants sounded about right.  Give them lots of water, keep the snails away... the secret for me this year was a one hose timer that attaches directly to the faucet - and automatically sends water to a soaker hose placed inside a raised bed with 18 inches of good deep soil.

Full grown Zucchini plant

The secret of good zucchini squash is to check them daily!  It is necessary to get down on hands and knees and check under and around the plants - the squash are sneaky and hide out of sight - then when you discover them in a few days they are 18 inches along...  Typically I harvest 4-7  "good sized" zucchini a day.

This is where the magic happens

Note that the veins are one way conduits, unlike the circulation system of the human -  Water and minerals enter from the soil, the leaves have special tiny openings on the bottom of the leaf to admit carbon dioxide.    Plants do not take "food" from the soil they capture sunlight energy using chlorophyll and transfer the energy to make sugar, starch, and cellulose molecules.

Female flowers have a small "zucchini" at the base, male flowers do not 

Squash blossoms are highly prized as a vegetable in their own right, the flowers can be drenched in egg and flour and quickly fried.  They also can be used to make a delicious soup.

My favorite way of cooking zucchini is with slightly caramelized onions and green peppers.  They are also good with a tomato sauce.

Zucchini have male and female flowers - females all have a small "fruit' attached

The real question is what do you do with the surplus zucchini- when they produce more than you can eat?... they are clearly too good to discard - I give them to friends, strangers.  I beg people to take them!  I have even heard of looking for people that don't lock their cars and leave them on the front seat - (I haven't used this strategy yet).

2.  Understanding the Republican Convention

With all the hype and hullabaloo associated with our political conventions.  I have found the website "Fact check. com" to be helpful in sorting out the facts.  ; http://www.factcheck.org  The parent group behind the site is the Annenberg foundation: Read about them here: http://www.annenbergfoundation.org/about-foundation/mission-values-and-vision... Note that they are non partisan (they will do the same face checking for the Democratic convention).  Annenberg has a history of being a cool voice of reason in the midst of a lot of stridency.

3.  ... more photos of the high Sierra Mts...

For best viewing go to the top left corner and click on "slideshow" - it takes about 4 minutes to see the whole slideshow.

https://picasaweb.google.com/jzlatnik49/TUOLOMNIE2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCKOo4en6srWbYg

Yikes - these two zucchini were hidden in the deep leaf cover and I missed them for a few days - 24" and 16"!!

Tuolumne Meadows 

 Part 2 – Excursion notes

A sample of notes written during odd moments during our two weeks in upper Yosemite high country

Judy on the trail to Conness

Sitting by the evening campfire it begins casually enough as I examine a topographic map, 

Ah! That lake looks about about right...

Good high elevation, no formal trail, manageable distance

It should work fine to just traverse the elevation line... with a bit of climbing

Next day we are off early...

We walk together until lunch, then I leave my wife Judy with a good book (as she likes to do) on the high alpine shores of Conness Lake.

Glaciers can be differentiated from snow packs by the crack which forms in the summer at the top of the ice - this indicated how much movement has taken place since the last snowfall 

This is what I enjoy most!

Making my way across unmarked terraine...

Dealing with situations as they arise

Cliffs and rock walls to climb or travel around

Scrambling over large talus blocks  (rock fragments at the foot of a cliff) and smaller scree (Loose rock debris on a slope.)

I am now well above 11,000 – so I must adjust for breathing if I am to reach my goal.
After hours of rock scrambling - There it is!  
A fine glaciated bowl located in a white granite cirque (A 3 sided bowl- that forms at the head of a mountain glacier), 

What a pristine alpine lake!, punctuated with glacerial erratic rocks 

A waterfall is coming off the glacier

And the lake appears slightly cloudy due to glaceriel erosion sediment

Great cumulus clouds drift by –

Alternating chill breeze and roasting susn

I am sitting here, now, opposite the water fall on a great granitic slab

Like a giant marmot – looking over my world

Lake has translucent quality due to ground glacial rock that has been carried into the lake

Massive North Peak is looming to my right, the glaciers of Mt. Conness to my left.

It is a huge empty space, full of minute details

It is silent except for the chirps and whistles of marmots and pika,
the wind in the rocks, sounds of falling water,

an occasional bird call, and the sound of my own breathing

Marmot - seen at near Tioga Pass

Pika - seen near Helen Lake - note rounded ears, long wiskers, short stubby tail

2, Today we set our sights on Shamrock lake over 11k feet

Our bodies are now becoming adapting to the elevation – so oxygen is less a problem

The basin of Shamrock is ice carved to leave behind large islands and peninsulas extending into the lake
Geologically interesting - this is the original rock of the Sierras - older darker colored metamorphic rock - with many signs of folding and quartz intrusions.
We can see quite a sharp demarkation where the newer younger granite was thrust up through this mass...

I suspect that is is the most beautiful meeting of water, stone, and ice that I have ever seen!

The lake margin is rugged with steep rock walls.  it is a challenge to work around them if I want to walk the lakes  perimeter

In the summer it seems that there is falling water everywhere - although this year was dryer than most

After lunch - Judy reads – I explore with only my whims to guide me

A few patches of white bark pine – seldom over 15 feet high are interspersed with small flowery meadows

But mostly it is rock – rock bearing the signs of its glaceral past

By early afternoon great white cumulus clouds drift overhead

There is a gentle cool breeze today

The trail that I followed on my way around Shamrock Lake

But what’s this?

In the midst of my revere I hear a loud jet engine

No- its not a plane – its thunder

A dense dark cloud on the horizon is expanding rapidly

There!– that’s lightening

And its moving rapidly toward me

Shamrock lake is amazing with the glacially gouged basin and high alpine conditions

Quick – what do I remember about High Sierra summer lightning storms

“If you feel the fibers of your body stand on end – you are becoming charged with static electricity – quick lie on the ground to discharge”  -
OK that didnt happen to me today.
I recall: "Summer storms are often brief."

Now sure how Judy was responding to the lightning I hurried back to where she was reading

We decided that it made sense to go to a lower elevation and wait.

Rain starts to fall – light at first – then heavier

We spot a thick grove of White Bark Pines – with a comfortable space inside.

Here we get temporary protection

Susprise! - I have never seen a cloud expand so quickly and move so quickly!!

Now the thunder is directly overhead

Blasts in rapid succession

After an hour the rain diminshed – 

More dark clouds coming – so we move on

Then 1/3 inch flat pieces of hail begin to pelt us

We trudge on through rocky country with no protection – hands become numb with cold

Then just as suddenly -the sun comes out and we feel like whimps for turning back

You never know about mountain storms.  They are notoriously unpredictable – and can turn deadly

Last November 150-200 MPH winds ripped up hundreds of the largest trees!  

Outflow from Conness into Steelhead lake

3.  From the lower lip of the summer snow field

clear melt water emerges

Flowing and gurgling its way over rocks and pebbles

More ice melts in other locations to combine into a flowing stream

The water music is fine!

On its way down from the highlands, more water joins in

water sounds become more intense in our ears

Trail ( to right ) around waterfall on our way to the Conness Basin

Mossy patches rife with summer flowers grow along the margins 

(even now late in the season)

Reds, yellows, purple... not large flowers but intense colors - attract pollinators

The stream emerges into a vast marshy meadow at the higher end of the lake

Here water finds peace – it becomes tranquil – 

I miss the sound

The only bear that we encountered on this trip...

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Tuolumne High

Judy and I have just returned from two weeks tent camping, making our base camp in Tuolumne Meadows Yosemite (Almost 10000 ft.), making daily hikes into the higher country around...

Here are 3 notes I wrote at different times during the week

-----

1.  I wake early each morning warm in my sleeping bag.

Sunlight images of pine branches form on our tent wall about 6:20

Its time to get up.

In the coolness of the morning I make coffee.

The scene outside our "front door"

As a youthful mountaineer I scorned propane stoves – they seemed 'unnecessary'... But now I enjoy an instant hot flame – and coffee within minutes

Judy prepares ham and eggs wrapped in a tortilla- its quick and easy and so good!

Off we go for our adventure of the day

Tuolumne – so many peaks and lakes, new trails to explore, wonders to discover.

Our blood and our lungs are still attuned to the low lands – More breathing is required here to get the oxygen we require.  But day by day we build more red cells in our blood and are soon comfortable at high elevations.

Glacial ice freezes onto chunks of rock, and as the rocks and ice move forward, they carved away this basin.

Lunch, after hiking 3-4 miles; we rest tired muscles by a stream or lake.

Trail lunch: Fruit, Avocado, Goat cheese, Trail Rusks, Crackers, Water

This old dog can learn a new trick

I have discovered the pleasure of reaching a beautiful location and taking time to “be with it”.   To just sit in the presence of the place

After a stiff morning we take a little time to sit and read or write or just observe sometimes talking, sometimes in silence.

Judy contemplating the beauty of it all

Back to camp by late afternoon

If we planned ahead there are cold beers waiting in the cooler
Then we cook together and eat our main meal of the day

(Judy planned incredible meals.)

Late evening shadows

An evening fire when the chill of evening comes on us

The yellow flame is hypnotic

This firewood has trapped within it the sunlight energy of many mountain days and years.

As the wood burns, that same energy is released into the blackness of space.

The stars that are hidden from us in the city are brilliant here in the night sky

The sound of the river is close to our campsite and sounds in my ears all during the night.

We sleep long and well.

2.  Today our trail requires us to rise a thousand feet.

our bodies  must take deep slow breaths to reach the high peaks

The land shaped by ice

We are walking over loose uneven shale that shifts with each step. 

I can hear the voice of my Uncle John telling me to always step from high point to high point through a field of larger rocks.  He was correct.

Frozen at least 10 months a year -there is almost no visible plant growth - over 11000ft.

Our laboring muscles require oxygen – and there is not enough

Finally we reach the heights – the pocket meadows of August, it is as if the glaciers left yesterday – leaving scattered erratic rocks – some as large as a bus, all sizes

In this land, some rocks bear the fresh markings of glacerial shaping, 

Some rocks have been polished by ice and sand; some have been scoured and sculpted.

But there are spaces for summer grass and a multitude of flowers

Walt Whitman said that on such a day he liked to “lean and loaf and observe a blade of summer grass”.

I have a special attraction for there high lands - the vast spaces - the unbroken vistas - it is a place of fascinating plants, geological events, and surprises.

I understand

Here I must consider the multitude of wonders before me

Here I can linger and become one with this land of rock and ice, of flowing water and tender growth

This land is frozen under ice for 10 months or more each year

In this brief time of summer it becomes a gentle wilderness

It inspires awe.

Late afternoon clouds

High mountain weather in August usually begins with  a clear blue sky in the morning

As we get out on the trail, white cumulus clouds come in by mid morning and grow in intensity, usually evaporating back to clear skies by evening.

Tonight was different

The clouds had grown into great thick dark masses by night.

We were snuggled in our warm sleeping bags when we heard distant thunder – which grew rapidly closer.

In walls of our yellow tent blazed with each lightning blast – first distant then it appeared that they came from all directions – even overhead.

Our yellow tent...

The blasts came more frequently...

We were camped close to Lambert Dome – which appeared to attract many of the lightning bolts – with no time passing between the flash and the bang!

Then rain beat against out rent, and then hail... but only briefly

I had visions of rivers of water flooding into our tent from higher lands above us

In the morning – the sun had once more returned

The storm forgotten

And out tent kept us high and dry

(to be continued next week)

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