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Zhangziajie, China, 2012 by Lydia Goetze
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/the_synthesis_of_chinese_landscape_painting_and_photography.shtml
IDS 330: “Environmental Leadership”
March 19, 2015
Components of the Earth System
AIR: The Atmosphere
The Atmosphere
“What is the atmosphere?”“The atmosphere is the thin veil of gas molecules that separates the Earth from the cold void of space. Its heat trapping ability helps to keep the Earth warm enough for life, and it also protects the Earth from harmful shortwave solar radiation and cosmic rays. This protective layer was initially formed by gases vented during the geologic tumult of the young Earth but was later altered by the work of photosynthesizing organisms of the early biosphere providing the oxygen we depend upon. The atmosphere is a dynamic body that interacts with all the “spheres” of Earth. The dynamism of the atmosphere can be witnessed everyday as it transfers solar heat from the equator toward the poles creating regular wind patterns such as the trade winds. Locally, we experience this mass movement of air molecules as a gentle breeze or the rare extreme of a tornado. The atmosphere in motion also transfers water evaporated from the oceans to the continents, providing precipitation critical to sustain terrestrial ecosystems. Without the atmosphere, the Earth would be like a bigger version of the moon – cold and lifeless.”
http://www.agci.org/classroom/atmosphere/
Composition of the Atmosphere
http://www.agci.org/classroom/atmosphere/
“Atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa Observatory”
http://www.earthonlinemedia.com/ebooks/tpe_3e/atmosphere/atmospheric_composition.html
L.A. Civic Center masked by smog on January 6, 1948. Courtesy of UCLA Library Special Collections - Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive
http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/history/los-angeles-smoggy-past-photos-31321.html
SMOG
“Air pollution from automobiles, industrial processes, and the burning of coal in factories and in homes has also been a serious problem. In the 19th century, episodes of "smog" (a combination of smoke and fog) in cities like New York and London resulted in many deaths. Air pollution continued to be a significant problem up through the middle of the 20th century. In late October of 1948, 20 people were asphyxiated and more than 7,000 became seriously ill as the result of severe air pollution over Donora, Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, 2005).”
“What is ‘Pollution’ ?” “This eerie photograph was
taken at noon on Oct. 29, 1948 in Donora, PA as deadly smog enveloped the town. 20 people were asphyxiated and
more than 7,000 became seriously ill during this
horrible event.”
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/pollution/02history.html
Highland Park Optimists Club 1954
http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/history/los-angeles-smoggy-past-photos-31321.html
SMOG“ ‘Smog’ is a common form of air pollution found mainly in urban
areas and large population centers. The term refers to any type of atmospheric pollution—regardless of source, composition, or concentration—that creates a significant reduction in atmospheric visibility. Smog encompasses a broad category of air pollutants created through a multitude of processes that relate specifically to the atmospheric conditions of the formation region. In the early 1900s, London was plagued by a particular type of smog that resulted from a combination of dense fog and soot from coal combustion. In modern times, the Los Angeles Basin is often associated with dense photochemical smog, produced through a combination of vehicle exhaust and sunlight. These are two of many examples of pollution classified as smog, but they are in no way chemically related. Smog refers to a diverse category of air pollutants with varying chemical composition; however, all types of smog form a visible haze that reduces atmospheric visibility.”
http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Physical_Chemistry/Kinetics/Case_Studies%3A_Kinetics/Smog
London Smog
“London Smog“London-type smog is mainly a product of burning large amounts of
high sulfur coal. Clean air laws passed in 1956 have greatly reduced smog formation in the United Kingdom; however, in other parts of the world London-type smog is still very prevalent. The main constituent of London-type smog is soot; however, these smogsalso contain large quantities of fly ash, sulfur dioxide, sodium chloride and calcium sulfate particles. If concentrations are high enough, sulfur dioxide can react with atmospheric hydroxide to produce sulfuric acid, which will precipitate as acid rain.
(1) SO2 + OH → HOSO2(2) HOSO2 + O2 → HO2 + SO3
(3) SO3 + H2O → H2SO4”
http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Physical_Chemistry/Kinetics/Case_Studies%3A_Kinetics/Smog
US EPA: “Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act:
Retrospective Study”“Using a sophisticated array of computer models, EPA found that by 1990 the differences
between the scenarios were so great that, under the so-called "no-control" case, an additional 205,000 Americans would have died prematurely and millions more would have suffered illnesses ranging from mild respiratory symptoms to heart disease, chronic bronchitis, asthma attacks, and other severe respiratory problems. In addition, the lack of Clean Air Act controls on the use of leaded gasoline would have resulted in major increases in child IQ loss and adult hypertension, heart disease, and stroke. Other benefits which could be quantified and expressed in dollar terms included visibility improvements, improvements in yields of some agricultural crops, improved worker attendance and productivity, and reduced household soiling damage.
“When the human health, human welfare, and environmental effects which could be expressed in dollar terms were added up for the entire 20-year period, the total benefits of Clean Air Act programs were estimated to range from about $6 trillion to about $50 trillion, with a mean estimate of about $22 trillion. These estimated benefits represent the estimated value Americans place on avoiding the dire air quality conditions and dramatic increases in illness and premature death which would have prevailed without the 1970 and 1977 Clean Air Act and its associated state and local programs. By comparison, the actual costs of achieving the pollution reductions observed over the 20 year period were $523 billion, a small fraction of the estimated monetary benefits. “
http://www.epa.gov/oar/sect812/design.html
“WHO Warns Beijing of Hazardous Pollution RiskUrges Residents to Stay Indoors on Sixth Day of Hazardous-Level
Air Pollution” Wall Street Journal Feb 25, 2014
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303426304579405092877173138?mod=e2fb
As of Tuesday night, levels of tiny, hazardous particulate matter known as PM2.5 averaged 452 micrograms per cubic meter over a 24-hour period, according to readings from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. That was more than 18 times the WHO'srecommended level of 25 micrograms per cubic meter.
Heavily pollution has plagued much of northern and central China since Thursday. Since the weekend, governments in the northeastern city of Tianjin and northern Hebei province have taken steps that include reducing the number of cars on the road and suspending some production in industries such as steel.
Water: the Hydrosphere
Drought?
http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/AboutUs/ClassificationScheme.aspx
“Drought” (West narrative) March 17, 2015
“West, Northwest and Southwest”“Precipitation did fall along the northern tier of the region during the week;
however, aside from the highest elevations, temperatures were too warm to support much-needed snowfall. Degradation was made in Oregon and Utah due to low snowpack amounts that have plagued the west coast this past winter. Mountain snowpack across the Olympic, Cascade, Coastal Range, and Sierra Nevada is at least 25 percent below the 30-year normal. In the Sierra Nevada, precipitation amounts for the water year are 10 inches or more below normal. To exacerbate matters, average temperatures were well above normal. Temperatures in Los Angeles reached 90 degrees F for a March record four consecutive days. This just after California besting their winter (Dec-Feb) average temperature, set just last year (2013/14), by 1.5 degrees F. Washington State also had one of their warmest winters on record with an anomaly 6.0F above the 20th century average. The average temperature in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona was also record warm this past winter.”
http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/Narrative.aspx
Global Water Distribution
http://water.usgs.gov/edu/gallery/global-water-volume.html
Source and Use of Freshwater in the U.S.
http://water.usgs.gov/edu/wateruse-diagrams.html
USGS: Freshwater Storage
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/gw/compar.html
What is a “watershed”?
“A creek's watershed is the area of land from
which water drains into that creek. Every creek
has a watershed defined by the lay of
the land and bounded by ridge lines that
separate it from the next watershed. So no matter where you live,
work, or play, that place is part of a
watershed. “
http://www.uky.edu/OtherOrgs/KRWW/Educational%20Resources/About%20Watersheds.html
“What is a ‘river’ ?”“What is a river?”“A river is nothing more than surface water
finding its way over land from a higher altitude to a lower altitude, all due to gravity. When rain falls on the land, it either seeps into the ground or becomes runoff, which flows downhill into rivers and lakes, on its journey towards the seas. In most landscapes the land is not perfectly flat—it slopes downhill in some direction. Flowing water finds its way downhill initially as small creeks. As small creeks flow downhill they merge to form larger streams and rivers. Rivers eventually end up flowing into the oceans. If water flows to a place that is surrounded by higher land on all sides, a lake will form. If people have built a dam to hinder a river's flow, the lake that forms is a reservoir.”
http://water.usgs.gov/edu/earthrivers.html
How Groundwater occurs…
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/gw/how_a.html
Groundwater and Aquifers
“Groundwater depletion and sustainability of irrigationin the US High Plains and Central Valley”
“A newly developed High Plains recharge map shows that high recharge in the northern High Plains results in sustainable pumpage, whereas lower recharge in the central and southern High Plains has resulted in focused depletion of 330 km3 of fossil groundwater, mostly recharged during the past 13,000 y. Depletion is highly localized with about a third of depletion occurring in 4% of the High Plains land area. Extrapolation of the current depletion rate suggests that 35% of the southern High Plains will be unable to support irrigation within the next 30 y.” B Scanlon, et al. PNAS June 12, 2012 V. 109: 24 9320-9325
http://www.pnas.org/content/109/24/9320.full.pdf+html
“Measured groundwater level changes from predevelopment (∼1950) to 2007 in the High Plains aquifer” AND “Simulated groundwater level changes from predevelopment
(∼1860) to 1961 in the confined aquifer (17). Groundwater basins include the Sacramento, Delta/East sides, San Joaquin, and Tulare.”
http://www.pnas.org/content/109/24/9320.full.pdf+html
“Groundwater depletionin the confined Central Valley aquifer”
Scanlon et al. www.pnas.org/cgi/content/short/1200311109“Supporting Information”
Southern California Groundwater Basins
Freshwater Ecosystems
Freshwater?
“How extensive are global freshwater systems and how have they been modified?
“Surface waters — as rivers, lakes, and wetlands — occupy 0.08% of Earth's surface and account for only 0.01% of the world's freshwater; more than 90% is locked in polar ice. To maximize the potential of the water at our disposal, we've modified rivers and lakes by altering waterways, draining wetlands, and constructing dams and irrigation channels. In fact, the number of large dams increased sevenfold since 1950. We've also built canals and pipelines to connect water basins to make it possible to transfer water between basins. These changes enabled us to increase farm yields and hydropower and control flooding. But they've also changed the natural hydrological cycle in most of the world's rivers. In many cases rivers have become disconnected from their wetlands and floodplains, key components of freshwater ecosystems. Wetlands provide flood control, carbon storage, water purification and goods such as fish, shellfish, timber, and fiber. It is estimated that in the last 100 years, half the world's wetlands were converted to agroecosystemsor urban areas.
http://www.pbs.org/earthonedge/ecosystems/freshwater1.html
What about water availability and quality?
“Many experts, governments, and international organizations predict that water availability will be one of the major challenges facing humanity in the 21st century.
“Humans withdraw about 4,000 cubic kilometers (km3) of water per year from global freshwater sources. Scientists estimate that the amount of runoff (the renewable supply of water that flows through rivers after evaporation and infiltration) totals between 39,500 km3 and 42,700 km3 per year.
“But only about 9,000 km3 is readily available for us to use; another 3,500 km3 is stored in reservoirs. Scientists view as problematic those regions where water availability is less than 1,700 km3 per person per year. Currently 2.3 billion live in such regions. It is estimated that by 2025 that number will increase to 3.5 billion, 48% of the world's projected population. Between 1950 and 2000, water availability per person per year went from 16,800 m3 to 6,800 m3.”
http://www.pbs.org/earthonedge/ecosystems/freshwater1.html
http://www.americanrivers.org/initiatives/dams/why-remove/
http://www.americanrivers.org/initiatives/dams/why-remove/
How do dams damage rivers???
California
Geologic Map of
California
http://www.consrv.ca.gov/cgs/cgs_history/Pages/geologicm
aps.aspx
Soil Map of California
http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/drup
al/node/776
Precipitation in California
http://www.geologycafe.com/images/precipitation&relief&water_sma
ll.jpg
http://frap.cdf.ca.gov/webdata/maps/statewide/fvegwhr13_map.pd
f
California Watershed Browser (California State Department of Conservation)
http://www.conservation.ca.gov/dlrp/watershedportal/WatershedBrowser/Pages/WatershedBrowser.as
px
Alluvial Groundwater Basins and Sub-basins within the South Coast Hydrologic Region
Southern California Groundwater Basins
Elinor Ostrom,, Governing the Commons: the Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action, Cambridge, Cambridge Univ Press, 1990. p.37
San Gabriel Valley Water
Company:Service Area
Oceans (Courtesy of the CIA)
http://www.marinebio.net/marinescience/02ocean/swcomposition.htm
Ocean Layers
Composition of Seawater
http://www.marinebio.net/marinescience/02ocean/swcomposition.htm
Ocean Processes / Ocean Acidification
“…the chemistry of the Earth's oceans is changing as a result of the absorption of anthropogenic
carbon dioxide emissions. The ocean's absorb about 25% of the
carbon dioxide released from human activities each year. The result is a decrease in pH and acidification of ocean water
leading to severe consequences for ocean ecosystems.”
http://www.earthonlinemedia.com/ebooks/tpe_3e/earth_system/digging_deeper_ocean_acidification.html
Water Wars?
Los Angeles: The Fight for Water– Long court battles establish Pueblo water rights in 1890s
• Right to full flow of Los Angeles River
• Including surface and groundwater
• Could not be sold to groups outside the city limits
– Expand city limits through annexation
– 1898 - City charter changed to require public control of water system
– Established Board of Water Commissioners appointed by mayor, approved by city council
• Appointed William Mulholland superintendent of water system
– Owens Valley Aqueduct
• Former LA mayor Fred Eaton advocated aqueduct starting in 1890s
– Began buying options on land in Owens Valley around 1901
– Hoped to sell rights to half of water to LA, market other half to other S. Cal. cities
– Failed to raise enough capital to gain control of enough land
• U.S. Reclamation Service considers building reservoir for local irrigation
– Drops plan in favor of LA aqueduct plan
– Reclamation Service supervising engineer, J. B. Lippincott, also consultant for Los Angeles and good friend of Eaton
• 1904 - LA agents secretly buy options on land with water rights
• 1905 - Preliminary bond measure approved• 1906 - Congress grants aqueduct right of
way over federal land with strong backing from President Theodore Roosevelt
• 1907 - Full bond measure for $25M approved
• 1913 - Construction of aqueduct completed• 1915 - San Fernando Valley annexed into LA• Resentment built among Owens Valley
ranchers– National sympathy generated by
author Mary Austin, one-time associate of Lummis
– Drought in early 1920s led to increased diversions by LA
– Owens Valley bankers tried to secure water rights to sell to LA
– First dynamiting of aqueduct in 1924
– Mulholland refused to deal with ranchers
– Ranchers seized Alabama gates to divert water back into river
– Bombings and economic battles continued into 1927
– Owens Valley banks finally collapsed– LA forced to buy much more of
Owens Valley» Tinnemaha Reservoir and
valley floor• 1930 - $40M bond issue approved to
expand aqueduct into Mono Basin• 1940 - Extension completed, diversions
begun
http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~joel/g148_f09/lecture_notes/urban_water/urban_water.html
Owens Lake
“Construction of the Jawbone siphon of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, 1912.
[courtesy of the Joseph Barlow Lippincott collection, UC Berkeley Water Resources
Center Archives]”
“Manufacturing Dust: The dry bed of what was once Owens Lake contains the detritus of Los Angeles’s fantasies. Starting in 1913, the City of Los Angeles, which historian Kevin Starr has called “the most exquisite invented garden in history,” gradually drained the enormous lake, located two hundred miles to the north of the city. [1] It was a monumental act of engineering: an aqueduct was constructed and then, like a garden hose that was picked up and moved, the Owens River was shifted, so that instead of watering Owens Lake it was watering Los Angeles. In this way the Owens River also began to supply an emerging area called “Hollywoodland,” its water used to create, in the arid landscape of Southern California, a version of the English Lake District. The river fed by the lake supplied 100 percent of Los Angeles’s water, and as a result the 110-square-mile lake gradually dried up and became a howling wasteland of toxic dust. The farmers of Owens Valley fought tenaciously to keep their lake and their river, even resorting to dynamiting the aqueduct (a drama depicted in Chinatown). But they lost. “
http://places.designobserver.com/feature/dreams-dust-and-birds-the-trashing-of-owens-lake/23328/
Owens Lake?
http://infrascapedesign.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/owens-lake-and-la-aqueduct-bibliography/
http://www.gbuapcd.org/owenslake/
“Owens Lake is one of the largest sources of PM10 in the United States Water was first diverted from the Owens
River to the City of Los Angeles in 1913, and by 1926 Owens Lake was dry. Today, the Owens lakebed produces
enormous amounts of windblown dust in exceedence of federal air pollution standards for particulate matter. Particulate pollution is generally associated with dust,
smoke and haze and is measured as PM-10 , which is an acronym for particulate matter less than 10 microns in
diameter. Breathing PM-10 can cause a variety of health problems. The National Ambient Air Quality Standard for
PM10 is set at 150 µg/m³ for a 24-hour average. Studies of dust transport from Owens Lake show that the standard can
be exceeded more than 50 miles away and expose many more people to violations of the PM-10 standard than just the residents near Owens Lake. The dust from Owens Lake
affects about 40,000 permanent residents between Ridgecrest and Bishop.”
http://esp.cr.usgs.gov/projects/sw/swdust/pdfs/toxic_dust_poster.pdf
http://esp.cr.usgs.gov/projects/sw/swdust/pdfs/toxic_dust_poster.pdf
Owens Lake Dust
http://www.csrl.ars.usda.gov/wewc/icarv/96.pdf
http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/sw/impacts/geology/owens/
“BSNE Sampler” deployedin Owens Lakebed
http://weru.ksu.edu/new_weru/publications/Andrew_pdf/A%20fi
eld%20dust%20sampler.pdf
“Dust Deposition in Nevada, California, and Utah, 1984-2002,” Marith C. ReheisU.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 03-138 Version 1.0
Table 1: “Information on locations of dust traps and composition of nearby dust sources.”
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2003/ofr-03-138/
http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/sw/impacts/geology/owens/
“ In addition to health problems, Owens (dry) Lake dust affects visibility in many nearby areas, including three national parks (Sequoia, Kings Canyon,
and Death Valley) and several national forests and wilderness areas. For example, dust plumes have been tracked to elevations of over 3,000 meters in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains (fig. 1), 100
kilometers north of Owens Lake, and reports of dust-covered vegetation in the White-Inyo Range are common (Gill, 1996). Owens dust storms regularly cause suspension of operations at China Lake Naval Weapons Center (near
China Lake, fig. 2a) resulting in millions of dollars in economic losses. “
http://esp.cr.usgs.gov/projects/sw/swdust/pdfs/toxic_dust_poster.pdf
David Maisel: The Lake Project
http://www.davidmaisel.com/works/lak.asp
“The ground is bleeding. A red river cuts a path through a bleached valley, winding toward a lake that is no longer there. Seen from the air, the river
and its dry terminus appear otherworldly. In actuality, this terrain is located in Owens Valley, an arid stretch of land in southeastern California, between the Sierra Mountains and the White-Inyo Range. The history of
this region is the stuff of California legend: a story of engineers, politicians, and big land owners working together to divert water to the
rapidly growing desert city of Los Angeles, generating a thriving agricultural industry and an environmental disaster in the process.”
THE COLORADO RIVER
http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~joel/g148_f09/lecture_notes/colo_river/colo_river.html
What is a “watershed”?
“A creek's watershed is the area of land from
which water drains into that creek. Every creek
has a watershed defined by the lay of
the land and bounded by ridge lines that
separate it from the next watershed. So no matter where you live,
work, or play, that place is part of a
watershed. “
http://www.uky.edu/OtherOrgs/KRWW/Educational%20Resources/About%20Watersheds.html
“What is a ‘river’ ?”“What is a river?”“A river is nothing more than surface water
finding its way over land from a higher altitude to a lower altitude, all due to gravity. When rain falls on the land, it either seeps into the ground or becomes runoff, which flows downhill into rivers and lakes, on its journey towards the seas. In most landscapes the land is not perfectly flat—it slopes downhill in some direction. Flowing water finds its way downhill initially as small creeks. As small creeks flow downhill they merge to form larger streams and rivers. Rivers eventually end up flowing into the oceans. If water flows to a place that is surrounded by higher land on all sides, a lake will form. If people have built a dam to hinder a river's flow, the lake that forms is a reservoir.”
http://water.usgs.gov/edu/earthrivers.html
The Colorado River
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-colorado-river-runs-dry-61427169/?no-ist
Colorado River Compact • Negotiated by Commerce Secretary
Herbert Hoover in 1922• Based on assumed average flow of
17.5 million acre feet– Overestimate of 20th Century average
by 2-3 million acre feet– Long term average from tree ring
reconstructions is about 14.5 MAF– Some indications that 21st Century flow
will be considerably lower due to global warming
• Divided basin into two sub-basins– Lee's Ferry in northern Arizona
designated as boundary between basins• Last place river is accessible before
Grand Canyon
– 7.5 million acre feet to upper basin states of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico
– At least 7.5 million acre feet to lower basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada • Riverflow gauge at Lee's Ferry
– 1.5 million acre feet left in river for Mexico
– Made no attempt to divide allocations between states within basins
• States couldn't agree, so nothing happened initially
• Congress took action in 1928– Authorized building Boulder Dam and
All American Canal– Established lower basin allocations
• 4.4 million acre feet to California• 2.8 million acre feet to Arizona• 300,000 acre feet to Nevada• Required Compact be ratified by at least
six states before construction began• Arizona refused but other six agreed
http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~joel/g148_f09/lecture_notes/colo_river/colo_river.html
Riverflow gauge at Lee's Ferryhttp://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~joel/g148_f09/lecture_notes/colo_river/colo_river.html
“Long term average from tree ring reconstructions is about 14.5 MAFSome indications that 21st Century flow will be considerably lower due to global warming”
http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~joel/g148_f09/lecture_notes/colo_river/colo_river.html
http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~joel/g148_f09/lecture_notes/colo_river/colo_river.html
Hoover Dam
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/opinion/where-the-colorado-river-runs-dry.html?_r=0
“Satellite view of the ending point of the Colorado River near the Gulf of California, Mexico. The Colorado River can
be seen in dark blue at the topmost central part of this image.” Credit: NASA Earth Observatory.
http://water.usgs.gov/edu/gallery/colorado-river-end.html
“One river that doesn't participate anymore in this normal cycle is the mighty Colorado River, flowing from Colorado to the Gulf of California in Mexico. The Colorado River certainly starts out as mighty—mighty enough to have carved out the Grand Canyon—but nowadays it does not even end as a trickle. Whereas it once flowed into a large marshy area at the Gulf of California, today it literally disappears in the farmlands at the base of the Sierra de Juarez Mountains in Mexico. As the Colorado River flows through the desert Southwest, it gets used and used by millions of thirsty residents and for crop irrigation; used until there is nothing left. In this satellite view of the "exit point" of the Colorado River, the river itself is the dark blue patch at the top.”
http://www3.cec.org/islandora/en/item/1136-vaquita-north-american-conservation-action-plan-en.pdf
http://www3.cec.org/islandora/en/item/1136-vaquita-north-american-conservation-action-plan-en.pdf
California Environmental Protection Agency,
Regional Water Quality Control Board,
Colorado River Basin Region “Staff Report: Water Quality Issues
in theSalton Sea Transboundary
Watershed”(February 2003)
http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/coloradoriver/water_issues/programs/salton_sea/docs/salton_sea_watershed_
staff_report_2003.pdf
The Salton Sea
“The Salton Sea is a closed basin, saline lake that is about 35 miles long and 9 to 15 miles wide with approximately 360 square miles of water surface area and 105 miles of shoreline. The surface of the Sea lies approximately 227 feet below mean sea level.[MSL] The Salton Sea is a designated repository for agricultural return flows from the Imperial and Coachella Valleys. In 1924 and 1928, President Coolidge executed Public Water Reserve Order Numbers 90 and 114, respectively, for withdrawal of 123,360 acresof public land lying at an elevation of 220 feet below MSL, in and surrounding the Salton Sea. These lands were designated as a repository to receive and store agricultural, surface, and subsurface drainage waters. The State of California designated the Sea for this same purpose in 1968. The current inflow into the Salton Sea is about 1.3-million acre-feet per year, which is approximately equal to the rate of evaporation. Currently, the Sea is 25% saltier than the ocean (total dissolved solids concentration ofn 44,000 milligrams per liter), with salinity increasing at approximately 1% per year. Over 70% of the freshwater inflows to the Sea consist of agricultural drain water from Imperial Valley. Because the Sea has no outlet, salts concentrate in it and nutrients enhance the formation of eutrophicconditions. The Sea’s salinity problem cannot be directly addressed from a strictly regulatory standpoint; rather a coordinated solution involving an engineered solution aimed at stabilization and/or restoration of salinity levels must be developed. The Salton Sea can also be classified as a eutrophic lake - impaired by nutrients, which result in low dissolved oxygen, high ammonia levels, and foul odors...[a] National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1930 to preserve wintering habitat for millions of waterfowl and other migratory birds. Today, the National Wildlife Refuge is a critical stop on the Pacific Flyway for migrating birds, including several state-and federally-listed endangered and threatened species. However, catastrophic die-offs of birds and fish between 1992 and 1999 indicate the Sea is in serious trouble, and may be unable to support these beneficial uses in the future.”
http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/coloradoriver/water_issues/programs/salton_sea/docs/salton_sea_
watershed_staff_report_2003.pdf
“Great concern recently has been expressed about the fate of the Salton Sea ecosystem because of
increasing salinity, contamination from agricultural and urban sources, disease outbreaks,
and large die-offs of waterbirds. Particularly hard hit in the 1990s were the Eared
Grebe (150,000 in 1992, unknown causes); American White Pelican(9,000 in 1996, botulism);
Brown Pelican (1,200 in 1996, botulism); and waterfowl, shorebirds, and waders (>11,000 in 1998, avian cholera). Concern is heightened because connections with other important
ecosystems in western North America link the health of populations of many species of
waterbirds to that of the Salton Sea. Additionally, because of the loss or degradation of other major
wetland systems in the Pacific Flyway, including the nearby Río Colorado Delta region, birds have
Become increasingly dependent on the Salton Sea. “
Grebes, pelicans, shorebirds and waders
http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Conservation/Flyways-and-Wildlife-Corridors.aspx
http://www.pacificflyway.gov/Documents/Pacific_map.pdf
Devil’s Hole Pupfish”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMZgrLiTSZE
USGS: “What is Devils Hole?”
“Devils Hole is a subaqueous cavern in south-central Nevada withina geographically detached unit of Death Valley National Park (fig. 1). Thecavern is tectonic in origin and has developed in Cambrian carbonate rocks bordering the Ash Meadows oasis (Carr, 1988). The open fault zone comprising the cave extends to a depth of at least 130 meters below the water table, which is about 15 meters below land surface (Riggs and others, 1994).The primary source of groundwater flowing through Devils Hole, and discharging from the major springs within the oasis, is precipitation on the Spring Mountains to the east of the cavern. The Spring Mountains are the highest mountain range in southern Nevada (altitude 3,630 meters)”
Devil’s Hole Pupfish”
“A count in April 2013, estimated 35 Devils Hole pupfish remain in their natural habitat. A September count estimated 65 fish. These record low spring and fall counts indicate that this small, inch-long, iridescent blue fish could now be at significant risk of extinction.
A Harsh Environment “Devils Hole pupfish is one of the world’s rarest fishes, spending most of its life in the
top 80 feet of the 93 degree waters of cavern in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Its habitat is one of the smallest natural ranges known for any vertebrate.
“Devils Hole is an extreme environment, with water temperatures and dissolved oxygen concentrations near their lethal limits for fish. It is thought this fish has survived and adapted to these harsh conditions for thousands of years.
“Although the surface of the Devils Hole pool is small, it is an aquifer over 400 feet deep that is linked to groundwater important to Nevada and California. Scientist have recently discovered a connection with Devils Hole to earthquakes thousands of miles away. In 2012, violent pressure waves (mini-tsunami) were recorded in Devils Hole as a result of earthquakes as far away as El Salvador and Mexico. “
Devil’s Hole Pupfish --Efforts To Stop The Decline
“A Management Oversight Team that includes the Service, National Park Service and the Nevada Department of Wildlife, is evaluating possible processes to analyze the risk of future management options that may be implemented. Possible short-term actions for 2013 include:
1) Keep feeding pupfish in Devils Hole;2) Increase early life state pupfish (ELS) hiding cover on the shallow shelf using artificial and natural cover packets;3) Do a survey of ELS every two weeks to ascertain reproduction;4) Prepare the Ash Meadows Fish Conservation Facility (AMFCF) to accept eggs, ELS or adult pupfish; and5) Move pupfish eggs to the AMFCF to reduce the risk of extinction by establishing an additional population outside of Devils Hole.
“Establishing A Refuge Population
“Previous attempts to maintain captive populations of pure Devils Hole pupfish in 2006 and 2007 failed. A captive hybrid population of Ash Meadows Armargosa pupfish crossed with Devils Hole pupfish, however, has continued to thrive and remains at Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay.
Biologists are hopeful a new Ash Meadows Fish Conservation Facility will more closely mimic the conditions in Devils Hole will provide a stable environment to establish a refuge population of the species. The Service and its partners have developed protocols and procedures for operation of the facility and the scientific work it will host. This includes protocols (when, how, why, etc.) for moving pupfish, including their eggs and larvae, from Devils Hole to the man-made habitat in an attempt to establish a captive population.
The first eggs were successfully moved to the facility this fall. As of November 2013, some larvae have successfully hatched and are feeding and growing at the facility.”
Ash Meadows Fish Conservation Facility (AMFCF)
http://www.igshpa.okstate.edu/pdf_files/2013_conf/proceedings/10-10-2013-1300-The_Ash_Meadows_Fish_Conservation_Facility-
Darrick_Weissenfluh.pdf
DEVIL’S HOLE
AMFCF
