landslides: April 2008

WES D

When my partner and I did the WES D project we had some prior knowledge about the coriolis effect. In the WES D project we learned about the coriolis effect.The Coriolis effect is most apparent in the path of an object moving longitudinally. On the earth an object that moves along a north and south path, or longitudinal line, will undergo apparent deflection to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. There are two reasons for this: first, the earth rotates eastward; and second, the tangential velocity of a point on the earth is a function of latitude (the velocity is essentially zero at the poles and it attains a maximum value at the Equator). So if a cannon was fired northward from a point on the Equator, the projectile would land to the east of its due north path. This occurs because the projectile is moving eastward faster at the equator than was its target farther north.

http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/glossary/coriolis_effect.html

Activity 6

For three weeks we have had to write down information about the weather. Everyday we recorded the high and low temperature, the barometer, the wind speed, the wind direction, the sky coverage, if there was any precipitation and the amount of the precipitation. To get the weather forcast for every day I went to noa.gov or weather bug, wich was very helpfull. I also figured out that there was a three-day weather history archive at these sites too, in case I forgot to get the weather for a day.
Later when I reviewed the whole chart I saw that we had mostly cloudy days, although there were a lot of sunny days too. Also the average high was 60 degrees and the average low was about 35 degrees.

Activity 4

When we started activity four I thought that the bottle with the black dirt and no clouds would get warmer faster under the light because black gets hot a lot faster. There were four different scenarios, one with white sand and clouds and white sand without clouds then black dirt with clouds and black dirt without clouds. In the results the black dirt with no clouds did actually heat up faster then the rest. The activity connects to my topic because if black dirt with no clouds heats up faster, than areas with that type of dirt might be more prone to landslides. Because a lot of plants could dry up on the hill due to over heating and then when it rains all the lose dirt would turn into a huge muddy landslide.

Activity 5

Prevailing winds develop waves and push them in one predominant direction forming surface ocean currents. This produces strong Equatorial Currents due to the trade winds and mid-latitude Easterly Currents due to the prevailing westerly winds. Surface ocean currents die out just like particle motion associated with wave motion dies out. As a result of the Coriolis force, the Trade winds (tropical easterly winds) push surface water to the west and north while the mid-latitude westerlies push water to the east and south. This forms a dome of water near 30° latitude (on average) between the two wind belts. As the dome builds, it sets up a pressure gradient and water attempts to flow away from the dome. As it flows away, it is deflected by Coriolis force and ends up flowing in the same direction as the prevailing winds on either side of the bulge. As currents flow west under the trade winds, they strike continental barriers. The currents are then deflected mostly northward (southward) in the northern (southern) hemisphere by the Coriolis effect forming Western Boundary Currents. The Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic Ocean is a prime example of this process.

http://earth.usc.edu/~slund/systems/topic4.html

http://www.erglobalscience.blogspot.com/

April Fools

Nature is playing April Fools because yesterday and the day before it was really warm for spring. Now today it's going to be really cold by the time it gets to night fall. And then it's supposed to snow. This cold weather front is caused by la nina.

A La Niña event occurs when cooler than normal sea surface temperatures form along the equator in the Pacific Ocean, specifically in the eastern to central Pacific. The La Niña we are experiencing now has a significant presence in the eastern part of the ocean.

The cooler water temperatures associated with La Niña are caused by an increase in easterly sea surface winds. Under normal conditions these winds force cooler water from below up to the surface of the ocean. When the winds increase in speed, more cold water from below is forced up, cooling the ocean surface.The changes in rainfall affect the strength and location of the jet stream -- the strong winds that guide weather patterns over the United States. Since the jet stream regulates weather patterns, any changes to it will have a great impact on the United States.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080114085128.htm

http://www.erglobalscience.blogspot.com/

Landslides are pretty much just a whole bunch
of rock and dirt that slide due to gravity. Which can also be caused by rain, floods, or earthquakes, alternate freezing or thawing. They happen in all 50 states , which is a big surprise to me because I never here of landslides happening in the U.S. Some natural causes of landslides are, ground water pressure that can destabilize the slope, losing top soil or plants, which can cause erosion. Erosion at the bottom of the slope caused by rivers or oceans. Weakening of the slope caused by snow melt, or heavy rains. Earthquakes and volc

anoes. Some human causes of landslides are, vibrations of machinery digging up a lot of dirt or blasting.

There are also several types of landslides and a couples of them are one, a debris landslide, which is just a bunch of mud and sticks. Another one is an earth flow, which is fine-grained material, like sand. And a deep seated landslide, in which the sliding surface is located beneath the roots of trees. Since landslides can destroy a lot man made things, throughout the year 1-2 billion in damage happens every year the U.S. Some examples are, the cost of fire, police, medical personnel, evacuations, and the demolition of crushed houses or the reconstruction of new houses.
Some signs to look for are springs, seeps, or saturated ground in areas that have not been typically wet before. Also look for new cracks or bulges in the ground. To help prevent landslides you should plant ground cover on slopes, or build retaining walls. Some warning signs are that the doors or windows begin to stick or jam, and underground utility start to break. Also usually landslides aren't really predicted, Landslides impact the following elements of the natural environment: (1) the topography/morphology of both the subaerial and submarine surfaces Link

of the Earth, (2) rivers, streams, forests, and grasslands, and (3) habitats of native fauna, both on the Earth’s surface and in its streams and oceans.

Also, warnings to people usually come to people on the news or weather channel, if it recently snowed or rained in huge amounts.

www.ussartf.org