Last night, i accidentally came across a very interesting article entitled "Expect More Floods as Global Water Speeds Up". The article was written by Sandra L. Postel and published at Nat Geo News Watch. The author began the article with such surprising and yet evidence-supported finding;
"Using satellite observations, NASA and university researchers have found that rivers and melting ice sheets delivered 18 percent more water to the oceans in 2006 than in 1994."
Now, based on the figure itself (i.e. almost 20%), it is indeed a huge increase in fresh water volume flowing into the oceans. In other words, the volume is estimated as equivalent to one Mississippi River in a year. Looking at the volume increment, some might think that this represents good news as human will be enjoying abundant freshwater supply due to the fact that some parts of the world are facing critical water shortage.
But the main problem lies on this statement;
".... most of the increase is occurring in places where extra water isn't needed, like the wet tropics or the remote Arctic, or is being delivered through torrential storms that overwhelm human infrastructure and coping capacities...."
Now, i believe that we could imagine the main issue evolving around this finding. The disastrous flood in Pakistan would be a good example of such problem. Massive rains have been observed during the most recent flood which involved a fifth of Pakistan area. Please compare the next two pictures which might be able to provide a good picture of such catastrophic flood. The pictures were taken at floods around Manchhar Lake in Pakistan on 18th September 2010.
Next, compare the following picture which was taken on 15th September 2010 (three days earlier) from the same area.
In guiding the readers towards the main reason of such phenomena, the author has directly pointed out the information on why the cycle is speeding up. Let's look at her explanation below;
".....As the atmosphere warms from the addition of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, it can hold more moisture. As a result, more water evaporates from the oceans, leading to thicker clouds that then dump more rainfall over the land. That heavier-than-normal rain can then produce massive flooding as it runs back toward the sea, where the cycle begins all over again....."
As the scientific evidence mounts that more severe floods and droughts are on the horizon, getting on with ways of adapting to climatic change becomes just as urgent as slowing the pace of that change. Frankly speaking, slowing down the pace of water cycle change would be the most important task in handling such matter. To be honest, i'm wondering on what could be done to minimize the pace of such change? If the answer is YES, would it make much difference? Hope to hear some views on this matter.
LAST QUESTION: Do you think that we are going to face similar "troubled waters problem " at east coast of Peninsular Malaysia during the next monsoon period?
"Using satellite observations, NASA and university researchers have found that rivers and melting ice sheets delivered 18 percent more water to the oceans in 2006 than in 1994."
Now, based on the figure itself (i.e. almost 20%), it is indeed a huge increase in fresh water volume flowing into the oceans. In other words, the volume is estimated as equivalent to one Mississippi River in a year. Looking at the volume increment, some might think that this represents good news as human will be enjoying abundant freshwater supply due to the fact that some parts of the world are facing critical water shortage.
But the main problem lies on this statement;
".... most of the increase is occurring in places where extra water isn't needed, like the wet tropics or the remote Arctic, or is being delivered through torrential storms that overwhelm human infrastructure and coping capacities...."
Now, i believe that we could imagine the main issue evolving around this finding. The disastrous flood in Pakistan would be a good example of such problem. Massive rains have been observed during the most recent flood which involved a fifth of Pakistan area. Please compare the next two pictures which might be able to provide a good picture of such catastrophic flood. The pictures were taken at floods around Manchhar Lake in Pakistan on 18th September 2010.
Next, compare the following picture which was taken on 15th September 2010 (three days earlier) from the same area.In guiding the readers towards the main reason of such phenomena, the author has directly pointed out the information on why the cycle is speeding up. Let's look at her explanation below;
".....As the atmosphere warms from the addition of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, it can hold more moisture. As a result, more water evaporates from the oceans, leading to thicker clouds that then dump more rainfall over the land. That heavier-than-normal rain can then produce massive flooding as it runs back toward the sea, where the cycle begins all over again....."
As the scientific evidence mounts that more severe floods and droughts are on the horizon, getting on with ways of adapting to climatic change becomes just as urgent as slowing the pace of that change. Frankly speaking, slowing down the pace of water cycle change would be the most important task in handling such matter. To be honest, i'm wondering on what could be done to minimize the pace of such change? If the answer is YES, would it make much difference? Hope to hear some views on this matter.
LAST QUESTION: Do you think that we are going to face similar "troubled waters problem " at east coast of Peninsular Malaysia during the next monsoon period?
Yes, I think east coast Peninsular Malaysia will facing the same problems due to the combined impacts of sea-level rise and increased river runoff during the monsoon season.
ReplyDeleteSo, maybe Geoengineering can slow down
the water cycle. In the new climate modeling study, which appears in the May 27-30 early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Bala and his colleagues Karl Taylor and Philip Duffy demonstrate that the sunshade geoengineering scheme could slow down the global water cycle (https://www.llnl.gov/news/newsreleases/2008/NR-08-05-04.html). The findings will be interesting but would it make much difference??or would it make a new 'disaster' to us??hmm...
That's one of the reason why our world is getting hot and hotter...our 'air-cond' will no more be used,and one day here just like a desert. even now,when i driving in d'midday,seem like my air-cond didn't function...may b we already late to make a changes...
ReplyDeleteto be honest, we might be a bit late in taking sufficient actions in mitigating the impacts. But still, there must be something that should be done..hrmm..But who should start first? environmentalist? government? United Nation?
ReplyDeleteNot only east coast area, the northern states of peninsular Malaysia also will be affected as several states are expected to experience nature’s fury as flash floods, thunderstorms, rough seas and strong winds of up to 60kph during the rainy or monsoon season..
ReplyDelete