Malaysia moves against coastal erosion crisis

Sohail Rahman in Al-Jazeera.com: ...Malaysia and Denmark ... have been working on environmental projects for over a decade. Both recognise the importance of their coastline and Denmark has years of experience in dealing with water levels and rising seas.

...So fast forward to Penang, coastal erosion and fresh water fishermen. They have a huge problem of coastal degradation. Is global warming the reason for the way typhoons have hit Asia Pacific these past few years, or the terrible floods that hit Malaysia in December 2014?

It could be a factor if the bigger global environmental jigsaw puzzle is worked out Here, though, the government, local and national is working with local nongovernmental organisations, acknowledging there is a need to support the livelihoods of over 200 fisherman on the island that locals call Pulau Pinang.

Together they identify vulnerable areas, work out which of the 150 species of hmangrove will be best suited to binding the land, grow quickly and feed the natural wildlife that depends on the plants. Keeping salt water away and encouraging freshwater wildlife that can sustain communities, such as fish, prawns and lobster to return.

...It is working yet we hear very little about it. Some NGOs such as The Consumer Association of Penang say the government need to do more and quickly. It is an easy statement to make but no government official likes to be told what to do. Yet Malaysia will be doing that soon enough. Telling its neighbours or the international community at the UN what they think and what needs to be done....

Pakistan's coastal villagers retreat as seas gobble land

Rina Saeed Khan in Reuters via the Thomson Reuters Foundation: For fisherman Sammar Dablo, it was as if "the seawater stole our homes" when land erosion forced his village to relocate further inland on Pakistan's south coast.

The people of the fan-shaped Indus Delta, where the Indus River meets the Arabian Sea, are among the poorest of the poor, mostly illiterate and living in wooden shacks on the mud flats. As seawater has washed into the delta, destroying thousands of hectares of fertile land and contaminating underground water channels, they survive by fishing in the saltwater creeks where dolphins are a common sight.

...The move was not easy, as households had to spend 15,000 rupees ($149) each to build new huts for themselves, he added. The story of Phirt village is not an isolated case. According to Dablo, many other communities in the delta are also shifting as their land disappears.

The latest scientific report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change pointed out that at the same time as sea levels are rising, most Asian deltas are sinking due to groundwater extraction, floodplain engineering and the trapping of sediment by dams.

The Indus Delta has seen an 80 percent reduction in sediment since the early 20th century, according to a 2009 paper published in Nature Geoscience. Around 20 dams and a large number of canals divert the waters of the Indus River, depriving the delta of fresh water.

Some inhabitants have moved to inland mud flats, where they do not have to buy the land they occupy. Others are decamping to Karachi’s coastal villages where relatives have settled. ... Climate change is clearly increasing vulnerabilities in the delta area. Sea-level rise is contributing to higher storm surges, erosion, flooding and salinity, according to WWF-Pakistan...

NASA view of the Indus River delta

California residents braced for floods and mudslides as rain sweeps state

Amanda Holpunch in the Guardian (UK): A Pacific storm is sweeping through California, providing the drought-stricken state with a brief respite from its arid conditions but triggering fears of mudslides and floods. The downpour, however, will put a minor dent in the three-year drought and comes with mudslide evacuations, traffic hazards and concerns that it could give a misleading impression of the state’s water conditions.

The Los Angeles region could experience its heaviest rainfall in two years. The National Weather Service predicted that up to six inches could fall in the southern part of the state by the end of Wednesday. Authorities on Tuesday issued a mandatory evacuation for 75 homes in Camarillo Springs, about 50 miles north of Los Angeles. The order was lifted at 6pm, though people were urged to voluntarily stay out of their homes. Voluntary evacuation notices were also issued to dozens of other homes in southern California.

San Francisco’s famed cable cars had to shut down during the downpour. The California highway patrol reported an increase in traffic hazards and a large number of car crashes in the Bay Area. Many flights in the region were delayed because of the rain.

Sacramento received 0.53 inches of rain on Tuesday, and was due for another half-inch into Wednesday. Over the next few days, more than four inches of rain are expected in the mountainous parts of the state.

Flash-flood warnings were issued to in parts of El Dorado and Placer counties because of the quick pace of the rain storm. These regions were beset by the King Fire, which covered more than 150 square miles and brought in firefighters from other states including Alaska and Florida. The state has launched projects to fight erosion of the devastated land...

The Golden Gate through the rain drops. A beautiful shot by Brocken Inaglory Brocken Inaglory, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons 3.0

Sea erosion leaves thousands of Liberians homeless

Jennifer Lazuta in Voice of America News: The homes and businesses of thousands of poor people living on Liberia's coast are being swept away by rising sea levels. Liberia’s Environmental Protection Agency says a project is underway to help stop the erosion, but that there is not enough funding.  

“The situation is terrible. The sea erosion has taken away our homes," said Joe Muffer, who lives in Grand Bassa County’s Buchanan City, one of several areas that have been badly affected by the erosion. "Right now, we have had to relocate my family to an abandoned school building because as you can see the sea erosion is still tough. The sea is rising every day, every moment. We are in dire need of help right now," he explained.

Liberia’s Environmental Protection Agency is aware of the problems the rising sea levels are causing and has been working to control the erosion.

Stephen Y. Neufville, deputy executive director of the EPA, said, “The first phase of the project is ongoing. There have been some drawbacks, but we are responding to the impact of the sea encroaching on the city, and therefore putting boulders and other things to minimize the impact.”

Neufville said the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy has spent $6 million on various projects throughout the country to reduce the negative effects of climate change, including sea erosion....

A cell tower in Monrovia, with the eroding coasts of Monrovia Bay in the background, shot by http://www.flickr.com/photos/whiteafrican/3349747776/in/set-72157614650422899/, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons 2.0 license

Rim Fire's effects likely to last for decades to come

Bettina Boxall in the Los Angeles Times: ...The huge Rim fire, ignited Aug. 17 by a hunter's illegal campfire, is likely to have transformed large swaths of the Stanislaus National Forest for decades to come.

Remote sensing satellite images indicate that virtually all of the vegetation is dead on nearly 40% of the area of the 401-square-mile blaze, which burned from the national forest into the western portion of Yosemite National Park, where it continues to smolder.

Burned chaparral and oak will quickly resprout. But where large patches of trees were killed, ecologists say it could take 30 to 50 years for the forest to reestablish itself in the shrub fields that are the first to grow. If there are more fires in the meantime, the land could permanently convert to chaparral. "You're looking at a huge area that doesn't have any living conifers," said Hugh Safford, regional ecologist for the U.S. Forest Service. "The big question really for managers and the public is what's that landscape going to look like in 50 to 100 years. It's going to look really different."

... Two weeks ago, dozens of federal scientists from around the country set out to assess the damage and plan emergency recovery efforts. They fanned out across the forest, digging holes to see if the soil would hold water or repel it in erosive sheets. They checked trails and roads and known archaeological sites.

...Curtis Kvamme, a Forest Service soil scientist who was on his fifth day of poking in the dirt, took a shovel to scrape a thin layer of ash from the ground in an area of badly burned timberland. ...Kvamme's verdict: The soil had burned at high severity, meaning there is a greater chance of erosion. Instead of seeping into the earth, rainfall or snowmelt could wash in torrents downslope, potentially contributing to flooding....

Fire crews construct fireline on the Rim Fire. The Rim Fire in the Stanislaus National Forest near in California began on Aug. 17, 2013. U.S. Forest Service photo by Mike McMillan.

Are restoration efforts in China halting soil erosion?

Kate Langford in News and Events at World Agroforestry: Immense effort has been put into combating soil erosion in China over recent decades, but how effective have these been? A new study published in Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology found a strong positive relationship between vegetation cover and soil erosion reduction benefit.

Interestingly, the authors discovered that when vegetation cover is below 60 per cent, the soil erosion reduction benefit increases sharply with increasing vegetation cover. But when cover exceeds 60 per cent, the benefits may be diminished. Says co-author, Jianchu Xu from the World Agroforestry Centre, “This implies that vegetation restoration programs should probably aim for only partial vegetation cover”.

Xu warns, however, that because of the variation which occurs in the natural environment, one has to be careful not to universally apply this percentage. “Each location has its own specific characteristics in terms of geographical conditions, vegetation species, forest/grass ratio, age of species and management regime.”

The critical vegetation cover percentage is also determined by factors such as rainfall characteristics, soil type, slope and rainfall intensity. The spatial distribution of vegetation is also significant. In the study, conducted by scientists from the World Agroforestry Centre, National University of Singapore and the Kunming Institute of Botany, a wide range of different sites were analysed to represent the varying climatic zones in China.

Soil erosion is second only to population growth as the biggest environmental and public health problem facing human society; costing an estimated US $400 billion per year globally. In China, top soil is being lost 30 to 40 times faster than the natural replenishment rate as a result of rapid development. Soil erosion is of particular concern in the upper and middle reaches of large river basins such as the Yangtze River, Yellow River and Pearl River...

The eroding edge of the loess plateau just north of Linxia City (near the Wanshou Guan pagoda). Shot by Vmenkov, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Climate change affecting livelihood options in Assam

Business Line from the Hindu (India): Climate change leading to natural disasters, particularly flood and erosion, has affected the livelihood options of thousands of people across Assam, a study has found out.

The impact of the climate change is most pronounced among marginalised women, but it has also pushed people from prosperous families into taking up work of domestic assistance and daily wage labour, the study revealed.

In many cases, young women of less developed and remote areas have even been pushed into flesh trade after natural disasters wiped out their options of making an honest livelihood.

The study was conducted by the Centre for Environment, Social and Policy Research (CESPR) in collaboration with the Indian Network on Ethics and Climate Change.

It has been observed that during the last few years there has been a significant change in the livelihood options of people due to climate distortions, CESPR spokesperson Sabita Devi says.

The study was undertaken in the six severely disaster-affected districts of Lakhimpur, Majuli in Jorhat, Morigaon, Sonitpur, Baksa and Dibrugarh….

An aerial view of the Brahmaputra River in Assam, shot by Akarsh Simha, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

The coastal conundrum: Balancing the costs of erosion vs. flooding

PhysOrg: A study, carried out by scientists from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and today awarded the 2012 Lloyd's Science of Risk prize for Climate Change research, shows how the benefits of protecting our coastline from erosion must be balanced against the impacts of coastal flooding.

Focussing on a 72km stretch of shoreline along the East Anglian coast, the team detail the interconnection between the two risks of erosion and flooding and show that in some cases, allowing natural erosion of coastlines could reduce the impact of flooding in surrounding areas associated with rising sea levels.

Richard Dawson, Professor of Earth Systems Engineering at Newcastle University, lead author of this study says the research – which will be further developed in a new book to be launched in Spring 2013 - highlights the trade-off between shoreline management policy and other priorities. "We know that sea levels are rising and will continue to do so over the 21st Century, what we don't know is by exactly how much, or how fast," he explains. "That means we need flexible strategies in place so that we are ready whatever the climate throws at us in the future. These strategies must be coordinated and recognise the large scale connectivity of coastal processes – such as the movement of sand along the coastline. "

Given pressures of rising sea levels and large coastal populations, coupled with increased pressure on finances, it seems unlikely we will be able to afford to protect every stretch of coastline. Land will be lost to the sea so we're going to have to make difficult decisions about what our priorities are." Coastal defences put in place by Victorian engineers over a century ago have re-shaped the UK coastline, artificially protecting some areas but at the expense of beaches in adjacent areas....

Wading birds at Living Coasts, Torquay, shot by Jeff Buck, Wikimedia Commons via Geograph UK, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Lidar confirms Sandy’s dramatic coastal change impacts and future coastal vulnerability

US Geological Survey: The extent of Hurricane Sandy's wrath -- and the future coastal vulnerability of the region -- is clear in a new U.S. Geological Survey analysis of recently collected lidar coastal data. The research documented particularly dramatic impacts within the Fire Island National Seashore on Long Island, NY.

Lidar, or light detection and ranging, uses lasers to measure elevations in a specific distance/area. Researchers used the lidar data, collected during an airborne survey, to construct a high-resolution three-dimensional map of before- and after-storm conditions.  This information can help scientists and decision-makers identify the areas along the shore that have been made more vulnerable to future coastal hazards in the storm’s wake.

"Coastal dunes are our last line of natural defense from the onslaught of storms and rising seas," said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. "They are dynamic features that retreat from the battering of major storms like Sandy and rebuild in the aftermath; their natural cycle is inconsistent with immobile development."

USGS research oceanographer Hilary Stockdon said that the lidar data show that at Ocean Beach, for example, storm surge and waves associated with Sandy demolished protective dunes – and the structures built on top of them. "In the pre-storm elevation image of Ocean Beach, you can see houses that are sitting right on the sand dune," Stockdon said. "But in the post-storm elevation image, the high dune elevation is gone. The dune and the houses on it were completely washed away."

The pre- and post-storm ground conditions at Fire Island were similarly dramatic, USGS coastal geologist Cheryl Hapke said, noting that the USGS worked closely with the National Park Service to gather field data on the island....

The beach at Saltaire on Fire Island, pre-Sandy, shot by Mrshllmx, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Sandy to erode many Atlantic beaches

US Geological Survey: Nearly three quarters of the coast along the Delmarva Peninsula is very likely to experience beach and dune erosion as Hurricane Sandy makes landfall, while overwash is expected along nearly half of the shoreline. The predictions of coastal change for the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia peninsula is part of a larger assessment of probable coastal change released by the U.S. Geological Survey Friday.

"Model forecasts are run anew for each hurricane, as each case has unique factors in terms of storm intensity, timing with respect to tides, angle of approach, and must account for ever-changing details of coastal dune configuration," said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. "These models help us understand where emergency management resources might be most needed." Overwash, the landward movement of large volumes of sand from overtopped dunes, is forecasted for portions of the east coast with the projected landfall of the storm. The severity of overwash depends on the strength of the storm, the height of the dunes, and how direct a hit the coast takes.

 “On the Delmarva Peninsula, near the storm's expected landfall, close to three quarters of the sandy coast is expected to see beach and dune erosion. Fifteen percent of the coast is very likely to be inundated by waves and storm surge,” said USGS Oceanographer Hilary Stockdon from the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center. In these areas, waves and storm surge would transport large amounts of sand across coastal environments, depositing sand both inland and offshore and causing significant changes to the landscape, Stockdon noted.

The models show that along the New Jersey shore, 81 percent of the coast is very likely to experience beach and dune erosion, while 7 percent is very likely to experience overwash. It also indicates that on the south shore of Long Island, N.Y., including Fire Island National Seashore, 43 percent of the coast is very likely to experience beach and dune erosion. Overwash and inundation are not expected in these areas because of the relative high dune elevations.... 

Quogue, NY, January 21, 2010 -- Severe beach erosion and damage on Long Island's South Shore is the result of the November nor'easter. Photo by Ed Edahl for FEMA

Yorkshire is disappearing up to three times as fast as last year

Martin Wainwright in the Northerner Blog at the Guardian (UK): A dry spring and soggy summer are being blamed for sharply increased coastal erosion along Yorkshire's eastern flank which borders the North Sea.

Just in time before more rain fell, engineers from the East Riding of Yorkshire district council have been out along their stretch of collapsing cliffs south of Bridlington where the solid rock walls which culminate in Flamborough Head come to an end.

Using a backpack satnav which plots their course, the team are surveying the current 'last of Yorkshire' and comparing it with where the county ended a year ago. The results vary but in places the county has lost a startling 7m (22ft) compared to annual average of 1.7m (5.5ft).

As a result, more properties which now all but teeter above the beach below have been added to the list of homes no longer considered safe. Retired couples in Aldborough, 10km (6.2mls) south of Hornsea face almost certain evacuation before next summer. Ten houses were abandoned last year, their plots going the way of the three local hotels – the Spa, the Talbot and the Royal – whose remains are now under the sea.

In proportion to the loss of land, the East Riding has gained a mountain of information which is very approachably available online here. Last year, the range of surveys and monitoring was joined by the first accurate seabed mapping off Holderness, the southern stretch of the coast which ends in the delicate – and up to now indestructible – hook of Spurn point....

Cliffs at Flamborough, shot by Peter Church, Wikimedia Commons via Geograph UK, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Gulf coast vulnerable to extreme erosion in Category 1 hurricanes

US Geological Survey: Seventy percent of the Gulf of Mexico shoreline is vulnerable to extreme erosion during even the weakest hurricanes, according to a new report by the U.S. Geological Survey released just prior to the start of the 2012 hurricane season.  

USGS scientists used state-of-the-art modeling to determine the probabilities of erosion, overwash and inundation during direct hurricane landfall for sandy beaches along the entire U.S. Gulf Coast shoreline. 

The research is expected to help emergency managers at local, state and federal levels as they prepare for hurricane events in this and future seasons. Planners will be able to determine how different categories of hurricanes would impact their beaches and surrounding communities, helping them better protect lives and property.  The report also includes an interactive map that allows users to focus on different parts of the Gulf Coast shoreline to view how the probability of erosion, caused by waves and storm surge, will vary depending on hurricane intensity.  

... "Beaches along the Gulf of Mexico are extremely vulnerable to erosion during hurricanes, in part, because of low elevations along the coast," said Hilary Stockdon, a USGS research oceanographer and lead author of the study.  "For example, the average elevation of sand dunes on the west coast of Florida is eight feet. On Florida’s Atlantic coast, the average is 15 feet." ... During category-1 hurricane events on the Gulf Coast, wave height and storm surge combine to increase water levels at the shoreline by 14 and a half feet higher than their normal levels.

"People continue to build communities in coastal areas that shift and move with each passing storm," said Stockdon. "This model helps us predict the potential impact of future storms and allows us to identify where the most vulnerable areas are located along the coast."...

In Gilchrist, Texas, the Gulf of Mexico shoreline showing the effects from Hurricane Ike. A view from the deck of a house that survived the destruction. Jocelyn Augusitno/FEMA

Tree planting helps Pakistani farmers weather floods

Saleem Shaikh and Sughra Tunio in AlertNet: Abdul Qadir Shah, a cotton farmer in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, has been able to spring back from the destructive floods of the past two years thanks to his decision to plant mango, date and neem trees on his 14-acre plot.

When floodwaters hit Khairpur Mir’s district, some 400 miles (644 km) northeast of Karachi, in 2010 and then again in 2011, Qadir Shah suffered financial losses of 4 million rupees ($44,000) as his cotton crop was ruined. “But income from mango and date palm trees, which I had planted some four years earlier in my cotton field and on the edges of nearby irrigation waterways, provided enough money to let me repair damaged water channels, buy cotton seed, farm tools and pesticides, and other inputs for cultivating my farmland again this year,” he explained.

...Following the devastating floods, Qadir Shah realised that cultivating trees alongside crops can be of great help when natural disasters wipe out harvests. Now he is spreading the word. “I have persuaded other farmers, who have been unable as yet to emerge from the economic damages from the ravaging floods, to plant trees beside their crops to survive losses from crop failures in the future,” he told AlertNet, pointing to new seven-month-old trees now growing on agricultural land in the area.

As well as providing crucial income, Qadir Shah’s 90 mango trees, 20 date palms and 25 neem trees – whose oil is used in health products - have curbed soil erosion, reduced water evaporation and strengthened the unlined channels that supply irrigation water to his fields from the Khairpur West canal, which is fed by the Sukkur Barrage....

A panorama in Khairpur, shot by Mnazirawan, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Mekong Delta faces dire climate impacts

VietnamNet: The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta needs to take prompt and drastic measures to deal with the steadily worsening problem of landslides and erosion, experts warn.

The problem gains added urgency as the region is highly susceptible to climate change impacts, including rising sea levels, in the coming years, they say. They also say that one of the solutions that cannot be postponed is the building and strengthening of embankments and sea dykes in the most vulnerable localities.

The departments of natural resources and environment in several Mekong Delta provinces have reported that landslides and land erosion, mostly along the Tien (Front) and Hau (Rear) rivers, have caused increasing damage in recent years.

The provinces of An Giang, Dong Thap and Ca Mau are among the hardest hit. In An Giang Province, many areas along Tien and Hau rivers are suffering from serious landslide and erosion. The situation is the same in Dong Thap Province where the length of the affected area is estimated at about 200km. About 2,500 households have to be evacuated, according to local authorities....

The Mekong River in Vietnam's Dong Thap province, shot by Quoilp, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

In Antigua, climate change amplifies human destruction

Desmond Brown in IPS: ...Eli Fuller, a marine environmentalist who runs an eco-tour business here [in St. John's, Antigua], has been observing the erosion of several beaches as he traverses the island. He insists the situation is a result of climate change.

But what is more troubling, Fuller said, is that many people here, including the government, are blaming climate change for many problems more clearly caused by development and bad environmental and fisheries management.

One such example is beach erosion. "It's very easy to blame terrible erosion on Dickenson Bay on climate change, but the reality is there are many other factors caused by people here in Antigua that have caused the erosion," he said.

"If you take a beach that has had poor developmental management and then throw in a barrier reef that has had bad fisheries management, then you can see climate change effects also in a more noticeable way. It's all quite complex and in a way, easy to be simplified by blaming all the problems on climate change."

...A country report on Antigua and Barbuda titled "Planning for Adaptation to Climate Change" pointed out that climate change affects beaches primarily through two processes: sea level rise and increased frequency of high impact weather events, such as hurricanes and tropical storms....

A natural stone bridge in Antigua, shot by Z_dead, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

UK nuclear sites at risk of flooding

Rob Edwards in the Guardian (UK): As many as 12 of Britain's 19 civil nuclear sites are at risk of flooding and coastal erosion because of climate change, according to an unpublished government analysis obtained by the Guardian.

Nine of the sites have been assessed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) as being vulnerable now, with others in danger from rising sea levels and storms in future decades. They include all of the eight sites proposed for new nuclear power stations around the coast, as well as numerous radioactive waste stores, operating reactors and defunct nuclear facilities.

Two of the sites for new nuclear stations are said to have a "high risk" of flooding now: Sizewell in Suffolk and Hartlepool in County Durham, where there are also operating reactors. Shutdown and running reactors at Dungeness in Kent are also classed as currently at high risk.

Another of the sites most at risk is Hinkley Point in Somerset, where the first of the new nuclear stations is planned and there are reactors in operation and being decommissioned. According to Defra, it already has a "low" risk of flooding, and by the 2080s will face a high risk of both flooding and erosion.

Other new reactor sites that face some risk now and high risks by the 2080s are Oldbury in South Gloucestershire and Bradwell in Essex. The huge old nuclear complex at Sellafield in Cumbria is said to face a "medium risk" of flooding now and in the future...

A view to the Sizewell A & B nuclear power stations along the beach near Thorpness, looking north. Shot by William M. Connolley, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Nigeria's eroding coast

Jude Njoku in AllAfrica.com via the Vanguard (Nigeria): Mr. Azuka Ezemakam lived in Alpha Beach Estate in the highbrow Lekki Peninsula area of Lagos until June last year, when coastal erosion in the once serene neighbourhood forced him to relocate from the estate he had lived in for eight years.

..."It happened at the time the first phase of Eko Atlantic City project was being commissioned. I left for my safety because the surge was too much. All the access roads to the estate have vanished; electricity poles were taken away and you must drive through people's houses to get access to your own building. It came to a point that I wasn't sure of my safety any more.

...Mr. Ezemakam spoke at a one-day Roundtable on Climate Change Adaptation in Lagos: Eko Atlantic City- Dream for Few or Nightmare for Many? organised by Heinrich Boll Stiftung in Nigeria. Mr. Gbenga Okunsanyo of the Ocean Surge Committee, Goshen Beach Estate also painted a similar picture of the plight of residents of the estate, allegedly due to the ongoing reclamation of land for the building of highbrow multi-billion dollar Eko Atlantic City.

But a climatologist, Prof. Emmanuel Oladipo stated that it would be wrong to attribute the plight of residents of both estates to the ongoing reclamation of land for the Eko Atlantic City project, because coastal erosion had started in both estates prior to the commencement of work at Eko Atlantic. He however agreed that when one area is eroded, another area is bound to benefit as sand is deposited in the new area....

The Atlantic coastline in Lagos, shot by Contimm, Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Massive dust storm shows importance of federal, state conservation programs

Southwest Farm Press (US): A dust storm reminiscent of those which plagued the Southern Plains of the United States during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s that struck Lubbock, Texas, this week should serve as a reminder of the importance of state and federal conservation programs according to Joe Parker, president of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts (OACD).

“The massive dust storm that hit Lubbock, Texas, on October 17 ironically happened on the same day that the leaders of the U.S. House and Senate Agriculture Committees announced their willingness to reduce federal Farm Bill Programs, including Conservation programs, by over $23 billion as part of the effort to balance the federal budget,” Parker said. “While it’s true we all need to do our part to help put our fiscal house in order, this storm should show why these cuts can’t all come from conservation and why it’s important that we keep a focus on natural resource protection on working farm and ranch land unless we want to see a new Dust Bowl.”

On October 17, a massive dust storm started in the far southwest Texas Panhandle along the edge of a cold front that moved south toward Lubbock at approximately 55 mph. The storm reached Lubbock at 5:30 p.m. and took roughly 30 minutes to blow through the city. At the height of the storm, visibility ranged from a quarter-mile to near-zero for 40 minutes at Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport. Reports from the National Weather Service said winds gusts as high as 60 to 65 miles per hour were recorded.

According to OACD’s Executive Director Clay Pope, this storm should send a message to policy makers and agriculture producers alike—we have to stay focused on working lands conservation. “Whether its policy makers ensuring that conservation programs are available and funded or farmers and ranchers practicing good stewardship on their land, we all have to remember the importance of natural resource conservation,” Pope said. “Earlier this spring we started telling producers to be careful about how they farmed this summer and for the most part, we have maintained the strong conservation track record that goes all the way back to the 1930s."...

From June 2009, a gust-front dust cloud, called a Haboob, moving across the Llano Estacado toward Yellow House Canyon near the residential community of Ransom Canyon, Texas, shot by Leaflet

Wallow Fire out, but flooding and erosion dangers remain

Dennis Wagner in the Arizona Republic: A few days after the Wallow Fire blew up in the White Mountains in May, Chris Nelson began work to save the forest from rain. Planning for a flood in the midst of flame may seem incongruous. But as a U.S. Forest Service expert on wildfire rehabilitation, Nelson knew that erosion caused by Arizona's summer storms would pose a threat nearly as great as the billowing inferno.

"The biggest concerns from a wildfire are the flooding and the loss of soil afterward when the monsoons hit," said Nelson, watershed program manager for the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. While flames consumed the backcountry, Nelson and other scientists raced to prevent the kind of secondary destruction that would harm the forest even further.

Higher-than-normal precipitation was forecast within a few weeks, possibly the most rain in 25 years. Absent a military-efficient response, Nelson said, the scorched forest floor might wash away in mudslides, tearing up roads, inundating communities. After the 2010 Schultz Fire, which was a fraction of the size of the Wallow, flash flooding swamped dozens of homes near Flagstaff and caused the drowning of a 12-year-old girl.

Once critical topsoil is washed away, grasses, trees and other plants struggle to grow back. When habitat is damaged, wildlife stays away. The Forest Service's answer to that threat is a program known as Burned Area Emergency Response, or BAER. It is designed to protect lives, property and cultural resources such as artifacts and petroglyphs in fire-ravaged woods by removing trees that may topple and other public-safety hazards, as well as stabilizing soils and salvaging burned trees....

Wallow Fire and Horseshoe Two Fires (lower left), Arizona. NASA satellite image, acquired midday, June 12, 2011

New program to expand, enhance use of LIDAR sensing technology

Space Daily: Researchers at Oregon State University have developed a new system that will enable highway construction engineers in the field to immediately analyze soil movements caused by active landslides and erosion and use the powerful tool of LIDAR to better assess and deal with them. The advance, being outlined this week at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, is just one of the latest innovations with this laser technology, the use of which has mushroomed in recent years in the study of everything from earthquakes and tsunamis to beach erosion and road construction.

The new computer program announced by OSU engineers is already being used to study soil movements at several landslides or trouble spots on the Oregon coast, and has promise to improve the use of LIDAR in the field, quickly and efficiently, by trained engineers. The program was developed by Michael Olsen, a LIDAR expert and assistant professor of civil and construction engineering at OSU, and a team of several students including Shawn Butcher, Alfred Flammang, Rebecca Pankow, and Andrew Johnson.

..."When you're in the field dealing with a landslide or moving soils, it's costly and time-consuming to have to take data back to the office for analysis," Olsen said. "The technology we're developing should provide critical data to help solve problems right in the field, improve construction quality and efficiency, and ultimately reduce costs and improve safety."...

A diagram of LIDAR geometry by John E. Barnes, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license