Changing Properties of Snowpack in the Great Salt Lake Basin,Western United States,from a 26-Year SNOTEL Record

Daily observations from automated snowpack telemetry (SNOTEL) stations from within the drainage basin of the Great Salt Lake over the period from 1982 to 2007 are analyzed. The major finding is a shift toward an earlier date of peak snow water equivalent (SWE) by around fifteen days. Less robust findings are reductions in the amounts of peak SWE and 1 April SWE. This suggests increased chances of late-summer water shortages, especially when combined with rapid recent population growth. Less freshwater is likely to be available to flow into the Great Salt Lake, increasing its salinity and potentially affecting its ecology.     

The role of fire on soil mounds and surface roughness in the Mojave Desert

A fundamental question in arid land management centers on understanding the long‐term effects of fire on desert ecosystems. To assess the effects of fire on surface topography, soil roughness, and vegetation, we used terrestrial (ground‐based) LiDAR to quantify the differences between burned and unburned surfaces by creating a series of high‐resolution vegetation structure and bare‐earth surface models for six sample plots in the Grand Canyon‐Parashant National Monument, Arizona. We find that 11 years following prescribed burns, mound volumes, plant heights, and soil‐surface roughness were significantly lower on burned relative to unburned plots. Results also suggest a linkage between vegetation and soil mounds, either through accretion or erosion mechanisms such as wind and/or water erosion. The biogeomorphic implications of fire‐induced changes are significant. Reduced plant cover and altered soil surfaces from fire likely influence seed residence times, inhibit seed germination and plant establishment, and affect other ecohydrological processes. Published in 2012. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.     

Does Climate Literacy Matter? A Case Study of U.S. Students’ Level of Concern about Anthropogenic Global Warming

Educators seeking to address global warming in their classrooms face numerous challenges, including the question of whether student opinions about anthropogenic global warming (AGW) can change in response to increased knowledge about the climate system. This article analyzes survey responses from 458 students at a primarily undergraduate institution in the U.S.’s intermountain West, finding increased levels of concern with increased levels of climate literacy, including among students whose political affiliation might indicate skepticism about AGW. However, overall levels of climate literacy were found to be quite low for many students, allowing other factors, notably political affiliation, to become dominant predictors of AGW concern.     

GLACIER TRENDS IN THE CAUCASUS, 1960s TO 1980s

Records of terminus positions for the 1960s to 1980s have been obtained for 51 glaciers in the Greater Caucasus Mountains between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, between latitude 40° and 44° N and longitude 40° and 49° E. These records have been analyzed as percentage of glaciers observed retreating, advancing, and stationary, displayed as a five-year moving average. The main result is the absence of the clear trend towards glacier advance found in the Alps between the 1960s and 1980s by both Patzelt (1985) and Wood (1988), suggesting a phase difference in the climates of the Alps and the Caucasus. [Key words: glaciers, glaciology, Greater Caucasus Mountains, Alps.]