Newswise — Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany and Swansea University have revealed how different seabird species use distinct strategies to cope with cyclones, with some flying directly into the storm, and others using avoidance tactics. 

A significant amount of research has focused on how animals may be affected by extreme heat, but less is known about how animals respond to extreme winds. Elham Nourani, a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and first author of the study, was keen to understand how seabird species respond to cyclone-strength winds and whether certain wind speeds are avoided or preferred by birds.

With the help of 300,000 hours of flight data from 18 different species, Elham and researchers at Swansea University investigated how the flight characteristics varied among different species.

The findings showed that birds living in windier environments, such as albatrosses, are faster fliers. This makes sense, because all birds have to fly faster than the wind in order to determine their own direction, and not simply be drifted where the wind blows. Albatrosses therefore fly faster than tropical species such as the red-tailed tropicbird that experience relatively low wind speeds on a daily basis.

Professor Emily Shepard of Swansea University explained: “The situation becomes more complicated when we start to consider what happens in storms because the strongest wind speeds occur over the tropics, not the Southern Ocean. So, while albatrosses can fly in almost all conditions they experience, tropical species must have strategies to cope with cyclones, when winds may be twice what they are able to fly in”. This adds to other evidence that tropical seabirds are likely to show long-range avoidance of extreme events.”

To their surprise, the researchers also unearthed a handful of examples of wind avoidance in albatrosses. This was particularly unexpected as the albatrosses avoided wind speeds that they were able to fly in in other scenarios.

One such case was seen in an Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross tracked in this study, which encountered a storm off the coast of Uruguay in November 2014. The bird avoided 68 km/h winds by flying into the eye of the storm where wind speed was much lower, around 30 km/h. It flew within the eye for 12 hours before leaving the eye after the storm had moved away from the coast.

“We know that wind-adapted birds like albatrosses fly in very strong winds. What surprised me the most was that even these species avoid strong winds from time to time, and that they can do so by flying into the eye of the storm,” Elham explained.

The researchers suggest this may be a strategy they use to avoid being drifted somewhere they do not want to go. 

Elham concluded: “As a result of the climate crisis, storms will become more frequent and stronger. So, the question is how seabirds will be impacted by this. Understanding the wind speeds that different species can operate in is a key part of this. What seems like an extreme wind to a tropical species is what an albatross encounters on a near-daily basis, so our definition of extremes needs to vary depending on the species we are talking about.”

Source: Swansea University

Right now, California is being hit by a massive atmospheric river, also known as the Pineapple Express. This powerful weather phenomenon is a narrow corridor of concentrated moisture in the atmosphere that flows from the tropics to the mid-latitudes, bringing heavy rainfall and strong winds.

Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow bands of water vapor that are responsible for most of the moisture and precipitation that falls on the west coast of North America. They can stretch for thousands of miles and are often associated with extreme weather events, such as floods, landslides, and mudslides.

The Pineapple Express is one of the most intense atmospheric rivers, and it gets its name from the fact that it originates near Hawaii, which is known for its pineapples. This particular atmospheric river is bringing warm, moist air from the Pacific Ocean and dumping it on California, from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

As a result, California is experiencing heavy rain, flooding, and mudslides, which have already caused significant damage to homes, roads, and infrastructure. The National Weather Service has issued flash flood warnings, and many residents have been evacuated from their homes.

While atmospheric rivers can bring much-needed rain to drought-stricken regions, they can also cause significant damage and loss of life. In fact, atmospheric rivers are responsible for about 30% of all flood damage in the western United States.

As climate change continues to cause extreme weather events, including more frequent and intense atmospheric rivers, it is crucial that we take steps to mitigate their impact. This includes better infrastructure planning, improved warning systems, and more sustainable land use practices.

In conclusion, the Pineapple Express is a powerful atmospheric river that is currently hitting California, bringing heavy rain, flooding, and mudslides. While this weather phenomenon can bring much-needed precipitation, it can also cause significant damage and underscores the urgent need for climate action.

https://stmdailynews.com/category/stories-this-moment/

As climate change sparks more new fires in old burn areas, understanding the underlying causes can help shape land-management strategies

Newswise — LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — Seasonal temperature, moisture loss from plants and wind speed are what primarily drive fires that sweep across the same landscape multiple times, a new study reveals. These findings and others could help land managers plan more effective treatments in areas susceptible to fire, particularly in the fire-ravaged wildland-urban interfaces of California.

“Rapid climate change is the force behind these re-burns, which are increasing across the West at roughly the same rate as single-burn fires,” said Kurt Solander, a hydrologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Solander is corresponding author of the artificial-intelligence-based paper in the journal Environmental Research: Climate. “Predictive computer models of re-burns are thus essential to better understand their causes so that forest management practices, such as prescribed burns and forest thinning, can be updated to account for these events.”

The study defined re-burns as areas that burned multiple times over 10 to 20 years. Other factors contributing to re-burns include monthly minimum and maximum temperatures, canopy moisture levels, precipitation, runoff and more.

Re-burns threatening more of the West

Climate change is sparking more re-burns across the American West, Solander said, on a frequency comparable to single-burn fires. The study applied two forms of artificial intelligence to data about re-burns that occurred between 1984-2018 for the 11 Western U.S. states, an area of about 34,000 square miles and roughly equal to the size of Indiana. The study also analyzed data specifically from California.

To understand the role of people in these fires, the researchers zoomed in on re-burns that occurred in the wildland-urban interface. That included areas with more than 2.4 houses per square mile and covered at least 50% by wildland vegetation and areas with higher settlement densities and less than 50% wildland vegetation coverage lying within at least a mile and a half of heavily forested land. 

California was the only state where the rate of increase in the number of re-burns was consistently higher in the wildland-urban interfaces across all time periods, suggesting a stronger influence there by human activity.

“Human activity is so important in California because it causes about 90% of ignitions, versus much lower levels in other areas of the West, where lightning causes more fires,” Solander said. Human activity includes everything from an out-of-control campfire to a downed power line or the hitch of a trailer dragging on pavement and causing sparks, he said.

The massive, historic Camp Fire in California in 2018 was caused by power lines and burned 153,336 acres, destroyed 18,804 structures and resulted in 85 civilian fatalities. “The fire burned across land that had experienced about a dozen fires in the previous two decades,” Solander said.

By understanding the conditions that fuel re-burns and being able to predict where they might occur, agencies responsible for wildfire mitigation can focus more of their efforts on prescribed burns and thinning and possibly come up with novel effective treatment strategies that are more resistant to re-burns in those areas, Solander said.

The paper: “The drivers and predictability of wildfire re-burns in the western United States,” Environmental Research: Climate. DOI: 10.1088/2752-5295/acb079

The funding: Information Science and Technology Institute at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Source:  Los Alamos National Laboratory