Wind, Weather, and You (Part 3)

We are on a Spinning Planet, Tilted on its Axis, Orbiting the Sun

 As we orbit the sun, different parts of the earth are warmed more intensely or cooled more than others. We grow a year older, and the cycle continues over and over again for 4 billion years. It is this basic concept that builds the earth as we know it. It creates forests, ocean currents, frozen tundras, summer thaws, and billions of species filling billions of niches. For us as humans it creates our food and spawns our disasters. There is nothing more primordial to us than weather. We owe all life and death to it. All because we live on a spinning planet, tilted on its axis, orbiting the sun.

In these next chapters we'll learn how these three factors of our planet (titled axis, spinning, orbiting the sun) create the world as we know it.

First a note:
This is where we hit the culmination of everything we've learned in the previous sections. Concepts in these chapters are more complicated, and I urge you if you've never had any background in Meterology to first read Part 1 and Part 2. 

Global Circulation and You

The earth is in a constant battle to equalize itself. We learned earlier heating in one place and cooling in another creates pressure gradients that try to equalize themselves.
Q: But why is it like this in the first place?
A: We live on a sphere.

The Hadley Cell

Lets assume a couple things for this section:

1. There is only water on Earth
2. We're in the northern hemisphere
3. The sun shines parallel to the equator (like it does on the equinox)
4. The sun does not move
5. The Earth does not rotate
6. The Earth is a relatively small system

The sun shines at the equator. This rising air creates a low at the surface and high aloft. As air escapes upwards it hits the upper part of the atmosphere spreading outwards towards the poles. The air aloft cools as it moves northward leading to a sinking motion that creates a low aloft and a high at the surface. This high pressure at the poles then moves back towards the low created at the equator. Called a Hadley Cell this simplistic model tries to explain global circulation. In this model instability is created at the equator, while stability is created at the poles. We'd expect high amount of thunderstorms at the equator and clear skies at the poles, as well as strong northern winds at the surface.

But wait a second. This doesn't explain anything. Winds are much more complicated than this, it doesn't match reality. Why not?

The Three Cell System

Lets take out the assumption the earths not rotating and that its a relatively small system. Leaving us with the assumptions:
1. There is only water on Earth
2. We're in the northern hemisphere
3. The sun shines parallel to the equator
4. The sun does not move

What happens now?

Air at the equator rises creating a low at the surface and a high aloft. This time as the air moves towards the poles it is deflected to the right by the Coriolis effect. Air traveling northwards in the upper parts of the atmosphere travel south westerly creating SW winds aloft. Bringing in to account a large Earth, the air moving north cools and begins to sink around 30* latitude. The high created is called the Sub-tropical High. This creates a stable atmosphere with clear skies. The wind moving back towards the poles is deflected to the right again, and returns coming from the north east. We call these the North-East trade winds. It moves back towards the equator to an area called the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone. Basically a zone where winds on the ground are converging as the meet at the equator.

Some of the wind at the surface of the sub-tropical region moves northwards instead of south. Deflected to the right it moves in a south western direction, creating another set of trade winds we know as the Westerlies.

Now lets start at the poles. Sinking air at the poles create a polar low aloft and high pressure at the surface moves the only direction it can, southward. Deflected again it moves from the north east. This cold air hits the incoming westerly wind from the sub-tropical high. The lighter warm sub-tropical air and heavy cold polar air do not mix easily creating what we call the Polar Front. This stationary front creates rising air with vast instability, completing the 3 cycles.

The other trade wind features created by this system are the Doldrums and the Horse Latitudes

The doldrums are the area right at the equator where very little wind is encountered. Most air at this latitude is moving upwards not laterally, as it rises from the heat and the pressure gradient. This feature is famous in sailing and literature as an dangerous area where ships can get stuck for long periods of time.

The Horse latitudes are the area below the sub-tropical high where quite opposite from the doldrums sinking air diverges from high creating only light winds.

Well what does all this tell us?

Too much infact that we'll have to break it down in the next section

This global circulation model predicts fairly accurately: wind patterns, areas of high instability, location of rain forests, and deserts. As we've talked in depth about winds let's move on to storms.

Storms

From here we'll take out more assumptions. That the sun is parallel to the equator and the sun does not move. Which leaves us with:
1. There is only water on Earth
2. We're in the northern hemisphere

The three cell system predicts instability (and thus storm formation) at two places. First at the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) where heat from the sun and incoming area create rising air that feeds storm formation. Second at the Polar front. The warm sub-tropical air converges with the dense cold air. The tendency along this boundary is for the warm air to rocket upward and cool, priming the atmosphere for storm formation.

We have to remember though that we're now on a planet that rotates around the sun, and with it the suns zenith moves northwards as summer sets in and southwards again as winter starts. This movement moves the cells and boundaries with them. In summer the ITCZ moves towards the tropic of Cancer (23* North of the equator) while the polar front is pushed far into northern Canada. During the winter the ITCZ moves south of the equator towards the Tropic of Capricorn (23* south of the equator) and the polar front moves towards the northern and central parts of the US.

This movement of the polar front is particularly important for the United States and the South where the Horse Latitudes suppressing storms and wind move south and allow the polar front to move in. This brings much needed storms to the south as well as aids in bringing cold fronts to cool off the country. (The Jet Stream aids in this as well, we'll deal with it another time)

This movement throughout the year creates high rainfall totals between both tropics and highest at the equator.

Forests

With rain comes forests. As you compare the two pictures (rainfall totals and forest locations) you can clearly see the majority of the tropical forests are created by the ITCZ. But what is up with the eastern united states and western Europe? Chile? The Pacific Northwest? Asia? The Rockies?

We'll finally take away all of our assumptions and look at the Earth closer to what it really is. A spinning earth, tilted on its axis, rotating around the sun with land and water mixed in.

The boreal forests as well as South East Asia and North America can both be explain with wind patterns. Sitting above 30* latitude they receive ample southwestern wind from the oceans, creating lots of moisture for rain and forests. The boreal strips from Europe, Russia, and Canada are from the largely unstable zone between the Polar and Sub-Tropical zones. This unstable front creates lots of snow during the winter and ample rainy seasons. These are amplified by the jet streams created along the Polar Front.

The Rockies and southern Chile can be largely explained by the addition of mountains and physical geographys effect on weather.

The Valdivian rainforest in Chile

Lifting of any kind can result in precipitation, if a column of air is physically forced upward it meets cooler air. As it cools the moisture is squeezed out of the air. Wind pushing air towards large mountain ranges, act as ramps for the air column, forcing air upward and an accelerated rate, forcing most of the water out of the air as it ascends. The higher the mountain the more intense the effect. The Rocky Mountains (~15,000ft) are overall twice as tall as the older Appalachian mountains in the eastern united states. The Chilean Coastal Range in South America are even larger (highest peaks ~20,000ft). This added to the emergence near the southern polar and prevailing wind directions leads to intense rainfall (up to 160inches of rain) creating the Valdivian Rain Forests. In North America, these conditions create the Quinault rainforest in Washington.

Deserts

 

To understand deserts in relation to latitude and the 3 cells lets look at them together:

 From here you can see quite easily that most deserts are right on the tropic lines. The wind's push moisture away from these locations not towards it. This problem is exacerbated when over large areas of land. The middle east suffers further by receiving wind from currently dry locations, creating a desert stretching far into Asia. 

Without any new shot of moisture from the ocean humidity plummets. This creates the opposite effect of living near the ocean. Without waters buffering properties in the air, things heat up and cool off quickly creating very hot days and cool nights. Conversely sweating is much more efficient in a dry location allowing better cooling than humid areas. This is largely why a dry 120 feels the same as a humid 100. Both are dangerous but for different reasons. The dry heat will take water from you quickly leading to dehydration. The humidity never allows your body to cool down leading to heat exhaustion.

Joshua tree in the Mojave (CA)

Ironically many of these deserts are further hurt by their relation to extremely tall mountain ranges and their consequent wet areas. These include the American south west (particularly the Mojave) and the Atacama desert in Chile. Any wind that comes from the ocean side is squeezed of water from the extremely tall mountain ranges, leaving almost no moisture left in the atmosphere for the regions leeward (the side facing away from the wind) of the mountains.




The effect elevation has on rainfall is best exemplified on the island of Maui which houses one of the highest rainfall extremes (300in+ above Hana to 12.5in in Kihei). The windward side of the island is the N/NE. As very moist air comes into the island it rises 10,000 ft dropping intense amounts of rain on the windward side of the mountain. By the time the wind wraps around the mountain the moisture is gone. So you can go from a rainforest to a desert in 20 miles. The wind does come locally directly off the ocean in the south, but its met by sinking dry air, leading to a pleasant tropical vacation at the beach that never gets ruined by rain. Which is why all the resort towns are on the south side of the island (Lahaina, Kihei, Wailea).

The Hawai'ian island Maui

Wind, Weather, and You (Part 2)

Under Pressure

Pressure and wind are one in the same. Without a difference in pressure there would be no wind. Water is a special molecule. It's many special properties help build the oceans, feeds the rainforest, and makes up part of every organism on earth. Today we will look at how both these forces work to define the weather around you.

So what are high and low pressure systems?

High Pressure is a larger collection of air molecules in a single air mass compared to surrounding air masses
Low Pressure is a smaller collection of air molecules in a single air mass compared to surrounding air masses


Say we are standing on the equator, right below the sun at its zenith (the place it shines directly 90* down to earth). The suns rays travel through space warming up any matter it hits. Fortunately for most of space it has a nominal amount of matter. When it finally hits something like earth it heats up the mass that then radiates heat away from it into the atmosphere. Furthermore, as you increase in altitude towards space relative pressure decreases as the molecules spread out. This results in a gradient from 90* F at the equator, to -30* F at 30,000 ft, and -454* F in dead space.

That single ray of sunshine heats up your spot on the equator, heating up the air mass at the surface. We know heat rises away from the surface, as it rises it comes in contact with cooler air. This cools off the air mass as it rises and final hits a temperature equilibrium. This new colder air aloft naturally wants to sink back to the surface. The space at the surface has lost air molecules as they rose, while the air aloft has gained air molecules from the new cooled air. There are less molecules at the surface resulting in lower pressure, and more molecules aloft resulting in high pressure.


Air wants to move from high pressure to low pressure
 
So in our singular example at the equator, air will move upwards from heating, then back down to replace the lower pressure created at the surface. This cyclical system is known as a convection current. The same physics used in cooking in your oven are used to cook you on the beach.

The opposite of this effect happens at the poles where there is no heating from the sun. This cold air naturally wants to sink and collects at the surface, creating a high pressure system on the ground and a weak low above it.

Generally all high or low pressure systems are paired with the opposite system aloft.

The uneven heating properties of water and land

Water has a higher specific heat than land

Specific heat is the amount of energy a mass must absorb before rising 1* C. This means certain materials heat up faster than others (this is relative to molecular structure, composition, etc). Metal has a low specific heat requiring very little energy to heat up, compared to better insulators like water which heat up and cool off slowly. So water will take a longer time to heat up, while land will heat up and cool off much faster.

What this also means is a humid pocket of air will react differently than a dry one. The water in the air column will absorb more of the energy resulting in a slower heating of the air mass, and in reverse it will take longer to cool off.

Hot air holds more water molecules than cold air

The result of heating a substance increases its energy and movement of its atoms. This increase in movement creates larger space between each atom. Colder air has less energy and moves less, causing less space between atoms. In the same volume of air, water can occupy more space in the hot air than in the colder. This is why we refer to relative humidity so often in weather.

Relative Humidity- The percentage of water actually in the air compared to how much water it could hold.

Once humidity reaches 100% the water has to condensate out causing either rain, clouds, or fog (clouds at the surface).


That's great, but what can all this explain?
We can in fact predict many weather patterns and phenomenon with these.
 
1. Why it's windy near the ocean and why they shift direction at night. As the sun heats up the land and the ocean, the land heats up much quicker creating a low at the surface, while the cooler ocean creates a high at the surface(remember each one has its own corresponding H or L pressure aloft). The air escaping upwards on land is replaced by air from the ocean creating offshore winds.

At night the opposite occurs, the land cools faster than the ocean creating a H at the surface and the still (relatively) hot ocean creates a L at the surface. The wind moves from H to L and shifts the wind direction 180 onshore.

Let's add the second half of that pretty picture now

2. Why the southern hemisphere is relatively cooler than the northern hemisphere. The southern hemisphere contains less land mass than the southern hemisphere. The ocean is much harder to heat up and stays cooler, the result is a cooler overall climate as there's less land to heat up the atmosphere.

Using the equator as a guide and ignoring Antartica, most of the land on Earth is focused in the northern hemisphere.

3. Why it snows in Hawai'i. In dry conditions you can expect the thermocline (temperature gradient) in the atmosphere to decrease 5.4* F for ever 1000ft altitude and 3.3*/1000ft in high humidity and rain. So an island that is 80*F at the ocean (0 ft altitude) can expect to be 74.6*F at 1000ft, 69.2*F at 2000ft, and somewhere between 5.48*F  or 34.46*F at the summit of Hawaii's tallest volcano Mauna Kea (13,800ft). Now these numbers are not perfect, for one it's never been less than 12*F at Mauna Kea. This is due to the many complications arising from its proximity to the ocean, wind, humidity, relative climate, etc. But on a smaller scale you can guess the temperature of any mountain top from where you're standing. This same effect keeps permanent snow caps (glaciers) on the tallest mountains in the nation and world.

The big island of Hawai'i

4. Why its harder to get below freezing at the beach and harder to get above 100*F. Large bodies of water like the ocean take a lot of energy to heat up and cool down and are thus always lag behind the land in temperature. This means that the air at the ocean surface is going to be warmer than the land when its cold and colder than the land when its hot. High humidity in the air acts the same way and takes longer to heat up and cool off. So land right on the coast takes more energy to heat up and is regularly cooled by the relatively cooler offshore wind. This is why Snowbirds migrate to the southern coast in winter! The difference in temperature from the coast to inland can be as extreme as 20 degrees. (I wish I had a good picture of this from the 1st of February when it was 70* where I am in coastal Mississippi and 50* in central Mississippi.

5. Much, much, more, which will be covered in Part 3

Wind, Weather, and You (Part 1)

The Science of Meterology

Today I want to talk about global wind patterns and weather and how this effects ecosystems throughout the world! I know, winds sound boring. But they're huge global systems that drive the ecosystems and create all the terrestrial niches for the floral and fauna of the world. Hopefully by the end of this you'll understand why every desert and forest is where it is and appreciate that tiny breeze on your face.

What you perhaps don't know is that wind that's blowing right now is part of a process starting thousands of miles away from you. You're experiencing a fight between the frozen poles and the toasty tropics beneath the suns zenith.


First things first. A quick brushing up on some physics that paramount to meteorology (The study of weather and climate)

Convection currents and moisture

Hot air rises and cold air sinks. You experience this daily whether its cleaning out your attic on a hot day, or trying to heat the bottom floor of your cold loft apartment. A packet of hot air generally rises in the atmosphere until it cools off or is obstructed and moves laterally.

Hot air holds more water than cold air. Tighter packed molecules of cold air can't hold enough water between each molecule compared to the fast moving molecules in hot air

If a hot packet of air is released it will rise in the atmosphere until cooling off. The cooler air losses its ability to hold as much moisture in the air condensating any excess water packed between the molecules out of the air. In most cases this creates clouds. If the lift upward is fast enough or there's enough water in the air, rain is formed.

A more complicated physics explanation

The Coriolis Effect

Imagine you are on a carousel going clockwise and you roll a ball from the carousel to your friend whose sitting across from you. Everytime you roll the ball it never rolls straight to him. Instead it rolls to his left. If you were going counter clockwise it would roll right. Now imagine you're trying to do this but on an entire spinning planet. A person standing on the northern hemisphere would always have things shift to his right when moving north to south. And always to his left when moving south to north. You won't experience this effect as a small speck on a giant rotating sphere, but you can observe it on much larger objects like pressure systems, wind, and hurricanes.

As the middle of the carousel is spinning faster than the farthest edges the balls degree shift increases as it goes towards the middle and decreases on the edges. This is why the Coriolis Effect is essentially zero at the equator. That in very simple terms is the Coriolis Effect. It is not a force like gravity but an effect of living on a rotating planet.

You can see this beautifully in this image of 150 years of tropical storms and hurricanes from NOAA.

The effect only shifts the path slightly till 30*, at which point it takes over more and more until many storms are 180* from their original 'trajectory'

What does it tell us?
This tells us that large systems will 'appear' to shift to the right in the northern hemisphere and shift to the left in the southern hemisphere.
What does it not tell us?
Why toilets flow in a particular direction. The Coriolis Effect is not a force and only appears on systems large enough to perceive it, not your tiny toilet. Most toilets flush in a particular direction depending on the manufacture and hydrodynamics. Anything you've ever heard about this is bogus and shows a lack of understanding about what is the Coriolis Effect.

10 Things You Didn't Know About Nevada

Today I want to talk to you about one of my new favorite states, Nevada. Yes I said it. Nevada. The state ranking very high on the 'Forgettable Scale'. I believe it would rank somewhere around Delaware, Indiana, and Wyoming. But I have fallen in love with this strange state, perhaps for the same reasons I love Kpop, no one knows about it. Anything, at all. Name one thing that doesn't involve Las Vegas? You can't. But I can.



Here are the top 10 things you didn't know about Nevada
(Note: I'll be taking all Images from Wiki, because I'm lazy)

1.) Nevada is considered the 'Most Mountainous State' in the contiguous United States. Alaska ofcourse ranks #1.

The reason for this is simple. Look at the physical relief map on the right. The entire state is flooded with little veins of mountains, all except the basin where the Mojave sits and a few small basins in the west. Each line is a separate mountain range, and none connect. This is why they are counted as separate ranges, unlike say the expansive Rockies and Appalachians. So it has hundreds of mountain ranges, and each range has a peak on it over 2000ft. 172 mountain summits infact.

What this does is make driving through Nevada a beautiful experience. You drive through valley after valley, each time passing by a new mountain range. When these mountains get tall enough (perhaps over 11,000ft) they start creating their own climate and support sub-alpine trees and much colder climates.


Which brings me to the next point:
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2.) Nevada contains beautiful landscapes reminiscent of the Rockies and Sierra Nevadas, with big pines, flowing rivers, and snowcapped peaks. These places act as biological hotspots that bring in tons of birds, mammals, and high plant diversity. The Nevada Department of Wildlife has introduced many animals into these ranges including Big Horn Sheep, Mountain Goats, and the ever famous Himilayan Snowcock. At this point I don't know of any adverse biological problems associated with these species, and they are all hunted regularly.

 Many of these areas include the Spring Mountains (pictured), Great Basin National Park, and the Ruby Mountains (home of the Snowcock). Don't worry it also includes desert, LOTS OF IT. But also includes these other nice places.


None of this even includes my next point:
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3.) Lake Tahoe is in Nevada. Well part of it. Lake Tahoe is on the border of California and Nevada and both share towns around the lake. Tahoe is known locally as having the best skiing and has nationally the most ski resorts per area.

This very large mountain lake was formed by strong fault activity pushing the mountains around it up and splitting a gap in the middle. Add heavy glacial activity, and you have a rather large beautiful lake in the mountains. Lake Tahoe is the 2nd deepest lake in the US at 1600 feet and the 26th largest lake in the world. Not too shabby.

This expansive landscape is frequented by outdoor enthusiasts year round in winter by skiing and snow mobiling, and summer hiking, fishing, and boating. Other sites include The Tahoe Rim trail, which circles the entire lake via the mountain tops, taking you from peak to peak.

With its average mean temperature in summer never above 80 degrees, and it's not hard to tell why it's homeowners are the extremely wealthy and extravagant.

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4.) It's climate is the 2nd highest in extremes and it's tied for 4th (with Florida) as the longest spanning state in latitude. The highest point recorded was in the Mojave at 125 F and the lowest was in the northern border at -50 F (Beat out barely by Californias 135 F and -45 F respectively) This added to the fact it's an extremely arid climate, and you always have some part of the state at a temperature you're looking for.

The southern portion of Nevada the most arid of the region, caused by the extreme portion of the Sierra Nevadas rain shadow, while having an extremely hot (Las Vegas averages around 110 in July/August), and has extremely mild winters. Reno in comparison which is still hundreds of miles from the northern border averages a wonderful 90 F in July/August and thanks to cooling of arid regions is an average 50 F at night in the July/August.

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5.) Nevada is perhaps the most liberal state in the Union. Thats right. The most Liberal state in the Union. You may lump it in there with the crazy states like Utah and Arizona, but they infact voted for Barrack Obama in the last election (due in large part to Vegas and Reno). While there are many crazies in Nevada, their unique history and extreme need for tourism have made them to pass  many unique laws.

This all started with Gold Rush, that brought many miners and created many new wealthy people in the area. These backwater towns and new wealth led to many sinful practices that were later put into law after statehood.

Some of the laws include:
     -Legal Gambling- Casinos are everywhere, and video slots are put in every place imaginable, from gas stations to grocery stores.
     -Legal prostitution- This became popular after the new wave of immigrants and miners entering the near lawless Nevada territory in the 1860's. The strange part of this law is that Las Vegas and Reno are not included, this compared to Carson City that voted separately to ban it. The only restriction is they have to be in licensed brothels, so no street walking for you girls out there! I've heard these girls make 6 figures a year, and only work half the year, just incase anyone wanted to argue this poin.
     -The most liberal divorce laws- That's why you get married randomly in Vegas, you can get divorced in Vegas just as easily.
     -No state liquor laws (only federal)- Check this link out here for reference. There are no laws concerning sell of alcohol, bar closing times, open container laws, or even percent alcohol caps. The most interesting part is it is legal in Nevada to be 'Publically Intoxicated', yep, do what you want, folks. The only state that comes close is my other favorite lawless state, Louisiana, who has really light laws on things like taking glass bottles in public and many of these lack of laws apply to only New Orleans.
     -Nevada recognizes same sex unions- BAM. Enacted in 2009, this law was actually vetoed by the Governer, and then OVERRIDDEN by the state legislature to become law. Pretty nice to see parts of checks and balances actually being used.

And the most interesting part of this equation:
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6.) 87% of Nevada is Federal land. The Homestead act granted land west of Mississippi to any willing participant. Typically this land was 160 acres. The problem is Nevadas extremely arid climate and low nutritional value in the vegetation require area much larger than 160 acres to do much of anything. This explains why the only private land is in Las Vegas, Reno, and surrounding rivers were Agriculture and Ranching are possible. The homestead act ended, and the government was left with the rest. Fun fact 2/3rds of the people in Nevada live in 1 county (Clark county surrounding Las Vegas)

So what does all this mean? You can do anywhere in Nevada and do anything you want. Pull over on the side of the road, and just go walking. Anywhere. Just go. Climb a mountain. Scream from it. It's ok. From the outside this may not seem true, as there are fences everywhere. However, unlike Texas, where you'd get shot for entering these fences. In Nevada it's 'Trespass Please' unless otherwise stated. So land owners will kindly place 'No Trespassing' signs on their property and lock gates. Usually there aren't gates on public land, but few times there are, they just come with signs that say 'Please close gate'.

For a Texan this has lead to alot of anxiety. The beginning of my tenure here contained lots of yelling at my co-worker not to enter a property or else we'll die. It's however, never true. Mostly. No one ever questions what you're doing out there either. Go camp anywhere, run around naked, they don't care. Except The Nature Conservancy, because they're jerks.


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7.) Nevada ranks in the top 5 of most Vanity plates in the country. I can't explain this one, and neither can the internet. It may be the boredom of people in Nevada ormaybe the cheap price ($20/year). Added to the fact the entire population live in Reno or Las Vegas and it very well may seem like every other car has a vanity plate. The problem with this, is its very distracting. I stop paying attention to the road while trying to figure out if your (SXSTR) plate is because you are a sex star, sixth sister, sax star, snowboard trail builder, or 7 times straight.

 (This post has my 1 stolen image, above), I believe it's FUCK ala If You Seek Amy style, though I'm unsure. I personally like the quick read translation of 'I fuse steak'.

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8.) The desert is beautiful. And luckily there's alot of it in Nevada. I can't explain the amount of times I've driven in the desert and just been struck by its raw beauty. It's expansive and its colorful. The bare mountains make way for gorgeous colors of all different types of rocks and geologic events. You can tell the history of the area just by looking at the mountains. Each layer is intricately drawn out, explaining volcanic, fault movements, deep underground laval flows, and chemistry. From the red rocks in southern Nevada, to the areas near Death Valley, and across to the northern sagebrush areas of Nevada. There's something about the desert that gets me. (This pictures actually mine!)

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9.) It is one of the quietest place in the United States. Only the desert can create such a silence. Lower quality habitat and arid climates lead to larger ranges for animals (birds especially), this creates zones were birds are not and therefore don't sing. The low population and fact very cars don't drive but on the major highways means you can step out of your car and hear, nothing. I've been to the quietest place on Earth (Haleakala Crater) and this comes close. Climb a mountain, on a not so breezy day and just sit down. You'll thank me later.

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10.) Nevada has 2 national parks. TWO! And a rather expansive National Forest.

     -Death Valley National Park- Granted it's more on the California side, but still this is a gorgeous and very unique place. It's nestled between two mountain ranges, and a relative stones throw from the highest peak in the contiguous united states, Mount Whitney. It's Whitney that actually creates this valley of death. Rain shadows are created by the extreme elevation in the Sierras, as the air rises above the sierras, the moisture is forced out of the air like ringing an atmospheric towel. This place is home to not only the hottest place on earth (that 135 F temperature) but also the lowest elevation in North America at -282 ft. That's right you can walk to a lower point elevationally than you can safely scuba dive. The incredible diversity in habitat from salt flats, sand dunes, canyon lands, and common arid vegetation makes it an International Biospehere Reserve, as long as you can stand the heat ofcourse. I'd suggest going in winter when the temperatures range from 40-70 F.

     -Great Basin National Park. Unfortunately I don't know much about this park as I have not visited it. But it's near the Utah border, and acts as one of those high elevation bio hotspots, sporting many high elevation endemics and natives. I hope to visit it on my journey out of Nevada.

     - Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest- This is another Nevada eccentric moment, but it is considered the largest by area national forest in the lower 48 (Alaska always wins every outdoor contest). This is strictly because the national forest is actually spread throughout the entire state. Every mountain range high enough and moist enough to sustain Ponderosa Pines is protected as part of the National Forest. So this expands across the Eastern Sierra Nevadas on the border of California, the Spring Mountains in the west, and Ruby Mountains in the North west. And every time you enter the National Forest you're in for a treat. The pictueresque pines lead to high biodiversity (again with the biodiversity!) and are always a treat to hike through. The best part is you can hike from the desert to pine trees in an hour and back again. 


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And what do all these variable environments and habitats I just mentioned really mean for us? (This counts as unofficial point 11) Very high bird diversity! Especially if you include migration, which we ofcourse will! 

From the high elevation species, to Pinyon-Juniper specialists, desert specialists, migrating song birds through the Eastern Sierras, the large natural lakes acting as an oasis for migrating waterbirds, and let's not forget the Nevada Department of Wildlifes special gift of 250 Himilayan Snowcocks! If you have the time to drive, you can see a ridiculous amount of birds. No it's not California, Arizona, Texas, or Florida, but it's still quite impressive if you put the entire years totals together. Thanks to the wonderful organization I work for, Great Basin Bird Observatory, I can say there are 488 reported species of birds in Nevada. Compare that to the 654 species of birds that occure naturally (no vagrants) in North America, and Nevada has seen 75% of all the birds in North America!

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My final note to anyone wanting to visit Nevada. Be prepared to travel and hike alot. Most of Nevada is empty, get gas when you can, always bring more water than you need. My biggest tip would be to have an off-road vehicle, while there are roads that go to almost everywhere in Nevada most of them are seriously only 4x4 accesible. Few dirt roads are maintained and many passes are impassible in the winter.

Also it should probably be noted, while I seemed to put in alot of pictures of beautiful mountains full of pines, the majority of nevada is arid desert. I'm just trying to trick you by not accurately representing picture percentages on my blog to reality.

Becoming a mountain man

So, I've finally made a Blogpost about my time in Tennessee. The reasons are partly beyond my control and some definitely within my control. I didn't have internet in the state park, and I knew it was going to be a long undertaking.

As before, I'll break down this post into sections, but I'm going to keep it all in one post this time.

Click below to jump to a section:
-Job description-
-Succession-
-Hybridization-
-Nest Searching-
-Biodiversity-
-Elk-
-Tennessee-
-Cove Lake State Park-

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Q: So what exactly was I doing there anyway?
A: I worked for the University of Tennessee, and specifically a graduate student (Katie Percy). She is studying a threatened song bird here in the Eastern United States called the Golden-winged Warbler. The majority of her work involves nest searching (more on that to come). I stayed in a couple of travel trailers in Cove lake State Park in Caryville, Tn. The study sites were on the mountain tops only a 30 minute drive up from the park. It was done on state owned Wildlife Management Area and National Coal land. This project ran from April 25th-July 15th.


With all that over with lets start with everything project related.

The Golden-winged Warbler
No, this is not the Golden-cheeked Warbler I worked on last year. This year I worked with a Golden-winged Warbler. (Remember to click on the underlined and colored text to see more information)

This is a Golden-winged Warbler

This is a Golden-cheeked Warbler. I did not work on this this summer


Instead, I worked on THIS. A Golden-winged Warbler

As far as warblers go, they are not closely related, and in seperate genus's. Both birds occupy very different habitat. You would not find them together in the United States, except under the rarest of circumstances. (The Golden-wing is a trans-gulf migrant while the Golden-cheek is a mainland migrant)

The Golden-winged Warbler is a near threatened species that is currently up for the Endangered Species listing.

It is an early successional species thats declining due to habitat loss and hybridization with the closely related Blue-winged Warbler.
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Succession in the biological world is simply the gradual progress of an ecosystem. Every ecosystem has a beginning and end. Plant growth and colonizing rates vary greatly. Some grasses may grow up in days/weeks while large broadleaf treas (oaks, maples, etc.) never stop growing. With the growth of the large slow growing broadleaf trees, there's a lessening of the weedy and shrubby plants as available light decreases. This leads to a slow change in the habitat's plant structure. An example earliest succession would be a blank dirt field with poor nutrients. And the farthest iteration would be the Redwood forests and Old growth forests of the Northwest (Old growth has disappeared in the East).
Imagine an empty lot, nothing but dirt. The first thing to appear are weeds, hardy species that are great at colonizing. As the roots take hold and change the soil composition, grasses pop up. Eventually as the lot turns into a grassy/weedy field, the smaller shrubs and trees begin colonizing (riding the wind perhaps). Five years later, there's small saplings and shrubs in the field. Around the saplings and shrubs you'd lose many grasses and weeds with lessening of sunlight. Twenty years later, the saplings have grown into full trees, grass has essentially disappeared locally, and the shrubs are less dominate. 30-100 years later (depending on trees) the shrubs have all but disappeared, except in small pockets of sunlight, and the trees have grown to towering heights. The ground is now bare except a short layer of struggling weeds and forbes. At the tail end of this process trees naturally fall down or die. The downed trees and standing snags create new openings in the canopy. This special mosaic creates a sterotypical Old Growth forest.

This is succession, habitats get knocked back to early periods due to fire, wind, storms, or human involvement.

Golden-winged Warblers nest in early succession habitats, the habitats with plentiful grass and bushes. Specifically they love the habitats that have sparse tall trees or snags (dead standing trees), and are within 200 feet of a mature forest. All three layers, a grass layer, shrub layer, and tall tree layer. This pickiness lead to their current decline, but actually lead to their earlier population increase!

Over the last 100 or so years, the United States went through a huge population increase. This lead to an increase in foresting and coal mining. The destruction of the old-growth forest actually increased the amount of suitable habitat for the Golden-winged Warbler. With the introduction of the Endangered Species Act in 1973 and the beginning of the global conservation movement many of these activities were retarded or halted. Areas that were once destroyed were allowed to grow back, reforestation began. With the reforestation, and return to mature forests, the Golden-winged's numbers began to decline again.
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The Golden-winged Warblers suffer from another problem, hybridization with Blue-winged Warblers.

The close cousin, the Blue-winged Warbler.

While morphologically (meaning: visually) different from a Golden-winged Warbler, phenotypically (meaning: genetically), its habits, preferences, and song are quite similar. These two are so genetically similar that they can make fully functional offspring capable of mating. Hybridization is a common and fundamentally important aspect of evolution. The mixing of genes and loss of that distinct species in the next generation is very difficult to deal with by an already struggling species.

The interesting thing about these two species, is their two common hybrid outcomes.

As a reference
Golden-Winged Warbler on the left/Blue-winged Warbler on the right

The 'Brewsters Warbler' is simply a cross between a Golden-wing and a Blue-wing:

You can see the blue back and crown from the Golden-wing, as well as the black eyeline and yellow bib from the Blue-wing

The 'Lawrence Warbler' is thought to be a cross between two 'Brewster Warblers'

The Lawrence Warbler is a bit all over the place. A mask and bib like a Golden-wing, with wing wingbars and body color of a Blue-wing

While absolutely fascinating, when we come upon one in the field, we generally call it dirty names. It is visually proof of the Golden-wings decline. If we find a 'pure' individual mating with a hybrid we questions its upbringing and it's questionable morals. We essentially become bird racists.

Hybrids and how they relate to evolution and struggling species, is a complicated and fascinating subject I plan on touching this winter. It is much too long for today.
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My work revolved around searching for Golden-winged nests, monitoring and banding those nests, and gathering vegetation data on the nesting and territory sites.

How do you find a birds nest? Well the short answer is you follow it till it takes you to it. This is very simplified and varies in difficulty based on the species. The Golden-wing is a ground nester, and a paranoid one at that. Ground-nesters are very good at hiding their nest. If you live at the level of predators, you better be good at hiding it. The difficulty in finding one is medium to hard. At the end of a season you will find a couple, and you will miss ALOT.

Nest searching is like being a police detective in a foreign country.
Your equipment:
Notebook-rite-in-rain (water resistant)

Binoculars- definitely waterproof
And thats it

As you run through territories, you witness tiny snippets of the birds life. They (especially paranoid species like Golden-wings) don't trust you and don't like when you're around their nest. Running back and forth through their territory you see them fly different directions, double back, eat, grab nesting material, sing. And you have to figure out what, if anything, all this means.

Now grabbing nesting material means your lucky day, because you have a high chance they'll fly right to the nest. Otherwise, it's follow them as long as you can, write down what they do. Day by day, in each territory, you create a profile of them. Is there an area he/she likes to hang out in? Maybe the nest is there. Did the male just look down to the ground? Maybe its there.

Unless you get lucky, your day is finding evidence and investigating these hunches. You're usually wrong. Dead wrong. The nest could be 100 meters on the otherside of the forest and you spent three hours staking out a worthless patch of forest.

Nest searching is a funny thing. In the bird world I would say it's one of the hardest skills. Most bird jobs can teach you what you need to know, and except serious point counts, you only need to know how to identify a few species. Nest searching is something sought after and very frustrating. The frustration is common knowledge in nest searching, something that is talked about in interviews and over many beers. There will be days where you won't see your target species at all. You could go a couple weeks without finding a nest, while your partners find 10.

I think the key is never giving up and not blaming yourself. A lot like in sports, once you find one, you magically find more. Confidence. Luck. Whatever it is. Increased time equals increased opportunities to get lucky. Lady luck doesn't care who you are, she's going to show herself if she damn well pleases and doesn't care about your 'feelings'.

If it looks like we're having a moment, we're not. We both hate each other

You also find yourself part ninja. If a female sees you around her nest, she won't come to it. But you never know where the nest is. This leads to much stalking. You become a bird creeper. When you find a female, you follow as close as you can without scaring her. You hide behind trees, peak out from bushes, and run as fast as you can when she flys off. If you're on a stake out, you have to hide in the bushes. I have even gone as far as making a hat made of leaves, and covering myself in branches. Silly? Yes. Useful? Sometimes. Other times the bird just stares right at you and turns it's head inquisitively.

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Tennessee is gorgeous. Eastern Tennessee in particular has amazing mountain views. The Appalachian mountains split the border between Tennessee and North Carolina, and the Cumberland mountains diverge just above Knoxville.

Our field site (mines farther down the mountain)

The humidity in the regions often brings fog in the morning, that settles softly in the valleys

Elevational change allows a variety of species to live in their preferred temperature bands. Elevation and geological activity create a variety of soil compositions and high diversity of plant species. Abundant rain fall brings in many plant and animals species that might otherwise be limited. All these factors turn the area into what is called a 'Biological hot spot'.

Eastern Tennesse is home to numerous frogs, amphibians and snakes. Including:
The Eastern Garter snakeThe Black RacerThe declining Timber Rattlesnake
It's home to hundreds of bird species. About 20 warbler species breed in either mountain range in Tennessee. In migration the mountains act as a highway leading straight to the northern U.S and Canada. This summer I counted 23 Warbler species alone, and a multitude of other migrants. A few of my favorite breeders include the Hooded Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, Scarlet Tanagers, and Red-eyed Vireos.

The loud and charismatic Hooded Warbler

A morning in the equivalent of the song bird suburbs is a cacophony of sound. Between Indigo Buntings, Yellow-breasted Chats, and every Warbler it can be hard to think in the forest. Only rain brings quiet, and then you're huddling under a tree to get out of the rain.

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Another oddity in the Cumberlands are the Elk. Elk roamed Tennessee over 150 years ago. Western expansion saw the species disappear from most of the East. In 2000, Tennessee Wildlife and Resources Agency (TWRA) introduced 200 elk to the Cumberlands and began managing for them. This leads to a strange love affair, where the elk get special treatment over many other species. Forests are cleared, burned, and mowed to create 'food plots', for the elk to graze at. This inane tactic mainly acts as an easy meeting point for the elk. Seeing the elk is a tourist attraction, and starting in 2009, a hunting sport. Though only 300 strong, there have been exclusive elk hunts started, with a very guest list.

An interesting note, the Elk in the Cumberlands are anecdotally smaller than their western counterparts. This may be a function of the individuals they brought in from Canada or fast evolutionary selection for smaller individuals in the smaller range size of the Cumberland mountains.

The elk are a great addition to the environment. These previous residents are abundant on our study sites. You see them driving up the mountain, and run into them in the early morning on the mountain. Compared to the incredibly common White-tailed Deer, they are a welcome change. The problem rests in how TWRA deals with them. On Ashlog (the mountain my site was on) there is only fire management. This means sections of the mountain are burned to maintain pre-european settlement like ecological conditions. No food plots are currently planned for the mountain. On Massengale (the mountain opposite), food plots are maintained and burned. The elk are slightly more populous on the opposite mountain, but still locally abundant on either mountain. The more natural habitat on Ashlog still gives the Elk plenty of open fields to eat, and plenty of forests for other birds. Less hands touch Ashlog, while Massengale requires large roads to be built, mowers to mow over bird nests, and forests to be cleared.

I believe in a very hands off approach to conservation, and can not agree with the tactics of TWRA here. (Conservation practices represent another indepth topic I plan on covering this winter).
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Tennessee treated me very well. The majority of people are some of the nicest you'll ever meet. Watch out how interested you come off to a Tennessean, because they'll sit and talk with you for hours. They feed you. Help you. And always up for a chat. On multiple occasions I was either invited to dinner or given food made especially for us. They take pride in being called the Volunteer state, and love anything to do with the University of Tennessee. While they may not understand what you do, they'll feign interest just because you're with UT.

-A quick side note on the Tennessee Volunteers-

Tennessee is called the volunteer state because their mass enrollment of soldiers in not only the War of 1812 but the Mexican-American War. Davy Crockett, while speaking to his disenchantment of the Tennessean political system, famously said, 'You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas'. While not initially planning on joining the Texas revolution, abruptly signed an oath of allegiance upon entering Texas, and joined the revolution. This altruism, regardless of the issue, runs deep in Tennessee's veins to this day.

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A bad side is the stranglehold meth has on Tennessee, especially the mountain regions. There's such a strong anti-meth campaign that children are taught the dangers as young as elementary school.

A sign upon entering Caryville, Tn (Taken by Laurel Moulton)

Knoxville, the location of the University of Tennessee, is a wonderful town. It's blend of urban college students, growing green attitude, and Tennessee values creates an adorable town in the valley.

Live music thrives in Knoxville, especially blue grass bands.

Knoxville hosts many great events and a great square. It's a city that's just the right size, and attitude just right. I'm probably biased because I'm from the south. Many arguments against it arise from it being in a southern state with a politically radical right stance. I'm used to most of this though, so it didn't bother me.
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Cove Lake, was a little different. Situated right off the highway and in the middle of the Caryville, it acts like a giant city park for the residents. The state park has the towns basketball courts, tennis courts, gazebos, baseball diamonds, and the swimming pool. Every weekend brings in a multitude of people camping all around you. And the swimming pool is always full on weekends.

Wild, it is not.

It's surrounded by a small lake that gives great views of the Cumberland mountains (click to really enjoy)

Contains hundreds of non-migrating geese that rule the park.

And I got to stay in a very interesting travel trailer (taken by Laurel Moulton)

All in all it wasn't a terrible place to stay. Loud at times. And not very peaceful, but I can't complain too much.

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This all pretty much sums up my time at Tennessee. While there's so much more I could talk about. My sliders eating challenge. Ticks. First Friday. The Green Machine. I don't want this to go any longer than it currently is.

For a more indepth journey, head on over to my Photo Page and click on the Tennessee album. Once there you can experience my photog version.

Thanks for reading,
-Matt