- Author: Andy Lyons
Calling all water resource managers and researchers! Do you have spatial data of water stocks, water infrastructure, or water usage? Do you have a story to go with it? Then you have everything you need to submit a map idea for an exciting open-source atlas project.
Guerrilla Cartography, the non-profit cartography group that put together the stunning Food: An Atlas, recently announced another call-for-maps for their second big project: Water: An Atlas. If you haven't heard of this group, Guerrilla Cartography is an Oakland-based consortium of cartographers that believe heavily in the power of maps to tell stories, the art and science of cartography, and the power of collaboration between cartographers and researchers. For each atlas project, they pair volunteer cartographers with researchers to turn basic maps into beautiful works of art, then crowd-fund to print the atlases which are also available for free as PDFs. See for example how they portrayed California's almond production in the 2013 Food Atlas.
The water theme is certainly topical, as drought, ground water depletion, and sea level rise are major issues throughout the western US and around the world. Most of us notice water issues when there is either too much or too little water right in front of us. Maps are uniquely suited to convey the spatial and temporal scales of water, and the atlases produced by Guerrilla Cartography are as artistic as they are informative. I can't wait to see the stories revealed through maps when the atlas comes out next spring. The deadline to submit an idea for a map is September 12, 2016, so hop on it water researchers!
In response to Gov. Jerry Brown's announcement yesterday, calling all California residents to reduce water use by 25%, the folks at the New York Times put togther a nice interactive map. The map shows residential water use in California in gallons per day.
Take a look here!
/span>The hills and lawns might look green still, but the drought has hit the east bay hard. The sparkling, clean, tasty water we usually have delivered through our taps via the Mokelumne River Basin in the Sierra Nevada. Get out Britas!
From our favorite and fastest source for local news Berkeleyside:
The drinking water for 1 million customers of East Bay Municipal Utilities District had an “off” odor and taste over the weekend and, while EBMUD is fixing the issue, customers might have to get used to it. The culprit? The drought.
EBMUD usually draws the drinking water for the majority of its customers from the bottom of Pardee Reservoir, about 100 miles east of Berkeley, according to Abby Figueroa, a spokeswoman for EBMUD. But on Thursday, the water district started taking water from the top portion of the reservoir. The water there is warmer and contains some algae, so even though it was treated before gushing into pipes in Berkeley, Oakland and elsewhere, there was a peculiar smell.
Accordingly there was a run on Brita filters at all local hardware/houseware stores.
/span>/span>Some press on our PNAS paper: Twentieth-century shifts in forest structure in California: Denser forests, smaller trees, and increased dominance of oaks.
- Berkeley News http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2015/01/20/warmer-drier-climate-altering-forests-statewide/
- National Geographic http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/01/150119-california-forests-shrinking-climate-drought-science/
- LA Times http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-forest-study-20150119-story.html
- KTVU SF news http://wn.ktvu.com/clip/11049705/berkeley-drought-to-impact-climate-change-in-forests
In the paper we document changes in forest structure between historical (1930s) and contemporary (2000s) surveys of California vegetation. The shorthand is:
- Statewide, tree density in forested regions increased by 30% between the two time periods, and forest biomass declined by 19%.
- Larger trees (>60 cm diameter at breast height) declined, whereas smaller trees (<30 cm) have increased.
- Large tree declines were more severe in areas experiencing greater increases in climatic water deficit since the 1930s.
- Forest composition in California in the last century has also shifted toward increased dominance by oaks relative to pines, a pattern consistent with warming and increased water stress, and also with paleohistoric shifts in vegetation in California over the last 150,000 years.
From our Faith Kearns at the UC Water Institute: https://twitter.com/ucanrwater/status/543501860527550464
As great as this bath has been, we still are way behind normal.
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