Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
rainfall, less availability of surface water, and less replenishment of
groundwater than do humid ones.
The Real Issue?
People often confuse weather and climate, and what they're
experiencing day to day with what is happening worldwide.
Weather is a short-term occurrence and climate long-term, says
Tennessee hydrologist William Waldrop. “We have a cold snap,
for example, and therefore 'there's no such thing as global warm-
ing.'” Of course, the warming of the planet is well-documented,
adds Waldrop. In the 1980s when he was at the Tennessee Valley
Authority, Waldrop worked on studies that examined the potential
effects of extreme climate on water resources. “We couldn't call it
'climate change' back then (because it wasn't politically correct at
the time).”
Climate change is not new. It has always occurred, just like
Earth's recycling of its water supply. Factor global warming in with
it and things begin to really change (Figure 3.1). “It is society's lack
of ability to adjust to these changes that creates problems,” says
Frank Richards, hydrometeorologist, now retired from the National
Weather Service's Hydrologic Information Center in Silver Spring,
Maryland. Richards specializes in precipitation and how it behaves
on the ground.
FIGURE 3.1 Grinnell Glacier, Glacier National Park, 1910 (left) and 1997 (right)
Source:
Glacier National Park Archives, F. E. Matthes and Lisa McKeon.
