Nature Notes: Landscape Articles

High Sierra Water: What is in the H20?

After decades of too often shrill warnings about Sierra water, Dr. Derlet continues to lower the panic level considerably with actual research. Although filters are probably not a bad idea, our Sierra streams and lakes are much, much better than we seem to think.

When is the best time to cross a mountain stream?

Gnarly old rangers will tell you to cross spring streams early in the morning when the water is lowest. As T.H. Huxley once observed, there is nothing more tragic than “the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.” Jessica Lunquist has been studying snowmelt in the Sierra for several years and finds that such expert advice ain't necessarily so. Author documents research with tables, charts, graphs and other quantitative data.

Sierra Nevada Earthquake History From Lichens on Rockfall Blocks

Strong seismic shaking from nearby and distant earthquakes causes rocks to shift downhill and fall from cliffs. Lichens colonize bare rock and largest lichen sizes date times when blocks fell. Lichen-size measurements cluster in peaks that record earthquake-induced and nonseismic landslides.

A Walk Through the Hydroclimate Network in Yosemite National Park: River Chemistry

This is the chemistry component of the hydroclimate network described in Jessica Lundquist's Nature Notes article “Monitoring snow from the beach in San Diego: Automatic snow sensors in the Sierra”. Efforts to link large-scale atmospheric circulation to snowpack and snowmelt–driven river discharge and riverine chemistry will ultimately contribute to the accuracy of climate change models and their ability to predict downstream effects on human use.

Airborne Pollutants in National Parks: Sequoia Park joins Large Study Effort

From sources as far away as Europe and Asia, some of the world’s most toxic persistent chemicals are carried on air masses and are being deposited in high elevation and high latitude ecosystems in the Western United States and Alaska, including Sequoia National Park.

Starry, Starry Night A Thing of the Past?

The flood of artificial light that washes the stars from the sky today has left one in five human beings unable to see the Milky Way at night, according to a new study of the global effects of light pollution.

Yosemite Falls—A New Perspective

Today Yosemite Creek flows over the valley rim to create Upper Yosemite Fall. Before its postulated diversion, perhaps little more than 130,000 years ago, Yosemite Creek flowed down an older channel just to the west, from which it cascaded down through the steep ravine that is now the route of the Yosemite Falls Trail

Snow at lower elevations always melts first… or does it? Synchronous Snowmelt and Streamflow in the Sierra

Over half of the water supply in the West is derived from mountain snowmelt. In recent decades, though, the initiation of spring melt has come progressively earlier in the season, and runoff from spring and summer snowmelt has declined markedly. Researchers, having entirely too much fun, poke and probe the snowpack for answers.

The Soundprints Of Science

Faster than the extinction of species, natural sounds are disappearing from our last remaining wild areas. The sounds of wilderness — or their lack —are a vital part of not only our experience as visitors but, as new evidence is showing, critical to the life cycles of animals. Elizabeth van Mantgem describes the recent work of Dr. Bernie Krause working to quantify the deterioration of the biophony, or natural orchestras, in our National Parks.

The Great Droughts of Y1K

Less than a thousand years ago, two severe droughts, ending about AD 1100 and AD 1350, caused major ecological changes in the west. We can still see evidence of that time in, for instance, the tips of trees showing in Yosemite's Tenaya Lake — their roots still attached under 70 feet of water. Can such droughts return?

The Sierra Wave

Like the currents in the sea, the complex mountain winds swirl and shift, dance and laugh, and tease and taunt the landscape. And borne of this jumble of winds is the Sierra Wave.

Understanding Smog in the Sierra

We think of our National Parks as the last islands of clean air and healthy ecosystems. Think again. The good news, though, is that the situation is reversible.

Monitoring Snow from the Beach in San Diego: Automatic Snow Sensors in the Sierra

Frostbitten fingers may be a thing of the past for snow researchers: technology now makes it possible to monitor the Sierra snowpack from sunny San Diego—or anywhere else you can plug in a computer. Still, there is some shovel work on the road to this brave new world...

Tapping the Sierra Nevada Reservoir

Do you know where your drinking water comes from? Follow the long journey of snow melting at 12,000 feet on the Sierra crest to your kitchen faucet. A huge, complex and expensive maze of dams and aqueducts work in the background so water is there for you at a twist of the handle. What are the costs to California's riparian habitat as a result?