Siqi.

Xu
Sustainbility FRINQ
Professor Perkins
1/26/2014
1. (a) Are there similarities in the precipitation records from the three locations? Do the
records from Boise City and Liberal more resemble each other than the record from
McMinnville? Why?
*From 1927-1940 and 1995-2001, the three cities have approximately same trend
(positive effect). It means with the move of the year, one citys amount of annual
precipitation raise, the other twos amount raise as well. One citys amount of annual
precipitation fall, the other twos amount fall as well. During the drought of the 1930s,
the unanchored soil turned to dust that the prevailing winds blew away in clouds that
sometimes blackened the sky. Because of this dust bowl event, a negative effect
happened in the USA in the 1930s.
*Liberal and Boise city share approximately same trend. It means that the
difference between these two cities trend is very small.
*The variance value of Liberals annual precipitation and McMinnvilles annual
precipitation are very close. It means that McMinnvilles annual precipitation is very
variable. (The variance of Boise City is around 25.30, the variance of Liberal KS is
around 23.15 and the variance of McMinnville is around 78.27)
*The average value of Liberals annual precipitation and Boise citys annual
precipitation are approximately in the same level whereas the average value of
McMinnvilles annual precipitation is at a high level which is very different from other
two value. (The average annual precipitation of Boise City, Liberal KS and McMinnville
is 16.62, 18.89 and 42.14)

-Yes, the records from Boise City and Liberal actually more resemble each other
than the record from McMinnville in trend, average value of annual precipitation and
variance value of annual precipitation.


First, because Boise City OK is very close to Liberal KS. Both of them are in
the center of USA where the water of Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean cannot reach
easily because of the prevention of the mountains and the distance these two cities away
from these two oceans. So they have approximately same trend, average value and
variance of annual precipitation. Whereas McMinnville is located in the northwest of the
USA and is very close to the North Pacific Ocean and the groups of huge mountain rages
is in the east of McMinnville. When the west wind blows from the ocean to the north
USA, it brings water vapor to McMinnville. So the average value of its annual
precipitation is great above the amount of Boise City OK and Liberal KS. Because of the
influence of the direction of the wind, the average value of annual precipitation is
variable. Not like Boise City and Liberal will remain in a small and fixed level of annual
precipitation.
Second, Boise City is located at 364348N (Boise City, Oklahoma,
2013) ,Liberal is located at 37236N (Liberal, Kansas, 2014) and McMinnville is located at
45 12'N, they are under control of Prevailing Westerlies. Prevailing wind blows from the high
pressure area in the horse latitudes towards the poles, from the west of the ocean to the east of
the ocean. That means the wind will bring the water vapor from west to the east. The location of
McMinnville is good for receiving the water whereas Boise and Liberal is hard to receive
because of groups of mountain ranges.
Third, from the pictures below, the precipitation is also related to the space of plants and
rivers covering this city. The area covered by plants is different in these three cities.
McMinnville has the most amount of acres covered by plants whereas Boise and Liberal not
have so many acres. So the humidity of McMinnville is greater than other two cities.
Forth, the population is also an incentive. The more population an area has, the degree of
urban heat island effect will be more obviously and the wetter a place will be. So that more
annual precipitation will exist in this city. The population of Boise city OK is around 1,216 and
21,084 in Liberal KS whereas McMinnville has a population up to 32,535. All of the statistics
are tested in 2012.
Boise City OK

Liberal KS


McMinnville







2. (a) What is the average total annual precipitation in each of the locations? Give your answer to
two decimal places.
For Boise City OK, Liberal KS and McMinnville OR, the average total annual
precipitation is separately 16.62, 18.89 and 42.14.
(b) Was the decade preceding the Dust Bowl Era wetter than average for each location?
No.
First, during this decade, a great drought happened which means the amount of annual
precipitation is not high even not enough to provide daily water for people.
Second, extensive deep plowing of the virgin topsoil of the Great Plains during the
previous decade had displaced the native, deep-rooted grasses that normally trapped soil and
moisture even during periods of drought and high winds. Without the grass to fix the water and
maintain wet level, the air was drier and drier.
Third, the drought and erosion of the Dust Bowl affected 100,000,000 acres
(400,000 km
2
) that centered on the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma and touched adjacent
sections of New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas. (Dust Bowl, 2014).The dust storms
themselves resulted from a combination of dry conditions, poor land use practices, and large
scale crop failures that exposed easily erodible bare soil to the strong winds of the Great Plains
(National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2008).
Because of these bad condition, the Dust Bowl Era cannot be wetter than average for
each location.

(c) Compare precipitation in the 1940s with the 1930s and 1920s at Boise City and Liberal.
Which decade do the 1940s most resemble?
1920s is most resemble to the 1940s. Because the trend of precipitation anomaly is
approximate same with each other. The average value of annual precipitation in 1920s is similar
to the average value of 1940s which is close to 20 whereas the annual precipitation of each year
in 1940s are under 20. Both the variance of 1920s and 1940s of these two cities are greater than
that in 1930s. In another word, the precipitation amount in each year of 1930s is relatively stable.
(d) The 1940s comparison is difficult for Boise City due to missing data in several of the months.
How might that limitation be addressed?
Because Boise and Liberal are located in the places which are close with each other. The
trend of these two cities are approximate the same. Maybe it is possible to use the up and down
of Liberal city as a reference. If that is impossible, finding another place close to the Boise City
to get the number of its annual precipitation of that place is also a good way to get the numbers
close to the missing values.
(e) Is every Dust Bowl year anomalously dry in the Great Plains locations? Does that mean the
drought ended in those years?
*Not every year is anomalously dry in the Great Plains locations. During 1938, there is
actually a little extent of recovering for annual precipitation.
*No, drought is not end in those years. There is also a drought during the year around
1998 to 2002 because of the warm condition in the western tropical Pacific and Indian Ocean.
And if we cannot protect the environment and cannot absorb the negative effect from the Dust
Bowl event, this kind of drought will still happen in an unexpected time in the future.

Graphs
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References
Boise City, Oklahoma. (2013, 12 7). Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boise_City,_Oklahoma.
Dust Bowl. (2014, 1 26). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl.
Liberal, Kansas. (2014, 1 15). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal,_Kansas.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (2008, 1). Retrieved from
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/briefs/cook_01/.