Here are some additional resources that may be of interest.
1. April 2018 Blackfeet Climate Change Adaption Plan (BCCAP). Updated: After our meeting Thursday July 18, 2018 at Yellow Bird Woman Sanctuary with Mark Magee, Loren BirdRattler, Will Seeley, Graham Gaither, Ervin Carlson, and Mary, you may be interested in learning more about the Blackfeet Food Access and Sustainability Team as well as all the resources at Blackfeet Climate Change or at the Blackfeet Agricultural Resources Management Plan website. The following graphic is drawn from the 2018 BCCAP.
1. April 2018 Blackfeet Climate Change Adaption Plan (BCCAP). Updated: After our meeting Thursday July 18, 2018 at Yellow Bird Woman Sanctuary with Mark Magee, Loren BirdRattler, Will Seeley, Graham Gaither, Ervin Carlson, and Mary, you may be interested in learning more about the Blackfeet Food Access and Sustainability Team as well as all the resources at Blackfeet Climate Change or at the Blackfeet Agricultural Resources Management Plan website. The following graphic is drawn from the 2018 BCCAP.
2. A short summary of the critical role volcanic ash can play in Northern Rocky Mountain forested ecosystems.
3. A reminder of how the stable carbon isotope signature (the ratio of C-13 to C-12) of the atmosphere has shifted over the last 25,000 years.
Yes, for about 25,000 years, the atmosphere's stable carbon isotope signature varied between -6.3 and -6.7 permil. A wobbling of <0.5 permil over 25,000 years.
4. A reminder (at right) of how the atmosphere's stable carbon isotope signature has shifted since the mid 1970s at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawai'i and South Pole Observatory.
Yes, in July 1978, the stable carbon isotope ratio was about -7.5 per mil. And in July 2018, the stable carbon isotope ratio was about -8.7 permil. A shift of -1.2 permil in 40 years. The reason for this rapid decline is the addition of fossil fuel-derived carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, which occurred at much slower (and insignificant) rates before the Industrial Revolution (e.g., the natural oil seeps of the Santa Barbara Channel).
5. Our planet's climate has changed in the past. For example, a long time ago, the forests of Yellowstone National Forest were very very different. We know this because of Yellowstone's Petrified Forest.
6. This is a great primer on representative concentration pathways (RCP) that is separate from the explanation in the Montana Climate Assessment (MCA). The MCA focuses primarily on climate change projections for RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5, over two horizons.
7. Here are the documents that Peter Kolb shared with the class on our elevational survey of Lubrecht Experimental Forest's communities on July 16, 2018. <Link 1> <Link 2> <Link 3>
8. Here is a link to a 2016 Montana PBS short video feature on "The future of Colstrip." As the time of this writing (27 July 2018), it is doubtful we will see an operating coal-fired power plant on our visit next week as the plant has been unexpectedly shut down. A 24 July 2018 Billings Gazette piece on the shutdown is here.
9. This link will take you to a Feb. 2018 Billings Gazette article that reviewed the Smith Mine disaster on its 75th anniversary.
10. We camped and dodged mosquitoes on a green lawn at the Southern Agricultural Research Center, adjacent to part of the Huntley Irrigation Project. This patch of green lawn has not always been so green, but was probably green as far back as 100 years ago, in 1918, since the Huntley Irrigation Project delivered its first drop of water in 1908.
11. Our last week we will tour the Judith Wind Energy facility. Some wind turbines can be quite large, such as this 6 megawatt (= 6 million watts = 6 million joules per second) turbine. This single turbine could require ~18 tons of copper based on a ballpark figure of 3 tons copper/megawatt (source). And copper is not the largest fraction of the material carbon footprint for this 6 MW turbine either; page 7 of this 2012 USGS report details the materials that make up a typical wind turbine.
12. An University of Montana Master's thesis by J. Sussman was recently completed in January 2018 outlining how Montana might transition from fossil to renewable fuel sources.
13. In our meeting with Bob Lake (Public Service Commissioner) on Monday, 6 August 2018, he mentioned the Gordon Butte pumped storage project. Here is some more background information on PS.
14. Here is a short time-lapse video Tony took of the Sandy Arrow Ranch compost spreader/turner in action in June 2018. They produced about 1000 tons of compost in 2017.
15. Methane is the third most abundant greenhouse gas in our atmosphere. It is also flammable at concentrations of 6%, or 60,000 ppm. The concentration of methane in the atmosphere as of May 2018 was 1855 ppm.
Here is a short video shot by one of Tony's students of an MSU student testing this limit in a Gallatin Valley creek. (Safety first, learning second.)