Diario del proyecto Gahnia Grove - Umbrella Project

Archivos de Diario para mayo 2020

lunes, 18 de mayo de 2020

North Shore has more severe drought than most of Auckland?

Fortunately, it appears that the recent Indian Dipole effect that contributed to Australian and NZ drought in the last few years is ending, or ended:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12299203
These Dipole events have not apparently been recognised and recorded over a long history, but are reported to have occurred with increased frequency in the last decade or two, and are predicted to occur more frequently with global warming.

Though the recent Diplole event may have concluded, the Auckland drought persists and "The New Zealand Drought Index (NZDI) shows that meteorological drought and severe meteorological drought remain in place across parts of the Coromandel Peninsula and a small part of northern Auckland."

https://niwa.co.nz/news/hotspot-watch-1-may-2020

Confirmation of our observations in Gahnia Grove, where the impact of the drought is visible and tangible, particularly because of itstreeless, roadside ridge-top situation. Temperatures recorded by our camera on the ridge and specifically at the treeless bank top of Gahnia Grove's Arena and CHF banks, have confirmed our formerly untested pperception that this ridge is several degrees than streets a few hundred metres away, and the kikuyu at the top of Gahnia Grove is several degrees hotter hotter than Rimu Ridge, ie 50-100m down the road on the same Northern aspect of this East/West facing ridge.

The light intensity and angle change throughout the day, so that leaf litter under trees in a cool shady spot at 10am can be hot to the touch at 2 or 3pm.

None of this is surprising, but land managers need to be aware of the conditions being experienced in this location, to take into account the extreme stress currently experienced by vegetation, and likely unprecedented impacts of works impacting soil and plant hydration, eg the planned removal of the large stand of Flame Trees, the source of a growing invasion down the adjoining forest, but also the most significant source of shade along this ridge in summer, at a gullyhead with a streamside plant community.

Publicado el lunes, 18 de mayo de 2020 a las 02:04 AM por kaipatiki_naturewatch kaipatiki_naturewatch | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario