Friday, July 26, 2019

Episode 483 (7-29-19): Buoyancy and Drag are in Play during the Work of Water Exercise

Click to listen to episode (5:11)

Sections below are the following:
Transcript of Audio
Audio Notes and Acknowledgments
ImageSources
Related Water Radio Episodes
For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.).

Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 7-26-19.


TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of July 29, 2019.

SOUNDS – ~ 6 sec

This week, the sounds of summertime swimming open an episode on water, exercise, and work, written particularly for Virginia students in middle school Physical Science and in high school Physics.

In physics, work is defined as the application of a force to move an object over some distance. Exercise means movement—of oneself or of objects—so exercise results in work in that physics sense.  And the work required, in turn, affects the energy one expends during the exercise.

Have a listen for about 25 seconds to several aquatic exercise activities, and see if you know two physical properties that significantly change the work involved in water exercise compared to exercise on land.  And here’s a hint: if you guess these, you’ll be buoyed up, not dragged down.

SOUNDS - ~ 25 sec

If you guessed buoyancy and drag, you’re right!  You heard diving, swimming, paddling a kayak, and a water exercise class that included walking, running, calisthenics, and moving various objects.  In all of those situations, the effects of buoyancy and drag in fluids—that is, liquids and gases—make water a very different exercise medium from air: in some ways requiring less work, while in other ways requiring more.

Let’s consider buoyancy first.  Buoyant force in water results from the displacement of water by an object in the water.  An object of a given volume will displace that volume of water.  The amount of buoyant force results from the weight of that volume of displaced water.  The effect of the buoyant force depends on another physical property, density—that is, the weight of a given volume of an object or substance.  If the object’s overall density is less than the density of water, the object can float.  Water exerts a greater buoyant force than air, so during shallow water exercise, that greater buoyant force decreases the work one does against gravity.  But in deeper water buoyancy can add the work of keeping oneself upright

Next let’s consider drag, which slows an object moving through a fluid.  Drag results from the viscosity of a fluid, which is the internal friction that affects how a fluid flows.  Water has a higher viscosity than air—just as honey and molasses have higher viscosities than water—so water exerts more drag on a moving object than air does.  The greater drag in water increases the work needed for movements during water exercise compared to the same movements in the air.

As an example, consider a jumping jack in chest-deep water.  Buoyancy reduces the work needed to jump off the bottom of the pool, and it reduces the impact of landing back on the bottom.  On the other hand, drag increases the work done by the arms, legs, and torso moving through the water.

We close by challenging you to think about another example, one that you might well experience this summer.  Try to apply the concepts of buoyancy and drag to a spring-board diver...

SOUND - ~ 3 sec – diving board

...rapidly passing through air and then plunging into water,

SOUND - ~ 2 sec – splash

SHIP’S BELL

Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Ben Cosgrove for his version of “Shenandoah” to open and close the show.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The opening swimming sounds and the water exercise class sounds were recorded in Blacksburg, Va., on July 24, 2019.

The other swimming sounds were recorded at the Virginia Tech swimming team’s practice in Christiansburg, Va., on April 11, 2014.  The diving board sound was recorded at a Virginia Tech swim meet in Christiansburg on November 21, 2014.  Virginia Water Radio thanks the team and their coaches at that time for their help and for their permission to record and use these sounds.

The kayak paddling sound was recorded on the Potomac River on July 11, 2010.

Click here if you’d like to hear the full version (2 min./22 sec.) of the “Shenandoah” arrangement/performance by Ben Cosgrove that opens and closes this episode.  More information about Mr. Cosgrove is available online at http://www.bencosgrove.com.

IMAGE


Diagram of the attraction between the hydrogen and oxygen atoms of water molecules. Water’s molecular structure, along with environmental conditions, determines viscosity and many other properties.  Image from U.S. Geological Survey “Water Science School/Water Properties Photo Gallery, online at https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/water-properties-photo-gallery?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects. Specific URL for this image is https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/strong-polar-bond-between-water-molecules-creates-water-cohesion.

SOURCES

Used for Audio

American Meteorological Society, “Glossary of Meteorology/Buoyancy,” online at http://glossary.ametsoc.org/wiki/Buoyancy.

Aquatic Exercise Association, Aquatic Fitness Professional Manual (Seventh Edition), Human Kinetics, Champaign, Ill., 2018; particularly Chapter 6, “Physical Laws as Applied to the Aquatic Environment,” pages 105-125.

Encyclopedia Britannica, “Work,” online at https://www.britannica.com/science/work-physics.

Indianapolis Public Library “Kids Blog/Density-Buoyancy,” 10/8/13, online at http://www.imcpl.org/kids/blog/?p=9042.

Lumen Learning, “Fluid Dynamics and Its Biological and Medical Applications/Motion of an Object in a Viscous Fluid,” online at https://courses.lumenlearning.com/physics/chapter/12-6-motion-of-an-object-in-a-viscous-fluid/.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “Viscosity,” online at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/viscosity.

Rader’s Physicsforkids.com, “All Work and No Play,” online at http://www.physics4kids.com/files/motion_work.html.

Science Learning Hub (Government of New Zealand), “Viscosity,” online at https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/1500-viscosity.

Lorena Torres-Ronda and Xavi Schelling i del Alcázar, “The Properties of Water and their Applications for Training,” Journal of Human Kinetics, Vol. 44, 12/9/14, pages 237-248; accessed online at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4327375/ (subscription may be necessary).

For More Information about Physical Properties of Water

Darren Bagley, “Teaching kids about science with water balloons,” Michigan State University Extension, 8/15/14, online at http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/teaching_kids_about_science_with_water_balloons.

U.S. Geological Survey, “Water Science School,” online at https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school; and “Water Properties Information by Topic,” online at https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/water-properties-information-topic?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects.

Andrew Z. Jones, “About.com/About Education/Density of Common Substances,” online at http://physics.about.com/od/fluidmechanics/a/commondens.htm.

RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES

All Water Radio episodes are listed by category at the Index link above (http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html).  See particularly the “Recreation” and “Science” subject categories.

Following are links to other episodes on physical and chemical properties of water.

Episode 195, 1/6/14 – Wading into the New Year, the New River, and Water Thermodynamics.
Episode 210, 4/21/14 – In “Woman Named Whiskey” by The Floorboards, What’s the Solution? (on water as a solvent).
Episode 207, 3/31/14 – Air, Water, and Fire (on relative humidity).
Episode 217, 6/9/14 – Surface Tension and Other Aspects of Water Sticking Together.
Episode 250, 1/26/15 – Reaching the Boiling Point.
Episode 255, 3/2/15 – Density’s in Action in Falling, Floating, and Sinking.
Episode 299, 1/18/16 – Taking an Underwater Dive, Featuring “Scuba Dive” by Kat Mills (discussing buoyancy, density, drag, pressure, and temperature).
Episode 313, 4/25/16 – Evaporating Water Helps Bees Turn Nectar into Honey.
Episode 333, 9/12/16 – Dissolved Gases are Part of the Solution for Creatures Living in Water.
Episode 403, 1/15/18 – At the Freezing Point.
Episode 404, 1/22/18 – Ice on the Pond.
Episode 406, 2/5/18 – Ice on the River.
Episode 407, 2/12/18 – Snow Shows Chemistry and Physics at Work.
Episode 450, 12/10/18 – Neurons, Ions, and Water.

Following is a link to a previous episode on water and exercise.

Episode 466, 4/1/19 – On Water, Biology, and Basketball.

FOR VIRGINIA TEACHERS – RELATED STANDARDS OF LEARNING (SOLs) AND OTHER INFORMATION

The episode—the audio, extra information, or sources—may help with the following Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs).

2010 Science SOLs

Grades K-6 Force, Motion, and Energy Theme
4.2 – characteristics and interactions of moving objects (including that moving objects have kinetic energy).

Grades K-6 Matter Theme
K.5 – water properties, including flowing, objects floating or sinking, and water occurring in different phases.
2.3 – properties of solids, liquids, and gases.
6.5 – properties and characteristics of water and its roles in the human and natural environment.
6.6 – properties of air (including pressure, temperature, and humidity) and structure/dynamics of earth’s atmosphere, including weather topics.

Physical Science Course
PS.1 – understanding scientific reasoning, logic, and the nature of science, including current applications to reinforce science concepts.
PS.2 – nature of matter, including elements and compounds, states of matter, physical and chemical properties.
PS.10 – principles of work, force, and motion.

Chemistry Course
CH.5 – phases of matter, kinetic theory, and forces of attraction, including pressure, temperature, and volume principles and laws.

Physics Course
PH.1 – current applications to reinforce science concepts.
PH.5 – interrelationships among mass, distance, force, and time, including work, power, and energy.

Virginia’s SOLs are available from the Virginia Department of Education, online at http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/.

Following are links to other Water Radio episodes (various topics) designed especially for certain K-12 grade levels.

Episode 250, 1-26-15 – on boiling, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 255, 3-2-15 – on density, for 5th and 6th grade.
Episode 282, 9-21-15 – on living vs. non-living, for kindergarten.
Episode 309, 3-28-16 – on temperature regulation in animals, for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Episode 333, 9-12-16 – on dissolved gases, especially dissolved oxygen in aquatic habitats, for 5th grade.
Episode 403, 1-15-18 – on freezing and ice, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 404, 1-22-18 – on ice on ponds and lakes, for 4th through 8th grade.
Episode 406, 2-5-18 – on ice on rivers, for middle school.
Episode 407, 2-12-18 – on snow chemistry and physics, for high school.

Monday, July 22, 2019

Episode 482 (7-22-19): A Short Tale of Two Coastal Plain Toads

Click to listen to episode (4:09)

Sections below are the following:
Transcript of Audio
Audio Notes and Acknowledgments
Images
Extra Information
Sources
Related Water Radio Episodes
For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.).


Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 7-19-19.

TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of July 22, 2019.

This week, we explore some likenesses and differences between to summertime sound-makers found in the Commonwealth’s southeastern Coastal Plain.  Have a listen for about 15 seconds to the following mystery sounds, and see if you know these two species of amphibian.  And here’s a hint: if you look below the Mason-Dixon line in a tall tree, you might totally get this question.

SOUNDS - ~17

If you guessed the Southern Toad and the Oak Toad, you get a Virginia amphibian A+!  These are two of four Virginia species in the scientific family considered “true toads.”  In Virginia, both the Southern and Oak toads occur essentially only in the southeastern corner, they breed from spring through September, and they show a preference for wooded areas with sandy soils.  Like Virginia’s other two true toads—American and Fowler’s—the Southern and Oak toads are in the scientific gemus of Anaxyrus, Latin for “king” or “chief.”

Beyond these similarities, though, these two species show marked differences.  The Southern Toad’s full scientific name is Anaxyrus terrestris, meaning “king of the earth,” while the Oak Toad is Anaxyrus quercicus, a much more modest “king of the oak leaves.”  Earlier you heard the obvious difference in the species’ male breeding calls—the long trill of the Southern Toad compared to the chick-like peep of the Oak Toad.  The calls parallel the animals’ size difference: the Southern Toad is about 2-4 inches long, while the approximately 1-inch-long Oak Toad is the smallest toad species in North America.  The Southern Toad hides during the day and begins to forage for food at dusk, while the Oak Toad is more active in daytime.  Finally, the Southern Toad is considered the most common toad species in southeastern Virginia and the southern United States, while the Oak Toad is considered by Virginia wildlife specialists to be rare and of special concern in the Commonwealth.

Exploring living things often reveals striking differences beyond surface similarities.  That’s a tale re-told by two Virginia Coastal Plain toads.

Thanks to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and to Lang Elliott for permission to use this week’s sounds, from the 2008 CD, “The Calls of Virginia Frogs and Toads.”  We close with one more round of the Southern Toad, with the “thunk” sounds of Green Frogs in the background.

SOUNDS - ~10 sec

SHIP’S BELL

Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Stewart Scales for his banjo version of Cripple Creek to open and close this show.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The sounds in this episode were from “The Calls of Virginia Frogs and Toads” CD, copyright 2008 by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and Lang Elliott/NatureSound Studio, used with permission.  For more information on this CD, visit http://www.shopdgif.com/product.cfm?uid=1928838&context=&showInactive=N (as of July 19, 2019, the item was out of stock), or contact the Department at P.O. Box 90778, Henrico, VA 23228-0778; phone: (804) 367-1000 (VTDD); e-mail: dgifweb@dgif.virginia.gov; main Web site: https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/.

Lang Elliott’s work is available online at the “Music of Nature” Web site, http://www.musicofnature.org/.

Click here if you’d like to hear the full version (1 min./11 sec.) of the “Cripple Creek” arrangement/performance by Stewart Scales that opens and closes this episode.  More information about Mr. Scales and the group New Standard, with which Mr. Scales plays, is available online at http://newstandardbluegrass.com.

IMAGES

Southern Toad in South Carolina in 2012. Photo by Mark Musselman, made available for public use by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Digital Library, online at http://digitalmedia.fws.gov; specific URL for the photo is https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/collection/natdiglib/id/14186/rec/1.


Oak Toad. Photo by Matthew Niemiller, made available on iNaturalist, online at https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/8512, for under Creative Commons License BY-NC; for more on that attribution category, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/.



Above are Virginia county occurrence maps for the Southern Toad and Oak Toad in Virginia, from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF), “Wildlife Information,” online at https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/information/, accessed 7/19/19.

EXTRA INFORMATION ABOUT THE SOUTHERN TOAD AND OAK TOAD

“True toads” are in the Amphibian family Bufonidae.

The scientific name for the Southern Toad is Anaxyrus terrestris; for the Oak Toad, Anaxyrus quercicus.

Following is information on these two species quoted from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, “Fish and Wildlife Information Service,” online at https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/information/southern-toad/ for Southern Toad and https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/information/oak-toad/ for Oak Toad.

Southern Toad

Physical Characteristics
“This toad is generally a brown color, but may vary in color from red or gray to black.  The crests on head are prominent and they are raised at the rear into clublike knobs.  The skin between the larger warts is finely roughened with tubercles all over, including the eyelids.  There may be a light mid-dorsal stripe. This toad grows to lengths of 1 5/8 – 3 in. (4.1 – 7.5 cm.).  This species breeds from March to September.  The eggs are in long coils of jelly, and are 1/25-1/16 inch in diameter and 2500-3000 in number.  The eggs hatch in 2-4 days.  The tadpoles are black, with a short rounded tail, and tooth ridges 2/3.  The transformation occurs in 30-55 days.  The voice is a shrill musical trill.”

Distribution
“This is the most common toad of the southern U.S, occurring in Virginia only in the southeastern piedmont and coastal plain. It is abundant in areas with sandy soils.  This species breeds in any shallow freshwater and may lay eggs in pools so transient that they last only a few hours, resulting in hatching failure.”

Food
“This species forages at night.  Food preferences are not documented for this species but it is assumed that it eats insects.”

Oak Toad

Physical Characteristics
“This species is small, with a length from 3/4-1 5/16 in. (1.9-3.3 cm.).  It has a conspicuous light mid-dorsal stripe that may be white, cream, yellow, or orange and 4-5 pairs of spots on the back.  It is black or brown in color and the skin is finely roughened with tubercles (small bumps), many of which are red.  The male vocal sac is conspicuous when deflated, and looks like a triangular apron, with the point extending backward over the pectoral region.  The tadpoles are grayish with 6-7 black saddles on the musculature and with a heavily marked upper tail crest.  This species breeds from April to September.  The eggs are laid in bars of 2-5 eggs.  This species breeds in shallow ponds following heavy rain.  The voice is like the peeping of newly hatched chicks, but at close range is extremely loud.”

Distribution
“This species is known from six sites in five counties of Virginia’s Coastal Plain from Virginia south through Florida and west to the Mississippi.  The oak toad breeds in shallow pools, ditches, and ponds. Habitats used during other seasons are associated with pine or oak savannas with sandy soils. Unique habitat features include vernal pools and freshwater wetlands (pocosins).”

Food
“The diet is unknown for Virginia, but individuals from Florida and Georgia consumed various terrestrial insects and arthropods.”

SOURCES

Used for Audio

John D. Kleopfer and Chris S. Hobson, A Guide to the Frogs and Toad of Virginia, Special Publication Number 3, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Richmond, 2011.

Bernard S. Martof, et al., Amphibians and Reptiles of the Carolinas and Virginia, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1980.

J.C. Mitchell and K.K. Reay, Atlas of Amphibians and Reptiles in Virginia, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries/Richmond (1999); available online (as a PDF) at https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/atlases/mitchell-atlas.pdf, courtesy of the Virginia Herpetological Society.   (Herpetology refers to the study of amphibians and reptiles.)

New Hampshire PBS, “Wildlife Journal Junior/True Toads,” online at https://nhpbs.org/wild/bufonidae.asp.

Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, “Wildlife Information,” online at https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/information/. This site has summaries of characteristics, distribution, and foods for a list of species. The summary information for the two toad species in covered in this episode found in Virginia is at the following links:
Southern Toad;
Oak Toad.

Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, “Virginia Fish and Wildlife Information Service,” online at http://www.vafwis.org/fwis/?Menu=Home.Species+Information. This site has detailed information on life history, distribution, habitat, and other aspects of species. The detailed information for the two species in this episode is at the following links:
Southern Toad;
Oak Toad.

Virginia Herpetological Society, “Frogs and Toads of Virginia,” online at https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/amphibians/frogsandtoads/frogs_and_toads_of_virginia.htm.  Information on the two toads covered in this episode is at the following links:
Southern Toad;
Oak Toad.

Virginia Herpetological Society, “What Frogs Are You Hearing?” online (as a PDF) at https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/amphibians/frogsandtoads/_phenology/va-frog-and-toad-phenology.pdf.

For More Information about Toads or Other Amphibians

AmphibiaWeb, https://amphibiaweb.org/index.html.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), “National Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative,” online at https://armi.usgs.gov/index.php.


Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, “Virginia Frog and Toad Calling Survey,” online at http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/frogsurvey/; part of the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program, online at https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/naamp/.

Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, “Virginia is for Frogs” Web site, online at http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/virginia-is-for-frogs/.

RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES

All Water Radio episodes are listed by category at the Index link above (http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html).   See particularly the “Amphibians” subject category.

Following are links to previous episodes on toads.

Episode 413, 3/26/18 – American Toad.
Episode 424, 6/11/18 – Fowler’s Toad.

FOR VIRGINIA TEACHERS – RELATED STANDARDS OF LEARNING (SOLs) AND OTHER INFORMATION

The episode—the audio, extra information, or sources—may help with the following Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs).

2010 Science SOLs

Grades K-6 Earth Resources Theme
4.9 – Va. natural resources, including watersheds, water resources, and organisms.

Grades K-6 Life Processes Theme
1.5 – animals’ basic needs and distinguishing characteristics.
2.4 – life cycles.
3.4 – behavioral and physiological adaptations.

Grades K-6 Living Systems Theme
2.5 – living things as part of a system, including habitats.
3.6 – ecosystems, communities, populations, shared resources.
6.7 – natural processes and human interactions that affect watershed systems; Va. watersheds, water bodies, and wetlands; health and safety issues; and water monitoring.

Life Science Course
LS.1 – understanding of scientific reasoning, logic, and the nature of science, including current applications to reinforce science concepts.
LS.4 – organisms’ classification based on features.
LS.8 – community and population interactions, including food webs, niches, symbiotic relationships.

Biology Course
BIO.1 – current applications to reinforce science concepts.
BIO.6 – bases for modern classification systems, including structures, biochemistry, and developmental stages.
BIO.8 – dynamic equilibria and interactions within populations, communities, and ecosystems; including nutrient cycling, succession, effects of natural events and human activities, and analysis of the flora, fauna, and microorganisms of Virginia ecosystems.

2015 Social Studies SOLs

Civics and Economics Course
CE.7 – government at the state level.
CE.10 – public policy at local, state, and national levels.

Government Course
GOVT.8 – state and local government organization and powers.
GOVT.9 – public policy process at local, state, and national levels.

Virginia’s SOLs are available from the Virginia Department of Education, online at http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/.

Following are links to Water Radio episodes (various topics) designed especially for certain K-12 grade levels.

Episode 250, 1-26-15 – on boiling, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 255, 3-2-15 – on density, for 5th and 6th grade.
Episode 282, 9-21-15 – on living vs. non-living, for kindergarten.
Episode 309, 3-28-16 – on temperature regulation in animals, for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Episode 333, 9-12-16 – on dissolved gases, especially dissolved oxygen in aquatic habitats, for 5th grade.
Episode 403, 1-15-18 – on freezing and ice, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 404, 1-22-18 – on ice on ponds and lakes, for 4th through 8th grade.
Episode 406, 2-5-18 – on ice on rivers, for middle school.
Episode 407, 2-12-18 – on snow chemistry and physics, for high school.

Friday, July 19, 2019

Episode 481 (7-15-19): The Moon and Water

Click to listen to episode (5:11)

Sections below are the following:
Transcript of Audio
Audio Notes and Acknowledgments
Images
Extra Information
Sources
Related Water Radio Episodes
For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.).

Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 7-12-19. 

TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO


From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of July 15, 2019.  This is a revised repeat of an episode from July 2015.

MUSIC - ~ 15 sec
“When gravity no longer holds you down, you’ve come of age, it’s time to fly.”


This week, that excerpt of “Gravity,” by Bob Gramann of Fredericksburg, Va., sets the stage to remember an historic overcoming of gravity and many other challenges that took place fifty years ago this July 20th.  Even if that date is your birthday, you’ll probably agree that the date’s most historic event happened in 1969, on a desolate, far-away place strongly connected to water on earth.  Let’s listen back for about 35 seconds to parts of that history.

SOUNDS and VOICES – ~ 37 sec.
“3-2-1-0. All engines running.  Lift-off, we have a lift-off, 32 minutes past the hour, lift-off on Apollo 11.  Tower cleared.
Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.And I’m going to step off…now.  It’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Those were NASA recordings of Apollo 11’s lift-off on July 16, 1969; the July 20th lunar-module landing on the moon; and astronaut Neil Armstrong’s famous words just before setting foot on the moon.   Watched live on television by an estimated 650 million people, Apollo 11’s moon landing was a milestone in space exploration, which in the 50 years since has achieved spacecraft landings on Mars and Venus, fly-bys as far away as Pluto, and missions beyond our solar system.  One of the main objectives of exploring the moon and beyond has been the search for evidence of water, including whether liquid water may have occurred on Mars, other planets, or planetary satellites, all places where water ice has been found.

But every day we see the evidence of the moon’s effect on Earth’s water.   In 1687, Isaac Newton explained scientifically how daily ocean tides result largely from the gravitational pull of the moon and sun, with the moon exerting the strongest influence.  The moon’s pull also helps stabilize the orientation of the earth’s axis, a major factor in determining climate and seasons.  The moon’s gravitational effects play a role in two of the 21st Century’s big challenges—sustainable energy, and the impacts of a changing climate.  In some places, the range and speed of daily tides provide enough renewable energy that commercial-scale electricity generation can be feasible.  Meanwhile, higher tides and tidal flooding resulting from climate-related sea-level rises present a technological and political challenge to many coastal communities, not least in Virginia’s Tidewater and Eastern Shore areas.

Just like reaching the moon, those and other current challenges tax our will, wallets, and imagination.  So let’s go out with words President John F. Kennedy used in 1961 to capture the United States’ imagination for reaching a goal about 240,000 miles away.

VOICE – ~25 sec
Excerpt of NASA audio of President John F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961, speech to Congress:
“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.   Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.  Because that challenge is one that we’re willing to accept, one that we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win.”
 

SHIP’S BELL


Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Ben Cosgrove for his version of “Shenandoah” to open and close the show.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

“Gravity,” from the 1995 album “Mostly True Songs,” is copyright by Bob Gramann, used with permission.  More information about Bob Gramann is available online at https://www.bobgramann.com/folksinger.html.  Virginia Water Radio thanks Mr. Gramann for permission to use this music.

The Apollo 11 sounds and the May 25, 1961, recording of President John Kennedy’s speech to Congress were taken from the National Aeronautic and Space Agency (NASA), online at http://www.nasa.gov/connect/sounds/index.html.

Click here if you’d like to hear the full version (2 min./22 sec.) of the “Shenandoah” arrangement/performance by Ben Cosgrove that opens and closes this episode.  More information about Mr. Cosgrove is available online at http://www.bencosgrove.com.

IMAGES

Earth’s moon compared to the Earth. Image from NASA, accessed online at https://moon.nasa.gov/about/in-depth/.


Geologist-Astronaut Harrison Schmitt working next to a boulder during Apollo 17 extravehicular activity in 1972.  Image from NASA, accessed online at https://moon.nasa.gov/about/in-depth/.


NASA radar image of the north pole of the Moon, part of a March 2, 2010, NASA announcement of finding more than 40 craters in the area (green circles) that contain water ice, according to the characteristics of the radar images. Available accessed online at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/Mini-RF/multimedia/feature_ice_like_deposits.html.


Workers repairing a tidal gauge (or gage) in Lynnhaven Bay in Virginia, circa 1933.  Image from the NOAA Photo Library (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/U.S. Department of Commerce), accessed online at https://photolib.noaa.gov/, accessed 7/15/19; specific URL for the photo is https://photolib.noaa.gov/Collections/Coast-Geodetic-Survey/Other/emodule/1181/eitem/75119.

EXTRA INFORMATION ABOUT THE EARTH'S MOON

The following is quoted from NASA, “Earth’s Moon/About the Moon—In depth,” online at https://moon.nasa.gov/about/in-depth/, as of 7/11/19.

“The regular daily and monthly rhythms of Earth’s only natural satellite, the Moon, have guided timekeepers for thousands of years. Its influence on Earth’s cycles, notably tides, has been charted by many cultures in many ages.

“The Moon moderates Earth’s wobble on its axis, leading to a relatively stable climate over billions of years. From Earth, we always see the same face of the Moon because the Moon is spinning on its axis at the same speed that it is going around Earth (that is, it is in synchronous rotation with Earth).”

Lunar Terrain

“The light areas of the Moon are known as the highlands.  The dark features, called maria (Latin for seas), are impact basins that were filled with lava between 4.2 and 1.2 billion years ago.  These light and dark areas represent rocks of different composition and ages, which provide evidence for how the early crust may have crystallized from a lunar magma ocean.  The craters themselves, which have been preserved for billions of years, provide an impact history for the Moon and other bodies in the inner solar system.”

Lunar Origins

“The leading theory of the Moon’s origin is that a Mars-sized body collided with Earth approximately 4.5 billion years ago, and the resulting debris from both Earth and the impactor accumulated to form our natural satellite.  The newly formed Moon was in a molten state.  Within about 100 million years, most of the global “magma ocean” had crystallized, with less-dense rocks floating upward and eventually forming the lunar crust.

“The early Moon may have developed an internal dynamo, the mechanism for global magnetic fields for terrestrial planets.  Since the ancient time of volcanism, the arid, lifeless Moon has remained nearly unchanged. With too sparse an atmosphere to impede impacts, a steady rain of asteroids, meteoroids, and comets strikes the surface.  Over billions of years, the surface has been ground up into fragments ranging from huge boulders to powder.

“Nearly the entire Moon is covered by a rubble pile of charcoal-gray, powdery dust and rocky debris called the lunar regolith.  Beneath is a region of fractured bedrock referred to as the megaregolith.”

Exploration

“The Moon was first visited by the Soviet Union’s un-crewed Luna 1 and 2 in 1959, and, as of April 2019, seven nations have followed.  The U.S. sent three classes of robotic missions to prepare the way for human exploration: the Rangers (1961–1965) were impact probes, the Lunar Orbiters (1966–1967) mapped the surface to find landing sites, and the Surveyors (1966–1968) were soft landers.

“The first human landing on the Moon was on July 20, 1969.  During the Apollo missions of 1969–1972, 12 American astronauts walked on the Moon and used a Lunar Roving Vehicle to travel on the surface and extend their studies of soil mechanics, meteoroids, lunar ranging, magnetic fields, and solar wind.  The Apollo astronauts brought back 382 kilograms (842 pounds) of rock and soil to Earth for study.

“After a long hiatus, lunar exploration resumed in the 1990s with the U.S. robotic missions Clementine and Lunar Prospector.  Results from both missions suggested that water ice might be present at the lunar poles, but a controlled impact of the Prospector spacecraft produced no observable water.  The U.S. began a new series of robotic lunar missions with the joint launch of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) in 2009.  In 2011, a pair of repurposed spacecraft began the ARTEMIS (Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun) mission.  In 2012, the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) twin spacecraft studied the Moon’s gravity field and produced the highest-resolution gravity field map of any celestial body.

“In March 2019, NASA Administrator JIm Bridenstine announced plans to send U.S. astronauts back to the surface of the Moon by 2024.

“The European Space Agency, Japan, China and India all have sent missions to explore the Moon.  China has landed two rovers on the surface, including the first-ever landing on Moon's far side in 2019.  In another first, a private company from Israel sent a spacecraft to land on the Moon in April 2109.  Israel's Beresheet successfully orbited the Moon, but was lost during a landing attempt.”

SOURCES USED FOR AUDIO AND OFFERING MORE INFORMATION

Bernd Brunner, Moon: A Brief History, Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn., 2010.

Deborah Byrd, “Tides, and the pull of the moon and sun,” 2/19/19, online at http://earthsky.org/earth/tides-and-the-pull-of-the-moon-and-sun.

Katherine Hafner, 848 Hampton Roads homes could be underwater by 2030, scientists say, Virginian-Pilot, 6/18/18.

Paul J. Henney, “How Earth and the Moon Interact,” undated, Astronomy Today, online at http://www.astronomytoday.com/astronomy/earthmoon.html.

History.com, “1969 Moon Landing,” online at https://www.history.com/topics/space-exploration/moon-landing-1969.

David Levitan, “First Tidal Power in U.S. Starts Flowing to the Grid,” 9/18/12, IEEE Spectrum, online at http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/green-tech/geothermal-and-tidal/first-tidal-power-starts-flowing-to-the-grid.

National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA):
1) Main Web site at http://www.nasa.gov/.
2) Apollo 11 mission main Web site, online at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo11.html.
3) “Earth’s Moon,” online at http://moon.nasa.gov/home.cfm; see particularly the “About the Moon” and “Exploration” sections.
4) “Ice in the Solar System,” April 2012, online at https://mobile.arc.nasa.gov/public/iexplore/missions/pages/yss/april2012.html.
5) Jet Propulsion Laboratory, “NASA-Funded Scientists Detect Water on Moon's Surface that Hints at Water Below,” 8/28/13, online at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=3887. And “Water: Life’s Elixir in the Solar System,” undated, online at https://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/solar_system/water/water_index.html.
6) “Lunar and Planetary Science,” online at https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/. See the “Mission Chronology Link” at https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/chronology.html for a record of landings, fly-bys, and other explorations of planets and other bodies in our solar system.
7) Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Web site, online at http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=2009-031A.
8) Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Web site, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=2005-029A.
9) NASA History Office, “The Decision to Go to the Moon: President John F. Kennedy's May 25, 1961, Speech
before a Joint Session of Congress,” online at http://history.nasa.gov/moondec.html.
10) “NASA Radar Finds Ice Deposits at Moon's North Pole,” 3/2/10, online at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/Mini-RF/multimedia/feature_ice_like_deposits.html.
11) NASA Television, “Our Solar System and Beyond: NASA’s Search for Water and Habitable Planets,” 4/7/15, online at http://www.nasa.gov/press/2015/april/our-solar-system-and-beyond-nasa-s-search-for-water-and-habitable-planets.
12) “New Images Suggest Present-Day Sources of Liquid Water on Mars,” 6/22/00, online at http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/news/mars_water_pr_20000622.html.
13) Solar System Exploration Web site, online at http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/.
14) “Water in the Solar System: Water, Water Everywhere!” online at https://mobile.arc.nasa.gov/public/iexplore/missions/pages/yss/april.html.

National Geographic Society, “Tidal Energy,” online at https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/tidal-energy/.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), “Tides and Currents,” online at http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/.

NOAA/National Ocean Service, “What is a tide gauge?” online at https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/tide-gauge.html.

NOAA/National Ocean Service, “Where is the highest tide?” online at http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/highesttide.html; and “Tides and Water Levels,” online at http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_tides/welcome.html.

Nineplanets.org, “Planetary Science Spacecraft,” online at http://nineplanets.org/spacecraft.html.

PBS NewsHour, “Pluto, Underdog of the Solar System, Finally Gets Its Day,” July 15, 2015 (8 min./51 sec. video), online at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/pluto-underdog-solar-system-finally-gets-day/.  This is a report on NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft’s fly-by of Pluto; the report includes a brief history of the discovery and previous investigations of Pluto.

Tide-Forecast, “Tide Times for Virginia Beach,” online at https://www.tide-forecast.com/locations/Virginia-Beach-Virginia/tides/latest.

U.S. Department of Energy, “5 Promising Water Power Technologies/Tidal Energy,” 6/26/17, online at https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/5-promising-water-power-technologies.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)/Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, “Marine and Hydrokinetic Resource Characterization and Assessment,” online at http://energy.gov/eere/water/marine-and-hydrokinetic-resource-assessment-and-characterization.  This site, part of DOE’s Water Power Program, covers energy potential and use from tides, ocean and river currents, waves, and thermal gradients in the ocean.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Climate Adaptation Science Centers, “Sea Level Rise,” online at https://casc.usgs.gov/announcement-keywords/sea-level-rise.

Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) Center for Coastal Resources Management, “Coastal Topics Catalog: Climate Change/Sea-level Rise,” online at http://ccrm.vims.edu/publications/catalog/topics.html.

RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES

All Water Radio episodes are listed by category at the Index link above (http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html).  See particularly the “Science” subject category.

Following are links to some other episodes on topics mentioned in this episode.

Episode 231, 9/15/14 – Exploring Climate Change Basics, with Examples from Assateague Island National Seashore and Shenandoah National Park.
Episode 312, 4/18/16 – Student's Research Digs into Streamside Soils, Rainfall Rates, and Greenhouse Gases.
Episode 441, 10/8/18 – Calling on Citizens to Catch the King Tide in the Hampton Roads Region.

FOR VIRGINIA TEACHERS – RELATED STANDARDS OF LEARNING (SOLs) AND OTHER INFORMATION

The episode—the audio, extra information, or sources—may help with the following Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs).

2013 Music SOLs

SOLs at various grade levels that call for “examining the relationship of music to the other fine arts and other fields of knowledge.”

2010 Science SOLs

Grades K-6 Earth Patterns, Cycles, and Change Theme
3.8 – patterns and cycles in nature (including phases of the moon and tides).
4.7 – organization of the solar system.
4.8 – relationships among Earth, the moon, and the sun.

Grades K-6 Earth Resources Theme
3.11 – sources of energy.

Grades K-6 Force, Motion, and Energy Theme
4.2 – characteristics and interactions of moving objects (including that moving objects have kinetic energy).
6.2 – energy sources, transformations, and uses.

Grades K-6 Interrelationships in Earth/Space Systems Theme
5.6 – characteristics of the ocean environment.
5.7 – constant change of Earth’s surface (including weathering and erosion, and plate tectonics).
6.6 – organization and interactions of the solar system (including gravity, moon phases, earth tilt, tides, and history of space exploration).

Physical Science Course
PS.6 – energy forms, transfer, and transformations.

Earth Science Course
ES.3 – characteristics of Earth and the solar system (including sun-Earth-moon relationships, tides, and history of space exploration).
ES.6 – renewable vs. non-renewable resources (including energy resources).
ES.10 – ocean processes, interactions, and policies.

Physics Course
PH.7 – energy transfer, transformations, and capacity to do work.

2015 Social Studies SOLs

United States History: 1865-to-Present Course
USII.8 – economic, social, and political transformation of the United States and the world after World War II.
USII.9 – domestic and international issues during the second half of the 20th Century and the early 21st Century.

Civics and Economics Course
CE.6 – government at the national level.
CE.10 – public policy at local, state, and national levels.

Virginia and United States History Course
VUS.13 – changes in the United States in the second half of the 20th Century.

Government Course
GOVT.7 – national government organization and powers.
GOVT.9 – public policy process at local, state, and national levels.

Virginia’s SOLs are available from the Virginia Department of Education, online at http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/.

Following are links to Water Radio episodes (various topics) designed especially for certain K-12 grade levels.

Episode 250, 1-26-15 – on boiling, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 255, 3-2-15 – on density, for 5th and 6th grade.
Episode 282, 9-21-15 – on living vs. non-living, for kindergarten.
Episode 309, 3-28-16 – on temperature regulation in animals, for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Episode 333, 9-12-16 – on dissolved gases, especially dissolved oxygen in aquatic habitats, for 5th grade.
Episode 403, 1-15-18 – on freezing and ice, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 404, 1-22-18 – on ice on ponds and lakes, for 4th through 8th grade.
Episode 406, 2-5-18 – on ice on rivers, for middle school.
Episode 407, 2-12-18 – on snow chemistry and physics, for high school.

Monday, July 8, 2019

Episode 480 (7-8-19): Rethinking Water Cycle Diagrams

Click to listen to episode (4:53).

Sections below are the following:
Transcript of Audio
Audio Notes and Acknowledgments
Images
Extra Information
Sources
Related Water Radio Episodes
For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.).


Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 7-5-19.

TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of July 8, 2019.

MUSIC – ~8 sec

This week, that excerpt of “Rain Refrain,” by Torrin Hallett, opens an episode on a recently published scientific paper challenging the typical depiction of a vital, worldwide cycle.  Have a listen for about 30 seconds to some mystery sounds related to this cycle, see if you know any of three names for the cycle.

SOUNDS AND MUSIC - ~ 29 sec

If you guessed the water cycle, the hydrologic cycle, or the hydrological cycle, you’re right!  You heard sounds of some of the components typically included in descriptions or diagrams of the water cycle: rainfall, representing precipitation; a river, representing surface water and flow; coastal waves, representing the ocean; and water flowing from a spring, representing groundwater storage and movement.  The final sound you heard—a household faucet—represents the role of humans in the water cycle, an aspect not as often included in water cycle diagrams.  The exclusion of a human component from water cycle diagrams is one of the main issues raised in a July 2019 scientific article entitled, “Human domination of the global water cycle absent from depictions and perceptions.”  Published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the paper was authored by 23 scientists from seven U.S. research institutions, including Virginia Tech, and from six other countries.

The researchers examined several dozen recent studies of the global water cycle to identify and quantify 16 sources of water, called “pools,” and 16 water-movement processes, called “fluxes.”  They then compared those findings to over 400 water cycle diagrams from several countries, including the United States.  The researchers found that the majority of water cycle diagrams didn’t include, or inaccurately represented, several components or principles identified in the scientific studies.  As already noted, one main finding was the widespread exclusion of human interactions with water.  Other components that the researchers assert were underrepresented include precipitation over the ocean [p. 535 of the research paper]; the amount of fresh water that is actually available for human use [p. 535]; large water bodies with no surface outlet, such as the Caspian Sea in western Asia [p. 539]; and uncertainty and variation over time in estimates of water cycle components [p. 535].

The researchers suggest that inaccuracies in water cycle depictions can, quote, “reflect and reinforce the misunderstanding of global hydrology by policymakers, researchers, and the public.”  Conversely, they assert that improving the accuracy of widely used water cycle diagrams would be, in the researchers’ words, “an important step towards equitable water governance, sustainable development, and planetary thinking.”

Thanks to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the ocean sounds, and to Torrin Hallett for this week’s music. We close by letting part of the water cycle have the last sound.

SOUND - ~ 7 sec – thunder and rain.

SHIP’S BELL

Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Stewart Scales for his banjo version of Cripple Creek to open and close this show.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The sounds heard in this episode were recorded by Virginia Water Radio (except as noted below), as follows:
rainfall in Blacksburg, Va. (Montgomery County), 9/28/16;
North Fork Roanoke River, Montgomery County, Va., 4/6/12;
spring water near Pearisburg, Va. (Giles County), 9/30/18;
household water faucet in Blacksburg, Va., 7/6/19.

The coastal waves sounds recording was accessed at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Digital Library/Audio Collection, online at https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/collection/audio/search/searchterm/audio%20clip/field/subjec/mode/exact/conn/and/order/dmcreated/ad/desc, as of 7/8/19.

“Rain Refrain” is copyright 2016 by Torrin Hallett, used with permission.  Torrin is a 2018 graduate of Oberlin College and Conservatory in Oberlin, Ohio; as of 2019, he is a graduate student in Horn Performance at Manhattan School of Music in New York.  More information about Torrin is available online at https://www.facebook.com/torrin.hallett.  This music was also featured in Episode 338, 10-17-16, on rainfall measurements; and Episode 455, 1-14-19, on record Virginia precipitation in 2018.  Thanks very much to Torrin for composing the piece for Virginia Water Radio.

Following are links to other episodes featuring music composed by Torrin Hallett.

Episode 343, 11-21-16, on the Wild Turkey – “Turkey Tune”;
Episode 349, 1-2-17, on the New Year – “New Year’s Water”;
Episode 362, 4-3-17, on hail; Episode 377, 7-17-17, on clouds; Episode 438, 9-17-18 – on hurricane basic facts and history; and Episode 468, 4-15-19, on stormwater and storm-drain stenciling – “Storm,” from “Au Naturale.”
Episode 369, 5/22/17 and Episode 423, 6/2/18, on the upcoming Atlantic tropical storm seasons in 2017 and 2018, respectively; and Episode 438, 9-17-18 – on hurricane basic facts and history– “Tropical Tantrum.”

Click here if you’d like to hear the full version (1 min./11 sec.) of the “Cripple Creek” arrangement/performance by Stewart Scales that opens and closes this episode. More information about Mr. Scales and the group New Standard, with which Mr. Scales plays, is available online at http://newstandardbluegrass.com.

IMAGES

A Sample of Water Cycle Diagrams


Source: National Weather Service, “Jet Stream/The Hydrologic Cycle,” online at https://www.weather.gov/jetstream/hydro.


Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), “Education/Water Education/The Water Cycle,” online at https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/freshwater-education-resources/water-cycle.


Source: U.S. Geological Survey, “Water Science School/The Water Cycle for Schools,” online at
https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/water-cycle-schools-and-kids?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects.


Source: U.S. Geological Survey, “Water Science School/The Fundamentals of the Water Cycle,” online at https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/fundamentals-water-cycle.

EXTRA INFORMATION ABOUT THE WATER CYCLE

From the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), “Water Science School/The Water Cycle for Adults and Advanced Students,” online at https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/water-cycle-adults-and-advanced-students?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects.

A (Very) Quick Summary of the Water Cycle
“Where does all the Earth's water come from? Primordial Earth was an incandescent globe made of magma, but all magmas contain water.  Water set free by magma began to cool down the Earth's atmosphere, until it could stay on the surface as a liquid.  Volcanic activity kept and still keeps introducing water in the atmosphere, thus increasing the surface- and groundwater volume of the Earth.

“The water cycle has no starting point.  But, we'll begin in the oceans, since that is where most of Earth's water exists.  The sun, which drives the water cycle, heats water in the oceans.  Some of it evaporates as vapor into the air. Ice and snow can sublimate directly into water vapor.  Rising air currents take the vapor up into the atmosphere, along with water from evapotranspiration, which is water transpired from plants and evaporated from the soil.  The vapor rises into the air where cooler temperatures cause it to condense into clouds.

“Air currents move clouds around the globe, cloud particles collide, grow, and fall out of the sky as precipitation.   Some precipitation falls as snow and can accumulate as ice caps and glaciers, which can store frozen water for thousands of years.  Snowpacks in warmer climates often thaw and melt when spring arrives, and the melted water flows overland as snowmelt.

“Most precipitation falls back into the oceans or onto land, where, due to gravity, the precipitation flows over the ground as surface runoff.  A portion of runoff enters rivers in valleys in the landscape, with streamflow moving water towards the oceans.  Runoff, and groundwater seepage, accumulate and are stored as freshwater in lakes.  Not all runoff flows into rivers, though.  Much of it soaks into the ground as infiltration.  Some water infiltrates deep into the ground and replenishes aquifers (saturated subsurface rock), which store huge amounts of freshwater for long periods of time.

“Some infiltration stays close to the land surface and can seep back into surface-water bodies (and the ocean) as groundwater discharge, and some groundwater finds openings in the land surface and emerges as freshwater springs.  Over time, though, all of this water keeps moving, some to reenter the ocean, where the water cycle ‘ends’…[or] ‘begins.’”

SOURCES USED FOR AUDIO AND OFFERING MORE INFORMATION

Benjamin W. Abbott et al., “Human domination of the global water cycle absent from depictions and perceptions,” Nature Geoscience, Vol. 12, July 2019, pages 533-540; accessed online at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-019-0374-y.

Wilfried Brutsaert, Hydrology—An Introduction, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2005.

Encyclopedia Britannica, “Caspian Sea,” online at https://www.britannica.com/place/Caspian-Sea; and “Great Salt Lake,” online at https://www.britannica.com/place/Great-Salt-Lake.  The Caspian Sea and the Great Salt Lake are examples of inland water bodies that do not drain eventually to the ocean; such water bodies are referred to as “endorheic basins or endorheic lakes.”  See also the United Nations Environment Programme reference below.

National Weather Service, “Jetstream—An Online School for Weather/The Hydrologic Cycle,” online at https://www.weather.gov/jetstream/hydro.

Princeton University Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, “Hydrological Cycle and Atmospheric Circulation,” online at https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/hydrological-cycle-and-atmospheric-circulation/.

United Nations Environment Programme, “Endorheic Lakes: Waterbodies That Don’t Flow to the Sea,” no date indicated, online at http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/publications/short_series/lakereservoirs-2/10.asp.

U.S. Geological Survey, “Water Science School/A Comprehensive Study of the Water Cycle,” online at https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/a-comprehensive-study-water-cycle?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects.

RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES
All Water Radio episodes are listed by category at the Index link above (http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html).  See particularly the “Science” subject category.

Following are links to some other episodes on the water cycle.

Episode 191, 12/9/13 – The Water Cycle
Episode 198, 1/27/14 – Hydrologists Sing and Study “Where Does the Water Go?”
Episode 365, 4/24/17 – Where’s Stormwater Get Started? Ask a Middle Schooler!

FOR VIRGINIA TEACHERS – RELATED STANDARDS OF LEARNING (SOLs) AND OTHER INFORMATION

The episode—the audio, extra information, or sources—may help with the following Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs).

2013 Music SOLs

SOLs at various grade levels that call for “examining the relationship of music to the other fine arts and other fields of knowledge.”

2010 Science SOLs

Grades K-6 Scientific Investigation, Reasoning, and Logic Theme
3.1, 4.1, 5.1, and 6.1 – Gathering and analyzing data, and current applications to reinforce science concepts.

Grades K-6 Earth Patterns, Cycles, and Change Theme
3.9 – Water cycle, including sources of water, energy driving water cycle, water essential for living things, and water limitations and conservation.

Grades K-6 Earth Resources Theme
4.9 – Va. natural resources, including watersheds, water resources, and organisms.
6.9 – public policy decisions related to the environment (including resource management and conservation, land use decisions, hazard mitigation, cost/benefit assessments).

Grades K-6 Living Systems Theme
6.7 – natural processes and human interactions that affect watershed systems; Va. watersheds, water bodies, and wetlands; health and safety issues; and water monitoring.

Grades K-6 Matter Theme
6.5 – properties and characteristics of water and its roles in the natural and human environment.

Life Science Course
LS.6 – ecosystem interactions, including the water cycle, other cycles, and energy flow.

Physical Science Course
PS.1 – understanding scientific reasoning, logic, and the nature of science, including current applications to reinforce science concepts.

Earth Science Course
ES.1 – current applications to reinforce science concepts.
ES.8 – influences by geologic processes and the activities of humans on freshwater resources, including identification of groundwater and major watershed systems in Virginia, with reference to the hydrologic cycle.

Physics Course
PH.1 – current applications to reinforce science concepts.
PH.2 – analyzing and interpreting data.
PH.3 – nature and practice of science.

Virginia’s SOLs are available from the Virginia Department of Education, online at http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/.

Following are links to Water Radio episodes (various topics) designed especially for certain K-12 grade levels.

Episode 250, 1-26-15 – on boiling, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 255, 3-2-15 – on density, for 5th and 6th grade.
Episode 282, 9-21-15 – on living vs. non-living, for kindergarten.
Episode 309, 3-28-16 – on temperature regulation in animals, for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Episode 333, 9-12-16 – on dissolved gases, especially dissolved oxygen in aquatic habitats, for 5th grade.
Episode 403, 1-15-18 – on freezing and ice, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 404, 1-22-18 – on ice on ponds and lakes, for 4th through 8th grade.
Episode 406, 2-5-18 – on ice on rivers, for middle school.
Episode 407, 2-12-18 – on snow chemistry and physics, for high school.

Monday, July 1, 2019

Episode 479 (7-1-19): Exploring the Great Dismal Swamp

Click to listen to episode (5:09).

Sections below are the following:
Transcript of Audio
Audio Notes and Acknowledgments
Images
Extra Information
Sources
Related Water Radio Episodes
For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.).


Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 6-28-19.

TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of July 1, 2019.

MUSIC – ~8 sec

This week, that excerpt of “Baldcypress Swamp,” by Timothy Seaman of Williamsburg, Va., opens an episode about a large, distinctive place of water, woods, wildlife, and human history in Virginia and North Carolina.  Have a listen for about 25 seconds to some sounds recorded in June 2019 from that area, and see if you know the rather gloomy name for this place.

SOUNDS - ~24 sec

If you guessed the Dismal Swamp, you’re right!  The frogs and birds you heard are a small sample of the life in the Great Dismal Swamp, a large area of forested wetlands in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.  Reportedly named by William Byrd during his exploration of the area in 1728, the Great Dismal Swamp at one time covered an estimated 1.5 million acres.  Between the colonial era and the 1970s, the swamp was changed drastically by development of the Dismal Swamp Canal, construction of miles of drainage ditches, and the timbering of cypress and cedar trees made possible by the drainage. In 1974, about 49,000 acres of the swamp were established as a federal wildlife refuge, and that has since grown to over 110,000 acres, providing what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has called “some of the most important wildlife habitat in the mid-Atlantic region.”  It’s also home to Lake Drummond, one of only two natural lakes in Virginia.

A key feature of the Dismal Swamp is its peat soil. Peat contains decomposed plant material accumulated over many years under wet, low-oxygen conditions.  Peat gives the Dismal Swamp distinctive water chemistry and water-holding conditions, with particular vegetation adapted to those conditions.

As a human habitat, the Dismal Swamp is particularly noteworthy as a refuge to thousands of African Americans fleeing slavery between the 1600s and the Civil War.  While many used the swamp as a stopping point along the Underground Railroad, many others stayed there.  Those Dismal Swamp inhabitants were known as “maroons,” from a French word meaning “to flee,” and Dismal Swamp was only one of many remote places used by maroons before the Civil War.

In the 21st Century, the Dismal Swamp attracts outdoor enthusiasts; fascinates historians and archeologists studying maroon communities; and challenges wetland scientists studying interactions among water, land, vegetation, and the atmosphere.  Despite its gloomy name, the Dismal Swamp can enlighten explorers of its natural and historical intricacies.

Thanks to Trevor Amestoy and Clay Word for providing this week’s sounds.  Thanks also to Timothy Seaman for permission to use this week’s music, and we close another selection by Mr. Seaman with a title recalling some of the recreation and wildlife to be found in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.  Here’s about 20 seconds of “Paddle with the Kingfishers.”

MUSIC - ~ 20 sec

SHIP’S BELL

Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Ben Cosgrove for his version of “Shenandoah” to open and close the show.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The sounds heard in this Virginia Water Radio episode were from a video recorded by Trevor Amestoy in the Dismal Swamp on June 11, 2019.  In 2019, Trevor is a senior at the University of New Mexico and is a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) student during the summer at Virginia Tech.  The recording was made while Trevor was assisting in Dismal Swamp research by Clay Word, a graduate student in the Virginia Tech Department of Forest Resources and Conservation.

“Baldcypress Swamp,” from the 2004 album “Virginia Wildlife,” is copyright 2004 by Timothy Seaman and Pine Wind Music, used with permission.  The “Virginia Wildlife” CD was a collaboration between Mr. Seaman and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.  This music was used previously in Virginia Water Radio Episodes 269, 6-8-15, on waters of the United States; 319, 6-6-16, on Barking Treefrogs; and 465, 3-25-19, on snakes.  “Paddle with the Kingfishers,” an unreleased composition, is copyright by Timothy Seaman, used with permission.  More information about Timothy Seaman is available online at http://www.timothyseaman.com/.

Click here if you’d like to hear the full version (2 min./22 sec.) of the “Shenandoah” arrangement/performance by Ben Cosgrove that opens and closes this episode.  More information about Mr. Cosgrove is available online at http://www.bencosgrove.com.

IMAGES

Map of Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Map from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, accessed online at https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Great_Dismal_Swamp/map.html, 6/26/19.


Map of the ditches and road in the Great Dismal Swamp area, along with the area burned in 2011. Map from Jack R. Eggleston et al. (2018), Hydrologic conditions and simulation of groundwater and surface water in the Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia and North Carolina, USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5056, accessed online at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327434991_Hydrologic_conditions_and_simulation_of_groundwater_and_surface_water_in_the_Great_Dismal_Swamp_of_Virginia_and_North_Carolina_USGS_Scientific_Investigations_Report_2018_-_5056, 6/26/19.


On the Dismal Swamp Canal (from Chesapeake, Va., to northeastern North Carolina), April 30, 2005.


Lake Drummond in the Great Dismal Swamp (Virginia cities of Chesapeake and Suffolk), April 30, 2005. 

For some historical photos from the Dismal Swamp, please see Richmond Times-Dispatch, PHOTOS: The Great Dismal Swamp over the years and Tuesday’s derailment, 6/26/19.

EXTRA INFORMATION ABOUT THE GREAT DISMAL SWAMP
The following is quoted from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, “Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge,” online at https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/vbwt/sites/great-dismal-swamp-national-wildlife-refuge/, accessed 6/28/19.

“Comprised of nearly 111,000 acres of forested wetlands, canals, ponds, lakes, sphagnum bogs, evergreen shrubs, and marshy borders, the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is the largest site on the Coastal section of the Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail.  The refuge may be explored via 40 miles of nearly level trails and roads, many of which parallel drainage ditches surveyed by George Washington during the mid-1700s….

“Three-mile wide Lake Drummond, located in the heart of the Swamp, is one of only two natural lakes in Virginia.  This tannin-stained, cypress-lined, isolated lake may be visited from the east by small paddled craft, or from the west by road and hiking/ biking trails.

“The Great Dismal Swamp is a naturalist’s dream. Over 200 species of birds, including 35 kinds of warblers, attract birders, most of whom visit the Swamp during spring migration in mid-April to mid-May.  Even after the frenzy of spring migration subsides, wildlife watching in the Swamp can still be very rewarding.  The Swamp remains alive with the summer songs of breeding prothonotary, prairie, Swainson’s, pine, black-and-white, yellow-throated, yellow, hooded, Kentucky, and black-throated green warblers, northern parula, and dozens of other birds.  While searching for the refuge’s many birds, even the most casual observer will encounter some of the Refuge’s 87 species of reptiles and amphibians.  Small mammals are abundant, and large species such as black bear, bobcat, and river otter are encountered with unusual frequency.  In fact, the Refuge may currently provide the best opportunity to see black bears in the entire state.  The Swamp is an excellent locale for studying butterflies of the southeastern United States, including cane-specialists such as lace-winged roadside-skipper and creole pearlyeye.  Note: Mosquitoes are also present in large numbers, so bug spray is highly recommended.”

SOURCES USED FOR AUDIO AND OFFERING MORE INFORMATION
Bill Bartel, What’s in a Name – Great Dismal Swamp, Virginian-Pilot, 7/26/10.

City of Chesapeake, Va., “Paddle for the Border,” online at http://www.cityofchesapeake.net/government/city-departments/departments/parks-recreation-tourism/events/special-events/paddlefortheborder.htm; and event brochure, online (as PDF) at http://www.cityofchesapeake.net/Assets/documents/departments/parks_rec/Special+Events+and+Coordination/2009-Paddle-for-the-Border-enjoy-learn.pdf.

Dismal Swamp Canal Welcome Center (South Mills, N.C.), “History of the Dismal Swamp,” online at https://dismalswampwelcomecenter.com/history/.

Jack R. Eggleston et al., Hydrologic conditions and simulation of groundwater and surface water in the Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia and North Carolina, U.S.Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5056, August 2018, accessed online at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327434991_Hydrologic_conditions_and_simulation_of_groundwater_and_surface_water_in_the_Great_Dismal_Swamp_of_Virginia_and_North_Carolina_USGS_Scientific_Investigations_Report_2018_-_5056.

Ben Finley, Derailment sends 36 train cars carrying coal into Great Dismal Swamp wildlife refuge, Associated Press, as published by Richmond Times-Dispatch, 6/26/19.

Sandy Hausman, Fleeing To Dismal Swamp, Slaves And Outcasts Found Freedom, National Public Radio, 12/28/14.

Sarah Hutchins, Officials declare Dismal Swamp fire out, Virginian-Pilot, 11/23/11.

International Peatland Society, “What is Peat,” online at http://www.peatsociety.org/peatlands-and-peat/what-peat.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “Dismal,” online at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dismal.

Daniel Sayers, A Desolate Place for a Defiant People: The Archaeology of Maroons, Indigenous Americans, and Enslaved Laborers in the Great Dismal Swamp, 2014, by accessed online through Florida Scholarship Online at this link.

Nina Shapiro-Perl and Beth Geglia, “Landscape of Power: Freedom and Slavery in the Great Dismal Swamp,” 2015, 19 min./55 sec. video, online at https://vimeo.com/134317981.

Bland Simpson, “Great Dismal Swamp,” 2006, published by NCPedia from the State Library of North Carolina, online at https://www.ncpedia.org/great-dismal-swamp.

Bland Simpson, The Great Dismal: A Carolinian’s Swamp Memoir, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1998.  Accessed online at http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzQ3NjE4X19BTg2?sid=1563dabd-f594-4ff6-83de-393f8dee08e5@sessionmgr102&vid=1&format=EB&rid=2 (subscription may be required).

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge,” online at https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Great_Dismal_Swamp/.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “Lake Drummond Wildlife Drive” (brochure), online (as PDF) at https://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/LDWildlifeDrGuide2-4-19-web.pdf.  This is the source of the USFWS quote used in this episode's audio (see Transcript above).

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “Great Dismal Swamp Maroons and the Underground Railroad” (brochure), online (as PDF) at https://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/UGRR8-18-web.pdf.  This is the source used in this episode's audio for the origin of the word "maroons."

Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, “Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge,” online at https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/vbwt/sites/great-dismal-swamp-national-wildlife-refuge/.

Virginia Humanities’ Encyclopedia Virginia, Dismal Swamp entries, online at https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/search?type=article&keywords=Dismal+Swamp.

Virginia Water Resources Research Center, Virginia Water Central News Grouper posts on the Dismal Swamp (including on the 2011 Dismal Swamp fire), online at https://vawatercentralnewsgrouper.wordpress.com/page/2/?s=Dismal+Swamp.

Sharif Youssef, “The Great Dismal Swamp,” Episode 271 of “99% Invisible,” 8/15/17, 26 min./57 sec. audio (with transcript), online at https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/great-dismal-swamp/.

RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES

All Water Radio episodes are listed by category at the Index link above (http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html).  See particularly the “Rivers, Streams, and Other Surface Water” subject category.

FOR VIRGINIA TEACHERS – RELATED STANDARDS OF LEARNING (SOLs) AND OTHER INFORMATION

The episode—the audio, extra information, or sources—may help with the following Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs).

2013 Music SOLs

SOLs at various grade levels that call for “examining the relationship of music to the other fine arts and other fields of knowledge.”

2010 Science SOLs

Grades K-6 Earth Resources Theme
4.9 – Va. natural resources, including watersheds, water resources, and organisms.
6.9 – public policy decisions related to the environment (including resource management and conservation, land use decisions, hazard mitigation, cost/benefit assessments).

Grades K-6 Living Systems Theme
2.5 – living things as part of a system, including habitats.
3.6 – ecosystems, communities, populations, shared resources.
4.5 – ecosystem interactions and human influences on ecosystem.
6.7 – natural processes and human interactions that affect watershed systems; Va. watersheds, water bodies, and wetlands; health and safety issues; and water monitoring.

Life Science Course
LS.9 – adaptations for particular ecosystems’ biotic and abiotic factors, including characteristics of land, marine, and freshwater environments.
LS.10 – changes over time in ecosystems, communities, and populations, and factors affecting those changes, including climate changes and catastrophic disturbances.
LS.11 – relationships between ecosystem dynamics and human activity.

Earth Science Course
ES.8 – influences by geologic processes and the activities of humans on freshwater resources, including identification of groundwater and major watershed systems in Virginia.

Biology Course
BIO.2 – water chemistry and its impact on life processes.
BIO.8 – dynamic equilibria and interactions within populations, communities, and ecosystems; including nutrient cycling, succession, effects of natural events and human activities, and analysis of the flora, fauna, and microorganisms of Virginia ecosystems.

2015 Social Studies SOLs

Grades K-3 History Theme
1.2 – Virginia history and life in present-day Virginia.

Grades K-3 Geography Theme
1.6 – Virginia climate, seasons, and landforms.

Grades K-3 Economics Theme
2.8 – natural, human, and capital resources.
3.8 – understanding of cultures and of how natural, human, and capital resources are used for goods and services.

Virginia Studies Course
VS.1 – impact of geographic features on people, places, and events in Virginia history.
VS.10 – knowledge of government, geography, and economics in present-day Virginia.

United States History to 1865 Course
USI.2 – major land and water features of North America, including their importance in history.
USI.4 – European exploration in North America and western Africa.
USI.5 – factors that shaped colonial America and conditions in the colonies, including how people interacted with the environment to produce goods and service.
USI.9 – causes, events, and effects of the Civil War.

Civics and Economics Course
CE.6 – government at the national level.

World Geography Course
WG.2 – how selected physical and ecological processes shape the Earth’s surface, including climate, weather, and how humans influence their environment and are influenced by it.
WG.3 – how regional landscapes reflect the physical environment and the cultural characteristics of their inhabitants.
WG.4 – types and significance of natural, human, and capital resources.
WG.15 – past and present trends in migration and cultural diffusion, including effects of environmental factors.

Virginia and United States History Course
VUS.2 – early European exploration and colonization and interactions among Europeans, Africans, and American Indians.
VUS.6 – major events in Virginia and United States in first half of 19th Century.
VUS.7 – knowledge of the Civil War and Reconstruction eras.

Government Course
GOVT.7 – national government organization and powers.

Virginia’s SOLs are available from the Virginia Department of Education, online at http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/.

Following are links to Water Radio episodes (various topics) designed especially for certain K-12 grade levels.

Episode 250, 1-26-15 – on boiling, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 255, 3-2-15 – on density, for 5th and 6th grade.
Episode 282, 9-21-15 – on living vs. non-living, for kindergarten.
Episode 309, 3-28-16 – on temperature regulation in animals, for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Episode 333, 9-12-16 – on dissolved gases, especially dissolved oxygen in aquatic habitats, for 5th grade.
Episode 403, 1-15-18 – on freezing and ice, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 404, 1-22-18 – on ice on ponds and lakes, for 4th through 8th grade.
Episode 406, 2-5-18 – on ice on rivers, for middle school.
Episode 407, 2-12-18 – on snow chemistry and physics, for high school.