Week 7 Reading Reflection

The article I chose to read this week is concerning the census and how there are going to be changes to way in which data is collected for the count. The article talks about how traditionally the census has two parts, the short form which gives total household occupancy and several other things and the long for which allows for more in depth collection of information such as education, citizenship and marital status.

The most interesting part of the article to me was the way in which the new ACS census system will allow for the counting of seasonal residency. In the previous count you needed to maintain your residence for a year to be considered as occupying it, in the newest version of the count you need only be in one place for 2 months, which in and of itself can pose issues if someone is moving several times a year as to where there residency is.

Mysterious Diseases

The reading that I chose for this weeks assignment is about mysterious diseases that do not have an explainable source for the diseases. The article discusses how there are groups forming world wide that are formally based on discovering the source of the unidentifiable diseases. Additionally there are groups that are forming for people effected by these diseases, essentially support groups for persons with the unknown diseases.

The second part of the article gives 7 different diseases that the causes have not been able to be identified, prior to listing all these disease the article author gives some speculation on the reason for these diseases. They speculate that the exposure to the things we have in our everyday life could be a feasible source for the causes of diseases. Most radically they say that governments are releasing chemicals into the environment that are effecting populations.

Mt. St. Helens

I chose the area surrounding the peak of Mt. St. Helen's, I see this as an environmental issue in that it could possible replicate the events of the mid 1980's which destroyed acres of timber and took several lives in the direct blast. The hazard of lahar flows from another eruption could devastate the population near the mountain as it did in its most recent blowout. As you can see from the 3-D model the blue area indicates the growing crown of the volcano again as it refills and begins to build up again. As the mountain top begins to grow and reach its max capacity again the danger of another eruption also grows. The map coordinates are under the geographic coordinate system 1983. The extent info in decimal degrees can be found below.

Top: 47.0016
Left: -123.0016
Right: -121.998
Bottom: 45.998

Debris Flow

For this weeks reading I chose an article that discusses the hazard of landslides in areas around the world. More specifically it talks about areas where recent fires have denuded the landscape, the ash from the fires makes the soil more impenetrable to water infiltration which can increase runoff and potential slope failure. The research in this article is sited to be occurring in parts of California where recent fires have devastated national parks. USGS is packing equipment out into chosen and modeled basins where they are collecting data about infiltration rates and how much precipitation is falling in the area.

The second and end part of the article discusses warning systems that researchers are trying to get put into place. By identifying areas that are potential dangers of slope failure it becomes possible to monitor rainfall levels through weather forecasting and potentially warn of debris flows. They admit that this work isn't of the most dire nature but they have found that there were over 2000 deaths last year from slide related incidents. By collecting any kind of data concerning the slides it will help in the prevention and mitigation of future events.