Saturday, April 14, 2012

Extreme Weather, Storms in the West yet the U.S. Drought Worsens

I just reviewed the drought monitor and the drought impact reporter. I thought with all of the recent extreme weather around the U.S. and snow and rain in the West that I'd find that conditions have gotten better. Not so! Many states are experiencing no better conditions and in many cases conditions have worsened. Many states are in moderate to extreme drought and Texas is still experiencing extreme and exceptional drought conditions.

The drought impact reporter is especially interesting. If you click on a state you will find articles, listed on the right hand side, that offer the current news about regional drought conditions.





Mike Meuser

MapCruzin.com for free GIS software, shapefiles, maps and tutorials.
Check out Premium GIS Shapefiles : Zip Code Boundaries, School Districts, Tornadoes, Dams & Risks, Indian & Federal Lands, and Climate Change.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Blue Creek Ah Pah in the New York Times

I think you'll find this interesting. I began working on the Blue Creek Ah Pah Traditional Yurok Village about 5 years ago. I've many things including develop the website, host the website, make GIS maps, take photos and videos, create power point presentation and brochures. I'v also contributed many volunteer hours, supplied tools and old growth redwood planks.

A couple of days ago the New York Times published an article about the village project. Check out the article, A Vision of Reviving Tribal Ways in a Remote Corner of California.

You might also be interested in the maps I created for the project.





Best

Mike

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Investigate Possible Future Effects of Climate Change in the U.S.

Comparisons and Research Using the Climate Change GIS Shapefiles

Using the data one could look at things like increases or decreases in temperature and precipitation over decades for any area or region in the contiguous U.S. of interest. All sorts of interesting comparisons may result for example, higher precipitation along with lower temperatures may indicate more snowfall and less rain. An increase in temperature later in the year may indicate a flood risk as the snowpack melts. You can probably imagine all sorts of scenarios to investigate with this data.

Data Units

Temperature: The monthly figures within each year represent the air temperature in degrees in K (Kelvin). You can convert K to Farenheit using the following formula:

F = (K - 273.15) * 9/5 + 32

or convert to Centigrade using this formula:

C = K - 273.15

Precipitation: The monthly figures within each year represent the precipitation in mm (milimeters). You can convert mm to inches using the following conversion factor:

1 millimeter = 0.0393700787 inch

or convert mm to cm (centimeters) using the following conversion factor:

1 millimeter = 0.1 centimeters

Click here to access the Climate Change GIS Shapefiles

Mike Meuser

GIS Project Development, Data Research and Custom Shapefile Creation
Free GIS Software, Shapefiles, Maps and Tutorials
Free GPS, Aerial, TOPO Maps and News

If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs send me an email

Premium Shapefiles: ZipCode, Indian & Federal Lands, School Districts, Tornadoes, Dams, Climate Change & Global Warming


Monday, March 12, 2012

James Hansen Speaks Out About Climate Change

Speaks about how close we are to a tipping point to a point of no return and runaway climate extremes. Also speaks of the immorality of leaving this out of control climate to future generations especially since we know how to stop it. Finally, he introduces a simple fee system to reduce greenhouse gases and stimulate the economy.

View James Hansen Speaks Out About Climate Change

Mike Meuser

GIS Project Development, Data Research and Custom Shapefile Creation
Free GIS Software, Shapefiles, Maps and Tutorials
Free GPS, Aerial, TOPO Maps and News

If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs send me an email

Premium Shapefiles: ZipCode, Indian & Federal Lands, School Districts, Tornadoes, Dams, Climate Change & Global Warming


Sunday, March 11, 2012

One Year Since Fukushima - Maps, Video, Shapefiles, Events

Today is the one year anniversary of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. I've collected some lists of events today and tomorrow as well as a new movie about the disaster. There are also free maps, images and shapefiles to help you with your nuclear energy research.

Visit One Year Since Fukushima - Maps, Video, Shapefiles, Events Now

Mike Meuser

GIS Project Development, Data Research and Custom Shapefile Creation
Free GIS Software, Shapefiles, Maps and Tutorials
Free GPS, Aerial, TOPO Maps and News

If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs send me an email

Premium Shapefiles: ZipCode, Indian & Federal Lands, School Districts, Tornadoes, Dams, Climate Change & Global Warming


Tuesday, March 6, 2012

120 Million People in the United States at Risk to Fukushima-Like Nuclear Accident

NRDC has just published a new interactive map showing the 104 nuclear reactors at the 65 nuclear power plant facilities in the United States. 23 of these are identical to the reactors at Fukushima and none have had any safety upgrades. I have provided maps and GIS shapefiles and a link to the new NRDC interactive maps here.



Mike Meuser

GIS Project Development, Data Research and Custom Shapefile Creation
Free GIS Software, Shapefiles, Maps and Tutorials
Free GPS, Aerial, TOPO Maps and News

If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs send me an email

Premium Shapefiles: ZipCode, Indian & Federal Lands, School Districts, Tornadoes, Dams, Climate Change & Global Warming


Monday, February 6, 2012

Worldwide Coal Consumption Nearly Doubles Since 1980

The U.S. EIA (Energy Information Administration has created animated maps to show the near doubling of coal consumption. Most of this increase has been due to demand in Asia.



This is an excellent example of how animated flashmaps can tell a story in a very interesting, succinct and powerful manner.

Learn more about creating flashmaps here

Learn more and view animated coal consumption maps here

Mike Meuser

GIS Project Development, Data Research and Custom Shapefile Creation
Free GIS Software, Shapefiles, Maps and Tutorials
Free GPS, Aerial, TOPO Maps and News

If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs send me an email

Premium Shapefiles: ZipCode, Indian & Federal Lands, School Districts, Tornadoes, Dams, Climate Change & Global Warming