A Search for Average, Extremes, and Runs of Unusual Weather in Iowa

Temperature and precipitation during the past decade have exhibited wide variation throughout Iowa. Is this unusual? An attempt was made to answer this question by computing various statistical parameters that characterize variation in Iowa\u27s long term climatic record. Absolute deviations were used to identify the most and least variable months and years since 1900. Overall, 1936 with a very cold winter and very warm summer was the least normal year. Runs of daily weather showed that heat and cold stress could often persist for more than 1 month. Runs of dry days were much longer than runs of wet days. Rank analysis showed that 1993 was indeed unusual relative to excess rainfall and that 1992 summer temperatures were also unusual, even though both events had comparable analogs in the historic weather record. Annual and seasonal 10-year moving means and standard deviations revealed different patterns of interannual variation between seasons. Winter was most variable, while summer, spring, and fall variability increased during the past two decades. Only during the 1940\u27s and 1960\u27s were the seasons similar for this statistical measure

Advancing water resource management in agricultural, rural, and urbanizing watersheds: Why land-grant universities matter

Federally funded university water programs have had limited success in halting the degradation of water resources in agricultural, rural, and urbanizing watersheds for the past five decades. USDA-funded university water programs have advanced our understanding of watershed processes and the development of best management practices (BMPs; e.g., conservation tillage, nutrient management, alternative and innovative septic systems, and riparian buffers) to mitigate environmental risks from anthropogenic activities, in particular from agriculture, to our water resources; yet water degradation persists and has worsened in many watersheds (Howarth et al. 2000; Mueller and Spahr 2006). The National Research Council (2012) stresses the need for sustainable agricultural practices to reduce changes in flow regimes and water quality. In this research editorial, we make four points relative to solving water resource issues: (1) they are complex problems and difficult to solve; (2) some progress has been made on solving these issues; (3) external nonstationary drivers such as land use changes, climate change and variability, and shifts in markets, policies, and regulations warrant constant vigilance to assure that presumed improvements are being attained; and (4) we are poised to make substantial progress on these challenges over the next 10 to 20 years if critical steps are… This is an excerpt from the article and not a full abstract

Using a team survey to improve team communication for enhanced delivery of agro-climate decision support tools

In the Midwestern United States, where a third of the world's maize crop is grown, there are few decision support tools available to help farmers and their advisors plan for an uncertain climatic future. Developing tools that are actually useful and usable to agricultural decision makers necessitates an interdisciplinary team of climate scientists, agronomists, computer scientists, and social scientists. With such diversity come varying levels of engagement (e.g. co-project director, student, technician, etc.) and experience working with farmers and/or serving in an official Extension capacity. Therefore working together to address this challenging issue is not straightforward. This paper reviews how a survey of a large interdisciplinary team working on developing decision support tools to ensure resilient maize production in this region identified differences between team members and helped improve team functioning and communication. Specifically the team survey revealed some important differences in how team members perceive farmers' use of climate information, the types of decisions that should be addressed with a tool, and how such tools should function. These differences can be primarily explained by disciplinary background and project role and have provided valuable opportunities to learn from each other and build consensus on decision support tools developed. The survey as a feed-back tool complements other team communication approaches and reminds the team of the need for continuous communication and frequent discussion of assumptions