California cooperative snow-surveys, particularly western slope of Sierra Nevada: Report of 1939 forecasts

1940 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 100
Author(s):  
Fred H. Paget
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Western Slope

The Sigmocheirini, a xystodesmid milliped tribe in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, U.S.A. (Polydesmida: Xystodesmidae)

1995 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rowland M. Shelley
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
New Genus ◽  
San Joaquin Valley ◽  
Western Slope ◽  
Kern County ◽  
Pigmentation Pattern ◽  
Sierra Nevada Mountains

AbstractThe xystodesmid milliped tribe Sigmocheirini occupies a band along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and eastern fringe of the San Joaquin Valley from Placer to Kern counties, California. It is comprised of two genera, Sigmocheir Chamberlin, with three species occurring from Placer to Tulare counties, and the monotypic Ochthocelata gen. n., the sole component, O. adynata sp. n., occurring in northern Kern County. The species of Sigmocheir display a distinctive, trimaculate pigmentation pattern with yellow middorsal and paranotal spots; the coloration of O. adynata is unknown. Sigmocheir calaveras Chamberlin is a senior name for S. dohenyi Chamberlin, the spelling of which was subsequently corrected to danehyi and assigned to the new genus, Tuolumnia, a synonym of Sigmocheir. Sigmocheir furcata sp. n. is proposed for forms from the northern generic range. The southernmost species is S. maculifer (Chamberlin), comb. n., transferred from Harpaphe Cook. The Sigmocheirini are related to the sympatric tribe Xystocheirini; relationships within Sigmocheir are hypothesized as maculifer + (calaveras + furcata).

scholarly journals Causal Reasoning Processes of People Affected by Wildfire: Implications for Agency-Community Interactions and Communication Strategies

2004 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 184-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Carroll ◽  
Yoshitaka Kumagai ◽  
Steven E. Daniels ◽  
John C. Bliss ◽  
John A. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Attribution Theory ◽  
Causal Reasoning ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Western Slope ◽  
Community Interactions ◽  
Dynamic Interactions ◽  
Qualitative Approaches ◽  
Wildfire Hazard ◽  
Sierra Nevada Mountains

Abstract Fire officials are dismayed when victims of wildfire blame fire fighters and others responsible for fire management for damage resulting from uncontrolled fires. This is in spite of the fact that wildfire damage is a consequence of dynamic interactions among natural factors (wind, temperature, location of wildfire, topography, etc.) and human factors (past land management, promptness of firefighting activities, extent of homeowners' defensible space, etc.). Fire and land managers do not typically understand why and how the victims arrive at such oversimplified, and in some cases inaccurate, conclusions about wildfire causation. Attribution theory in social psychology provides a framework for understanding the mechanisms of these blaming processes. In this study, both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to explore how people who live in wildfire hazard zones and experienced wildfire, perceive the causes of wildfire damage. In the spring of 1999, a prefire survey was conducted in the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, an area where numerous wildfires are recorded nearly every year. This was followed by a postfire survey in two communities that actually experienced a fire that season. In addition, qualitative interviews were carried out in these two affected communities. Results suggest that people who experienced wildfire tended to attribute the cause of wildfire damage to factors associated with fire officials and nature and did not attribute fire damage to their own actions (or inactions). The implications of these attributions are discussed as are recommendations for future fire education and communication. West. J. Appl. For. 19(3):184–194.

scholarly journals The Impact of the Sierra Nevada on Low-Level Winds and Water Vapor Transport

2007 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 790-804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinwon Kim ◽  
Hyun-Suk Kang
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapor ◽  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Northern Region ◽  
Vapor Transport ◽  
Water Vapor Transport ◽  
Western Slope ◽  
Mountain Range ◽  
Low Level ◽  
The Impact

Abstract To understand the influence of the Sierra Nevada on the water cycle in California the authors have analyzed low-level winds and water vapor fluxes upstream of the mountain range in regional climate model simulations. In a low Froude number (Fr) regime, the upstream low-level wind disturbances are characterized by the rapid weakening of the crosswinds and the appearance of a stagnation point over the southwestern foothills. The weakening of the low-level inflow is accompanied by the development of along-ridge winds that take the form of a barrier jet over the western slope of the mountain range. Such upstream wind disturbances are either weak or nonexistent in a high-Fr case. A critical Fr (Frc) of 0.35 inferred in this study is within the range of those suggested in previous observational and numerical studies. The depth of the blocked layer estimated from the along-ridge wind profile upstream of the northern Sierra Nevada corresponds to Frc between 0.3 and 0.45 as well. Associated with these low-level wind disturbances are significant low-level southerly moisture fluxes over the western slope and foothills of the Sierra Nevada in the low-Fr case, which result in significant exports of moisture from the southern Sierra Nevada to the northern region. This along-ridge low-level water vapor transport by blocking-induced barrier jets in a low-Fr condition may result in a strong north–south precipitation gradient over the Sierra Nevada.

scholarly journals Observations of the effects of temperature on atmospheric HNO<sub>3</sub>, ΣANs, ΣPNs, and NO<sub>x</sub>: evidence for a temperature-dependent HO<sub>x</sub> source

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 1867-1879 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Day ◽  
P. J. Wooldridge ◽  
R. C. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Western Slope ◽  
Oxides Of Nitrogen ◽  
Temperature Dependent ◽  
Alkyl Nitrates ◽  
Temperature Trends ◽  
Sierra Nevada Mountains ◽  
Peroxy Nitrates ◽  
Effects Of Temperature ◽  
Increasing Temperature

Abstract. We describe observations of atmospheric reactive nitrogen compounds including NO, NO2, total peroxy nitrates, total alkyl nitrates, and HNO3 and their correlation with temperature. The measurements were made at a rural location 1315 m a.s.l. on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California during summer of 2001. The ratio of HNO3 to its source molecule, NO2, and the ratio of HNO3 to all other higher oxides of nitrogen (NOz) both increase with increasing temperature. Analysis of these increases suggests they are due to a steep increase in OH of between a factor of 2 and 3 over the range 18–32°C. Total peroxy nitrates decrease and total alkyl nitrates increase over the same temperature range. The decrease in the total peroxy nitrates is shown to be much less than expected if the rate of thermal decomposition were the sole important factor. This observation is consistent with the increase in OH inferred from the temperature trends in the HNO3/NO2 ratio.

Revision of the milliped genus Xystocheir Cook (Polydesmida: Xystodesmidae)

1996 ◽  
Vol 74 (7) ◽  
pp. 1336-1363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rowland M. Shelley
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Pacific Coast ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Species Group ◽  
Western Slope ◽  
Species Status ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Mendocino County ◽  
Species Groups

The California milliped genus Xystocheir Cook, occurring along the Pacific Coast and the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, comprises nine species, three being divided into a total of seven subspecies; the species are combined into four species-groups named for the oldest component. Xystocheir dissecta (Wood), abundant around San Francisco – San Pablo and Monterey bays, comprises intergrades, one true subspecies, and two apparent semispecies that are treated as subspecies; additionally, a local population in southern Mendocino County has achieved reproductive isolation and attained species status. Two new combinations, X. reducta (Causey) and X. modestior (Chamberlin), are proposed, along with the following new synonymies: Paimokia Chamberlin under Xystocheir, X. acuta Cook, X. francisca and X. milpitas, both by Chamberlin, and Cheirauxus sapiens Chamberlin under X. d. dissecta, new status; and Delocheir conservata and D. dalea, both by Chamberlin, under X. dissecta taibona Chamberlin, new status. The following new species-group taxa are diagnosed: the subspecies Xystocheir dissecta microrama, Xystocheir modestior haerens, and Xystocheir stolonifera uncinata, and the species X. prolixorama, X. solenofurcata, X. brachymacris, X. stenomacris, X. bistipita, and X. stolonifera.

Complexity in Polyploid Species Origin and Establishment: Arctostaphylos mewukka (Ericaceae)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Serkanic ◽  
V. Thomas Parker ◽  
Kristina Schierenbeck
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Woody Plant ◽  
Genome Duplication ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Western Slope ◽  
Target Species ◽  
Molecular Sequence Data ◽  
Interspecific Gene Flow ◽  
Molecular Sequence ◽  
Morphological Identity

Lineage recombination is an important source of genetic and morphological variation in species-rich groups of plants. Tetraploids that are intermediate in morphology and ecology with respect to sympatric diploids are regularly hypothesized to be the products of hybridization. Arctostaphylos mewukka is one such intermediate tetraploid long regarded as the result of hybridization and genome duplication among divergent and geographically overlapping diploids widely distributed across the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. Here we set out to test this hypothesis leveraging the notion that allopolyploids arise repetitively and may show signs of reciprocal organellar exchange among species between maternal and paternal progenitors. We compared nuclear ribosomal and plastid sequence data acquired from samples within and outside this target species complex. Molecular sequence data show striking patterns indicative of widespread reticulation and chloroplast captureevents across the genus Arctostaphylos. Results support the notion that outcrossing, long-lived woody plant species such as members of the genus Arctostaphylos can retain a secured morphological identity despite ongoing influence of interspecific gene flow that would otherwise render speciesboundaries vulnerable to dissolution.

Sierra Motherlode, Domain 2

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Earl B. Alexander ◽  
Roger G. Coleman ◽  
Todd Keeler-Wolfe ◽  
Susan P. Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Western Slope ◽  
Mountain Range ◽  
Serpentine Soils ◽  
East Side ◽  
The West ◽  
Eastern Side ◽  
The North ◽  
Great Valley ◽  
Block Faulting

The Sierra Motherlode domain is in a series of allochthonous terranes, sometimes called the “Foothill Belt,” along the western edge of the north-northwest–south-southeast trending Sierra Nevada, adjacent to the Great Valley of California. It is a discontinuous belt from the southern Sierra Nevada, in Tulare and Fresno counties, to Butte County in the northern Sierra Nevada , but a branch within the belt is practically continuous from El Dorado County about 140 km north to Plumas County at the north end of the range. Cenozoic block faulting has lifted the Sierra Nevada and tilted the mountain range toward the west; therefore the highest elevations are on the east side of the range. Uplift is more pronounced in the southern than in the northern Sierra Nevada. Altitudes range from <200 m adjacent to the Great Valley to more than 4000 m along the crest of the central to southern part of the mountain range. The highest altitudes in the Sierra Motherlode domain are 1939 m (6360 feet) on Red Mountain and 1935 m (6335 feet) on Red Hill in Plumas County, and even higher on some of the granitic plutons that are within the outer limits of the serpentine domain. These plutons were intruded into the allochthonous terranes after the terranes had been accreted onto the continent. Much of the western slope of the northern Sierra Nevada is an undulating to rolling plateau. This plateau is a remnant from the early Tertiary when its surface was deeply weathered to produce lateritic serpentine soils with silica deposited in the subsoils and in fractures in the bedrock (Rice and Cleveland 1955, Rice 1957). The ancient plateau was capped by volcanic flows that produced a practically continuous cover in the northern Sierra Nevada (Durrell 1966). Uplift along the eastern side of the northern part of the Sierra Nevada to initiate its current relief commenced 4 or 5 Ma ago (Wakabayashi and Sawyer 2001). Since the range began to rise a few million years ago, the larger streams flowing across it have cut deep canyons up to about 600 m below the plateau.

Millennial-scale variations in western Sierra Nevada precipitation during the last glacial cycle MIS 4/3 transition

2014 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 236-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica L. Oster ◽  
Isabel P. Montañez ◽  
Regina Mertz-Kraus ◽  
Warren D. Sharp ◽  
Greg M. Stock ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Western Slope ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Glacial Cycle ◽  
Climatic Response ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Mis 3 ◽  
Heinrich Event ◽  
The Last Glacial

AbstractDansgaard–Oeschger (D–O) cycles had far-reaching effects on Northern Hemisphere and tropical climate systems during the last glacial period, yet the climatic response to D–O cycles in western North America is controversial, especially prior to 55 ka. We document changes in precipitation along the western slope of the central Sierra Nevada during early Marine Oxygen Isotope Stages (MIS) 3 and 4 (55–67 ka) from a U-series dated speleothem record from McLean's Cave. The timing of our multi-proxy geochemical dataset is coeval with D–O interstadials (15–18) and stadials, including Heinrich Event 6. The McLean's Cave stalagmite indicates warmer and drier conditions during Greenland interstadials (GISs 15–18), signified by elevated δ18O, δ13C, reflectance, and trace element concentrations, and less radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr. Our record extends evidence of a strong linkage between high-latitude warming and reduced precipitation in western North America to early MIS 3 and MIS 4. This record shows that the linkage persists in diverse global climate states, and documents the nature of the climatic response in central California to Heinrich Event 6.

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