Wabash River Watershed Case Study

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Project 2 - Introduction There has been a considerable amount of discussion in recent days, weeks, and months about global warming and its probable effects. In this project we are looking at a limited geographic area over a period of time, where variables such as temperature, precipitation, evapotranspiration, deficits, surpluses, and runoff have been quantified for the entire area under consideration. The Wabash River Watershed covers an area of greater than 33,000 square miles in extreme west-central Ohio, the central 4/5 of Indiana (not including the extreme northern areas that drain into the Great Lakes and the extreme southern strip that drains directly into the Ohio River) and the southeastern ¼ of Illinois. Major cities such as Indianapolis,…show more content…
2. How does the maximum temperature at the beginning compare with the end? Hover for the answer: The maximum temperature at the end of the period was nearly as high as it was at the beginning, with the increase occurring over a much shorter time period. 3. How does the maximum temperature in the late 1970s compare with the end of the 1980s? Hover for the answer: The maximum temperature in the late l970s was at its lowest point, while at the end of the decade had reached some of its highest levels of the 30-year period. 4. What could explain this? Hover for the answer: The late 1970s were associated with some of the coldest and most severe winter's in U.S. history. January of 1977 was the coldest January in the history of the U.S., and several studies were done of the likelihood of descending into another "Little Ice Age". Overall, the increase of the maximum temperatures in the final decade of the data presented may represent the first indications of human-induced "global

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