Lesson 8: September 17, 1999 Readings Main reading is Ch. 6, ‘Rivers and Flooding’ For this section of the course, also be familiar with “Measurements and Data Analysis” and “Rivers and Flooding” in the lab Also read, although we will not focus on it, Ch. 13, ‘Global Climate Change’, Sections 8.1, 8.2 on Cyclones

Hurricane Floyd http://www.intellicast.com http://www.noaa.gov Atlantic IR, Carib IR HiRes, ITCZ http://www.noaa.gov Probabilities http://www.cnn.com Storm Center for VRML

Exercise 5 Exponential function On back, locations

Let’s locate Ourselves Latitude and longitude of Africa Position of the Nile in Africa Rainfall Highlands: Mt. Elgon, Ruwenzori, Ethiopian Three main tributaries: Blue, White, Atbara Lakes: Victoria, Albert, Tana, Nasser, (Sudd) Gauging stations: Sennar, Malakal, Atbara, Aswan Major cities: Cairo, Khartoum, Kampala

The Nile Basin The Nile flows 2700 km without being joined by a major tributary Rainfall Totals, N and S of Khartoum, 300 mm Variability Evapotranspiration An exercise later Discharge, the resultant effect

From Mt. Elgon to the Delta The Highlands Ruwenzori, Elgon The Sudd Cataract region Khartoum to Aswan Not navigable Floodplain section Aswan to Cairo Cross sections Delta Distributaries

What is Flooding? Flooding is the rise of a body of water, usually a stream (incl. river), above its confines to submerge surrounding areas Flooding may affect more people and cause greater loss of life than any other natural hazard Mortality through drowning but also famine, which commonly follows Main problems are in lowland areas, such as Bangladesh and Mississippi floodplain (e.g., 1993)