A sophisticated analysis of sea-level rise in Puget Sound and
along the Washington Coast offers shoreline residents and land-use
planners a new map-based tool to assess potential flood hazards for
the coming years.
Click on map to access online
interactive map
Map: Washington Coastal Hazards Resilience
Network
Sea-level rise depends on two factors: how fast the oceans rise
and the rate of vertical land shifts. Uplift, such as what occurs
along the Washington Coast, slows the rate of sea-level rise
relative to waterfront property. Subsidence, which occurs in
Central Puget Sound, results in elevated tides sooner than in
stable or uplifting areas. One map on this page shows the measured
uplift and subsidence and another shows the uncertainty in that
measurement.
Ian Miller, a coastal hazards specialist at Washington Sea
Grant, has worked on studies that describe sea-level rise in Island
County and on the Olympic Peninsula. The new report, titled
“Projected Sea Level Rise for Washington State” (PDF 10.4 mb)
goes well beyond what he and his colleagues have done before. It
takes a more detailed look at where the land is uplifting and
subsiding, according to Miller, the lead author on the new report
that involves work by scientists at Sea Grant and the University of
Washington’s Climate Impacts Group.
Spectacular images produced with the latest LIDAR technology
ought to be considered works of art, at least in my humble
opinion.
LIDAR software reveals current
and historical stream channels for the Sauk River, a tributary of
the Skagit.
Image: Washington State Geological
Survey
The images on this page, which show geologic features in
Washington state, were produced as part of a large-scale project to
study the state’s geology. Funded by the Legislature in 2015, the
project is largely designed to identify landslide hazards, but the
LIDAR data has many wide-ranging uses for scientists, educators and
political leaders.
Aside from LIDAR’s practical uses, I cannot get over how
beautiful the images are, a feeling enhanced by the knowledge that
the fine details reflect actual structures on the ground. All these
images and 14 others are available as screensavers on the state’s LIDAR website.
At the Great Bend in Hood
Canal, moving glaciers once carved out small hills, known as
drumlins.
Image: Washington State Geological
Survey
I asked Dan Coe, a GIS cartographer responsible for many of the
final images, how much of an artist’s touch he uses when producing
such amazing depictions of the landscape. Dan works for the
Washington Geological Survey, a division of the Department of
Natural Resources.
“There is definitely an artistic touch that is added to these
images when they are produced,” he wrote in an email. “While each
one is a bit different, depending on the landform featured, most
follow a general process.”
LIDAR reveals changing stream
channels where the Black and Chehalis rivers merge in Grays Harbor
County. // Image: Washington State Geological
Survey
LIDAR stands for light detection and ranging. When used from an
airplane, LIDAR equipment shoots a laser beam along the ground.
Sophisticated equipment and a computer interpret the reflected
light as precise differences in elevation.
Dan blends the elevation data with other GIS layers provided by
the software, including the outlines of landforms, shaded relief
and water bodies.
“I then bring these layers into graphics software (usually Adobe
Photoshop or Illustrator), where they are merged together,” Dan
said. “This allows me to emphasize the features that are important
to the viewer, usually with colorization and blending
techniques.”
LIDAR reveals details of
Devil’s Slide on Lummi Island in Whatcom County that cannot be seen
otherwise.
Image: Washington State Geological
Survey
The primary purpose of the images is to translate the science
for a nontechnical audience, he said. That’s not to say that
scientists don’t appreciate the effort, but the colorful images are
somewhat simplified from the more detailed LIDAR data, he
added.
“If done well, they are a good example of the ‘a picture is
worth a thousand words’ adage,” he said, “and can go a long way to
bridging the gap between science and public understanding.”
When it comes to his choice of colors, he acknowledges that he
strives for a bit of a “wow!” factor, while enhancing the contrast
“to draw the viewers eye and to emphasize the features more
clearly.”
The video at right offers a good description of how LIDAR works.
Early uses involved examining the topography and geology of an area
with the trees stripped away. The surprising images revealed
unknown features on the ground — including a piece of the Seattle
fault at the south end of Bainbridge Island, where an earthquake
raised Restoration Point about 20 feet some 1,100 years ago.
Since then, LIDAR has been refined for greater image resolution,
and the improved software is providing new ways to interpret the
data. For example, relative elevation models, or REMs, help to
better visualize changes in river flows over time. The baseline
elevation (0 feet) is defined as the surface of the river, so old
river channels emerge as slight changes in elevation. Dan explains
the
REM process (PDF 16.5 mb) in a poster on the LIDAR website.
The mysterious Mima Mounds
southwest of Olympia, as shown with LIDAR
Image: Washington State Geological
Survey
The early use of LIDAR for revealing unseen geology has
gradually given way to much broader applications. At first, the
returning light that reflected off trees and vegetation was
considered useless “noise” to be filtered out by computer. Later,
scientists discovered that valuable information could be found
within that noise — such as the size and type of trees and other
vegetation growing in specific areas. These uses are explained in a
video called “Introduction to
Light Detection and Ranging.” Both videos mentioned in this
blog post were produced by the National Ecological Observatory
Network, or NEON, which is researching conditions and changes
in ecosystems across the country.
A little-known lava flow,
called West Crater, can be seen easily with LIDAR. The site is
between Mount St. Helens and Mount Hood in Gifford Pinchot National
Forest in Skamania County.
Image:Washington State Geological
Survey
As Coe and his colleagues find new uses for LIDAR, they are also
looking for new ways to encourage the public to understand the
process and results. A nice two-page summary about the LIDAR
program (PDF 2.6) can be found on the state’s LIDAR website. The
website also includes descriptions of how LIDAR can be used in
geology, forestry, graphics, navigation, meteorology and fire
management, land-use planning, archeology and agriculture.
The page also includes an interactive story map called
“The Bare Earth,” which takes you through various geological
features. Interesting comparisons between LIDAR images and aerial
photos of the same areas are shown in the story map.
Geology experts in Washington and Oregon have produced an
easy-to-read brochure that can help people understand landslide
risks, the underlying geology of slides and precautions that could
avoid a disaster.
I have written a lot of words about landslides through the
years, often relating stories of people involved in a catastrophic
slope failures. But this new publication excels as a concise
discussion of what people need to know if they live on or near a
steep slope.
After the Oso landslide in the Stillaguamish Valley three years
ago, I wrote a piece in the
Kitsap Sun to help residents of the Kitsap Peninsula understand
the risks they could be facing. Now I can point people to this
graphically rich pamphlet, called
“A Homeowners Guide to Landslides for Washington and Oregon” (PDF,
3.8 mb). It was produced by the Washington Department of
Natural Resources and the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral
Industries.
“Our job is to understand Washington’s complex geology and how
it impacts the people who live here,” Washington State Geologist
Dave Norman said in a
news release. “We want to make sure we put that information
into their hands.”
I’ve been going through the new report about climate change in
the Puget Sound region, and I can tell you that the most optimistic
chapter is the one on farming. Check out the story I wrote for the
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound.
To be sure, farmers will have plenty of problems to contend
with. Rising sea levels and more intense rainstorms will probably
causing flooding and seawater intrusion where it has never been
seen before. Some of today’s farmland could become unsuitable for
agriculture, and drier summers will force much better management of
limited water supplies.
Temperatures are rising in the
Puget Sound lowlands. // Graphic: Climate Impacts
Group
But as the climate undergoes change, farmers can change with the
climate, growing crops suitable for the conditions they face, said
Kelly McLain, senior natural resources scientist with the
Washington Department of Agriculture.
“Farmers are extremely adaptable,” Kelly told me. “I think water
is going to be the limiting factor for almost all decisions.”
My third and final story in the series, which will be published
next week, talks about coming changes in habitats — and thus
species — expected in Puget Sound as air temperatures increase, sea
levels rise, rainstorms grow more intense and oceans undergo
acidification.
Total annual precipitation does
not appear to be changing in the Puget Sound region.
Graphic: Climate Impacts Group
I took on this writing project as part of my work for the Puget
Sound Institute, which publishes the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound.
PSI commissioned the climate report with funding from federal and
state governments. The Climate Impacts Group at the University of
Washington compiled the best scientific knowledge into a very
readable report, which can be found on the encyclopedia’s
website or on the website of the Climate
Impacts Group.
One interesting chapter of the report, called
“How is Puget Sound’s Climate Changing?” (3 mb) supports the
understanding that climate change is not something we need to wait
for. It’s something that scientists can measure now, although
climatologists expect the changes to come faster as atmospheric
carbon dioxide levels increase.
Here are a few of the changes that can be measured, along with a
bit of explanation about the uncertainty:
Average air temperatures have been increasing in the Puget
Sound lowlands and are currently about 1.3 degrees higher than in
1895. Higher temperatures have been found to be statistically
significant for all seasons except spring, with the overall
increase shown in a range between 0.7 to 1.9 degrees F.
Nighttime air temperatures have been rising faster than daytime
temperatures. Nighttime lows have been increasing by about 1.8
degrees since 1895, while daytime highs have been increasing by
about 0.8 degrees.
The frost-free season has lengthened by about 30 days (range
18-41 days) since 1920.
As in other areas, short-term trends can differ substantially
from long-term trends. Cooling observed from 2000-2011, for
example, has not altered the long-term temperature increase.
An ongoing debate questions how much, if any, of the long-term
warming trend is a result of natural climate variability. One study
says up to 80 percent may be natural, caused by atmospheric
circulation, not by greenhouse gas buildup. Other researchers have
been unable to replicate the findings for other data sets.
Total annual precipitation does not appear to be increasing or
decreasing over a long time scale. Spring precipitation has
increased at a statistically valid 27 percent for the months March
through May.
Most studies are finding modest increases in the frequency and
intensity of heavy precipitation compared to historical levels, but
results depend on the time period and methods of analysis.
Ongoing variability in weather patterns related to El Nino and
the Pacific decadal oscillation will continue to strongly influence
temperature and precipitation for relatively short periods. It is
not clear how long-term climate change will interact with these
more variable climate patterns.
How climate change could alter life in the Puget Sound region is
the focus of a new report from the University of Washington’s
Climate Impacts Group.
A 1997 landslide on Bainbridge
Island killed a family of four and resulted in five homes being
condemned. Landslides can be expected to increase in the future
because of changes in precipitation patterns.
Kitsap Sun file photo
In concert with the report’s release, I’m writing three stories
for the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound, all focusing on specific
aspects of the report, beginning with landslide risks. See
“Shifting ground: climate change may increase the risk of
landslides” on the Puget Sound Institute’s blog.
As the new report describes, increased flooding, more frequent
landslides and decreased salmon runs are likely, along with
declines in some native species and increases in others. We are
likely to see more successful invasions by nonnative species, while
summer drought could cause more insect damage to forests and more
forest fires.
“When you look at the projected changes, it’s dramatic,” said
lead author Guillaume Mauger in a
news release. “This report provides a single resource for
people to look at what’s coming and think about how to adapt.”
The report includes examples of communities taking actions to
prepare for climate change, such as merging flood-management
districts to prepare for increased flooding in King County and
designing infrastructure to contend with rising sea levels in other
areas.
“In the same way that the science is very different from the
last report in 2005, I think the capacity and willingness to work
on climate change is in a completely different place,” Mauger
said.
Sheida Sahandy, executive director of the Puget Sound
Partnership, said the people of Puget Sound must be prepared for
changes that have already begun.
“To protect Puget Sound, we need to plan for the ever-increasing
impacts of climate change,” she said in a
news release. “This report helps us better understand the very
real pressures we will face over the coming decades. The effects of
climate change impact every part of what we consider necessary for
a healthy Puget Sound: clean water, abundant water quantity, human
wellbeing, and a Puget Sound habitat that can support our native
species.”
Work to compile the report was funded by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency via the Puget Sound Institute at UW Tacoma, the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the state of
Washington.
The report will become part of the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound,
where my climate-change stories will reside after publication over
the next three weeks. I’m currently working part-time for the Puget
Sound Institute, which publishes the encyclopedia and is affiliated
with the University of Washington — Tacoma.
For other news stories about the report, check out:
I am still baffled, as are the folks at the University of
Washington’s Seismology Lab, why people freaked out over the
earthquake article, titled “The Really Big One,” published this
month in New
Yorker magazine.
Could it be that Northwest residents were unaware or had
forgotten about the risk of earthquakes in this area until a
national magazine called attention to the problem?
Was it the lack of credible details about earthquake risks in
the original article, which included this quote from an
emergency-management official: “Our operating assumption is that
everything west of Interstate 5 will be toast.”
Or maybe it was the rapid spread of information via social media
and the huge number people living in other parts of the country who
texted, tweeted and inundated Facebook with worries about their
relatives in the Pacific Northwest.
“I don’t really know what it was,” said Bill Steele, my longtime
contact at the UW’s Seismology Lab. “We are a bit baffled by it.
There is nothing really new.”
Hazard maps are used by
structural engineers to design buildings to withstand shaking. This
map depicts maximum ground acceleration (measured in gravitational
pull) predicted in a rare earthquake with a 2 percent chance of
occurring in the next 50 years. // Kitsap Sun
graphic
Although the author, Kathryn Schultz, left out specifics about
which areas might be affected more than others, she did tell a
compelling — and fairly accurate — story about what could happen
when the North America plate breaks free of the Juan de Fuca plate,
which is sliding underneath it.
I was pleased to see that she came back this week with a
follow-up article describing where the greatest shaking would
occur and which areas would be at greatest risk from a tsunami
unleashed by slippage along the Cascadia subduction zone. She also
suggests steps that people can take to protect themselves and their
property — something I have always felt is a mandatory part of any
story I write about earthquakes. Review a webpage put together by the
Kitsap Sun.
I’ve been very fortunate to have worked as a news reporter
during a time when many important discoveries were made in
Northwest seismology. I accompanied researchers digging in swamps,
riverbanks and man-made trenches, where they found traces of
ancient earthquakes. That work and much more comprises a body of
evidence across many disciplines that helps us understand how bad
our “big one” could be.
In 1999, I paused from covering individual discoveries about
earthquakes to write a story for the Kitsap Sun focusing on a few
of the researchers and their key findings. We called the story
“Finding Fault: 13 Years of Discoveries.”
I can’t begin to recount all the stories I’ve written about
earthquakes through the years, but I do recall warning people a few
years ago to get prepared after the massive Japanese earthquake
made headlines across the the globe (Kitsap
Sun, March 11, 2011):
“While Japan struggles to recover from one of the greatest
earthquakes in world history, West Coast seismologists are warning
that a quake just like it could occur at any time off the
Washington and Oregon coasts.
“In broad-brush terms, ‘the two earthquakes are very similar,’
said John Vidale, director of the Pacific Northwest Seismograph
Network at the University of Washington. ‘As a first guess, what
might happen here is what happened there.’
Of course, we have had our own earthquakes that should give us
plenty of reason to get prepared. The 6.8-magnitude Nisqually
earthquake on Feb. 28, 2001, occurred in the Puget Sound region and
served as a powerful wakeup call for many people.
During the 2001 Nisqually
earthquake, many roads were damaged. Here, Janine Morris, right,
and her daughter, Erin, 12, explored a section of Highway 302 near
Victor. // Kitsap Sun file photo, 2001.
The Nisqually quake was called the “miracle quake” because
nobody was killed, although one man died from a heart attack that
could have been related to the event. About 400 people were injured
and damage estimates ranged up to $4 billion. (U.S.
Geological Survey)
In the Puget Sound region, the shaking from the Nisqually quake
could be something like area residents will experience in a
Cascadia subduction-zone quake, though shaking from a subduction
quake is expected to last longer, depending on how much of the
plate breaks free. Things will not be the same in all places, and
communities closest to the Olympic Mountains might experience the
most damage from a subduction quake.
Five years after the Nisqually quake, Phyllis Mann, who was
director of Kitsap County Department of Emergency Management at the
time, was still wondering why many people were not prepared for an
earthquake in Kitsap County.
“Kitsap has never depended on the federal government as part of
its plan,” Phyllis told me in a
Kitsap Sun story published Feb. 28, 2006. “The federal
government can’t be with us the day of the disaster. With the
exception of the military, which is part of our community, you
can’t count on the feds early on.”
Mann used our interview to direct pointed questions at Kitsap
County residents:
“Why aren’t you ready? What is it going to take? We keep asking
this question and finding out that people aren’t prepared. Where is
your food and water for three days? (A week is the latest
recommendation.) Where are your reunion plans? Is it my
responsibility as the county emergency manager to make sure
everyone does it?”
The New Yorker article failed to mention an earthquake threat
that should be of equal concern to residents of the Puget Sound
area. You may have heard of the Seattle fault, which runs from
Seattle across Bainbridge Island and Central Kitsap to Hood
Canal.
Although the frequency of huge earthquakes on the Seattle fault
appear to be less than those along the Cascadia subduction zone, we
must not forget that a quake on the Seattle fault about 1,100 years
ago lifted up the south end of Bainbridge Island by 21 feet and
created a tsunami that inundated shorelines now occupied by people.
By contrast, a tsunami coming from the ocean after a subduction
quake might raise the water level quickly in Puget Sound but
probably no higher than what we see with daily tides.
In a way, the Seattle fault put the Kitsap Peninsula on the map
with a red bull’s-eye, which I wrote about five years ago. See
Kitsap Sun, May 8, 2010, along with the map on this page.
Bill Steele told me that he is sure that Kenneth Murphy,
regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
regrets saying, “Our operating assumption is that everything west
of Interstate 5 will be toast.” That may be a good “operating
assumption” for an agency trying to plan for the worse possible
emergency, but it is not a very good description of what
seismologists predict by modeling various scenarios.
Bill said many people failed to read the New Yorker article
carefully and took the comment to mean that most of Western
Washington would be hit with a 50-foot wall of water — something
that could not be further from the truth.
“The good news for us is that we have a pretty good 10,000-year
history of what happened on the fault,” Bill said. “We know how the
shaking will be distributed.” Again, look at the hazard map on this
page and note the strip of red along the coast.
While many earthquake experts are surprised by the reaction to
the New Yorker article, it has accomplished one goal of those who
understand the risks: getting people to create earthquake kits,
secure homes on their foundations and other things that could help
prevent damage and get people through the emergency.
“You have to take your hat off to the author,” Bill told me,
“because she got a lot of people thinking. It is not like the New
Yorker has that many subscriptions.”
Emergency managers may be studying the cascading events
triggered by the New Yorker article, including the initial
publication, the ripples running through social media and the
public alarm that rose up and eventually died down.
Directing public concern into action is what folks like Bill
Steele and others are doing right now. Check out the video in the
player below for Bill’s appearance on “New Day Northwest,” and
visit the webpage of the Pacific
Northwest Seismic Network for basic information and scheduled
discussions about earthquake risks. One public forum is scheduled
for Tuesday at the University of Oregon, and
other forums are under consideration at the UW.
For this week, let’s call it “Amazing Monday.” When I first saw
this video, I thought it was a fake animation for a science fiction
film. But it turns out that it could be the answer to a troubling
riddle: What is dryer than a desert?
The crack might also be the result of erosion from either an
underground or surface channel following an unusually heavy rain.
Despite the attention in Mexican and U.S. news outlets, I have been
unable to find a good explanation.
The crack is said to be about three-fourths mile long and up to
25 feet deep. Some nice close-in photos were posted on the website
of Excelsior,
a daily newspaper based in Mexico City. They show people standing
next to the giant fissure. (When watching the video, it’s worth
blowing it up to full screen.)
In a Washington Post story last week, reporter
Joshua Partlow quoted a geologist at the University of Sonora as
saying the crack was probably caused by pumping groundwater for
irrigation:
“The chair of the geology department at the University of
Sonora, in the northern Mexican state where this ‘topographic
accident’ emerged, said that the fissure was likely caused by
sucking out groundwater for irrigation to the point the surface
collapsed.
“‘This is no cause for alarm,’ Inocente Guadalupe Espinoza
Maldonado said. ‘These are normal manifestations of the
destabilization of the ground.’”
I think the geologist’s comments were meant to quell fear and
speculation that started running wild when the crack first opened.
While it may not be cause for alarm, I can’t believe that a crack
this size — which has cut off more than one roadway — can be
considered a good thing. Nevertheless, it is fascinating, and I’d
like to learn more about it.
A dramatic video that shows Japan’s March 12 tsunami from ground
level has received a lot of attention on YouTube, probably because
of its shock value. Our hearts go out to the Japanese people.
Meanwhile, I believe this video can offer important insights for
those of us who live or visit ocean communities on the West Coast,
such as Ocean Shores.
How much time would we have to get to higher ground after an
earthquake? The video shows the water level rising rapidly, as the
photographer goes up a stairway to get to higher ground. At the end
of the video, six minutes in, the serenity of the street has been
turned into chaos.
While I worry about coastal communities, where a tsunami is a
likely threat, I’m also concerned about waterfront residents and
visitors along the Puget Sound shoreline. Although the chance of a
tsunami in Puget Sound may be less than on the coast, one could be
triggered by an earthquake on the numerous faults
that run through the sound, including the Seattle, Tacoma and
South Whidbey faults. Earthquakes also may cause massive landslides
that can create big waves when hitting the water.
With the weather we’ve had the past couple days, it’s hard to
forget the gusher of water coming down upon our heads and changing
the landscape in familiar places.
Kitsap Sun
photo
Of course, we can’t live without rain — especially if we wish to
remain The Evergreen State — but sometimes a little less of it
would do us well.
With our rampaging weather in mind, I’ve selected 20 quotes from
a variety of sources who apparently have given some thought to the
subject of rain.
1. A visit is like rainwater. You pray for it when it stays
away, and it’s a problem when it rains too much. — Hebrew
Proverb
2. A rainy day is the perfect time for a walk in the woods. —
Rachel Carson
3. Rain, rain, go away, come again another day. —
Traditional Proverb
4. I’m just waiting for people to start asking me to make the
rain disappear. — David Copperfield
5. Sunshine is delicious; rain is refreshing; wind braces us up;
snow is exhilarating. There is really no such thing as bad weather,
only different kinds of good weather. — John Ruskin
6. A poet is someone who stands outside in the rain hoping to be
struck by lightning. — James Dickey
7. And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down.
Without the rain, there would be no rainbow. — Jerry
Chin
8. Into each life some rain must fall. — Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
9. Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with
silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby. —
Langston Hughes
10. All was silent as before, all silent save the dripping rain.
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
11. He who marries on a rainy day will be happy for the rest of
his life. — French Proverb
12. A rose must remain with the sun and the rain or its lovely
promise won’t come true. — Ray Evans
13. Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced
in the rain. — Author unknown
14. Those who profess to favour freedom, and deprecate
agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground,
they want rain without thunder and lightning. — Frederick
Douglass
15. Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a
man’s growth without destroying his roots. — Frank A.
Clark
16. Giving advice to the ignorant is like the rain falling on
muddy ground. — Iranian Proverb
17. A banker is a man who lends you an umbrella when the weather
is fair, and takes it away from you when it rains. — Author
unknown
18. Remember even though the outside world might be raining, if
you keep on smiling the sun will soon show its face and smile back
at you. — Anna Lee
19. The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up
with the rain. When I’m inspired, I get excited because I can’t
wait to see what I’ll come up with next. Find out who you are and
do it on purpose. — Dolly Parton
20. I can see clearly now; the rain is gone. I can see all
obstacles in my way.
— Johnny Nash
The Kitsap Peninsula largely escaped the onslaught of rains on
Wednesday, thank to the “rain shadow” effect of the Olympic
Mountains. See Brynn Grimley’s story in
yesterday’s Kitsap Sun.
The rain shield eventually broke down as the storm direction
changed, and we got hit pretty good yesterday. But the scattered
flooding and mudslides didn’t come close to what we saw in December
of 2007.
The biggest problem in this area was Highway 166 between Port
Orchard and Gorst, where perennial mudslides disrupt the normal
traffic flow. See Travis Baker’s story in
today’s Kitsap Sun.
As for other areas of the state, it’s worth noting that the
Sun’s Web editor, Angela Dice, and other newspaper Web editors used
some relatively new online tools — including Twitter and Publish2 —
to keep people updated about the weather. If you logged onto the
Sun’s weather coverage, you would have access to a growing list of
links about weather events taking place all over the state.
This flood of information was made possible through a
collaboration of online journalists and others who believe that
getting information out to people is more important than
old-fashioned competition, which used to dominate the news
business. It’s actually one of the few bright spots in an shrinking
industry where news coverage suffers amid the evaporation of
advertising revenues.
The story of this week’s collaboration was featured today in the
online publication
“Publishing 2,” which reports on developments regarding an
online system that helps connect journalists together. The author
of the piece, Josh Korr, calls this week’s effort a “quiet
revolution” in which “four journalists spontaneously launched one
of the first experiments in collaborative (or networked) link
journalism to cover a major local story.”
For the average reader, this new approach means that newspaper
Web sites become richer with breaking news. You could use the
Kitsap Sun, for example, to figure out which roads were blocked at
any one time pretty much anywhere in the state.
Want to be even more current with events? Go to the search engine on Twitter and type
in “#waflood.” You’ll see a twittering of reporters, highway
engineers and other people tweeting about the latest developments
on the roads and rivers.
Meanwhile, geologists for the Washington Department of Natural
Resources have developed a network to share information about
mudslides with the hope that knowledge will help reduce future
problems. Check out the
map of recent mudslides and learn about the
hazards and what you can do about them.
