Are dams actually helping communities?

Dams are barriers that stop the flowing of water in rivers and streams created by humans, to use as a reservoir. However we are not really sure that the people are being benified by them, that's why I created an infography which states the advantages and disadvantages of it.

One example is of a dam is the Salto Grande Dam shared between Uruguay and Argentina, located in the Uruguay River between Salto (Uruguay) and Concordia (Argentina). Its construction began the 1^st of April 1974 and it opened in 1979 as a reservoir which produce hydroelectric power. According with the official Salto Grande's page, this reservoir "produces energy in a clean, safe and economic way, through the use of a renewable resource, contributing to the economic and social development of the countries, and conserving our environment for future generations, within a framework of occupational health and safety that complies with the current legislation in both countries", it not only generates electicity for both  communities, but also "strengthen the communication between the Salto Grande localities and create development conditions for the communities, the environment and the workers of the organization", besides it "Collaborates in education, culture, health, sports and tourism projects. Carries out direct actions to protect the environment and responsible consumption of energy". As what regards to the people "the public's good initiatives, carried out by municipalities or civil society, receive, in many cases, the advice of professionals from Salto Grande."

Despite the fact that the dam has great goals, the lack of coordination among the countries, and the lack of a shared water resources management policy is costing some reservoirs  to dry, like happened in 2006 in Iguassu. Now the Salto Grande Dam is running out of water because of he "lack of rain", meanwhile some dams locate in Brazil are stocking water.

Tropical cyclones?

A tropical cyclone is a A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain. Depending on it´s location a tropical cyclone can be called by different names, for example in Europe, Oceania and the eastside of Africa and Asia they are called cyclones, in america they are called hurricanes and in the west side of Africa and Asia they are called Tryphones. Meteorologist have a system for naming hurricanes, they develop a list of names that are assigned in an alphabetical order as they are discovered in each season, that makes much easier to communicate about specific cyclones.There are six list,one per year so after six ear a name can be repeated, although the names of specifically severe hurricanes are permanently retired from use. Also the female names are deadlier than male names.

 For tropical cyclones to form there has to be some specific conditions, like the location has to be within the tropics, which means a tropical climate (wet and hot all year long, little temperature range, little variation in length of daylight, usually 12 hours day and 12 hours night and convectional rainfall) at the end of summer/ beginning of autumn and the climate has to be very humid, for water to originate, and the sea temperature has to be at it maximum (at least 27° C). Whit these characteristics warm and wet air rises, it condenses to form towering clouds and heavy rainfall. It also creates a low pressure zone near the surface of the water. Rising warm air causes the pressure to decrease at higher altitudes. Warm air is under a higher pressure than cold air, so moves towards the space occupied by the colder, lower pressure, air. So the low pressure sucks in air from the warm surroundings, which then also rises. A continuous upflow of warm and wet air continues to create clouds and rain. Air that surrounds the low pressure zone at the centre flows in a spiral at very high speeds, anti-clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere.

 There are stronger and weaker cyclones and there is a scale called the Saffir-Simpson scale that calificates them with numbers form 1 (weak)

 to 5 (strong).

• 1 = Here the damage is minimal, an example is the one called Earl
• 2 = In number 2 the damage is moderated, like in hurricane George
• 3 = The damage in this level is extensive, for example Fran
• 4 = Number 4 means and extreme damage, an example is Andrew
• 5 = In the last level the damage is catastrophic like Katrina, wich was so severe that was removed from the list of names. 

Every tropical cyclone has effects in the society, but it depends on the economic development and in the level of the tropical cyclone. There are short term effects and long term effects.

SHORT TERM: Destruction, floods, collapses of buildings, electricity.

LONG TERM: Damage of crops, Damage on industries that then causes unemployment, reparations, polluted water, diseases.

There are satellites that see the movement of air and predict tropical cyclones despite there are some strategies to prevent tropical cyclones like, having radios that work with batteries in case there is no light to be informed, drills, evacuation methods or stay indoors with the necessary supplies.

Soil conservation

In the EM class we were asked to create a spidermap to explain soil conservation in pairs, I did it with Mayra using prezi. Here is our work:

Eyjafjallajokull eruption

We were signed a natural disaster in pairs and we had to make a presentation about it, with Olivia we did a presentation about the Eyjafjallajokull eruption.

Eyjafjallajökull eruption

In Environmental manigement the teacher gave us difeerents natural disasters to the pairs that we had formed and we had to do a presentation of it, here is  the one I did with Olivia.

Our own magazine

We had to do our own magazine with a program called "Madmagz.com" talking about an specific naturalhazard, in my case it was the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano. Here is the magazine I did with Olivia.     
A mag created with Madmagz.

Definitions of EM

1. Write a definition for the followin conceps and add an image to clarify your explanations.
-Ocean trenches
-Mid ocean ridge
-Fault
-San Andreas fault
-Formation of islands
-Formation of mountains

Ocean trenches:  Ocean trenches are deep depressions on the seafloor, they are the deepest part of the ocean. In every basin of the planet there are ocean trenches. They are a result of tectonic activity.

http://education.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/ocean-trench/

Mid-Ocean ridge: A mid-ocean ridge is an underwater mountain, this is create when currents rise under the seafloor and create magma where tectonic plates meet.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/mid-ocean_ridge.htm

Fault: Faults are features in the earth where rocks in both sides had slide away from each other . There are 3 types of faults, the strike-slip fault, the reverse dip-slip fault and the normal dip-slip fault.

http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/geology/fault.html

San Andreas Fault:  San Andreas Fault is the limit between the North American plate and Pacific plate. In 1906 there was an earthquake that left the San Andreas fault as a consequence. It does not go through cities but many communities are sitting ducks

http://geology.com/articles/san-andreas-fault.shtml

Formation of islands: Volcanic islands are formed by volcanic activity in the seafloor, 

often near the limit between tectonic plates.  Two plates pull apart and lava erupt, 

then layers of lava build up until they protrude up water. 

http://www.infoplease.com/dk/encyclopedia/islands.html

Formation of mountains: Plates smash together, but one goes under the other, and rocks or slabs are push into the air and a mountain is formed.

http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-are-mountains-made/

Tectonic plates

Here is the map of the tectonics pates and there movements.