Click to listen to episode (5:05) Sections below are the following: Transcript of Audio Audio Notes and Acknowledgments Image Sources Related Water Radio Episodes For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.) Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 7-17-20.  TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of July 20, 2020. MUSIC – ~14 sec – instrumental This week, that excerpt of “East Virginia,” performed by Timothy Seaman of Williamsburg, opens an episode about eastern Virginia groundwater and an ambitious groundwater-related project by the Hampton Roads Sanitation District, or HRSD. We start with about 70 seconds of comments by David Paylor, the director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ, during a January 18, 2017, meeting of the Virginia House of Delegate’s committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources. VOICE - ~68 sec – “...one of the most important issues that we have in the Commonwealth, and that’s making sure that we sustain our coastal groundwater resources…. By and large most of what I’ll say today is about the Potomac Aquifer. It is deep, thousands of feet down…and has a lot of water. It does not recharge in the same way that we think of groundwater recharging in the rest of the state. …So we have three issues with making sure that we don’t overuse our aquifer: we’ve got some declining water levels…; we have saltwater intrusion from pumping that’s reversed the flow of water; and we have subsidence, or land sinking. …The HRSD proposal has the potential to re-inject 100 million gallons per day into the aquifer, and it looks like it can work as it stands right now.  That can deal with land subsidence, that can address saltwater intrusion, and it can also address availability of water. … But, as I said, groundwater moves slowly.  So 25, 30 years before we begin to really see significant benefit, but we’ve got to start now.” As Director Paylor noted, the Potomac Aquifer is a large, deep formation providing groundwater in Virginia’s Coastal Plain region; and this aquifer faces three major issues resulting from decades of withdrawals for human uses: reduced pressure, saltwater intrusion, and sinking land, also called subsidence.  Natural recharge of the aquifer, which occurs near Virginia’s Fall Zone between the Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions, happens too slowly to replace what humans withdraw.  One response to that in recent years has been reductions in the amount of groundwater withdrawals permitted by Virginia’s DEQ.  Another response is the HRSD’s SWIFT project, short for Sustainable Water Initiative For Tomorrow.  SWIFT’s concept is to take treated wastewater that would otherwise be discharged into area rivers, further treat the water so that it meets drinking water standards and matches chemical characteristics of Potomac Aquifer water, and then inject the water hundreds of feet deep into the aquifer.  By its expected completion in 2032, the project would be adding 100 million gallons per day to the aquifer.  Besides its predicted benefits of recharging the aquifer, SWIFT’s use of wastewater may also significantly reduce nutrient discharges into Chesapeake Bay tributaries. SWIFT is a big, long-range idea for complicated water issues in Hampton Roads, and its progress is being watched by water professionals and communities well beyond eastern Virginia. Thanks to Timothy Seaman for permission to use this week’s music, and we close with about 20 more seconds of “East Virginia.” MUSIC - ~19 sec – instrumental SHIP’S BELL Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Stewart Scal

Click to listen to episode (5:02) Sections below are the following: Transcript of Audio Audio Notes and Acknowledgments Images Sources Related Water Radio Episodes For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.) Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 7-10-20. TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of July 13, 2020. MUSIC – ~11 sec – Lyrics: “It makes you different where you go.” This week, that excerpt of “Rescue Me, Virginia,” by the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah Valley-based band, The Steel Wheels, opens an episode about a state agency focused on conservation and enjoyment of Virginia’s lands, waters, and creatures.  Have a listen to the music for about another minute, and see if you know that agency.  And here’s a hint: Conserving resources can help allow meaningful experiences to be re-created. MUSIC - ~65 sec – Lyrics: “I love the West; Colorado is a promise I could keep. She’s younger and wild, but those aren’t the mountains calling me. Oh, I’m not from here, but this is where I want my roots to grow. And all the miles that I’ve traveled, it’s good to finally find myself at home. Oh, rescue me, Virginia, rescue me. Sing the songs from the ancients, wash me in the sea. Rescue me, Virginia, rescue me; oh, rescue me.” If you guessed the Department of Conservation and Recreation, you’re right!  That agency, known by the shorthand of DCR, began in 1926 as the State Commission on Conservation and Development, with a range of duties including water power, geology, forestry, and parks.  By 1948 it had become the Department of Conservation and Development, and in the late 1980s it took on its current name.  According to its Web site, the department is, quote, “the state's lead natural resource conservation agency” and seeks to protect “natural habitat, parks, clean water, dams, open space, and access to the outdoors.”  The department includes six main areas: dam safety and floodplain management; outdoor recreational planning; soil and water conservation; land conservation; state parks; and natural heritage, that is, stewardship of the Commonwealth’s biodiversity.  Its work ranges from managing Virginia’s state parks, to helping farmers manage nutrients in runoff, to developing the Virginia Outdoors Plan, to helping protect Virginia’s caves and other karst features. DCR’s most recent strategic plan says that these and other department activities are intended to provide opportunities that enable and encourage Virginians to enjoy, protect, and restore their natural and cultural resources.  Given life’s many stresses, opportunities like that amidst Virginia’s rich natural heritage may indeed feel like a rescue. Thanks to The Steel Wheels for permission to use this week’s music, and we close with about 20 more seconds of “Rescue Me, Virginia.” MUSIC - ~22 sec – Lyrics: “Rescue me, Virginia, rescue me. Oh, rescue me.” SHIP’S BELL Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Ben Cosgrove for his version of “Shenandoah” to open and close the show.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water. AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “Rescue Me, Virginia,” from the 2015 album “Leave Some Things Behind,” is copyright by The Steel Wheels, used with permission.  More information about this album is available online at https://stores.portmerch.com/thesteelwheels/music/leave-some-things-behind-cd-download.html.  More information about The Steel Wheels is available online at https://www.thesteelwheels.com/, at https://www.facebook.com/thesteelwheels/, and in a July 2015 articl

Click to listen to episode (5:38) Sections below are the following: Transcript of Audio Audio Notes and Acknowledgments Images Sources Related Water Radio Episodes For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.) Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 7-3-20. TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of July 6, 2020.  This is a revised version of an episode from March 2013. MUSIC – ~12 sec - instrumental This week, that excerpt of “Buy For Me The Rain,” performed by the Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand Band, opens an episode about a long-used and still vital tool for monitoring the atmospheric conditions related to rain and any other kind of weather.  We start with a series of mystery sounds.  Have a listen for about 20 seconds, and see if you know what time-tested measuring tool is being launched. SOUNDS PLUS GUEST VOICE - ~18 sec - ‘There’s our parachute [and] our balloon; and we’re gonna head outside….  And there goes our balloon, and our sonde, on the way up [into] the stratosphere….  Do we still have the signal?  Yes.” If you guessed a weather balloon, you’re right!  Twice each day, over 90 National Weather Service locations launch weather balloons carrying a radiosonde, a package of instruments to measure and transmit data on the upper atmosphere’s temperature, pressure, humidity, and winds.  The Weather Service has making upper air measurements with balloons and radiosondes since the 1930s.  The sounds you heard were from the 6 p.m. launch on February 28, 2013, at the Weather Service’s forecast office in Blacksburg, Virginia.  To learn a bit more about weather balloons and their importance, have a listen to the following two-minute recording from that launch. SOUNDS PLUS GUEST VOICE - ~1 min./54 sec. - “Hello, my name is Patrick Wilson…with the National Weather Service in Blacksburg, Va….  All right, we’re ready to start the upper-air balloon preparations here.  I’ve got a latex balloon… Here’s the actual…sonde; it’s got a GPS sensor in the bottom of it.  Right here’s the temperature sensor sticking out.  We…have a humidity sensor right here….  This thing will also determine the wind; we’re able to figure it out by simply tracking the GPS.  Every second this thing is sending us data; every second.  Even though we have lots of other data—such as [from] airplanes, when you’re taking off and landing, they’re giving us [data from] instruments, they’re being like the weather balloon, except it’s going up and down in a glide path.  [And] we have surface data; we have satellites that can infer the data from temperature and all those things.  And yet, of all the types of information we use now for data, still the only, number-one way to get information about the atmosphere in three dimensions is these weather balloons.   In fact, you all saw the advantage of that in [Superstorm] Sandy: we did upper air launches every six hours at requests of the [National] Hurricane Center, to figure out and narrow all the models and to say, it’s going to hit New Jersey, and be confident on it.…  So I’m gonna let go, and it’s gonna take off, and I mean literally, take off. Ready? 3-2-1….  Well we’ve got the launch on the way and I’ll be heading back into the office to…monitor the flight.  From here, it’ll be just watching the data and making sure everything’s working out before I send it off to Washington, D.C., and the models to crunch the numbers.  Right now, there’s 92 other sites in the United States that are just doing what I’ve done right now.  And all this data will be showing up in your weather forecast probably in the next few hours; doesn’t take that long.” As noted in the segment you just heard, meteorologists continue to rely on measurements from balloon launches to make more accurate weather forecasts, adding the

Click to listen to episode (4:31) Sections below are the following: Transcript of Audio Audio Notes and Acknowledgments Images Sources Related Water Radio Episodes For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.) Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 6-26-20.  TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of June 29, 2020.  This episode’s information is intended especially for Virginia elementary students learning about how where water is and how it's used. MUSIC – ~ 5 sec – Instrumental That excerpt of “Driving Rain,” by the Nelson County, Va., band Chamomile and Whiskey, opens an episode about something rain affects: that is, animals getting water.  Many animals, of course, get water simply by drinking from rivers, lakes, puddles, and other water sources.  But animals have several other ways to get water.  In this episode, I’ll play five kinds of animal mystery sounds, each for a few seconds.  After each sound, I’ll identify the animals and tell you something about how they get water. SOUND - ~ 6 sec - Whale That was the sound of a whale spouting water as it surfaced.  Whales and other sea mammals get most of their water from their food, including the water produced when food is digested, which is known as metabolic water.  All animals get some of their water through that process. SOUND - ~ 5 sec – Rattlesnake That was a rattlesnake rattle.  Snakes drink water, including water that collects on their skin, and rattlesnakes in desert areas have special skin structures that allow them to capture rainwater. SOUND - ~ 7 sec – Gray Catbird That was a [Gray] Catbird with a series of calls mimicking other birds.  Birds get water from food, including metabolic water, and from drinking in various ways, including pelicans opening their beaks to capture rainwater and small birds drinking from dew drops.  Some birds are able to use salt water as a water source. SOUND - ~ 6 sec – Frogs and toad (Spring Peeper, American Toad, Gray Tree Frog) Those were the calls of three kinds of frog or toad.  Frogs, toads, and other amphibians can absorb water through their skin. SOUND - ~ 7 sec –Crickets and katydids Those were the evening sounds of two kinds of insects, crickets and katydids.  Like many insects, these two kinds get water from plants they eat.  Insects can also get water by drinking from various sources, from bodily fluids of prey, and, for some insects, by taking water from the air. Other animals, especially animals that live in dry environments, have other fascinating adaptations for getting and conserving water.  Getting water is one example of how the natural world offers plenty of surprises for inquiring explorers. Thanks to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the whale and rattlesnake sounds.  Thanks also to Chamomile and Whiskey for permission to use this week’s music, and we close with about 20 more seconds of “Driving Rain.” MUSIC - ~ 20 sec – Instrumental SHIP’S BELL Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Ben Cosgrove for his version of “Shenandoah” to open and close the show.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water. AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The whale and rattlesnake sounds were taken from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife National Digital Library, online at http://digitalmedia.fws.gov/cdm/; the specific URL for the whale sound was https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/collection/audio/id/7/rec/1, and for the rattlesnake sound was https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/collection/audio/id/61/rec/6, as of 6/29/20.

Click to listen to episode (4:16) Sections below are the following: Transcript of Audio Audio Notes and Acknowledgments Images Extra Information Sources Related Water Radio Episodes For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.) Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 6-19-20. TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of June 22, 2020. This is a revised version of an episode from June 2013. MUSIC – ~7 sec – instrumental This week, that music opens an episode about wetland-inhabiting birds known for thinness, secrecy, and silent running among marshy vegetation.  Have a listen for about 10 seconds to this week’s mystery sounds, and see if you know this kind of bird.  And here’s a hint: this creature shares its name with a type of fence and with the track of an iron horse.  After the sounds, you’ll hear about 25 seconds more of the music, done by a Virginia composer in honor of the sound-maker. SOUNDS AND MUSIC - ~36 sec - ~10 sec sound, then ~26 sec music (instrumental) If you guessed rails, you’re right!  You heard a Virginia Rail, in a recording by Lang Elliott from the Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs, and the music was “Virginia Rail Reel,” by Timothy Seaman of Williamsburg, on the 2004 album, “Virginia Wildlife.”  The Virginia Rail is one of nine species in Virginia in the bird family of rails, gallinules, and coots.  From the Clapper Rail to the Purple Gallinule to the Common Moorhen, rails have descriptive names, distinctive calls, and adaptations well-suited to marshy habitats.  It’s questionable whether the expression “thin as a rail” refers to this family of birds, rather than to pieces of a fence.  But there’s no question that rails’ thin bodies allow them to run, swim, feed, and nest within the dense grasses and other plants of saltwater and freshwater marshes. Of the Virginia Rail, here’s some of what 19th-Century naturalist John James Audubon wrote: quote, “Excepting our Little Partridge, I know no small bird so swift of foot as the Virginian Rail. …[A]among the thick herbage to which they usually resort, …they run to a short distance, then tack about, and again scud away in a lateral direction, so as to elude the best dog, or if likely to be overtaken, rise on wing, fly with dangling legs eight or ten yards, drop among the weeds, and run off as swiftly as before.” Thanks to Lang Elliott for permission to use the Virginia Rail sounds.  Thanks also to Timothy Seaman for permission to use this week’s music, and we close with a few more seconds of “Virginia Rail Reel.” MUSIC - ~11 sec – instrumental SHIP’S BELL Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Stewart Scales for his banjo version of Cripple Creek to open and close this show.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water. AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Virginia Water Radio episode revises and replaces Episode 165, 6-10-13. The Virginia Rail sounds were taken from the Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs-Eastern Region CD set, by Lang Elliott with Donald and Lillian Stokes (Time Warner Audio Books, copyright 1997), used with permission of Lang Elliott.  Lang Elliot’s work is available online at the “Music of Nature” Web site, http://www.musicofnature.org/. “Virginia Rail Reel” (part of the medley “Virginia Rail Reel/Ducks on the Pond/Old Blue”), from the 2004 CD “Virginia Wildlife,” is copyright by Timothy Seaman and Pine Wind Music, used with permission.  Mr. Seaman’s Web site is http://www.timothyseaman.com/.  The “Virginia Wildlife” CD was a collaboration between Mr.

Click to listen to episode (5:15) Sections below are the following: Transcript of Audio Audio Notes and Acknowledgments Images Extra Information Sources Related Water Radio Episodes For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.) Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 6-12-20. TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of June 15, 2020. SOUND – ~ 5 sec This week, that sound of Toms Creek, a New River tributary in Montgomery County, Va., opens an episode about Virginia’s current assessment of water quality in streams, rivers, lakes, and estuaries.  Water quality refers to what people often call the “health” of water bodies.  Scientifically, it involves chemical, physical, and biological characteristics, each measured in various standardized ways.  Legally, under the federal Clean Water Act and state laws implementing that Act, water quality assessments consider whether water bodies support specified designated uses by humans or by other organisms.  Virginia’s water quality standards identify six designated uses.  For an introduction to designated uses, have a listen for about 30 seconds to several mystery sounds, representing five of Virginia’s six uses. SOUNDS - ~31 sec Virginia’s designated uses, and the sounds you heard representing each, are aquatic life use, represented by a Green Frog sound; fish consumption, a fishing line sound; human recreation, a paddling sound; public water supply, a running faucet sound; wildlife use, ducks quacking; and shellfishing, the one use for which there was no sound. The Clean Water Act requires states to have a water-quality monitoring program and to publish an assessment report every two years.  One of the report’s main purposes is to identify what water bodies do not support their particular designated uses, based on chemical, physical, and biological measurements over time.  Those water bodies are categorized as impaired for one or more uses.  For example, the Toms Creek section you heard earlier has been categorized as impaired for the aquatic life use, because of seasonally high temperatures, and for the human recreation use, because of high bacterial levels.  When a water body is determined to be impaired, typically the water body then undergoes a lengthy cleanup and restoration process known as a Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL. [Note not included in audio: Other indicators of impairments of different water bodies in Virginia include measurements of dissolved oxygen, pH, nutrients, sediments, toxic substances, or the community of benthic organisms.] On June 8, 2020, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ, published its draft 2020 water quality assessment, covering data from 2013 to 2018.  The Water Quality Assessment Integrated Report will undergo a public comment period until July 9, with a Webinar about report scheduled for June 24.  Information about the report and the public comment opportunity is available from the DEQ online at www.deq.virginia.gov; click first on “Programs” and then on “Water Quality Assessments”; or phone the DEQ’s main office at (804) 698-4000. We close with some music for our varied connections to rivers, lakes, and estuaries covered in Virginia’s water-quality monitoring.  Here’s about 15 seconds of “Waters Edge,” by the Rockingham County, Va.-based group, The Steel Wheels. MUSIC - ~15 sec – Lyrics:“Mama, oh mama, it was out by the water’s edge.” SHIP’S BELL Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Ben Cosgrove for his version of “Shenandoah” to open and close the show.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thank

Click to listen to episode (3:58) Sections below are the following: Transcript of Audio Audio Notes and Acknowledgments Images Extra Information Sources Related Water Radio Episodes For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.) Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 6-5-20. TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of June 8, 2020. SOUND – ~5 sec – Gray Treefrog This week, we have a trilling episode.  That is, we feature the different trilling calls of two frog species that are indistinguishable to the naked eye.  Have a listen for about 20 seconds to the two species’ male breeding calls, and see if you know these two kinds of frogs.  And here’s a hint: think of tall woody plants and then the color of a rainy sky. SOUNDS - ~19 sec If you guessed treefrogs, you’re on the right track.  And if knew that the first call was the Gray Treefrog and the second was Cope’s Gray Treefrog, you’re a frog-call phenom!  The two frog species look identical, but they don’t interbreed and they differ in the number of chromosomes in their cells.  In Virginia they have somewhat different ranges, with the Gray Treefrog typically found in about the middle half of the Commonwealth and Cope’s Gray Treefrog primarily found in the Coastal Plain and the far southwest.  Those male breeding calls you heard are the usual way of distinguishing the two species. As their name implies, these amphibians live mostly in trees or shrubs, except during their spring and summer breeding season when they move to shallow, standing waters to mate.  Both species are relatively small, from about one to three inches long; both feed on various insects and other invertebrates; and both are colored gray, green, brown, or white, except for orange or yellow marks on their hind legs. Thanks to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and to Lang Elliott’s NatureSound Studio for permission to use the Cope’s Gray Treefrog sounds, from the 2008 CD, “The Calls of Virginia Frogs and Toads.” We close this week with an extra sound, one that doesn’t have anything to do with frogs or even particularly with water, but results from a natural event occurring in southwestern Virginia this late spring that’s too unusual not to mention, and too loud not to notice.  That’s the 2020 emergence of Brood IX of the 17-year periodical cicada, bringing with it a chorus of mating calls by the male insects.  Have a listen for about 10 seconds to that sound, recorded on a mountain trail near Blacksburg on June 4. SOUND - ~11 sec SHIP’S BELL Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Stewart Scales for his banjo version of Cripple Creek to open and close this show.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water. AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Cope’s Gray Treefrog sounds in this episode were from “The Calls of Virginia Frogs and Toads” CD, copyright 2008 by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) and Lang Elliott/NatureSound Studio, used with permission.  For more information on this CD, contact VDGIF online at https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/; by mail to P.O. Box 90778, Henrico, VA 23228-0778; by phone to (804) 367-1000 (VTDD); or by e-mail to [email protected]. Lang Elliott’s work is available online at the “Music of Nature” Web site, http://www.musicofnature.org/. The Gray Treefrog sounds were recorded by Virginia Water Radio at a seasonal pond in Heritage Park in Blacksburg, Va., on July 8, 2016, about 9 p.m.  The sounds in the background are the “peep” of Spring Peepers

Click to listen to episode (4:12) Sections below are the following: Transcript of Audio Audio Notes and Acknowledgments Images Extra Information Sources Related Water Radio Episodes For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.) Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 5-29-20. TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of June 1, 2020. MUSIC – ~9 sec – instrumental This week, we feature a mysterious musical selection written for, and performed on, what might be Virginia’s most unusual instrument—and almost certainly the Commonwealth’s deepest.  Have a listen for about 30 more seconds. MUSIC - ~31 sec – instrumental You’ve been listening to part of “In the Cave,” by the Finnish group Pepe Deluxé, on the 2012 album, “Queen of the Wave,” from Catskills Records.  Pepe Deluxé’s Paul Malmström composed the music for the Great Stalacpipe Organ in Luray Caverns, in Page County, Virginia, and performed it there in February 2011.  The Great Stalacpipe Organ, invented in the 1950s by Leland Sprinkle of Springfield, Virginia, produces sounds with various tones and pitches when rubber-tipped mallets strike stalactites, one type of the underground formations for which caverns in Virginia and elsewhere are noted. As remarkable as this human invention is, it’s matched by the natural wonders found in Virginia’s over 4000 documented caves, of which caverns are spectacular examples.  Formed over millions of years by acidic groundwater acting on limestone and other soluble bedrock, caves are one of several features characteristic of karst terrain, found especially in Virginia’s western valleys and in other areas of the United States and the world.  Sinkholes, sinking streams, and Virginia’s famous Natural Bridge are other karst-related features. Caves and other karst formations are the focus of Virginia Cave Week, observed this year from May 31 through June 6.  Sponsored by the Virginia Cave Board, the observance aims to increase public knowledge of, and appreciation for, the Commonwealth’s karst heritage of remarkable areas formed by groundwater’s slow and steady dissolving action. Thanks to Catskills Records for permission to use this week’s music, and we close with about 20 more seconds of “In the Cave.” MUSIC - ~21 sec – instrumental SHIP’S BELL Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Ben Cosgrove for his version of “Shenandoah” to open and close the show.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water. AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Virginia Water Radio episode revises and replaces Episode 158, 4-22-13. “In the Cave” and “Queen of the Wave” are copyright by Pepe Deluxé and Catskills Records, used with permission.  More information about Pepe Deluxé is available at their Web site, http://www.pepedeluxe.com/; click on the “Album Companions” link on that page to access an article on the Great Stalacpipe Organ and the making of “In the Cave.”  A music video of the “In the Cave” is available online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkvvcN6rt-I; thanks to Alexandra Thompson, a student worker in 2013 at the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, for finding that video.  This music also used in Virginia Water Radio Episode 306, 3-7-16, on groundwater generally. Click here if you’d like to hear the full version (2 min./22 sec.) of the “Shenandoah” arrangement/performance by Ben Cosgrove that opens and closes this episode.  More information about Mr. Cosgrove is available online at http://www.bencosgrove.com. IMAGES A view inside a cave; date and location not ide

Click to listen to episode (4:39) Sections below are the following: Transcript of Audio Audio Notes and Acknowledgments Images Extra Information Sources Related Water Radio Episodes For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.) Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 5-15-20.  TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of May 18, 2020. MUSIC – ~4 sec – instrumental This week, we drop in on a musically-enhanced, water-insect competition.  The participants have been challenged to figure out the most species-rich group of insects on the planet, and then come up with the distinguishing words for seven aquatic versions of that group.  Have a listen for about 15 seconds to this entomological exercise, and see if you know the name for that overall group of insects.  And here’s a hint: the name sounds like a revolutionary, four-member rock band. VOICES and MUSIC - ~15 sec – “Crawling. Long-toed. Predaceous diving. Riffle. Water penny. Water scavenger. Whirligig.” If you guessed beetles, you’re right!  You heard part of “Beetle Ballet,” by Torrin Hallett, underlying the descriptive names of seven water beetle families.  Scientists categorize beetles into a taxonomic group called an order, and beetles are the most diverse order of animals, with a current estimate of about 390,000 species worldwide.  Perhaps as many as 20,000 of those species are water beetles.  The seven kinds of water beetles you heard, out of about 20 North American families, are among the most commonly found on this continent, with the predaceous diving beetle family and the water scavenger beetle family having the largest number of species. As a group, water beetles occupy all kinds and sizes of aquatic and semi-aquatic habitats, such as ponds, lakes, and other still waters; streams and rivers; various kinds of wetlands; temporary habitats like puddles; and a variety of moist areas on coastal shorelines.  Beetles that inhabit water typically do so both as adults and in their immature, larval stage; but some, like Water Pennies, are terrestrial as adults, and Long-toed Water Beetles have terrestrial larvae.  All beetle adults have two pairs of wings, with the forewings forming a hardened sheath of the membranous hind wings, and many water beetles are able to hold under those forewings a bubble of air that allows them to breathe while submerged.  Feeding habits among the thousands of water beetle species vary widely, both in what they eat and in how they acquire their food. Water beetles have many remarkable adaptations and biological variations.  Here’s one example: Whirligig beetles, which can be seen swimming in circles on the surface of ponds, lakes, and still water on stream margins, have eyes divided into an upper and lower half; the upper half can see above the water surface, while the lower half can see below. Thanks to several Blacksburg, Va., friends for lending their voices to this episode.  Thanks also to Torrin Hallett for composing this week’s music especially for Virginia Water Radio, and we close with the last 20 seconds of “Beetle Ballet.” MUSIC - ~ 22 sec – instrumental SHIP’S BELL Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.   For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Ben Cosgrove for his version of “Shenandoah” to open and close the show.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water. AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “Beetle Ballet” is copyright 2020 by Torrin Hallett, used with permission.  Torrin is a 2018 graduate of Oberlin College and Conservatory in Oberlin, Ohio; as of 2020, he is a gradu

Click to listen to episode (5:22) Sections below are the following: Transcript of Audio Audio Notes and Acknowledgments Images Extra Information Sources Related Water Radio Episodes For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.) Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 5-22-20. TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of May 25, 2020. MUSIC – ~10 seconds - instrumental That’s part of “DBW,” by The Faux Paws, from a 2018 collection called “The Hurricane EP” because it resulted when plans changed due to Hurricane Florence, which struck the Atlantic coast in September 2018.  That makes the tune a fitting opening for our annual preview of the Atlantic tropical cyclone season.  Have a listen for about 30 seconds to 21 names that we hope will NOT become infamous this summer or fall. GUEST VOICES and INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC - ~26 sec – “Arthur.  Bertha.  Cristobal.  Dolly.  Edouard.  Fay.  Gonzalo.  Hanna.   Isaias.  Josephine.  Kyle.  Laura.  Marco.  Nana.  Omar.  Paulette.  Rene.  Sally.  Teddy.  Vicky.  Wilfred.” You heard the names planned for storms that may occur during the 2020 tropical cyclone season in the Atlantic Basin.  The names were accompanied by “Tropical Tantrum,” by Torrin Hallett.  The Atlantic basin includes the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic tropical cyclone season runs officially from June 1 through November 30.  But tropical weather doesn’t always abide by the official dates.  For the past five years in the Atlantic basin, named storms have formed before June 1: Hurricane Alex in mid-January 2016; Tropical Storm Arlene in April 2017; Subtropical Storm Alberto in May 2018; Subtropical Storm Andrea in May 2019; and this year, Tropical Storm Arthur on May 17. Tropical storms and hurricanes are two categories of tropical cyclones, which are rotating storm systems that start in tropical or sub-tropical latitudes.  A tropical cyclone is called a tropical storm—and gets a name—when sustained wind speeds reach 39 miles per hour; at 74 miles per hour, a tropical cyclone is considered a hurricane.  Tropical depressions—with wind speeds below 39 miles per hour—don’t get named if they never reach tropical storm wind speed,* but they can still bring heavy rainfall and flooding.  Hurricane-force storms are called simply tropical cyclones in some parts of the world and called typhoons in other parts. [*Editor's note, not in the audio: A tropical system that never gets above the tropical depression wind-speed level won’t be given a name.  But a lingering tropical depression that previously was at the wind speed of a tropical storm or hurricane will have a name associated with it.] Before a tropical system of any speed or name barges into the Old Dominion, here are some important preparedness steps you can take: Make a written emergency plan, including an evacuation plan; Assemble an emergency kit of food, water, medicines, and supplies, including cleaning and sanitation supplies needed in this year of the coronavirus pandemic; Prepare your home for high winds; and Establish ways to stay informed, especially if the power goes out. Detailed safety tips for hurricanes and other severe weather are available from the “Safety” link at the National Weather Service Web site, www.weather.gov.  While the Weather Service’s “Hurricane Preparedness Week” for 2020 was May 3-9, right now is still a good time to start getting ready for the next tropical cyclone! Thanks to several Blacksburg, Va., friends for lending their voices to this episode, and thanks to Torrin Hallett for composing “Tropical Tantrum” for Virginia Water Radio in 2017.  Thanks also to Andrew VanNorstrand for permission to use this week’s music by The Faux Paws, and we close with about 20