Green Eating: Ending Food Waste From Over-shopping, Spoiling, Tossing

Summary: Five easy, simple measures put an end to food waste from over-shopping, permitting food to spoil and tossing leftovers and a beginning to green eating.

Reducing food waste is a green eating strategy: Yoga Journal @Yoga_Journal, via Twitter April 22, 2016

Waste not, want not are words that address future impacts of unwise or wise resource use and that begin the title of an article in the May 2016 issue of Yoga Journal.

Author Karen Asp bases Waste Not, Want Not: 5 Easy Ways to Green Your Eating Routine upon research conducted in Brazil and in the United States. She considers the implications for globally warmed climate change of food disposal and the three socioeconomic patterns that guide 40 percent of food waste to landfills. She describes the food waste that is so contrary to green eating for environmental well-being and human health as resulting from counterproductive spending and storing habits.

Food waste ensues from three tendencies: to over-shop by buying more than will be consumed, to store out of sight out of mind and to toss.

Green eating finds its way into the programs of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) through inclusion as area of concern within one of 16 programs. It goes along with concerns for antibiotics-free meat, local food, neonicotinoid-free pesticides and sustainable farming under the international nonprofit environmental organization’s food and agriculture program area.

The website has downloads of NRDC issue paper “Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill.” Food production involves 10 percent of U.S. energy, 50 percent of U.S. land and 80 percent of U.S. freshwater even though 40 percent ends up uneaten.

Over 20 pounds of food per United Statesian per month join other municipal solid wastes in landfills to create methane, globally warmed climate change’s poster gas.

Dana Gunders, NRDC author and scientist, keeps green eating focused upon the United States even though the issue paper considers work “already under way in Europe.” Her endnotes list studies into portions by Koert Van Ittersum of Wageningen University in the Netherlands and by Brian Wansink of Cornell University in New York.

Dr. Wansink’s research merges with that in Brazil by Juracy Parente of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation and by Gustavo Porpino of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation. Their surveys of lower-middle-income Brazilian households note “(1) excessive purchasing, (2) over-preparation, (3) caring for a pet, (4) avoidance of leftovers and (5) inappropriate food conservation.” They observe “impulse buying, lack of planning and preference for large packages” and “groceries in bulk, monthly shopping trips, preference for supermarkets and cooking from scratch.”

Like the International Journal of Consumer Studies-published study and the NRDC-released paper, the article in Yoga Journal provides ways of alleviating food waste on household levels. Drawing up a shopping list in advance of the scheduled trip and sticking to the items and to the quantities quell impulse buying and over-shopping groceries.

Preparation and storage result infrequently in spoilage when items are organized, and used, by expiration dates and when perishables are stored where they can be seen. Repurposing leftovers, such as a dinner’s sautéed spinach into breakfast omelets, and storing leftovers in accessible, labeled, visible containers generally subvert tendencies to toss excess food.

Green eating takes food that is not eaten fresh or immediately and turns it something else: extras for its purchasers to repurpose into equally delicious ways.

Prepare less and waste less: Daniel Miller, No usage restrictions, via EurekAlert!

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Reducing food waste is a green eating strategy: Yoga Journal (@YogaJournal), via Twitter April 22, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/Yoga_Journal/status/723522240042684416

Prepare less and waste less: Daniel Miller, No usage restrictions, via EurekAlert! @ https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/830714; (specific image URL @ https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/730894)

For further information:

Asp, Karen. May/June 2016. “Waste Not, Want Not: 5 Easy Ways to Green Your Eating Routine.” Yoga Journal.
Available @ http://magzus.com/read/yoga_journal_may_2016_usa/

Gunders, Dana. August 2012. “Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill.” National Resources Defense Council NRDC Issue Paper IP:12-06-B.
Available @ https://www.nrdc.org/about/food-agriculture

NRDCflix. 20 April 2016. "The Extraordinary Life and Times of Strawberry." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKQPL16WjHs
Available @ https://www.nrdc.org/about/food-agriculture

Pirolini, Alessandro. 11 June 2015. “The Effects of Food Wastage on Climate Change: An Interview with Gustavo Porpino.” AZOCleanTech.com > Thought Leaders.
Available @ http://www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=538

Porpino, Gustavo. 17 December 2015. “Household Food Waste Behavior: Avenues for Future Research.” Journal of the Association of Consumer Research 1(1), 2016. DOI:10.1086/684528
Available @ http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2705202

Porpino, Gustavo; Parente, Juracy; and Wansink, Brian. November 2015. “Food Waste Paradox: Antecedents of Food Disposal in Low Income Households.” International Journal of Consumer Studies 39(6): 619-629. DOI: 10.1111/jcs/12207
Available @ http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijcs.12207/full

“Waste Not, Want Not.” Dictionary.com > Word of the Day.
Available @ http://www.dictionary.com/browse/waste-not--want-not

Yoga Journal @YogaJournal. 22 April 2016. "5 ways to reduce food waste." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/Yoga_Journal/status/723522240042684416

North American Maygrass Gardens: Drinks, Flower Arrangements and Food

Summary: North American maygrass gardens have nutritious grains for drinks, food and medicine and shining structures for cut and dried flower arrangements.

maygrass (Phalaris caroliniana): Robert H. Mohlenbrock/USDA NRCS Wetland Science Institute (WSI), Public Domain, via USDA NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) PLANTS Database

North American maygrass gardens are native to the southeastern United States, naturalizable in southwestern Canada and naturalized southward into Mexico and westward through the American Southwest and the United States' Pacific coast.

The native winter annual grass bears the common name of maygrass because of its boasting attractive, edible, food processing-friendly, nutritious, starchy seeds in May and June. It carries the additional common name of Carolina canarygrass because of its taxonomic association with specimens from South Carolina and its wildlife reputation as bird feed. It draws name recognition among cultural anthropologists, native plant enthusiasts and paleoethnobotanists as the dependable source of indigenous drink, food and medicine for over four millennia.

Maygrass elicits modern-day admiration in cut and dried flower arrangements and in soil erosion, stormwater runoff and water quality projects in wetlands and on disturbed grounds.

Maygrass fits into the scientific nomenclature as Phalaris caroliniana (Carolinian helmet ridge) since descriptions in Thomas Walter's (Sept. 4, 1740-Jan. 17, 1789) Flora Caroliniana of 1788.

Two helmet ridge-like, shining, smooth glumes (leaf-like, membranous outer bracts) on the first officially described specimen from South Carolina generate the genus and the species names. Mature, 3.28- to 4.92-foot (1- to 1.5-meter) heights on disturbed, marshy and swampy grounds at altitudes under 6,000 feet (1,828.8 meters) highlight maygrass's signature uppermost parts. The 19.68- to 39.37-inch- (5- to 10-decimeter-) tall stem includes a 0.19- to 3.35-inch- (0.5- to 8.5-centimeter-) long, 0.32- to 0.79-inch- (0.8- to 2-centimeter-) wide inflorescence.

North American maygrass gardens' oval or ovalish, tip-top panicles (loose-branching flower clusters) juggle female and male parts within their protective enclosure by glumes, lemma and palea.

Three stamens keep cream-colored, pale yellow or rose-tinged 0.03- to 0.04-inch- (0.8- to 1.2-millimeter-) long anthers on white 0.16 to 0.19-inch- (4 to 5-millimeter-) long filaments. The 0.028- to 0.032-inch (0.7- to 0.8-millimeter) by 0.012- to 0.017-inch (0.3- to 0.45-millimeter) ovary on colorless 0.12- to 0.14-inch- (3.5-millimeter-) long pistils looks pale yellow.

April's brown, green, rose, white and yellow blooms and yellow pollen muster May's and June's non-explosive, 0.12-plus-inch- (3.18-plus-millimeter-) long, red-brown achenes, each with two basal scales. Fruits nudge 0.16- to 0.19-inch (4- to 5-millimeter) lemmas and paleae within 0.15- to 0.32-inch (3.8- to 8-millimeter) by 0.032- to 0.059-inch (0.8- to 1.5-millimeter) glumes.

Archaeological sites 4,400 to 8,200 years old offer charred and uncharred remains from prehistoric peoples' boiling, cooking, grinding, parching, roasting carbohydrate-, iron-, protein-, thiamin-rich, low-fat seeds.

Camps, caves or rockshelters in the Carolinas, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts or Tennessee preserve carbonized seeds, charred achenes or uncarbonized bundles of uncharred flowers, fruits and stems.

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas and Virginia additionally quicken maygrass-growing nowadays. Fibrous-rooted, modern North American maygrass gardens respectively recycle seeds and shoots as bird feed and as blade-, bract-, spikelet-studded stems for cut and dried flower arrangements.

Erin Weeks, writer for The Raptor Lab, suggests non-native maize as supplanting native "nutritious, tiny and labor-intensive" erect knotweed, goosefoot, little barley, marshelder and maygrass grains. North American maygrass gardens treasure the past and the present through contemporary cut and dried flower arrangements and modern and prehistoric drink, food and herbal recipes.

native distribution of maygrass (Phalaris caroliniana) in the United States: via USDA NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) PLANTS Database

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

maygrass (Phalaris caroliniana): Robert H. Mohlenbrock/USDA NRCS Wetland Science Institute (WSI), Not copyrighted and may be freely used for any purpose, via USDA NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) PLANTS Database @ https://plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=PHCA6

native distribution of maygrass (Phalaris caroliniana) in the United States: via USDA NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) PLANTS Database @ https://plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=PHCA6

For further information:

Crites, Gary D.; and Terry, R. Dale. January 184. "Nutritive Value of Maygrass, Phalaris caroliniana." Economic Botany 38(1): 114-120.
Available @ https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02904421

Parker, Kittie F.; and Hamilton, Lucretia B. 1972. An Illustrated Guide to Arizona Weeds. Tucson AZ: University of Arizona Press.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books?id=a_Dn-BhXwOMC&pg=PA60&lpg=PA60&dq=color+of+phalaris+caroliniana+flower&source=bl&ots=Qar131CzP8&sig=uRZhrLmnMuyF_f-_enYIbr1j2L0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjqu7bBtILVAhVJ0WMKHbGzCRAQ6AEIXzAN#v=onepage&q=color%20of%20phalaris%20caroliniana%20flower&f=false

"Phalaris caroliniana Walter - Carolina canarygrass." United States Department of Agriculture > Natural Resources Conservation Service > Plant Profile.
Available @ https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=PHCA6

Walters, Thomas. 1788. "33. Phalaris caroliniana." Page 74. In Flora Caroliniana. London, England: J. Fraser.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/1000114

Weakley, Alan S.; Ludwig, J. Christopher; and Townsend, John F. 2012. Flora of Virginia. Edited by Bland Crowder. Fort Worth TX: BRIT Press, Botanical Research Institute of Texas.

Weeks, Erin. 25 July 2013. "North America's Lost Domesticates." The Raptor Lab > Dixicology.
Available @ https://theraptorlab.wordpress.com/2013/07/25/food-week-the-lost-domesticates/

May 2016’s Waning Gibbous Moon Shows Dark Mare Imbrium

Summary: May 2016’s waning gibbous moon, from Monday, May 23, to Saturday, May 28, shows dark Mare Imbrium in the northwest lunar sector.

near side major maria and craters of Earth's moon; full moon originally imaged with Celestron 9.25 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope Friday, Oct. 22, 2010, 23:21, from Madison, north central Alabama: Peter Freiman/Cmglee/Gregory H. Revera, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

May 2016’s waning gibbous moon, shining from Monday, May 23, to Saturday, May 28, shows dark Mare Imbrium to moon gazers at temperate or high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere.

Mare Imbrium is located in the northwestern lunar sector. From an Earth-based perspective, Mare Imbrium is located on the left side of the lunar disk. From a moon-based perspective, Mare Imbrium occupies the lunar disk’s right side.

The dark lunar feature consists of a somewhat flat layer of basaltic lava superposing an impact basin. Known singularly as lunar mare and plurally as lunar maria, dark basaltic plains cover approximately 16 percent of the lunar surface. Mare Imbrium measures a diameter of 1,145.53 kilometers (711.79 miles).

Mare Imbrium has the folkloric honor of representing one of the eyes of the iconic Man in the Moon image that dominates the full phase of the lunar cycle for Northern Hemisphere moon gazers. According to perspective, the dark plain serves as the Man in the Moon’s left or right eye. From an Earth-based perspective, Mare Imbrium contributes the left eye to the face and Mare Serenitatis, in the northeastern quadrant, supplies the right eye. From a moon-based perspective, Mare Imbrium is the image’s right eye.

As the Man in the Moon, Mare Imbrium joins other examples of lunar pareidolia (Ancient Greek: παρα, para, “concurrent, alongside” + εἴδωλον, eídōlon, “image”). The psychological phenomenon of pareidolia perceives familiar patterns, such as animals, faces or objects, in unrelated objects or shapes. The complex play of dark and light areas across the moon’s surface is conducive to perceptions of lunar pareidolia.

Mare Imbrium is visible to unaided eyes in the Northern Hemisphere, especially during full, gibbous and last quarter phases. For temperate- and high-latitude viewers, the left side of the lunar disk is illuminated during waning phases.

The full moon is not necessarily the best phase for aided viewing of Mare Imbrium and other features with binoculars and/or telescopes. A moon filter is advisable in order to dim the full moon's extreme brightness. Interesting details and perspectives emerge via the contrasts that characterize the light and shadow plays of other phases.

In the Southern Hemisphere, Mare Imbrium is visible during full and waxing phases. The Southern Hemisphere’s inverted perspective of the moon accounts for darkening and lightening of opposite sides for waxing and waning phases. Accordingly, the left side is illuminated during waxing phases for temperate- and high-latitude viewers in the Southern Hemisphere.

May 2016’s waning gibbous moon succeeds the full phase as of Monday, May 23. The moon’s waning gibbous phase indicates that the lunar disk is more than half illuminated for observers on Earth.

Moonrise times span late evening to after midnight for May 2016’s waning gibbous moon. The waning gibbous moon rises Monday, May 23, at 9:55 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (01:55 Coordinated Universal Time); Tuesday, May 24, at 10:45 p.m. EDT (02:45 UTC); Wednesday, May 25, at 11:32 p.m. EDT (03:32 UTC); Friday, May 27, at 12:15 a.m. EDT (04:15 UTC); Saturday, May 28, at 12:55 a.m. EDT (04:55 UTC).

Moonset times edge their way through the morning for May 2016’s waning gibbous moon. The waning gibbous moon sets Tuesday, May 24, at 8:09 a.m. EDT (12:09 UTC); Wednesday, May 25, at 9:02 a.m. EDT (13:02 UTC); Thursday, May 26, at 9:58 a.m. EDT (13:58 UTC); Friday, May 27, at 10:58 a.m. EDT (14:58 UTC); Saturday, May 28, at 12:01 p.m. EDT (16:01 UTC).

Scrutinizing Mare Imbrium, with aided or unaided eyes, reveals the plain’s interesting neighbors. For example, Sinus Iridum (“Bay of Rainbows”) bulges as a northwestern extension. Aristarchus and Copernicus shine as prominent, rayed impact craters, with bright radial streaks of ejecta, or ejected material, along Mare Imbrium’s southwestern and southeastern extents, respectively.

Jesuit astronomer Giovanni Battista Riccioli (April 17, 1598-June 25, 1671), who extensively studied the moon, gave the Latin name to the prominent, dark lunar feature. Mare Imbrium translates as “Sea of Showers.”

The takeaway for the showing of dark Mare Imbrium by May 2016’s waning gibbous moon is that the Man in the Moon’s right eye (or left eye, depending upon perspective) represents a real feature that easily disassociates itself from the anthropomorphic, or humanlike, illusion during waning and waxing phases.

Sinus Iridum, a northwestern extension of Mare Imbrium: LROC (Lunar Reconnaissaince Orbitaer Camera) WAC (Wide Angle Camera) reveals Sinus Iridum's topography, with blue showing lowest areas and red showing highest areas: NASA/GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center)/Arizona State University, Public Domain, via NASA Missions/LRO Multimedia

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

near side major maria and craters of Earth's moon; full moon originally imaged with Celestron 9.25 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope Friday, Oct. 22, 2010, 23:21, from Madison, north central Alabama: Peter Freiman/Cmglee/Gregory H. Revera, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moon_names.svg

Sinus Iridum, a northwestern extension of Mare Imbrium: LROC (Lunar Reconnaissaince Orbitaer Camera) WAC (Wide Angle Camera) reveals Sinus Iridum's topography, with blue showing lowest areas and red showing highest areas: NASA/GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center)/Arizona State University, Public Domain, via NASA Missions/LRO Multimedia @ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/lroc-20101015-sinus-iridum.html

For further information:

Consolmagno, Guy; Dan M. Davis. Turn Left at Orion: Hundreds of Night Sky Objects to See in a Home Telescope -- and How to Find them. Fourth edition. New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Fuller, David. "Moon Maps." Eyes on the Sky > Moon.
Available @ http://www.eyesonthesky.com/Moon.aspx

International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). “Sinus Iridum.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/5565

King, Bob. "How to See Lunar Craters With the Naked Eye." Sky & Telescope > Observing. Oct. 28, 2015.
Available @ http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/how-to-see-lunar-craters-with-the-naked-eye102820152810/

International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). “Mare Imbrium.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3678?__fsk=-1413841461

Marriner, Derdriu. "Waning Gibbous Moon: Sixth Lunar Phase Still Shines Even With Lessening Light." Earth and Space News. Monday, March 9, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/03/waning-gibbous-moon-sixth-lunar-phase.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Waxing Gibbous Moon: Fourth of Eight Phases in Monthly Lunar Cycle." Earth and Space News. Friday, Feb. 27, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/02/waxing-gibbous-moon-fourth-of-eight.html

"Moonrise, Moonset, and Phase Calendar for Washington DC, May 2016." Time And Date > Sun & Moon > Moonrise and Moonset.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/usa/washington-dc?month=5&year=2016

Powell, Corey S.; Laurie Gwen Shapiro. “The Sculpture on the Moon.” Slate > Science > The State of the Universe. Dec. 16, 2013.
Available @ http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/12/sculpture_on_the_moon_paul_van_hoeydonck_s_fallen_astronaut.html

Robinson, Mark. “Tycho Central Peak Spectacular!” Arizona State University School of Earth and Space Exploration Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Science Operations Center (SOC) > Posts. June 29, 2011.
Available @ http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/posts/384

Scagell, Robin. Firefly Complete Guide to Stargazing. Buffalo NY: Firefly Books Inc.; Richmond Hill, Canada: Firefly Books Ltd.; London, England: Philip's, 2015.

Thomson, Bradley J.; Eric B. Grosfils; D. Ben J. Bussey; Paul D. Spudis. “A New Technique for Estimating the Thickness of Mare Basalts in Imbrium Basin.” Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 36, issue 12 (June 2009): L12201.
Available @ http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2009GL037600/full

Webb, Brian. “Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).” Space Archive. May 27, 2016.
Available @ http://www.spacearchive.info/utc.htm

Whitaker, Ewen A. Mapping and Naming the Moon. New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Electrical Utility Area Temperate Urban Street Trees: Pruned Regrowth

Summary: Pruned regrowth of electrical utility area temperate urban street trees is shortest from directional pruning and strongest in the first post-pruning year.

Laser rangefinder TruPulse models are used in forest inventories and also provide data for a 2008-2010 study of control growth and response growth for electrical utility area temperate urban street trees in proximity to downtown Montréal: Claudiusmm, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

TruPulse 360 handheld laser rangefinders allow on-ground, post-pruning branch extension regrowth rate predictions for electrical utility area temperate urban street trees, according to an article in Arboriculture & Urban Forestry May 2016. Testing a New Approach to Quantify Growth Responses to Pruning Among Three Temperate Tree Species balances one pruning cycle's clearance distance and another's conductor-intercepting shoot regrowth.

Co-authors Christian Buteau, Matt Follett, Christian Messier and Charles A. Nook consider gap closure rates from lateral branch extension in managed forests counter-contributive to urban contexts. They differentiate forest and urban environments and species and discuss maximum photosynthesis by shade-intolerant species in all but lowest light growing seasons, most compacted soil conditions.

Severe pruning elicits growth, with round-over internodal heading cuts encouraging stronger branch elongation responses after routine utility line clearances than natural pruning reduced to lateral branches.

Expense and the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act 2012 forbidding certified workers within 3 meters (9.84 feet) of exposed, energized 750V-plus conductors frustrate data acquisition.

Gauging annual branch elongation in tall trees near electrical wires, post-pruning regrowth and stress from abiotic and biotic variables guides the study in Montréal, Québec, Canada. The study has 59 green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), Norway maple (Acer platanoides) and silver maple (A. saccharinum) trees within 6 meters (3.73 miles) of downtown Montréal. Ranges invoke 127- to 4,642-cubic meter (4,484.96- to 163,930.7-cubic foot) crowns, 28- to 112-centimeter (11.02- to 44.09-inch) diameters and 7.6- to 22-meter (24.93- to 72.18-foot) heights.

The study jumbles block-wide pruning cycles for electrical utility area temperate urban street trees three to five years before data collection August 2011 through February 2012.

Summer-autumn heading cuts kindle epicormic growth the year after pruning electrical utility area temperate urban street trees, whose bud scars and twig outgrowths keep growth records.

TruPulse 360 rangefinders look at control growth of exterior, unpruned branches on crown peripheries and response growth of longest regrown branches pruned between 2008 and 2010. Response growth mixes directional pruning from uncut lateral terminal buds to limbs one-third parent-stem diameters and epicormic growth from heading cuts and of lateral parent-stem buds. Its regrowth notes environmental influences: building heights and distances; soil exposure on moisture and nutrient access; and trim azimuth, distance from stem and type on light.

Regrowth rates observe whole-tree and within-crown influences: species-specific crown bases, diameters, heights and widths; and branch heights, parent-stem diameters and regrowth azimuths, inclinations, lengths and types.

Silver maples present the highest post-pruning response growth, directional pruning prompts the slowest post-pruning branch growth and the first post-pruning year provokes 1.5-meter (4.92-foot) growth maximums. Defoliation and pruning quicken branch elongation growth rates of electrical utility area temperate urban street trees most in the first post-pruning year and progressively less thereafter.

Significance of biotic, not abiotic, factors and study limitations of environmental factor-related variance, inexact pruning dates and intra-species size differences require sampling additional, larger data sets. Decreased branch angles lower down and increased, phototropism-friendly inclinations higher up respectively strengthen green ash and Norway maple vertical and parent stem-thickened silver maple horizontal regrowth.

High-infiltration, high-light study sites testify to atypically broken, pervious, uncrowded urban hardscapes whose future investigations necessarily treat tree carbohydrate storage, crown hydraulics, pruning schedules and vigor.

A study of three tree species in an electrical utility area near downtown Montréal finds that silver maples (Acer saccharinum) exhibit highest post-pruning regrowth rates; urban silver maples in Toronto, Ontario, east central Canada; Sunday, May 22, 2016, 08:57: Deinocheirus, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to:
talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet;
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for superior on-campus and on-line resources.

Image credits:

Laser rangefinder TruPulse models are used in forest inventories and also provide data for a 2008-2010 study of control growth and response growth for electrical utility area temperate urban street trees in proximity to downtown Montréal: Claudiusmm, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Field-Map_birdie.jpg

A study of three tree species in an electrical utility area near downtown Montréal finds that silver maples (Acer saccharinum) exhibit highest post-pruning regrowth rates; urban silver maples in Toronto, Ontario, east central Canada; Sunday, May 22, 2016, 08:57: Deinocheirus, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Silver_Maple_in_Toronto.jpg

For further information:

Follett, Matt; Nock, Charles A.; Buteau, Christian; and Messier, Christian. May 2016. "Testing a New Approach to Quantify Growth Responses to Pruning Among Three Temperate Tree Species." Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 42(3): 133-145.

Gilman, Ed. 2011. An Illustrated Guide to Pruning. Third Edition. Boston MA: Cengage.

Hayes, Ed. 2001. Evaluating Tree Defects. Revised, Special Edition. Rochester MN: Safe Trees.

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 April 2016. “Tree Injection Methods: Treatment Option in Integrated Pest Management.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/04/tree-injection-methods-treatment-option.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 6 March 2016. “Bare-Rooted Ornamental Urban Transplants: Amendments Against Mortality.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/03/bare-rooted-ornamental-urban.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 28 February 2016. “Bark Protective Survival Mechanisms Foil Deprivation, Injury, Invasion.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/02/bark-protective-survival-mechanisms.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 23 January 2016. "LITA Model: Linear Index of Tree Appraisal of Large Urban Swedish Trees." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/01/lita-model-linear-index-of-tree.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 19 December 2015. “Tree Lightning Protection Systems: Site, Soil, Species True Designs.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/12/tree-lightning-protection-systems-site.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 24 October 2015. “Tree Lightning Protection Systems Tailored to Sites, Soils, Species.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/10/tree-lightning-protection-systems.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 August 2015. “Tree Friendly Urban Soil Management: Amend, Fertilize, Mulch, Till!” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/08/tree-friendly-urban-soil-management.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 June 2015. “Tree Friendly Urban Soil Management: Assemble, Assess, Assist, Astound.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/06/tree-friendly-urban-soil-management.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 April 2015. “Tree Wound Responses: Healthy Wound Closures by Callus and Woundwood.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/04/tree-wound-responses-healthy-wound.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 February 2015. “Urban Forest Maintenance and Non-Maintenance Costs and Benefits.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/02/urban-forest-maintenance-and-non.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 December 2014. “Tree Dwelling Symbionts: Dodder, Lichen, Mistletoe, Moss and Woe-Vine.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/12/tree-dwelling-symbionts-dodder-lichen.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 October 2014. “Tree Cable Installation Systems Lessen Target Impact From Tree Failure.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/10/tree-cable-installation-systems-lessen.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 August 2014. “Flood Tolerant Trees in Worst-Case Floodplain and Urbanized Scenarios.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/08/flood-tolerant-trees-in-worst-case.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 June 2014. “Integrated Vegetation Management of Plants in Utility Rights-of-Way.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/06/integrated-vegetation-management-of.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 April 2014. “Tree Twig Identification: Buds, Bundle Scars, Leaf Drops, Leaf Scars.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/04/tree-twig-identification-buds-bundle.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 February 2014. “Tree Twig Anatomy: Ecosystem Stress, Growth Rates, Winter Identification.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/02/tree-twig-anatomy-ecosystem-stress.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 December 2013. “Community and Tree Safety Awareness During Line- and Road-Clearances.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/12/community-and-tree-safety-awareness.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 October 2013. “Chain-Saw Gear and Tree Work Related Personal Protective Equipment.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/10/chain-saw-gear-and-tree-work-related.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 October 2013. “Storm Damaged Tree Clearances: Matched Teamwork of People to Equipment.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/10/storm-damaged-tree-clearances-matched.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 August 2013. “Storm Induced Tree Damage Assessments: Pre-Storm Planned Preparedness.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/08/storm-induced-tree-damage-assessments.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 June 2013. “Storm Induced Tree Failures From Heavy Tree Weights and Weather Loads.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/06/storm-induced-tree-failures-from-heavy.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 April 2013. “Urban Tree Root Management Concerns: Defects, Digs, Dirt, Disturbance.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/04/urban-tree-root-management-concerns.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 February 2013. “Tree Friendly Beneficial Soil Microbes: Inoculations and Occurrences.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/02/tree-friendly-beneficial-soil-microbes.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 December 2012. “Healthy Urban Tree Root Crown Balances: Soil Properties, Soil Volumes.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/healthy-urban-tree-root-crown-balances.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 October 2012. “Tree Adaptive Growth: Tree Risk Assessment of Tree Failure, Tree Strength.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/10/tree-adaptive-growth-tree-risk.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 August 2012. “Tree Risk Assessment Mitigation Reports: Tree Removal, Tree Retention?” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/08/tree-risk-assessment-mitigation-reports.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 June 2012. “Internally Stressed, Response Growing, Wind Loaded Tree Strength.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/06/internally-stressed-response-growing.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 April 2012. “Three Tree Risk Assessment Levels: Limited Visual, Basic and Advanced.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/04/three-tree-risk-assessment-levels.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 19 February 2012. “Qualitative Tree Risk Assessment: Risk Ratings for Targets and Trees.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/02/qualitative-tree-risk-assessment-risk.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 February 2012. “Qualitative Tree Risk Assessment: Falling Trees Impacting Targets.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/02/qualitative-tree-risk-assessment.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 December 2011. “Tree Risk Assessment: Tree Failures From Defects and From Wind Loads.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/12/tree-risk-assessment-tree-failures-from.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 October 2011. “Five Tree Felling Plan Steps for Successful Removals and Worker Safety.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/10/five-tree-felling-plan-steps-for.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 August 2011. “Natives and Non-Natives as Successfully Urbanized Plant Species.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/08/natives-and-non-natives-as-successfully.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 June 2011. “Tree Ring Patterns for Ecosystem Ages, Dates, Health and Stress.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/06/tree-ring-patterns-for-ecosystem-ages.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 9 April 2011. “Benignly Ugly Tree Disorders: Oak Galls, Powdery Mildew, Sooty Mold, Tar Spot.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/04/benignly-ugly-tree-disorders-oak-galls.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 February 2011. “Tree Load Can Turn Tree Health Into Tree Failure or Tree Fatigue.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/02/tree-load-can-turn-tree-health-into.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 December 2010. “Tree Electrical Safety Knowledge, Precautions, Risks and Standards.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/tree-electrical-safety-knowledge.html

Eastern Hellbenders: Blue Ridge Country Creature Features May/June 2016

Summary: Eastern hellbenders are Blue Ridge Country Creature Features in May/June 2016 and one of two giant salamander subspecies native to eastern North America.

Eastern hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) is designated federally as a Species of Concern; Eastern hellbender in National Aquarium, Washington DC; Sunday, Aug. 2, 2009: Brian Gratwicke, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Eastern hellbenders are Creature Features in the May/June 2016 issue of Blue Ridge Country magazine and one of two giant salamander subspecies native to North America’s planned and wild amphibian-friendly water gardens.

Nancy Henderson, author of Raising Hell (benders), brings attention to the extreme perils that similarly threaten Eastern and Ozark hellbenders by way of the Virginia experience. She considers 21st century threats from farmers, miners and poachers of “man-made habitat loss from pesticide pollution, siltation from land clearing and removal of hiding places.” She describes stream-sampled hellbender DNA projects through Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

John D. Kleopfer, VDGIF herpetologist, emphasizes, regarding the project’s introduction of “natural-looking, concrete nest boxes” and restoration outreach: “It’s a big task, but it’s worth undertaking.”

Cool, fast-flowing foothill and mountain streams from New York eastward into Missouri and southward into Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina furnish Eastern hellbenders habitat niches. Semi-buried boulders and logs in planned and wild amphibian-friendly water gardens give Eastern hellbenders cover from predation-minded fish, mink, river otters, salamanders, turtles and water snakes. Loose gravel on stream bottoms and shade trees along stream sides help keep waters oxygenated and riffle-friendly at 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) or below.

Such globally warmed climate change-sensitive habitat niches include prey such as arachnids, crayfish, insects, minnows, snails and worms, and as frog, newt, salamander and toad tadpoles. Eastern hellbenders join North America’s feeding chains and food webs as predators of arthropods, fish, molluscs and worms and, when prey gets scarce, of one another.

Eggs and hatchlings keep Eastern hellbenders fed if prey vanish during mating seasons, from late summer through early autumn, in planned and wild amphibian-friendly water gardens. Adult females lay 150 to 450 one-quarter-inch (0.64-centimeter), yellow eggs that adult males fertilize after excavating shallow, stream-bottom nests in crevices or under debris and rocks. The male-tended eggs must remain attached to one another by 1- to 2-inch- (2.54- to 5.08-centimeter-) long jelly strands, enclosed within two gelatinous capsules, and oxygenated.

Brown or gray, 1.5-inch (3.81-centimeter) hatchlings from 68- to 84-day-old eggs need edible yolk sacs the first two months and external gills the first two years.

Lungs offer buoyancy for dark-spotted, flat-headed, large-mouthed, paddle-tailed, 3.3- to 5.5-pound (1.49- to 2.49-kilogram), 20- to 29-inch (50.8- to 73.66-centimeter) adults sexually mature within eight years.

Anti-abrasively mucus-covered bodies, five-toed hind-legs, four-toed forelegs, light-sensitive skin-cells, slip-resistant footpads and vibration-sensitive lateral lines protect skin-breathing Eastern hellbenders in planned and wild amphibian-friendly water gardens. They quit being effective when gas-exchanging capillaries in skin folds and two lidless eyes get overwhelmed by acid mine drainage, chemical herbicide runoff and untreated sewage.

Building, canoeing, damming, farming, fishing, logging, mining, poaching and ranching at 2,526.25- to 2,723.09-foot (770- to 830-meter) altitudes result in 70 to 80 percent population declines. Not killing the non-biting, non-poisonous hellbender and not polluting or removing rocks under 0.52- to 1.84-foot (0.16- to 0.56-meter) subsurface depths start restoration’s hellbender-friendly, thousand-mile journey.

J.D. Kleopfer tells Blue Ridge Country: “We have reason to believe that we are going to be making a difference in the recovery of the species.”

Eastern hellbender, Mills Creek, Henderson County, western North Carolina: Gary Peeples/USFWS Asheville Ecological Services Field Office, Public Domain, via US Fish and Wildlife Service National Digital Library

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Eastern hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) is designated federally as a Species of Concern; Eastern hellbender in National Aquarium, Washington DC; Sunday, Aug. 2, 2009: Brian Gratwicke, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hellbender_Cryptobranchus.jpg;
Brian Gratwicke (brian gratwicke), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/19731486@N07/3782339037/

Eastern hellbender, Mills Creek, Henderson County, western North Carolina: Gary Peeples/USFWS Asheville Ecological Services Field Office, Public Domain, via US Fish and Wildlife Service National Digital Library @ http://digitalmedia.fws.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/natdiglib/id/18501/rec/1

For further information:

Blue Ridge Country @BRCmagazine. 4 May 2016. "The threatened, 'hideously ugly' salamanders become much easier to look at in the context of the deep perils to ..." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/BRCmagazine/status/727835668412551168

“Chattanooga Zoo Hatches Hellbender Eggs.” ZooBorns > Sort by Animal > Hellbenders > March 02, 2016.
Available @ http://www.zooborns.typepad.com/zooborns/hellbender/

“Eastern Hellbender.” Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries > Wildlife Information.
Available @ http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/hellbender/

“Eastern Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis).” Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries > Wildlife Information > Species Information > Amphibians.
Available @ http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/information/index.asp?s=020020

“Eastern Hellbender Fact Sheet.” New York State Department of Environmental Conservation > Animals, Plants, Aquatic Life > Amphibians & Reptiles.
Available @ http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7160.html

Flanagan III, William P. August 2002. “Taxon Management Account: Hellbender Salamander Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis (Daudin).” Cryptobranchid Interest Group.
Available @ http://www.caudata.org/cig/

Hammerson, Geoffrey; and Phillips, Christopher. 30 April 2004. “Cryptobranchus alleganiensis.” The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2004: e.T59077A11879843. dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T59077A11879843.en
Available @ http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/59077/0

“Hellbender.” Saint Louis Zoo > Animals > About the Animals > Amphibians > Salamanders and Newts.
Available @ https://www.stlzoo.org/animals/abouttheanimals/amphibians/salamandersandnewts/hellbender

“Hellbender Eggs.” Virginia Tech > Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation > College of Natural Resources and Environment > Interfaces of Global Change Program > Land Use Effects on Hellbenders in Virginia > Sept. 26, 2014.
Available @ http://ecophys.fishwild.vt.edu/research/current-research-projects/land-use-effects-on-hellbenders-in-virginia/hellbender-eggs/

“Hellbender Facts.” The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.
Available @ http://www.marylandzoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Hellbender-animal-fact-sheet-FINAL.pdf

“Hellbender Salamander: Cryptobranchus Alleganiensis.” The Nature Conservancy > News & Features > Special Features > Animal Species Profiles > Amphibians.
Available @ http://www.nature.org/newsfeatures/specialfeatures/animals/amphibians/hellbender-salamander-facts.xml

Henderson, Nancy. 28 April 2016. "Raising Hell (benders)." BlueRidgeCountry.com > Newsstand > Animals.
Available @ http://blueridgecountry.com/newsstand/animals/raising-hell-benders/

Henderson, Nancy. May/June 2016. "Raising Hell (benders)." Blue Ridge Country Volume 29, Numbers 5/6.

Joshua. 25 May 2016. “Hellbenders, a Great Part of the Salamander Family.” Hellbenders.org.
Available @ http://www.hellbenders.org/hellbenders-a-great-part-of-the-salamander-family/

Lee, Jane J. 22 December 2013. “U.S. Giant Salamanders Slipping Away: Inside the Fight to Save the Hellbender.” National Geographic > News.
Available @ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131220-hellbender-salamander-conservation-endangered-animals-science/

Mark Gately @GatelyMark. 16 October 2014. "The Eastern Hellbender: largest salamander in North America." Photo: Julie Larsen Maher." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/GatelyMark/status/522892285868908546

Phillips, Christopher A.; and Humphries, W. Jeffrey. “Cryptobranchus alleganiensis: Hellbender, Eastern Hellbender, Ozark Hellbender.” AmphibiaWeb > Search the Database.
Available @ http://www.amphibiaweb.org/cgi-bin/amphib_query?where-genus=Cryptobranchus&where-species=alleganiensis

Pike, Zeb. 2015. “Cryptobranchus alleganiensis.” Animal Diversity Web (On-line).
Available @ http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Cryptobranchus_alleganiensis/

Terrell, Dr. Kimberly. “Hellbender.” National Wildlife Federation > Wildlife Library > Amphibians, Reptiles and Fish.
Available @ https://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Library/Amphibians-Reptiles-and-Fish/Hellbender.aspx

Terrell, Dr. Kimberly. 14 December 2015. “Searching for Traces of the Elusive Hellbender.” Salamander Science > About Salamanders > Hellbenders > Recent Posts.
Available @ http://salamanderscience.com/searching4benders/

Virginia Tech. 8 August 2012. "Virginia Tech: Eastern Hellbenders." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XTJSlxu-4s

After May 9, 2016, Next Mercury Solar Transit Happens November 2019

Summary: After Monday, May 9, 2016, the next Mercury solar transit happens November 2019.

Monday, May 9, 2016, Mercury solar transit, 11:35:47 Coordinated Universal Time (7:35 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time); NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory image taken in wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light: Courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, Not copyrighted, via NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Solar Dynamics Observatory

After Mercury’s Monday, May 9, 2016, orbital passage across the sun’s face, the next Mercury solar transit happens November 2019, on the U.S. official public holiday of Veterans Day.

The Monday, May 9, 2016, Mercury solar transit, taking place from 11:12 to 18:42 Coordinated Universal Time (7:12 a.m. to 2:42 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time), ranks as the third Mercury solar transit in the 21st century. The present century, spanning Jan. 1, 2001, to Dec. 31, 2100, experiences 14 Mercury solar transits.

After the May 2016 event, the next Mercury solar transit takes place Monday, Nov. 11. The November 2019 transit begins at 12:35 UTC and lasts for 5 hours 29 minutes.

Times of five critical instants register Mercury’s progress relative to the sun, as observed from Earth. Two pairs of contact parameters frame a central point, known as the greatest transit.

Contact I signals the beginning of the transit as Mercury’s black disk appears adjacent to the solar disk. The November 2019 Mercury solar transit starts at 12:35 UTC (7:35 a.m. EST), with Mercury in external tangency with the sun. The planetary disk's leading edge touches the sun's outer limb, or edge.

Contact II marks the planetary disk’s placement in internal tangency with the solar limb. Contact II occurs at 12:37 UTC (7:37 a.m. EST). Having crossed the sun’s outside edge, the planetary disk displays snug placement of its trailing edge against the sun’s inner limb,  against the full backdrop of the solar disk.

Greatest transit indicates the event’s midpoint, occurring at Mercury’s closest reach of the sun’s center as seen from Earth’s center. Greatest transit in November 2019 takes place at 15:20 UTC (10:20 a.m. EST).

Contact III register’s Mercury’s arrival at the sun’s opposite limb. The planetary disk’s leading edge is internally tangent to the sun’s inner limb. Contact III happens at 18:02 UTC (1:02 p.m. EST).

Contact IV marks the instant of Mercury’s external tangency with the sun. The planetary disk’s trailing edge is adjacent to the solar disk’s outer limb. Contact IV occurs at 18:04 UTC (1:02 p.m. EST).

Mercury’s November 2019 solar transit is 2 hours 1 minute shorter than the planet’s May 2016 transit duration of seven and one-half hours. May transits are longer than November transits because Mercury’s placement is about a month after orbital aphelion, or farthest center-to-center distance from the sun. Planetary velocity decreases around aphelion. Mercury has an aphelic orbital velocity of 38.9 kilometers per second.

November transits are faster than May transits because Mercury is a few days away from orbital perihelion, or closest center-to-center distance to the sun. Planetary velocity increases around perihelion. Mercury has a perihelic orbital velocity of 59.0 kilometers per second.

In addition to their shorter duration, November transits are also more common than May transits. In his catalog of Mercury transits from 1601 to 2300 CE (Common Era) on NASA’s Eclipse Web Site, NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak explains that November claims 63 of the seven centuries’ total of 94 Mercury solar transits. Only 31, representing one-third of the total, fall in May.

Of the 14 Mercury solar transits occurring in the 21st century, nine fall in November. May claims the century’s first Mercury solar transit, taking place Wednesday, May 7, 2003, from 05:13 UTC (1:13 a.m. EDT) to 10:32 UTC (6:32 a.m. EDT). November claims the century’s last Mercury solar transit, happening Nov. 10, 2098, from 04:35 UTC (11:35 p.m. EST) to 09:57 UTC (4:57 a.m. EST).

The takeaway for the next Mercury solar transit’s November 2019 occurrence is that Mercury’s solar transits happen in one of two months, with November transits taking place more often and faster than May transits.

Earth's orientation during Mercury's solar transit November 2019: Tomruen, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Monday, May 9, 2016, Mercury solar transit, 11:35:47 Coordinated Universal Time (7:35 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time); NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory image taken in wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light: Courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, Not copyrighted, via NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Solar Dynamics Observatory @ http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/potw/item/713

Earth's orientation during Mercury's solar transit November 2019: Tomruen, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Transit_of_Mercury_November_11_2019_Orientation_of_Earth.png

For further information:

Byrd, Deborah. “See It! Monday's Transit of Mercury.” EarthSky > Today's Image. May 9, 2016.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/todays-image/see-it-mondays-transit-of-mercury

Espenak, Fred. “2016 Transit of Mercury.” Eclipse Wise > Observer's Handbook.
Available @ http://eclipsewise.com/oh/tm2016.html

Espenak, Fred. “Seven Century Catalog of Mercury Transits: 1601 CE to 2300 CE.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > Planetary Transits Across the Sun.
Available @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/transit/catalog/MercuryCatalog.html

Espenak, Patricia Totten. “Get Ready for May 9th's Transit of Mercury.” Sky & Telescope > Astronomy News > Observing News. April 14, 2014.
Available @ http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/get-ready-for-may-9th-transit-of-mercury-041320162/

King, Bob. "How to Safely Watch Mercury Transit the Sun on May 9." Universe Today. April 27, 2016.
Available @ http://www.universetoday.com/128321/guide-upcoming-transit-mercury/#

MacRobert, Alan. “Mercury Transit: Everything You Need to Know.” Sky & Telescope > Astronomy News > Observing News. May 6, 2016.
Available @ http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/may-9th-transit-of-mercury-everything-you-need-to-know/

MacRobert, Alan. “This Week's Sky at a Glance, May 6-14.” Sky & Telescope > Observing > Sky at a Glance. May 6, 2016.
Available @ http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/sky-at-a-glance/this-weeks-sky-at-a-glance-may-6-14/

Marriner, Derdriu. "May 9, 2016, Mercury Solar Transit Takes Seven and One-Half Hours." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 4, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/05/may-9-2016-mercury-solar-transit-takes.html

“May 9 / May 10, 2016 -- Mercury Transit.” Time And Date > Sun & Moon > Eclipses.
Available @ http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/transit/2016-may-9

McClure, Bruce. “Transit of Mercury on May 9, 2016.” EarthSky > Tonight. May 7, 2016.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/tonight/mercury-transit-may-9-2016-how-to-watch

“Mercury Transit Across the Sun.” Goddard Space Flight Center SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) > Gallery > Pick of the Week (POTW).
Available @ http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/potw/item/713

NASA Goddard. “NASA’s SDO Captures Mercury Transit Time-Lapse.” May 9, 2016.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhWMOkrzKzs

NASA.gov Video. “2016 Mercury Transit Path.” YouTube. May 3, 2016.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEkkCaBTgZ8

NASA SunEarth (@NASASunEarth). “On Monday, May 9, several NASA satellites will see Mercury enter the spotlight.” Twitter. May 3, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/NASASunEarth/status/727547440560279553

“November 11 / November 12, 2019 -- Mercury Transit.” Time And Date > Sun & Moon > Eclipses.
Available @ http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/transit/2019-november-11

Schlieder, Sarah. “Satellites to See Mercury Enter Spotlight on May 9.” NASA > Features > Eclipses and Transits. May 3, 2016.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/satellites-to-see-mercury-enter-spotlight-on-may-9

Walker, John. “Quarter Million Year Canon of Solar System Transits.” Fourmilab Switzerland > Canon Transits. Nov. 27, 2004.
Available @ http://fourmilab.ch/documents/canon_transits/

Webb, Brian. “Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)." Space Archive. March 27, 2016.
Available @ http://www.spacearchive.info/utc.htm