Death Valley

Death Valley
Death Valley
Death Valley California
Floor elevation	−86 m (−282 ft)[1]
Area	3,000 square miles (7,800 km2)
Geography
Coordinates	36°14′49″N 116°49′01″WCoordinates: 36°14′49″N 116°49′01″W [2]
Rivers	Furnace Creek Amargosa River

Death Valley is a desert valley located in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is one of the hottest places in the world along with deserts in the Middle East.^[3]

Death Valley’s Badwater Basin is the point of the lowest elevation in North America, at 282 feet (86 m) below sea level.^[1] This point is 84.6 miles (136.2 km) east-southeast of Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States, with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 m).^[4] On the afternoon of July 10, 1913, the United States Weather Bureau recorded a high temperature of 134 °F (56.7 °C) at Furnace Creek in Death Valley.^[5] This temperature stands as the highest ambient air temperature ever recorded at the surface of the Earth.^[6]

Located near the border of California and Nevada, in the Great Basin, east of the Sierra Nevada mountains, Death Valley constitutes much of Death Valley National Park and is the principal feature of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve. It is located mostly in Inyo County, California. It runs from north to south between the Amargosa Range on the east and the Panamint Range on the west; the Grapevine Mountains and the Owlshead Mountains form its northern and southern boundaries, respectively.^[7] It has an area of about 3,000 sq mi (7,800 km²).^[8] The highest point in Death Valley itself is Telescope Peak in the Panamint Range, which has an elevation of 11,043 feet (3,366 m).^[9]

Geology[edit]

Map showing the system of once-interconnected Pleistocene lakes in eastern California (USGS)

Death Valley is an example of a graben, or a downdropped block of land between two mountain ranges.^[10] It lies at the southern end of a geological trough known as Walker Lane, which runs north to Oregon. The valley is bisected by a right lateral strike slip fault system, represented by the Death Valley Fault and the Furnace Creek Fault. The eastern end of the left lateral Garlock Fault intersects the Death Valley Fault. Furnace Creek and the Amargosa River flow through the valley but eventually disappear into the sands of the valley floor.

Death Valley, California, July 3, 2017, Sentinel-2 true color satellite image, scale 1:250,000.

Death Valley also contains salt pans. According to current geological consensus, at various times during the middle of the Pleistocene era, which ended roughly 10,000–12,000 years ago, an inland lake referred to as Lake Manly formed in Death Valley. Lake Manly was nearly 100 miles (160 km) long and 600 feet (180 m) deep, the end-basin in a chain of lakes that began with Mono Lake in the north and continued through multiple basins down the Owens River Valley through Searles and China Lakes and the Panamint Valley to the immediate west.^[11]

As the area turned to desert, the water evaporated, leaving the abundance of evaporitic salts such as common sodium salts and borax, which were later exploited during the modern history of the region, primarily 1883 to 1907.^[12]

Climate[edit]

Death Valley has a subtropical, hot desert climate (Köppen: BWh), with long, extremely hot summers and short, mild winters, as well as little rainfall.

Death Valley is extremely dry because it sits in the rain shadow of four major mountain ranges (including the Sierra Nevada and Panamint Range). Moisture moving inland from the Pacific Ocean must pass eastward over multiple mountains to reach Death Valley; as air masses are forced upwards by each range, the air cools and moisture condenses to fall as rain or snow on the western slopes. When the air masses ultimately reach Death Valley, most of the moisture has already been “squeezed out” and there is little left to fall as precipitation.^[13]

The extreme heat of Death Valley is attributable to a confluence of geographic and topographic factors. Scientists have identified a number of key contributors ^[13] to Death Valley’s famously hot conditions:

• Solar heating: The valley’s surface (consisting of soil, rocks, sand, etc.) undergoes intense solar heating due to clear, dry air and dark, sparsely vegetated land. This is especially noticeable in summer when the sun is directly overhead.
• Air sinking and warming: Any air mass that sinks into lower elevations (e.g. 282 feet below sea level at Badwater Basin) gets compressed and warmed—due to the higher atmospheric pressure found at lower elevations. This is an example of adiabatic warming.
• Trapping of warm air: Warm air naturally rises and cools,^[14] but in Death Valley this air is subject to continual reheating as it is trapped by high, steep valley walls and recycled back to the valley floor.^[15] Another factor that traps warm air is the valley’s north-south orientation, which runs perpendicular to prevailing west-to-east winds.
• Migration of warm air from other areas (advection): Warm desert regions surrounding Death Valley, especially to the south and east, often heat air before it arrives in Death Valley.
• Warm mountain winds: As winds are forced up and over mountains (e.g. the numerous ranges west of Death Valley), the winds can become progressively warmer due to several factors. The resulting dry, warm winds are known as foehn winds. Their warmth can in part be caused by the release of latent heat, which occurs when water vapor condenses into clouds.

Severe heat and dryness contribute to perpetual drought-like conditions in Death Valley and prevent much cloud formation from passing through the confines of the valley, where precipitation is often in the form of a virga.^[16]

The depth and shape of Death Valley strongly influence its climate. The valley is a long, narrow basin that reaches down to below sea level, yet is walled by high, steep mountain ranges. The clear, dry air and sparse plant cover allow sunlight to heat the desert surface. Summer nights provide little relief, as overnight lows may only dip into the 82 to 98 °F (28 to 37 °C) range. Moving masses of super-heated air blow through the valley creating extremely high temperatures.^[17]

Sand dunes at Mesquite Flats

The hottest air temperature ever recorded in Death Valley was 134 °F (56.7 °C) on July 10, 1913, at Greenland Ranch (now Furnace Creek),^[6] which is the highest atmospheric temperature ever recorded on earth.^[5] A report of a temperature of 58 °C (136.4 °F) recorded in Libya in 1922 was later determined to be inaccurate.^[6] During the heat wave that peaked with that record, five consecutive days reached 129 °F (54 °C) or above. Some meteorologists dispute the accuracy of the 1913 temperature measurement.^[18]

The highest surface temperature ever recorded in Death Valley was 201.0 °F (93.9 °C) on July 15, 1972, at Furnace Creek, which is the highest ground surface temperature ever recorded on earth, as well as the only recorded surface temperature of above 200 °F (93.3 °C).^[19]

The greatest number of consecutive days with a maximum temperature of 100 °F (38 °C) or above was 154 days in the summer of 2001. The summer of 1996 had 40 days over 120 °F (49 °C), and 105 days over 110 °F (43 °C). The summer of 1917 had 52 days where the temperature reached 120 °F (49 °C) or above with 43 of them consecutive. Four major mountain ranges lie between Death Valley and the ocean, each one adding to an increasingly drier rain shadow effect, and in 1929, 1953, and 1989, no rain was recorded for the whole year.^[17] The period from 1931 to 1934 was the driest stretch on record with only 0.64 inches (16 mm) of rain over a 40-month period.^[16] On June 30, 2013, during the 2013 extreme heat wave, the mercury reached 129 °F (54 °C) at Furnace Creek station, which is the all-time highest air temperature recorded for June.

The mean annual temperature for Death Valley (Furnace Creek Weather Station) is 77.2 °F (25.1 °C) with an average high of 65.2 °F (18 °C) in December, 66.9 °F (19 °C) in January, and 116.5 °F (47 °C) in July.^[20] From 1934 to 1961, the weather station at Cow Creek recorded a mean annual temperature of 77.2 °F (25.1 °C).^[21]

The longest number of consecutive days where temperatures reached 90 °F (32 °C) or more was 205 from April to October 1992.^[22] On average, 192 days per year in Death Valley have temperatures that reach 90 °F or more.^[23] Before being moved to Furnace Creek, the weather station at Greenland Ranch averaged 194.4 days annually where temperatures reached 90 °F or more.^[24]

View from Badwater Basin

The lowest temperature recorded at Greenland Ranch was 15 °F (−9 °C) in January 1913.^[25]

The period from July 17–19, 1959, was the longest string of consecutive days where nighttime low temperatures did not drop below 100 °F (38 °C).^[26] The highest overnight or low temperature recorded in Death Valley is 110 °F (43 °C), recorded on July 5, 1918, and the current world record for highest overnight low.^[27] As recently as July 12, 2012, the low temperature at Death Valley dropped to just 107 °F (42 °C) after a high of 128 °F (53 °C) on the previous day. The only other location which matches Death Valley’s overnight low temperature of 107 °F in recent years is Khasab Airport in Oman, which also recorded a low of 107 °F (42 °C) on June 27, 2012,^[28] and later one of 111.6 °F (44.2 °C) on June 21, 2017.^[29] Also on July 12, 2012, the mean 24-hour temperature recorded at Death Valley was 117.5 °F (47.5 °C), which makes it the world’s warmest 24-hour temperature on record.^[30]

The average annual precipitation in Death Valley is 2.36 inches (60 mm), while the Greenland Ranch station averaged 1.58 in (40 mm).^[31] The wettest month on record is January 1995, when 2.59 inches (66 mm) fell on Death Valley.^[16] The wettest period on record was mid-2004 to mid-2005, in which nearly 6 inches (150 mm) of rain fell in total, leading to ephemeral lakes in the valley and the region and tremendous wildflower blooms.^[32] Snow with accumulation has only been recorded in January 1922, while scattered flakes have been recorded on other occasions.

Flooding[edit]

A Landsat 5 satellite photo of Lake Badwater on February 9, 2005

A Landsat 5 satellite photo of Badwater Basin dry lake on February 15, 2007

In 2005, Death Valley received four times its average annual rainfall of 1.5 inches (38 mm). As it has done before for hundreds of years, the lowest spot in the valley filled with a wide, shallow lake, but the extreme heat and aridity immediately began evaporating the ephemeral lake.

The pair of images (seen at right) from NASA’s Landsat 5 satellite documents the short history of Death Valley’s Lake Badwater: formed in February 2005 (top) and evaporated by February 2007 (bottom). In 2005, a big pool of greenish water stretched most of the way across the valley floor. By May 2005 the valley floor had resumed its more familiar role as Badwater Basin, a salt-coated salt flats. In time, this freshly dissolved and recrystallized salt will darken.

The western margin of Death Valley is traced by alluvial fans. During flash floods, rainfall from the steep mountains to the west pours through narrow canyons, picking up everything from fine clay to large rocks. When these torrents reach the mouths of the canyons, they widen and slow, branching out into distributary channels. The paler the fans, the younger they are.

Ecology[edit]

Death Valley in 2005 springtime bloom

In spite of the overwhelming heat and sparse rainfall, Death Valley exhibits considerable biodiversity. Wildflowers, watered by snowmelt, carpet the desert floor each spring, continuing into June.^[32] Bighorn sheep, red-tailed hawks, and wild burros may be seen. Death Valley has over 600 springs and ponds. Salt Creek, a mile-long shallow depression in the center of the valley, supports Death Valley Pupfish.^[36] These isolated pupfish populations are remnants of the wetter Pleistocene climate.^[36]

Darwin Falls, on the western edge of Death Valley Monument, falls 100 feet (30 m) into a large pond surrounded by willows and cottonwood trees. Over 80 species of birds have been spotted around the pond.^[37]

History[edit]

Death Valley is home to the Timbisha tribe of Native Americans, formerly known as the Panamint Shoshone, who have inhabited the valley for at least the past millennium. The Timbisha name for the valley, tümpisa, means “rock paint” and refers to the red ochre paint that can be made from a type of clay found in the valley. Some families still live in the valley at Furnace Creek. Another village was in Grapevine Canyon near the present site of Scotty’s Castle. It was called in the Timbisha language maahunu, whose meaning is uncertain, although it is known that hunu means “canyon”.

Badlands at Zabriskie Point in Death Valley

The valley received its English name in 1849 during the California Gold Rush. It was called Death Valley by prospectors^[38] and others who sought to cross the valley on their way to the gold fields, after 13 pioneers perished from one early expedition of wagon trains.^[39][40] During the 1850s, gold and silver were extracted in the valley. In the 1880s, borax was discovered and extracted by mule-drawn wagons.

Death Valley National Monument was proclaimed on February 11, 1933, by President Herbert Hoover, placing the area under federal protection. In 1994, the monument was redesignated as Death Valley National Park, as well as being substantially expanded to include Saline and Eureka Valleys.

Notable attractions and locations[edit]

Flash flood near Panamint Butte, Death Valley

In popular culture[edit]

Films[edit]

A number of movies have been filmed in Death Valley, such as the following:^[41]

Music[edit]

• Death Valley Suite (1949), a symphonic suite by Ferde Grofe, inspired by the history and geography of Death Valley
• Death Valley (2013), a song from the studio album Save Rock and Roll by Fall Out Boy is named after Death Valley, as well as contains lyrics inspired by this location

Television[edit]

• Death Valley (TV series), a 2011 MTV horror comedy series^[42]
• Death Valley Days (1930–1945 radio series; 1952–1970 TV series), an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area.

See also[edit]

• List of weather records
• Henry Wade Exit Route