WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

DataStreme ECS WEEK FOUR: 28 September-2 October 2009

Climate in the News

ITEMS OF INTEREST --

S'COOL in Northwest Passage -- Earlier this month, the crew onboard the ship Ocean Watch helped conduct scientific experiments for NASA's S'COOL (Students' Cloud Observations On-Line) project as the ship was sailing through the open waters of the Northwest Passage as part of the 13-month Around the Americas project. [NASA Langley Research Center]
Fire watch from space - During the last week, images obtained from the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instruments onboard NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites showed the smoke plumes and the locations of several major wildfires that were burning in North America and in Australia. These images were of fires in southern California [NASA Earth Observatory], western Oregon [NASA Earth Observatory], Mexico's Baja California [NASA Earth Observatory] and eastern Australia [NASA Earth Observatory]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

Record flooding hits the Southeast -- The US Geological Survey reported late last week that their river gages on several streams and rivers in the Atlanta (GA) metropolitan area had recorded record stream levels due to the heavy rain events that had passed repeatedly across the region. Some of the floods were thought to have the probability of a 0.2 percent exceedance that would often be called a "200 year flood." [USGS]
The flooding rain across Southeast was likened to a tropical system. [NASA Hurricane Page] An image generated from the precipitation data collected over a one-week span in mid-September by a variety of instruments including those onboard NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite shows the widespread rainfall across the Southeast that exceeded 11 inches in some locations. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Satellite applications improved for locust and vegetation monitoring -- During the last several decades, scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have developed and improved a monitoring system that incorporates satellite observations and other environmental data in an operational Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to monitor vegetation across the deserts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia where swarms of locusts are often found. The FAO's Desert Locust Information Service uses this NDVI and helps perfect the product. [NASA GSFC]
Monitoring the recent ups and downs of global temperatures -- Scientists at NOAA's National Climate Data Center and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have been examining the variations in global temperatures over the last century in an attempt to explain the occurrence of recent reversals in the general increase global temperatures, where the temperature actually decreases over a span of years of up to a decade duration. Attention has been paid to the role that oceans have upon the global temperatures, where the Pacific Decadal Oscillation was cited as an example. [NASA Global Climate Change]
Ice satellite maps major thinning of polar ice -- Researches with NASA and the British Antarctic Survey who studied data obtained from lasers on NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) report significant thinning of the ice covering Antarctica and Greenland during a recent five-year period. [NASA GSFC]
Mapping application used to map carbon cycle -- Computer specialists have developed an application for Google Earth that reveals a three dimensional visualization of the concentrations of carbon dioxide in both the lower atmosphere the Earth's surface and at high altitudes, thereby allowing the public and researchers to track the flow of carbon in the planetary system. [NASA Earth Science News Team]
Increased numbers of Atlantic hurricanes, with little change in intensity -- Researchers from Clemson University and Mississippi State University who studied a 158-year record of tropical cyclones over the North Atlantic claim that while the number of tropical storms and hurricanes have been increasing, they found little evidence that the strengths of individual tropical cyclones have increased or that of the chances of these systems striking the US. [Clemson University]
Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes -- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, including drought, floods and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
An All-Hazards Monitor--This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, fire weather, marine weather, severe weather, drought and floods. [NOAAWatch]

CLIMATE FORCING

A warm Arctic and a wet tropics could cause methane increase -- Scientists NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory and their colleagues from the US and Brazil who analyzed air samples over the last 25 years and have concluded that the marked global increase atmospheric methane during the last two years appears to be the result of much above average Arctic temperatures and heavy rains in the tropics. [NOAA News]
Ranking global cities based on greenhouse gas emissions -- An engineer at the University of Toronto recently ranked the world's major cities according to the amount of greenhouse gas emitted by each city. According to his rating, Denver, CO released the most, while Barcelona, Spain had the least. [EurekAlert!]
Radar images of Martian ice layers detects climate cycles -- Researchers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have produced a three dimensional map of the ice layers near the north polar ice cap on Mars from radar data collected from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. They found that these layers correlated with the models of ice that would have accumulated based upon changes in solar radiation attributed to change in the orbital elements of Mars over the last four million years. [NASA JPL] The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter also provided data from its onboard sensors to scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of Arizona that revealed frozen water located just below the surface of mid-latitude Mars in locations where recent meteorites have created fresh craters. [NASA JPL]
Water detected on Moon -- An international team of scientists report discovery of small amounts of water molecules on the subpolar regions of the lunar surface from data collected by NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper, an instrument on the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-1 mission. These findings were also confirmed by data from the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer on NASA's Cassini spacecraft, and the High-Resolution Infrared Imaging Spectrometer on NASA's Epoxi spacecraft. [NASA JPL]
Discovering clues to a supervolcano in the Italian Alps -- Geologists from Southern Methodist University have found evidence for the "plumbing" for a supervolcano in the Italian Alps. This supervolcano, which erupted during he Permian, was like the one at Yellowstone National Park, WY, producing massive explosive eruptions that could have triggered global scale climate change. [SMU Research]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

Linking climate fluctuations in polar and tropical latitudes -- Geologists from the University of New Hampshire and Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have found geologic evidence confirming the synchronism between tropical glaciers and those in the northern subpolar latitudes during the last 12,000 years, especially during the Little Ice Age. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Human activity causing world's major deltas to sink -- Researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder and their colleagues from other research institutions in the US, the United Kingdom and Japan used data collected from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission on the Space Shuttle to study 33 of the world's major deltas. They found that nearly three-quarters of these deltas were sinking due to human activity and a large fraction of these experienced recent severe flooding from rivers and storms over the oceans, putting millions of residents of these low-lying areas at risk. [EurekAlert!]
Call made for more funding of climate-related health research -- Several epidemiologists from the University of Michigan, Columbia University, the University of Georgia and colleagues argue that the US should spend up to an additional $200 million to research the impact of climate change upon the nation's public health. [University of Michigan]
Humans urged to "set safe boundaries to the damage" -- Twenty-eight of the world’s most eminent environmental scientists recently published an article in which they urged humans to take immediate action to define boundaries between levels of human-caused change deemed "safe" from those considered "unsafe" and then to stay within those boundaries to reduce a variety of consequences due to possible irreversible climate change. [EurekAlert!] [Coral Reef Studies]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Concept of the Week: Climate and Architecture

Humans have been constructing houses and other buildings for thousands of years not only to protect themselves from the weather and other environmental factors, but also to create a comfortable indoor environment that would exhibit energy efficiency, especially in harsh climates. For centuries, natural or primitive housing reflected an adaptation to the climate of the locale and the availability of local building materials.

In order to maintain a tolerable level of comfort within a building, attention must be paid to thermal effects, ventilation, illumination and atmospheric humidity.

The indoor thermal state ultimately depends upon the building's energy budget involving incoming and outgoing radiation, latent and sensible heat loss and by interior heat sources or sinks. The indoor thermal level is mainly associated with the external energy load on the building. The external energy load on the building depends upon the latitude of the building, season of the year and time of day.

In tropical latitudes and during midday hours in summer, the sun's path across the local sky increases the solar radiation incident upon the roof and walls of the building. In polar latitudes, or during the winter or the amount of available sunlight is significantly lower, with the loss of infrared radiation causing a net cooling from the building. Changes in the color of the roof and the outer walls can affect the amount of incoming sunlight absorbed. Building orientation and the effective use of overhangs can also affect the amount of sunlight absorbed. Furthermore, the amount of insulation, often related to the thickness of the walls, reduces the conduction of heat into or out of the building. Thick adobe walls have been used effectively in the Southwest to moderate indoor temperature. These walls reduce the heat flow into the building during the daytime and in summer and out from the building at night or during winter.

The size and placement of windows also affects the energy balance. Large windows on the side of the building facing the sun's path tend to permit large amounts of sunlight to penetrate into the building. However, large windows on the side facing away from the sun can cause for heat loss due to conduction, as many types of window panes are not energy efficient.

Effective landscaping can reduce energy demands upon a dwelling: Deciduous trees planted on the south and west sides of the home provide cooling shade during the summer, keeping sunlight from entering the windows. These trees will lose their foliage in fall and allow the sun to shine through in winter, and warm south facing rooms. Evergreen trees or dense shrubbery on the north side can serve as a windbreak, which reduce the cold northerly winds from striking the house in winter.

Concept of the Week: Questions

(Each week you will be asked to respond to two questions relating to that week's Concept of the Week topic. Place your responses on the Chapter Progress Response Form provided in the Study Guide.)

The thicker the outdoor walls, the [(greater),(less)] the heat flow into a building.
Planting [(evergreen),(deciduous)] vegetation on the south side of a home in New England will help reduce winter heating and summer cooling bills.

Historical Events:

27-28 September 1953...The strongest wind gust ever recorded during a hurricane was 175 mph at Chetumal, Mexico. (The Weather Doctor)
28 September 1893...Albuquerque, NM was soaked with 2.25 inches of rain, enough to establish a 24 hour record for that city. (The Weather Channel)
28 September 1986...Torrential rains and floods were responsible for South Africa's worst natural disaster in Natal. As much as 35 in. of rain fell between the 25^th and 29^th to the northeast of Empangen, resulting in 317 deaths and 163 people missing. Topsoil from some farms was completely washed away leaving only bedrock. (Accord Weather Calendar)
30 September 1992...Fairbanks, AK averaged a frigid 31.7 degrees for the month, 13.2 degrees below normal and a record. Beginning on the 9^th, a record low was set for every day of the month. The temperature plunged to 3 degrees on the 30^th, the lowest ever for September. Snowfall for the month totaled 24.4 inches, more than three times the previous record. The snows never melted. Plant foliage still green, was frozen into place and week long power outages occurred as whole trees bent over onto power lines in the heavy wet snow. (Intellicast)
1 October 2006...Wichita, KS recorded its hottest October day ever on the 1st with a 97-degree high temperature. (The Weather Doctor)
2 October 1858...The only tropical cyclone known to produce hurricane-force (estimated) winds on the California coast hit near San Diego, CA. Damage to property is considerable. (The Weather Doctor)
2 October 1980...The temperature at Blue Canyon, CA soared to 88 degrees, an October record for that location. (The Weather Channel)
3 October 1912...The longest dry spell of record in the U.S. commenced as Bagdad, CA went 767 days without rain, ending on 9 November 1914. (David Ludlum)
4 October 1969...Denver, CO received 9.6 inches of snow. October of that year proved to be the coldest and snowiest of record for Denver, with a total snowfall for the month of 31.2 inches. (Weather Channel)
4-7 October 1972...Remnants of Hurricane Joanne brought heavy rain and flooding to much of Arizona. It was the first documented tropical storm to reach the state with its cyclonic circulation intact. Severe flooding occurred in the Clifton, Duncan and Safford areas. (The Weather Doctor)
4 October 1976...The mean wind speed reached 88.5 mph at Melfort, Saskatchewan, the province's highest ever sustained wind. (The Weather Doctor)
4 October 1987...A rapidly deepening coastal storm dumped record snows across eastern New York State and western New England. Grafton, NY was buried under 22 inches of snow, North Springfield, VT had 21 inches and Pownal, VT recorded 18 inches. Most of the snow occurred at higher elevations but even Albany, NY received 6 inches, their earliest measurable snow in 117 years of records. Damage to trees was extensive as many trees were still in full leaf. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (The Weather Channel) (Intellicast)
In California, high temperatures of 100 degrees at San Francisco, and 108 degrees at Los Angeles and Santa Maria, were October records. San Luis Obispo was the hot spot in the nation with an afternoon high of 111 degrees. (The National Weather Summary).
4 October 1998...As many as 27 tornadoes touched down across Oklahoma, establishing the national record for tornadoes in any state on a single October day. (The Weather Doctor)
4 October 2005...The Minneapolis-St. Paul (MN) International Airport received 4.61 inches, breaking the local daily rainfall record for October. North of the Twin Cities, weather spotters reported nine inches of rain in the town of Spencer Brook. (The Weather Doctor)

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