WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

DataStreme ECS WEEK FIVE: 5-9 October 2009

Climate in the News

ITEMS OF INTEREST --

Celebrate Earth Science Week -- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to include the National Weather Service, along with NASA, the US Geological Survey and several professional scientific organizations such as the American Geological Institute have recognized next week (11-17 October 2009) as Earth Science Week to help the public gain a better understanding and appreciation for the earth sciences and to encourage stewardship of the Earth. This year's theme for the 11th annual Earth Science Week is "Understanding Climate", designed to "promote scientific understanding of a timely, vital topic: Earth’s climate." [American Geological Institute]
Fire watch from space -- Images obtained last week from the MODIS sensor onboard NASA's Aqua satellite showed the smoke that was being carried by the winds from wildfires in western Oregon [NASA Earth Observatory], in Yellowstone National Park, WY [NASA Earth Observatory] and in East Africa [NASA Earth Observatory].
Analyzing the killer tsunami in Samoa -- A magnitude 8 earthquake under the South Pacific Ocean near Samoa last week created a series of destructive tsunami waves that killed more than 160 people in Samoa and American Samoa. An image showing the location of the earthquake with respect to the islands was prepared from earthquake and plate tectonics data collected by the USGS Earthquake Hazard Program, elevation data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission and ocean bathymetry data from NOAA's ETOPO1 global relief model of Earth’s surface. [NASA Earth Observatory] Images generated from digital elevation data obtained from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission shows the topography of the Independent State of Samoa and American Samoa that made these islands susceptible to last week's killer tsunami. [NASA JPL]
An image was produced from NASA digital elevation data and NOAA bathymetry data for the magnitude 7.6 earthquake that struck southern Sumatra a day later and caused as many as 1100 deaths. No significant tsunami was created by this earthquake. [NASA Earth Observatory]

CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS

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

Satellite sees haze emanating from China -- An image made at the end of last week from data collected by the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite shows a large area of grayish-white haze that blanketed northeastern China and the adjacent Yellow Sea due to large amounts of coal that are burned across the region. This haze affects not only affects human health, but also climate. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Tracking air pollution plumes around the globe -- An animation of satellites produced from data collected by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite shows the plumes of atmospheric carbon dioxide traveling around the planet. [NASA JPL]
Volcano watch from space -- An image from the MODIS instrument onboard NASA's Terra satellite shows a plume of ash and smoke from the Rabaul Volcano on Papua New Guinea. [NASA Earth Observatory] The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) onboard NASA's Earth Observing-1 satellite captured an image of the volcanic ash and steam plume emanating from Chile's Chaitén last week. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Cold-water upwelling can serve as storm killers -- Scientists at Louisiana State University's Earth Scan Laboratory have found that the upwelling of cold water in cold water eddies that often accompany atmospheric tropical cyclones appear to reduce the strength of these tropical cyclones. [LSU News]
A "soil dipstick" can assess planetary soil health -- Researchers at Israel's Tel Aviv University claim that their "Optical Soil Dipstick", a monitoring device for soil moisture that is placed in a small bore hole in the soil can assess changing soil health and help the world's agricultural community practice better techniques for the environment. [American Friends of Tel Aviv University]
Global distribution of human ecosystems displayed -- Researchers from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Quebec's McGill University have used satellite data to develop a map showing the spatial distribution of assemblages of human activity impacting the environment that they call "anthropogenic biomes" or "anthromes." [NASA Earth Observatory]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

The US Seasonal Drought Outlook released on 1 October 2009 by the Climate Prediction Center and valid through December 2009 indicates that drought conditions were expected to develop or persist across sections of the Northwest, primarily in Washington, Oregon and northern California. The regions of the Southeast, south Texas, the Great Lakes States that have been experiencing drought should experience definite improvement in drought conditions. Other drought-stricken areas in California, Nevada and northern Montana east of the Divide could experience varying degrees of improvement.
Measures to limit risk of climate catastrophe outlined -- Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and their colleagues at other research institutions have developed a new comprehensive analysis of climate risk that shows implementing moderate carbon-reduction policies promptly can substantially lower the risk of future climate change. They illustrated their findings with a pair of "roulette wheels" that depict the probability of global temperature change over the next century if no greenhouse gas emission policy were enacted and one if an aggressive policy were enacted. [MIT News]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

Recent "killer" Southeast drought not a record -- Researchers from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory who analyzed the climate record across the last 1000 years from tree-rings and the instrumental record for the last 100 years have indicated that the recent drought across the Southeastern US between 2005 and 2007, which destroyed billions of dollars of crops and drained regional reservoirs, was not exceptional, identifying nearly one-half dozen worse droughts. Furthermore, they claim that climate change does not appear to have played a significant role in the frequency or severity of regional droughts. They argue that increased population during the last decade and poor regional planning were the main problems with this recent drought. [Earth Institute News]
Rapid recovery could have occurred after marine mass extinction -- Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, along with those from Germany's Friedrich-Schiller University and the University of Bremen have discovered that some forms of marine photosynthetic organisms such as algae and cyanobacteria appear to have recovered within a century after the mass extinction approximately 65 million years ago, at a rate several orders of magnitude faster than previously thought. [MIT News]
Sediment core reveals an ancient warm period in Antarctica -- A geologist from Louisiana State University and her colleagues from he US, New Zealand, Italy and Germany who analyzed sediment samples extracted from cores obtained by the Antarctic Geologic Drilling Program have discovered that algae and pollen grains in these samples provide evidence a sudden and remarkably warm period in Antarctica that occurred during the mid-Miocene era (approximately 15.7 million years ago) and lasted for several thousand years. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Intercontinental transport of air pollutants appears as a growing concern -- A new report by the National Research Council entitled "Global Sources of Local Pollution: An Assessment of Long-Range Transport of Key Air Pollutants to and From the United States" warns that harmful air pollutants, including ozone, particulate matter, mercury and persistent organic pollutants, transported across the North Pacific from Asia to the United States and across the North Atlantic from the United States to Europe have produced a negative impact upon the air quality in regions far from the original pollution sources. [National Academies News]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Concept of the Week: Keeping your cool!

In order to survive, humans need to maintain a nearly constant internal core temperature that is within several degrees of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Your internal temperature depends upon an energy balance involving the gain and loss of energy from radiation (incoming solar versus incoming and outgoing infrared radiation), sensible heat transfer (conduction and convection), latent heat of evaporation (respiration and perspiration) and the body's metabolic rate. This heat transfer depends upon the differences between skin temperature and the ambient air temperature of the surroundings. In addition, wind and atmospheric humidity can affect the rate of sensible and latent heat transfer. Problems arise when either too much or too little heat flows to or from the body, yielding hypothermia and hyperthermia (heat stress) conditions, respectively.

When the air temperature increases, heat flow from the body is often reduced. Heat flow can be increased to maintain stable temperatures involuntarily by thermoregulatory processes such as increased perspiration (sweating) and dilation of the blood vessels. Humans can also act to prevent hyperthermia by selecting lightweight and light colored clothes, as well as seeking of shade and well ventilated locations. Unfortunately, high atmospheric humidity that often accompanies high summer temperatures also reduces body heat loss since evaporative cooling by perspiration is suppressed. During the summer, the National Weather Service alerts the public of potentially dangerous combinations of high air temperature and atmospheric humidity levels by calculating the Heat Index.

Statistics kept by the National Weather Service reveals that heat (along with high humidity) is responsible for the greatest number of weather-related deaths across the nation during the 10-year period (1998-2007), with 170 fatalities occurring per year. By comparison, 62 deaths per year are associated from tornadoes and 14 deaths annually caused by the cold (low temperatures). Furthermore, concern has been raised that during this century, more frequent and more severe heat waves due to global climate change could become more common, leading to a greater risk of hyperthermia and, ultimately, to higher morbidity rates.

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 heat index is a function of air temperature and [(atmospheric humidity),(wind speed),(sunshine levels)].
The annual number of fatalities across the nation in the last ten years due to heat stress is approximately [(15), (60), (170)].

Historical Events:

5 October 1917...The temperature at Sentinel, AZ soared to 116 degrees to establish an October record for the nation. (The Weather Channel)
5 October 1972...Heavy rains, mostly the remnants of Tropical Storm Joanne, fell across much of Arizona. It was believed to be the first time in Arizona weather history that a tropical storm entered the state with its circulation still intact. The center was over Flagstaff early on the 7th. (3rd-7th) (The Weather Channel)
5 October 1984...The temperature at Honolulu, HI hit 94 degrees to establish the all-time record high for that city. (Intellicast)
5 October 1987...In California, afternoon high temperatures of 102 degrees in Downtown San Francisco, and 104 degrees at Monterey, established all-time records. The high of 101 degrees at San Jose was a record for October. Sacramento tied their record for October for the third time in the month, with a reading of 102 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)
6 October 1952...A trace of snow fell at Nashville, TN, the earliest ever on record. (Intellicast)
6 October 1967...Canada's 24-hour rainfall record was established at Ucluelet Brynnor Mines on Vancouver Island in British Columbia with 19.24 in. (Accord Weather Calendar)
6 October 1984...The temperature at Honolulu, HI reached 94 degrees to establish an all-time record at that location. (The Weather Channel)
7 October 1981...Seattle, WA received four inches of rain in 24 hours, a record for the city. (The Weather Channel)
7 October 1987...Tucson, AZ hit 101 degrees for the second day in a row to again equal their record for the month of October. (The National Weather Summary)
7 October 1992...The 2.1 inches of snow that fell at Concordia, KS was the earliest measurable snow on record at that station. (Intellicast )
8 October 1871...Prolonged drought and desiccating winds from the southwest led to the great Chicago fire, the Peshtigo horror, and the Michigan fire holocaust. Fire destroyed more than seventeen thousand buildings killing more than 200 persons in the city of Chicago, while on the same night a fire consumed the town of Peshtigo, WI killing more than 1100 persons. In Wisconsin, a million acres of land were burned, and in Michigan, 2.5 million acres were burned killing 200 persons. "Tornadoes of fire" generated by intense heat caused houses to explode in fire, and burned to death scores of persons seeking refuge in open fields. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
8 October 1987...Phoenix, AZ reported a record high of 104 degrees and a record tying 116 days of 100-degree weather for the year. Tucson, AZ established an all-time record with 72 days of 100-degree weather for the year. (The National Weather Summary)
8 October 1988...The afternoon high of 80 degrees at Stampede Pass, WA exceeded their previous record for October by seven degrees. (The National Weather Summary)
8 October 1993...With 1.05 inches of rain that fell at Columbia, MO, the yearly total precipitation was pushed to 55.77 inches, breaking the annual record. (Intellicast)
9 October 1903...New York City was deluged with 11.17 in. of rain in 24 hours at Central Park to establish a state record, while 9.40 in. fell at Battery Park. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel) (Intellicast)
9 October 1980...Nashville, TN reached 91 degrees, highest ever for so late in the season. Just three days earlier, a low of 31 degrees was reported, lowest ever so early in the season. (Intellicast)
9 October 1981...The temperature at San Juan, Puerto Rico, soared to 98 degrees to establish an all-time record for that location. (The Weather Channel)
10-16 October 1780...The most deadly Western Hemisphere hurricane on record raged across the Caribbean Basin, killing 22,000 people on the islands of Martinique, St. Eustatius, and Barbados. Thousands more die at sea. (The Weather Doctor)
10 October 1928...The temperature at Minneapolis, MN reached 90 degrees, their latest such reading of record. (The Weather Channel)
10 October 1967...Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island experienced its wettest day ever when 4.19 inches of rain fell. (The Weather Doctor)
10 October 1973...Fifteen to 20 inches of rain deluged north central Oklahoma in thirteen hours producing record flooding. Enid was drenched with 15.68 inches of rain from the nearly stationary thunderstorms, which established a state 24-hour rainfall record. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
10 October 1979...A storm blanketed Worcester, MA with 7.5 inches of snow, a record snowfall total for so early in the season for that location. The earliest measurable snowfall was recorded at Boston, MA with 0.2 inches falling. Blue Hill Observatory at an elevation of 635 feet had 7 inches. (The Weather Channel) (Intellicast)
10 October 1991...Sacramento, CA hit 100 degrees setting a daily record. It was also the latest 100-degree reading and the warmest so late in the season. (Intellicast)
11 October 1977...The wet community of Ketchikan, AK experienced its wettest day: 8.71 inches. (The Weather Doctor)
11 October 2005...A tropical depression, the former Hurricane Vince, became the first tropical cyclone on record to make landfall in Spain. (The Weather Doctor)

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