WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

DataStreme ECS WEEK SIX: 12-16 October 2009

ITEMS OF INTEREST --

Celebrate Earth Science Week -- NOAA, including the National Weather Service, NASA, the US Geological Survey and several professional scientific organizations such as the American Geological Institute are recognizing this week (11-17 October 2009) as Earth Science Week. The goal of this week's celebration is 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] [NASA GSFC]
Recalculating asteroid's path toward Earth -- Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, armed with new data, have recalculated the path of the Apophis asteroid, a large 250-meter sized asteroid that appeared to be on a collision course with Planet Earth in 2036. The new calculations indicate a significantly reduce likelihood of a hazardous encounter. [NASA JPL]

CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS

US Weather and climate reviewed for September 2009 -- Using preliminary data, scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center report that the nationwide average temperature for the coterminous United States during the recently concluded month of September 2009 was one Fahrenheit degree above the 1900-2000 average September temperature. Many of the Western States along with the northern Plains, the western Great Lakes and Florida had above to much above average temperatures, with California and Nevada experiencing their highest statewide temperatures in the 115-year period of record that started when sufficiently reliable climate records began in 1895. On the other hand, states in the central and southern Plains, along with most of the New England States and Pennsylvania reported below to much below average temperatures. Although the nationwide precipitation for September 2009 was close to the 20th century average, sections of the lower Mississippi Valley and the South east experienced much above to average precipitation. On the other hand, the West Coast, the northern Rockies, the central Plains, the Upper Midwest and the Northeast had a drier to much drier than average September. [NOAA News]
September drought report -- The National Climate Data Center has posted its September 2009 drought report online. Using the Palmer Drought Severity Index, approximately 12 percent of the coterminous United States experienced severe to extreme drought conditions at the end of September, while 14 percent of the area had severely to extremely wet conditions.
An era of data collection from a satellite ends -- NASA scientists finally terminated the data collection from instruments onboard NASA's Earth Radiation Budget Satellite Experiment (ERBS) satellite after a 24-year span in which these instruments collected data about the Earth's atmosphere and climate. One of the important instruments on ERBS was the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II (SAGE II) instrument. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Largest airborne polar ice survey to commence over Antarctica -- Later this week, NASA will begin a series of flights across Antarctica using the agency's DC-8 airborne laboratory as part of "Operation Ice Bridge," a six-year campaign designed to survey the sea ice, glaciers and ice sheets of Antarctica in the largest airborne survey of a polar region. [NASA] [EurekAlert!]
Observing water vapor from the world's driest climate -- When a team from NASA's Langley Research Center have taken a new instrument called Far-Infrared Spectroscopy of the Troposphere (FIRST) to a mountain top in Chile's Atacama Desert for a three-month field mission to study water vapor's effect on the climate. This instrument makes measurements of water vapor emissions in the "far infrared" portion of the electromagnetic spectrum and serves as a prototype of an instrument that would eventually fly on the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) mission. [NASA LaRC]
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]
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]

CLIMATE FORCING

Ship trails tracked by satellite -- An image made from data collected by the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite last week shows enhanced white trails in the marine clouds over the eastern North Pacific Ocean off North America's West Coast. These cloud tracks were caused by particulate matter in the ship exhaust that seeded the clouds and caused enhanced clouds. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Fire watch from space -- An photograph taken by an astronaut on the International Space Station several weeks ago provides an oblique view of the plumes of smoke coming from wildfires in and around Yellowstone National Park in northwestern Wyoming. [NASA Earth Observatory] An image obtained last week from the MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite shows smoke plumes from wildfires across northeastern Australia. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Humans could be affecting "blue haze" -- Researchers from Texas A&M University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, the Molina Center for Energy and Environment (La Jolla, CA) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found that human activity appears to be worsening the "blue haze" normally found over the world's heavily forested areas, ultimately resulting in potential changes in large scale climate. [Texas A&M News]
The "human volcano" studied -- Scientists from NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory and Germany's Max Planck Institute for Meteorology have been studying how aerosols generated by humans affect clouds and precipitation, which would ultimately affect changes in climate. They recommend further research into the possibility that more aerosols would increase clouds and cause a reduction in the current increase in global temperatures. [EurekAlert!]
Global oceans nourished by acidic clouds -- In research conducted at the United Kingdom's University of Leeds, scientists have proved that atmospheric acid helps decompose large particles of iron found in dust into extremely soluble small iron nanoparticles, which can be more readily used by plankton. With these iron nanoparticles falling from clouds with acidic particles, plankton growth can occur in the oceans, especially in iron-poor regions, thereby potentially triggering increased absorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide. [EurekAlert!]
Ancient planetary magnetic field had dipolar structure -- Analysis of 1.1 billion-year old rocks from the north shore of Lake Superior has led Princeton University scientists to confirm that the Earth's ancient magnetic field was a geocentric axial dipole similar to the current field. Confirmation of this finding will help in improved tracking of historical continental movement that could result in changes in global climate. [Princeton University News]

CLIMATE MODELING EFFORTS

Key ingredient added to refine climate model predictions -- Scientists with Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory successfully incorporated the nitrogen cycle into global simulations run on a climate model at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, potentially refining global predictions due to improved handling of carbon feedback mechanisms associated with plants. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Studying response of trees to environmental changes -- Researchers at Boston University have been studying how various tree species respond to increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which could then have an effect upon the global water and carbon cycles. The study has focused upon changes in the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and stomatal density of the tree leaves to understand changes in changes in photosynthesis due to the stomata could affect the uptake of carbon dioxide and water. [EurekAlert!]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

Unexpected dryness during heavy monsoon rains found in sand dunes -- Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and colleagues at the Illinois State Geological Survey, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and in China have found that sand dunes on the edges of northern China's deserts were especially mobile between 11,500 and 8000 years ago, a time when Asia was considered to have experienced a wetter climate due to the heavy monsoon rains. The research indicates that the regional climate in northern China was different, as higher summer temperatures increased evapotranspiration, drying the dune-stabilizing vegetation. [University of Wisconsin News]
Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels approach levels last found 15 million years ago -- Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, the California Institute of Technology and the United Kingdom's University of Cambridge report that their analysis of ancient marine algae shells using a new boron to calcium ratio shows that the last time atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were as high as at present occurred at least 15 million years ago. At that time, global temperatures may have been as much as 10 Celsius degrees above present and sea level 120 feet higher. [EurekAlert!]
Dwarfism in ancient soil-dwelling creatures may be due to climate change -- Scientists at the Kansas Geological Survey and at the University of Kansas report that ancient soil-inhabiting creatures contracted in size by nearly half during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) approximately 55 million years ago when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and temperatures increased dramatically. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Global security issues could increase with water scarcity -- The chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently warned that water scarcity in some locations around the world due to projected changes in climate could create far-reaching global security concerns within the next decade as some countries would experience water shortages affecting human health and ultimately cause increased tensions and civil unrest. [EurekAlert!]
Investigating how sea-level rises linked to climate could affect coastal areas -- Researchers at Florida State University have been investigating how anticipated rises in sea-level due to increased global temperatures, along with melting ice caps and increased storms could affect the infrastructure along the nation's low-lying coastal areas during the next century. [Florida State University]
New coastal map of the British Isles could help strengthen sea defenses -- Scientists from the United Kingdom's Durham University have published a mew "Coastland Map" that details the changes in the elevation of the United Kingdom due to isostatic adjustment since the last Ice Age, along with the current relative changes in sea level due to changes in global climate. Data obtained from this map could be used in planning for those coastal communities threatened by the projected changes in sea level during this century due to increased global temperatures. [EurekAlert!] A new study by researchers at the University of Southampton have found that sea levels have increased along the southern coast of England over the last century, making this coast more susceptible to coastal flooding during storms. [EurekAlert!]
Website for human dimensions of climate change -- An interagency effort within the US federal government that included NOAA, the Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service, has resulted in a website called HD.gov (for HumanDimensions.gov) that provides users, such as natural resource managers, with information on the human dimensions on a variety of topics of interest such as climate change. [HD.gov]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Concept of the Week: Tropospheric westerly winds, north and south

The theoretical existence of upper tropospheric jet stream winds were not confirmed until being encountered by World War II bomber pilots when heading west into strong headwinds at altitudes of approximately 30,000 feet. Wind speeds sometimes exceeded 170 mph causing their relatively slow, heavily laden aircraft to almost stand still. Subsequently, westerly jet stream winds were found to encircle the planet in midlatitudes of both hemispheres above regions of strong temperature contrasts.

These "rivers" of strong winds steer surface weather systems as they move in a general eastward direction across midlatitudes. The explanation for these winds involves atmospheric mass distributions and forces on a rotating planet. Columns of air in tropical latitudes are generally warm while air columns in polar regions are cold. Given an equal pressure starting point at the surface, the warmer air would be expanded and distributed more upward than the colder, contracted air. At some level well above ground then, there would remain more air overhead where it was warm than where it was cold. The greater amount of overlying air in the warm column would produce a higher pressure for that level than in the cold column. The horizontal pressure difference would force air motions from south toward north in the Northern Hemisphere (and north toward south for the Southern Hemisphere).

On a rotating planet, moving air is then deflected by the Coriolis effect, to the right in the Northern Hemisphere (and left in the Southern). So Northern Hemisphere air headed northward due to pressure differences is deflected to the right and ends up directed toward the east, a "westerly wind". In the Southern Hemisphere, southward moving air, deflected left would go toward the east, also a "westerly wind". And the original pressure differences resulting from temperature differences increase upward from their equal starting pressures so that the upper-level winds increase in speed upward until becoming the jet streams.

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 Northern Hemisphere jet stream winds would be directed such that cold air is [(to the left),(to the right),(directly ahead)].
In the Southern Hemisphere, the horizontal pressure gradient and Coriolis effect cause the jet stream winds to be directed toward the [(south), (east), (west)].

Historical Events:

12 October 1979...The lowest observed sea-level barometric pressure (870 mb or 25.69 inches of mercury) was recorded approximately 300 miles west of Guam in the western Pacific Ocean at the center of Typhoon Tip. (The Weather Doctor)
12 October 1982...Angoon, AK received 15.20 inches of precipitation, to set a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the 49th State. (NCDC)
12 October 2006...With 0.3 inches of snow falling at O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, IL set a new record for the earliest measurable snowfall since record-keeping began in 1871. The previous earliest date was 18 October in both 1972 and 1989. An unusually-early and intense lake-effect snow storm, resulted in 8.3 inches of snow that was measured at the official Buffalo, NY weather station on the 12th set a record for the snowiest October day in the station's 137-year history. The record did not last long, however, as the measurement on the morning of the 13th totals 10.9 inches. The two-day event totalled 22.6 inches (57.4 cm), breaking the October record for a single snowfall event. The storm was the sixth heaviest snowfall on record. (The Weather Doctor)
15-17 October 2005...The summit of Mount Washington, NH, the highest peak in the Northeast received 34 inches of snow between Saturday and Monday. The 24-hour record for the most snowfall was broken when 25.5 inches of snow piles up between noon Sunday and noon Monday. (The Weather Doctor)
16 October 1913...The temperature in Downtown San Francisco soared to 101 degrees to equal their record for October. (The Weather Channel)
16 October 1988...The afternoon high temperature of 100 degrees at Red Bluff, CA was the latest such reading of record for so late in the autumn season. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
17-18 October 2005...Heavy rain fell on Las Vegas, NV over the two-day period, with a rainfall total of 1.42 inches, which broke the full month record for October set in 1992. (The Weather Doctor)
17-19 October 2007...According to NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center, 87 tornadoes were reported in the United States on these three days – a new record outbreak for the month. With the outbreak, the monthly total of confirmed tornado reached 105, the second highest for October, behind the 117 in October 2001 since records began in 1950. Over 300 reports of severe weather were filed on 18 October across the lower and mid-Mississippi Valleys. (The Weather Doctor)
18 October 1984...Heavy snow began falling late on the 17^th at Salt Lake City and when it ended, 18.4 inches fell, setting a new 24-hour snowfall record. (Intellicast)

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