WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS
21-25 December 2009
DataStreme Earth's Climate Systems will return for Spring 2010 with new
Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 25 January 2010. All
the current online website products, including updated issues of Weekly
Climate News, will continue to be available throughout the winter break
period.
Happy Holidays to you and yours from the AMS DS Earth's Climate Systems
Central Staff!
Ed Hopkins
ITEMS OF INTEREST
- Happy Winter Solstice! The winter solstice will occur during the
midday hours of Monday (officially, on 21 December 2009 at 1747Z, or 12:47 PM
EST, 11:47 AM CST, etc.). At that time, the earth's spin axis will be oriented
such that the sun appears to be the farthest south in the local sky of most
earth-bound observers. While most of us consider this event to be the start of
astronomical winter, the British call that day the "Midwinter Day",
as the apparent sun will begin its northward climb again. For essentially all
locations in the Northern Hemisphere, Sunday night will be the longest and the
daylight on Monday will be the shortest of the year. Starting Tuesday, the
length of darkness will begin to shrink as we head toward the summer solstice
on 21 June 2010 at 1128Z.
- Director of National Climate Center answers climate science questions --
As a guest for a recent live webchat with Washington Post readers
entitled " Global Warming: What the Science Tells Us", Tom Karl,
Director of NOAA's National Climate Data Center, answered questions about the
science of climate and climate change. [NOAA
News]
- "Climate Wizard" visualization tool made available -- The
Nature Conservancy recently unveiled a new and easily accessible web tool
called "Climate Wizard" designed to generate color maps of
temperature and precipitation changes that have been observed across the globe
over the last 50 years, as well as maps of the temperature and precipitation
changes projected for the next 50 and 100 years based upon 16 of the climate
change models used in the recent IPCC assessment. The Climate Wizard is based
upon a collaboration between The Nature Conservancy, the University of
Washington, and the University of Southern Mississippi. [EurekAlert!]
[Editor's note: Access to the Climate Wizard is through
http://www.climatewizard.org/ .
EJH]
- Colliding aurorae put on a light show -- A team of scientists from
NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, the University of California-Los Angeles, the
University of California Berkeley, the University of Calgary, and the
University of Alaska have discovered spectacular outbursts of light when vast
curtains of aurora borealis (northern lights) collide. The discovery came when
movies were assembled from a network of sensitive cameras deployed across the
Alaskan and Canadian Arctic as part of the THEMIS (Time History of Events and
Macroscale Interactions during Substorms) mission of NASA and the Canadian
Space Agency. [NASA
Heliosphysics News Team]
CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS
- State and city weather extremes for November 2009 -- The National
Climatic Data Center (NCDC) has posted a listing of some of the notable
extremes in temperature, precipitation and other weather elements across the
nation for the recently completed month of November in "Selected
U.S. City and State Extremes for November 2009." Note that this site
may be updated during the following several weeks as more data are received and
analyzed.
- November drought report -- The National Climate Data Center has
posted its
November
2009 drought report online. Using the Palmer Drought Severity Index,
approximately nine percent of the coterminous United States experienced severe
to extreme drought conditions at the end of October, while 26 percent of the
area had severely to extremely wet conditions.
CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING
- Satellite detects groundwater loss in California -- Scientists from
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of California, Irvine have
employed data collected from the NASA/German Aerospace Center Gravity Recovery
and Climate Experiment (Grace) to determine that the aquifers in California's
Central Valley and along the Sierra Nevada Mountains have lost nearly eight
trillion gallons of water since these satellite observations commenced in
October 2003. The researchers attribute this loss to an extended drought across
the West and the increased pumping for irrigation. [NASA
JPL]
- Warming of California lakes seen from space -- Analysis of data
collected by the MODIS sensors on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites and the
Along-Track Scanning Radiometers on the European Space Agency's satellites by
researchers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the California Institute of
Technology, the University of California, Davis and the United Kingdom's
University of Leicester have resulted in the determination that the
temperatures of six large lakes along the California-Nevada border have been
increasing during the last decade at rates of approximately 0.2 Fahrenheit per
year. [NASA
JPL]
- California's carbon budget calculated with space-age aid -- A
researcher at NASA's Ames Research Center has produced a carbon emissions
inventory report for California based upon the amount of carbon dioxide and
methane gases emitted to the atmosphere, as determined from NASA satellites and
carbon models. [NASA
Ames]
- NASA's Terra satellite is 10 years old -- Ten years ago last week,
NASA launched its Terra satellite, which was the first of three flagship
missions in the agency's Earth Observing System that has been designed to
examine the interactions between the atmosphere, land and ocean within the
planet Earth system. The Terra satellite, which is in a sun-synchronous orbit
about the Earth, can be considered a multi-national, multi-disciplinary
mission, as the five instrument packages that it carries were built involving
partnerships between the US, Canada and Japan. The five instruments are ASTER
(Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer), CERES (Clouds
and the Earth's Radiant Energy System), MISR (Multi-angle Imaging
SpectroRadiometer), MODIS (Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) and
MOPITT (Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere). [NASA JPL] [EurekAlert!]
Three graphics show the global distribution of snow cover, cloud fraction
and reflected solar radiation obtained from the data collected recently from
the MODIS and CERES instruments onboard Terra. [NASA Earth
Observatory] Another product obtained from data collected by the ASTER
sensor onboard Terra satellite is a new Global Digital Elevation Model that has
a spatial resolution ranging between 50 and 300 feet. This model can be used by
climate researchers for monitoring climate change. [NASA]
- Investigating what lies beneath the Greenland -- Researchers from
Ohio State University, the University of Colorado-Boulder/NOAA Cooperative
Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and NASAs Jet
Propulsion Laboratory have been studying the role that water under the
Greenland ice sheet plays on the melting of these glaciers. [Ohio State University
News]
- 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
- Link seen between solar activity and Earth's thermosphere -- Using
data collected from NASA's TIMED (Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics
and Dynamics) satellite, scientists at NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton
University and the National Center for Atmospheric Research have found that a
dramatic cooling in the Earth's thermosphere (at altitudes above 100 km)
correlates with the declining phases of the current solar cycle. These
researchers claim that their results show a link between the Sun and the
climate of the thermosphere that can be used to help make more accurate
predictions of climate change in the upper atmosphere. [NASA
LaRC]
- Satellite data helps in greenhouse gas research -- Scientists at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have developed a new tool that permits the
acquisition of daily measurements of carbon dioxide in the mid-troposphere
(altitudes between 3 to 7 miles) from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS)
instrument on NASA's Aqua spacecraft. This product represents the first-ever
global carbon dioxide data set obtained solely from observations. Global
transport of carbon dioxide can also be tracked. In another major finding,
scientists using AIRS data have removed most of the uncertainty associated with
the role of water vapor in atmospheric models. These data represent the
strongest observational evidence for how water vapor responds to a warming
climate. [NASA
JPL]
- Satellites used to study noctilucent clouds -- Scientists at NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center and Hampton University have assembled a
comprehensive global-scale view of the nature and occurrence of noctilucent
("night-shining") or Polar Mesospheric Clouds, based upon
high-resolution data collected from sensors on NASA's Aeronomy of Ice in the
Mesosphere (AIM) satellite. Their study indicates that the cloud season turns
on and off like a "geophysical light bulb" and that high altitude
mesospheric "weather" may follow similar patterns to surface weather
patterns. [NASA
GSFC]
- Black soot on Himalayan ice threatens Earth's "Third Pole" --
Scientists from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the Chinese
Academy of Sciences recently reported that temperatures on the Tibetan Plateau,
dubbed Earth's "third pole", have increased by 0.5 Fahrenheit degrees
per decade over the last 30 years, which is twice the rate of global
temperature increase during that same time span. The researchers suggest that
the temperature increase across the Tibetan Plateau has been caused by the
increased absorption of solar radiation from the carbon black soot generated by
human activity that has been deposited onto the Himalayan glaciers. They also
warn that some of the glaciers could disappear by 2050. [NASA Earth
Science News Team]
- Volcano could erupt in the Philippines -- An image obtained from the
Advanced Land Imager on NASAs Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite shows
the Mayon Volcano in the Philippines that was threatening to erupt after
tremors and minor ash falls were observed during mid December. Thousands of
people were forced to evacuate from the region around this volcano. [NASA Earth
Observatory]
- Alaska's Arctic coast continuing to erode -- Researchers at the
University of Colorado-Boulder, the USGS, the Naval Postgraduate School and
Stratus Consulting have determined that sections of northern Alaska's Arctic
coastline have been eroding at annual rates reaching 45 feet per year because
of a combination of declining sea ice, warming seawater and increased wave
activity. These researchers do not foresee an end to this situation in the near
future. [University
of Colorado]
- Indian monsoon rain appear affected by landscape changes due to human
activity -- Armed with satellite data and more than 50-years of
precipitation data from 1800 recording stations, scientists at Purdue
University and the Indian Space Research Organization have shown that
anthropogenic changes to India's landscape have affected Indian monsoon rains,
with increased agricultural irrigation causing a decrease in rainfall in rural
areas, while increased urbanization has resulted in increased heavy rainfall.
The researchers suggest that land-use decisions play an important role in
climate change. [Purdue
University News]
- Air pollution could affect isolated thunderstorm cells -- An
atmospheric scientist from the US Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory has claims that her research indicates that aerosols from
anthropogenic pollution sources can affect the development of isolated
cumulonimbus clouds and associated thunderstorm cells. Depending upon the wind
shear conditions, increased pollution could hamper thunderstorms in strong wind
shear, but increase thunderstorm development in weak wind shear situations. [EurekAlert!]
CLIMATE IMPACTS ON THE BIOSPHERE
- Marine hypoxia areas tend to increase during climate warming episodes
-- A new study made by Oregon State University researchers of Pacific Ocean
sediments collected by the Ocean Drilling Program off Chile's coast indicates
that offshore waters experienced hypoxia conditions, or systematic oxygen
depletion, during the rapid warming of the Antarctic following the last
"glacial maximum" period 20,000 years ago. [Oregon
State University]
- US wine and corn production could be impacted by global warming --
Using a very high resolution computer model, scientists at Stanford
University warn that projected increases in global temperature would affect the
timing of phenological events and thereby could significantly impact US
agriculture, including the nation's wine and corn production during the next
three decades. [EurekAlert!]
- Cold-weather Sonoran Desert flowers respond to climate warming --
Researchers from the University of Arizona have found that during the last
25 years, cold-adapted species of flowering annuals that germinate and grow
during the winter season in the Sonoran Desert appear to becoming more common.
Apparently, the change in climate has shifted the winter storm track to bring
winter rains to the Sonoran Desert, providing increased moisture to the
cold-adapted flower species. [EurekAlert!]
CLIMATE AND SOCIETY
- Solar storms could increase radiation exposure for commercial airline
travelers -- Scientists at NASAs Langley Research Center have been
developing a real-time model that would calculate and show the radiation
exposure risk for flight crews and passengers on commercial airline flights due
to powerful solar storms. Ultimately, this model would be able to log the
accumulated radiation exposure over longer time periods for pilots and flight
crews. [NASA
LaRC]
- 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.
Historical Events:
- 21 December 1892...Portland, OR was buried under an all-time record 27.5
inches of snow. (21st-24th) (The Weather Channel)
- 21 December 1989...Forty cities in the north central U.S., including
thirteen in Iowa, reported record low temperatures for the date. The high for
the date of 16 degrees below zero at Sioux Falls, SD was December record for
that location. (The National Weather Summary)
- 23 December 1955...The barometric pressure dipped to 28.97 inches (981
millibars) at Boise, ID, an all-time record for that location. (The Weather
Channel)
- 23 December 1983...The temperature plunged to 50 degrees below zero at
Williston, ND to equal their all-time record. Minneapolis, MN reported an
afternoon high of 17 degrees below zero, and that evening strong northerly
winds produced wind chill readings of 100 degrees below zero in North Dakota.
(The National Weather Summary)
- 24 December 1872...Extreme cold gripped the Upper Midwest on Christmas Eve.
Downtown Chicago reported an all-time record low of 23 degrees below zero,
which stood until January 1982, and Minneapolis, MN reached 38 degrees below
zero. The afternoon high at Minneapolis was 17 degrees below zero. (David
Ludlum)
- 24 December 1963...Memphis, TN set its all-time record low temperature with
13 degrees below zero, two days after a heavy 14.3-inch snowstorm.
(Intellicast)
- 24 December 1982...The "Blizzard of 1982" hit eastern Colorado.
Denver recorded 23.6 inches of snow in 24 hours, setting a new 24-hour record.
Winds of 60 mph whipped the snow into 4 to 8 foot drifts. Stapleton Airport was
closed for 33 hours and most roads were impassable. (Intellicast)
- 24 December 1983...The barometric pressure reached 31.42 inches at Miles
City, MT to establish a high barometric pressure record for the U.S. It was the
coldest Christmas Eve of modern record. More than 125 cities reported record
low temperatures for the date, and all-time record lows for December were
reported at seventeen cities, including Chicago with a low of 25 degrees below
zero, and Havre, MT with a reading of 50 below zero. Sioux Falls, SD stayed
below zero for eight consecutive days. Great Falls, MT dropped to a frigid 42
degrees below zero. Dayton, OH reached 13 degrees below zero. (The National
Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
- 24 December 1989... Christmas Eve 1989 became one of the coldest on record.
Fifty-seven cities in the south central and eastern U.S. reported record low
temperatures for the date, including Elkins, WV with a reading of 22 degrees
below zero. Key West, FL equaled their record for December with a morning low
of 44 degrees. Huntsville, AL hit one degree above zero. The high of just 45
degrees at Miami, FL was an all-time record for that location after a morning
low of 33 degrees. It smashed their previous record for the date by twenty
degrees. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
- 25 December 1988...A massive winter storm made for a very white Christmas
in the western U.S. Las Vegas, NV reported snow on the ground for the first
time of record. Periods of snow over a five-day period left several feet of new
snow on the ground of ski areas in Colorado, with 68 inches reported at Wolf
Creek Pass. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)
- 25 December 1989...It was a record cold Christmas Day for parts of the
southeastern U.S. Morning lows of zero degrees at Wilmington, NC and five
degrees below zero at Jacksonville, NC established all-time records for those
two locations. Miami Beach, FL equaled a December record established the
previous morning with a low of 33 degrees. Erie, PA set an all-time snowfall
record for the month as light snow brought the total to 60.3 inches.
Tallahassee, FL had a trace of snow, the first ever for Christmas Day. (The
National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
- 26 December 1909...Philadelphia, PA had its record snow to that date with
21 inches. The Delaware state record was also broken with 24 inches.
(Intellicast)
- 26 December 1947...New York City recorded its all-time record snow with
25.8 inches at the Battery and 26.8 inches at Central Park. A record 26.4
inches of snow fell in 24 hours, with as much as 32 inches reported in the
suburbs. White Plains had 6 inches in one hour with 19 inches in just 6 hours.
The heavy snow brought traffic to a standstill, and snow removal cost eight
million dollars. Thirty thousand persons were called upon to remove the 100
million tons of snow. The storm claimed 27 lives.
(26th-27th) (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
- 26 December 1983...Miami, FL established a December record with a morning
low of 33 degrees. Just three days earlier, and again three days later, record
high temperatures were reported in Florida, with daytime highs in the 80s. (The
National Weather Summary)
- 26 December 1993...Bitterly cold air prevailed across the north central
states. Sault Ste Marie, MI plunged to 31 degrees below zero to set a new
December record. Tower, MN reached a frigid 50 degrees below zero.
(Intellicast)
- 26 December 2004...A massive earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter
magnitude scale approximately 100 miles off the western coast of Sumatra
created a tsunami that caused devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia,
Thailand, Malaysia, The Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the
Indian Ocean. The death toll is currently estimated at more than 300,000.
Officials say the true toll may never be known, due to rapid burials. Indonesia
was worst affected with as many as 219,000 people killed. (Wikipedia)
Return to DataStreme Earth Climate Systems
website
Prepared by Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2009, The American Meteorological Society.