DataStreme ECS WEEK ONE: 6-10 September 2010

ITEMS OF INTEREST

• Follow a research cruise -- Dr. Jim Brey, Director the American Meteorological Society's Education Program, is currently participating on a 12-day research cruise called "Ship of Rock 2010" on the waters of the eastern North Pacific off the coast of British Columbia's Vancouver Island on the research vessel JOIDES Resolution. This vessel is operated by the Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling (JOIDES) will be conducting drilling operations along the Cascadia fault. He will be posting a blog describing his onboard experiences. [JOIDES Resolution website]
• New geosynchronous environmental weather satellite passes the tests -- NASA and NOAA project managers for the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) mission recently announced that the GOES-15 satellite launched by NASA in March 2010 has successfully completed five months of on-orbit testing and has been accepted into service with the NOAA fleet of operational weather satellites. This satellite, formerly known as GOES-P, is the third and final spacecraft in the GOES N-P Series, which will be then superseded by a new generation GOES R series to become operational between 2012 and 2025. [NOAA News] [NASA GOES-P]
• Tracking giant iceberg's movement by satellite --
Researchers have been monitoring the images obtained from radar instruments on the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite to tracking the movement of a giant iceberg into the entering Nares Strait, which lies between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Greenland, connecting the Arctic Ocean's Lincoln Sea with Baffin Bay. [ESA]
• Noctilucent clouds and sunrise from space --
Astronauts onboard the International Space Station recently photographed an image of polar mesospheric, or noctilucent ("night shining"), clouds that were seen as the orbiting spacecraft was leaving the dark side of the Earth and the Sun was about to appear from below the Earth's horizon, which produced an "orbital sunrise." These clouds, which are occasionally seen by earth-bound observers in mid and polar latitudes at twilight, are usually found at altitudes of approximately 50 miles above the surface and their appearance may signal changes in the Earth's upper atmosphere, including the mesosphere. [NASA]
• Completion of Pacific Regional Center gets a financial boost --
NOAA officials recently announced that a Chicago (IL) construction company had received a $131.9 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act contract to construct the main facility at NOAA’s new Pacific Regional Center on Ford Island in Honolulu, HI. This center will consolidate NOAA’s programs supporting management of coastal and marine resources and weather, tsunami, and climate prediction in the Pacific. [NOAA News]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

• Cold nights could become a memory -- Researchers at Spain's University of Salamanca (USAL) analyzed the frequency of warm days and cold nights from daily temperature records between 1950 and 2006 and found that the number of warm days across the mainland Iberian Peninsula that included Spain had become greater than elsewhere around the globe, while at the same time, the number of cold nights decreased. Their research was motivated because the frequency of warm days and cold nights has an impact on agriculture and health in Spain. The increase in warm days could be due to global scale changes in climate, while the decrease in cold nights may be associated with the temperature of the North Atlantic Ocean. [EurekAlert!]
• ICESat satellite completes its successful mission --
Scientists at NASA 's Goddard Space Flight Center and the Orbital Debris Program Office recently reported that NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation (ICESat) satellite had reentered the Earth's atmosphere and debris fell to the surface over the Barents Sea last Monday morning. The ICESat, which was launched in 2003, had provided the scientific community with high resolution data from the Earth's polar region that permitted measurements of the changes in the mass of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, polar sea ice thickness, vegetation-canopy heights, and the heights of clouds and aerosols. These data also improved modeling of ice sheet and sea ice dynamics. [NASA ICESat]
• Three-dimensional study of Earth's magnetic shield reaches a decade --
Space scientists from around the world celebrated the tenth anniversary of the European Space Agency's "Cluster" mission that consists of a constellation of four spacecraft orbiting in formation around the Earth, studying the interaction between the solar wind and the planet's magnetosphere. One of the key instruments on these four satellites is PEACE, which helps capture 3-dimensional information about the magnetosphere. [EurekAlert!]
• 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

• Close-up mission to the Sun is planned -- NASA has commenced the planning of the Solar Probe Plus mission to the launched before 2018 that is designed to approach the sun and study the solar atmosphere at a distance of only four million miles from the sun's surface. Five science investigations have been selected to investigate why the sun's outer atmosphere is much hotter than the visible solar surface and what propels the solar wind outward, to affect the Earth. [NASA JPL]
• Spacecraft instrument is calibrated to measure origins of space weather --
While a rocket-borne instrument called Solar Ultraviolet Magnetograph Investigation (SUMI) was carried aloft, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) fired a brilliant, finely tuned spark of ultraviolet (UV) light that was used by scientists at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center to successfully calibrate a crucial UV sensor inside SUMI. This instrument and mission was designed to measure magnetic fields on the Sun and to observe a "hidden" layer of the Sun where violent space weather can originate. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

• Horseshoe crab decline may be attributed to climate change -- Scientists with the US Geological Survey and colleagues report that their research of the historical trends in the population sizes of horseshoe crabs appears to the parallel changes in climate since the Last Ice Age (approximately 11,000 years ago) and that a distinct decline in numbers could continue due to predicted changes in climate, especially associated with projected increases in global temperature and accompanying sea-level rises. [USGS Newsroom]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

• Evidence found for a trans-Antarctic seaway -- Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey who have been participating in the Census of Antarctic Marine Life recently reported that their analysis of tiny marine animals appear to suggest a trans-Antarctic seaway that may have been present during the last interglacial period (approximately 125,000 years ago) across a region now covered by a 2-km ice layer. They based their findings upon finding striking similarities in seabed colonies of bryozoans, or tiny marine filter feeders, from widely separated continental shelves of the Ross and Weddell Seas around Antarctica. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

• Tropical forests slashed for farmland -- A researcher from Stanford University and colleagues from other research universities recently reported that their analysis of NASA Landsat satellite images and data from United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization showed a significant area of tropical forests had been slashed for agriculture. They estimated that the cutting of these forests represented nearly 80 percent of the half million square miles of new farmland created between 1980 and 2000 in developing countries. The researchers also cautioned that the areal extent of the conversion of tropical forests to farmland could increase substantially during the next several decades. They were concerned that this large fraction would have huge implications for the potential increases in global temperature due to the release of carbon products into the atmosphere. [Stanford University News]
• 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]

COMPARATIVE PLANETOLOGY

• Selection made of instruments to sample Martian atmosphere -- The European Space Agency and NASA recently selected five instruments that will be carried by the joint European-American mission, ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, which will be launched in 2016 to sample the atmosphere of Mars. One of the instruments will be NASA's ExoMars Climate Sounder that will make daily profiles of the vertical distributions of the temperature, dust, water vapor and ice clouds in the Martian atmosphere, from pole to pole. Two other selected instruments are spectrometers, designed to detect very low concentrations of methane and other important trace gases in the Martian atmosphere. [NASA JPL]
• Earthweek --
Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Concept of the Week: Touring the DataStreme Earth's Climate System Website

NOTE: This Concept for the Week is a repeat of that which appeared in last week's Weekly Climate News.

Welcome to DataStreme Earth's Climate System (ECS)! The Earth's Climate System website is an integral component of the DataStreme ECS (Earth's Climate System) course. The website is intended to deliver a wealth of climate information that is both pertinent to the course as well as being a reference site for you as you study Earth's climate system. The webpage is arranged in several sections. On Monday of each week of the course, we will post the current Weekly Climate News that includes Climate in the News (a summary listing of recent events related to climate), Concept of the Week (an in-depth analysis of some topic related to climate in the Earth system), and Historical Events (a list of past events important in the understanding of climatology). When appropriate, Supplemental Information…In Greater Depth will be provided on some topic related to the principal theme of the week.

You will use the DS Climate Studies website to access and download the "Current Climate Studies" that complement your Climate Studies Investigations Manual. These materials should also be available by noon (Eastern Time) on Monday. Click the appropriate links to download and print these electronic components of the investigations as well as your Chapter, Investigations and Current Climate Studies Response forms.

Beyond these course Learning Files, sections include Climate Information, Climate Variability, Climate Change, Societal Interactions and Climate Policy, and Extras. As the titles suggest, there are multiple uses for climate data and their interpretation. Here we explore some examples of the information provided in the various sections of the webpage.

The Climate Information section includes access to weather data, the raw material of climate synthesis, from the United States and the world under the heading "Observations and Data." Under this heading, click on "U.S. and World Weather Data." This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) page first directs you to "United States Weather" and provides channels to current weather data as well as radar graphics, weather maps, and aviation and marine weather. It then leads you to International Weather Conditions.

The second major subdivision of the course website encompasses Climate Variability. Climatic variability refers to the fluctuations and oscillations that may occur within the climate system at temporal and spatial scales beyond that of individual weather events. Select the link, "NOAA El Niño Page". The page that appears provides access to a wealth of background and information on El Niño and La Niña, including the animation showing sea surface temperatures (SST) in the tropical Pacific during recent months. To the left of the animation, click on "What's happening today?" The page of current tropical Pacific conditions that appears shows a small map to the right. Click on that map and again anywhere on the subsequent set of map panels to get an enlarged view of the latest conditions of SST and anomalies.

The third major section of the course website is termed Climate Change. Here we provide links to information and analyses that primarily focus on anthropogenic (human-made) change processes and results in the climate system. That prominently includes the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's ("IPCC") latest classic report on atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions and their effects. Also linked are modeling results ("Models") based on those studies.

The last major section of the website is titled Societal Interactions and Climate Policy. This block contains information on the impacts of projected change on human societies around the world, beyond that listed in the IPCC report, and the international actions and debates regarding those issues. Select and click on "US Global Change Impacts Report" to the left in this section. This webpage introduces you to the latest comprehensive and authoritative report on climate change and its impacts in the United States, now and in the future. You will be directed to this report several times in this course.

Completing the course website is the Extras section of additional handy information for the course and individual study such as dictionaries of terms, maps and materials. Choose and examine one of the Climate Literacy links, either a PDF or the Word version. This document has recently been developed and released by NOAA to provide an overview of general concepts and information the general public and especially students should be aware of regarding the climate and the climate debate.

Concept of the Week: Questions

1. The first Climate Information link, "NOAA Climate Services", shows the Global Climate Dashboard where several graphs display Earth's temperature, atmospheric carbon dioxide level, sea level change, etc. with a time slider than can be set to display from [(1800)(1880)(1940)] to 2010.
2. Click the "U.S. Global Change Impacts Report" link in the Societal Interactions and Climate Policy section. On their page, click the Home tab of the Menu bar along the top. Midway down the resulting page are two selector bars that show the climate impacts in the report can be categorized by [(only regional)(only sectoral)(both regional and sectoral)] climate information.

Historical Events:

• 6 September 1840...The first official weather observation in Canada was taken at King's College, University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario by members of the British Royal Artillery. (The Weather Doctor)
• 6 September 1929...Iowa recorded its earliest snow on record as a few flakes noted in Alton at 9 AM. (The Weather Doctor)
• 6-7 September 1909...Topeka, KS was drenched with 8.08 inches of rain in 24 hours to establish a record for that location. (The Weather Channel)
• 8 September 1900...The greatest weather disaster in U.S. records occurred when a hurricane struck Galveston, TX. Waves fifteen feet high washed over the island demolishing or carrying away buildings, and drowning more than 6000 persons. The hurricane destroyed more than 3600 houses, and total damage was more than $30 million. Winds to 120 mph, and a twenty-foot storm surge accompanied the hurricane. Following the storm, the surf was three hundred feet inland from the former water line. The hurricane claimed another 1200 lives outside of the Galveston area. (8^th-9^th) (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
• 8 September 1987...The afternoon high of 97 degrees at Miami, FL was a record for the month of September. (The National Weather Summary)
• 9 September 1921...A dying tropical depression unloaded 38.20 inches of rain upon the town of Thrall in southeastern Texas killing 224 persons. The 36.40 inches that fell in 18 hours represents a record for the United States. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
• 9 September 1971...Hurricane Ginger formed, and remained a hurricane until the 5th of October. The 27-day life span was the longest of record for any hurricane in the North Atlantic Ocean. (The Weather Channel)
• 9 September 1994...Hurricane John become an extratropical storm in the central north Pacific Ocean, ending a 29-day life as a hurricane, the longest lived hurricane on record. (The Weather Doctor)
• 9 September 2000...The Antarctic ozone hole extended to more than 11.4 million square miles over Antarctica, the single-day largest area of depletion ever measured. (The Weather Doctor)
• 10 September 1900...Elk Point, SD received 8.00 inches of rain that set a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the state. (NCDC)
• 10-11 September 1963...A 24-hour rainfall record for the Northern Hemisphere was set at Paishih, Taiwan as 49.13 inches of rain fell as the result of Typhoon Gloria. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 11-12 September 1949...Early snowstorm dumped 7.5 inches on Helena, MT on the 11th, the earliest measurable snow for the city to date, then an additional 22 inches followed the next day. (The Weather Doctor)
• 11-12 September 1976...Japan's 24-hour rainfall record was set as 44.80 inches of rain fell at Hiso in Tokuhima Prefecture as a result of Typhoon Fran, which also was responsible for 167 deaths in Japan. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 11 September 1990...The high temperature at Phoenix, AZ reached 112, the highest ever for the date and for so late in the season. (Intellicast)
• 12 September 1987...Peak sustained winds in Hurricane Max reached 155 mph, the highest observed for an Eastern Pacific hurricane. (The Weather Doctor)

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Prepared by Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2010, The American Meteorological Society.