DataStreme ECS WEEK 8: 25-29 October 2010

Climate in the News

ITEMS OF INTEREST

• Viewing the sun from behind the moon -- An image made earlier this month in the extreme ultraviolet portion of the spectrum by the sensor on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows a image of the sun partially masked by the moon. [NASA]
• Solar flares surround a sunspot --
Images from NASA's SDO show solar flares and a filament of UV radiation around sunspot 1112 on the solar surface. A solar flare that erupted one week ago was the brightest solar flare in approximately three months. [NASA GSFC]

CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS

• Annual Arctic Report Card handed out -- NOAA's Climate Program Office recently released its 2010 annual update of the Arctic Report Card, a report of the state of the air, ocean and ice in the Arctic basin prepared by an international team of 69 scientists, including those from NOAA. These experts have found that the region continues to warm at an unprecedented rate in 2010, with record temperatures in Greenland, record decreases in Arctic snow cover and a thinning of Arctic sea ice, together with a reduced areal coverage in the summer sea ice. The scientists caution that these events could result in dramatic changes in the weather patterns elsewhere across the Northern Hemisphere. [NOAA News]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

• Monitoring changes in stored water from space -- Scientists from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center assembled a series of 12 maps produced from data collected by NASA's GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellites showing the worldwide monthly changes in the water mass sequestered in lakes, rivers, soil moisture, subsurface aquifers, snow cover and glaciers between July 2009 and June 2010. The maps showing the water storage changes in units of equivalent liquid water level depth (in cm) are important for assessing the planetary hydrologic cycle. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Sea-level rise measured in the Falklands --
Using sea level measurements from 1842 and from the last 30 years, researchers at the United Kingdom's National Oceanography Centre have found that the sea level of the South Atlantic around the Falkland Islands has increased since the mid-nineteenth century. Furthermore, the rate of in the sea-level rise has accelerated over the last several decades. This long-time series in sea level measurements in the Falklands is needed to assess the role that increasing global temperatures would have on global sea level. [National Oceanography Centre]
• 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

• Comparing effects of auto and airplane travel upon global temperatures -- An Australian scientist and colleagues compared the impacts made upon increased global temperatures by various modes of transportation and found that driving an automobile would increase global temperatures in the long run more than making the same long-distance journey by air. However, their study indicates that in the short run, air travel would have a larger adverse climate impact. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

• Nation's rivers altered by climate change and human water use -- Scientists with Arizona State University and the US Geological Survey studying the food webs of 36 rivers and streams across the United States have found that changes in river hydrology associated with climate change and increased human demands for water are seriously affecting aquatic ecosystems. These changes involve a reduction in the populations of some species in the middle or top of the food chain, together with a potential increase in the elimination of top-predator fish species. [USGS Newsroom]
• Assessing the response of arctic and alpine plants to changing climate -- Ecologists from the University of Wyoming and Duke University reporting on a long-term study of arctic and alpine plants involving their survival and reproduction. These researchers have shown that as global temperatures have increased during the last several decades, the geographical ranges of these plant species have shifted poleward or to higher elevations. They also warn that climate change may create tipping points for populations, not just species. [NSF News]
• Plants play large role in cleansing air pollution --
Using observations, along with computer modeling efforts, scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the University of Northern Colorado and the University of Arizona have found that deciduous plants absorb approximately one third more of oxygenated volatile organic compounds than previously thought. These common air-polluting chemicals could affect human health and the environment. [NSF News]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

• Official winter weather outlook released -- Late last week, forecasters at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center released their Winter Outlook for meteorological winter (the three months of December 2010 through February) across the nation. They feel that the winter weather will be influenced by strengthening La Niña conditions, an anomalous atmospheric and oceanic circulation regime that tends to favor lower than average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. Specifically, the forecasters foresee a better than equal chance for above average winter temperatures across the southern and central sections of the nation, primarily from the western Gulf of Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley northward across the Plains to Kansas. On the other hand, the Pacific Coast, along with the northern Plains and upper Mississippi Valley, would have a good chance of experiencing below average temperatures. They also call for better than even chances that the southern tier of states, from Arizona eastward to the Atlantic coast would experience dry conditions, especially across sections of Georgia and Florida. However, the forecasters also anticipate that a large area of the nation appeared to have a good chance of above average precipitation, including the Pacific Northwest, the northern Rockies and northern Plains, as well as sections of the Midwest, extending from the lower Ohio Valley to the eastern Great Lakes. Elsewhere, near equal chances that above or below average precipitation could occur this winter. [NOAA News]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

• Recreating the landscape of Africa during the Cenozoic - A paleobotanist at Southern Methodist University and colleagues have been analyzing fossil pollen and leaves obtained from Central and West Africa in an attempt to reconstruct the region's landscape approximately 65 million years ago, at the beginning of the Cenozoic. This time marks the start of the age of mammals following the demise of dinosaurs. The scientists have yet to determine if the region was covered with a lush tropical rainforest. [EurekAlert!]

HUMAN BIOCLIMATOLOGY

• Air pollution increases risk of severe pulmonary disease -- A scientist at the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology of the Danish Cancer Society reports that long-term exposure to even low-level air pollution may increase the risk of severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

• 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: Seawater Salinity and Carbon Dioxide

The contemporary concern regarding global climate change has caused scientists to study the various factors that govern the ocean's ability to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide. Concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, are on the rise primarily because of increased burning of fossil fuels. Higher levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide may be contributing to increased global temperatures, a condition often identified as global warming. The ocean's role in regulating the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide depends on the temperature, salinity, and biological components of surface waters.

Studies show that the ocean's ability to absorb carbon dioxide is primarily temperature dependent. As noted in Chapter 8 of your textbook, gases are more soluble in cold seawater than warm seawater. Hence, changes in sea surface temperature affect the ability of the ocean to absorb carbon dioxide. We also found in Chapter 1, photosynthetic organisms assimilate carbon dioxide and release oxygen. Through cellular respiration, all organisms release carbon dioxide. Therefore, biological activity affects the ocean's ability to absorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

What about the effects of changes in salinity on the ocean's uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide? Research from the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii provides some insight on this question. For nearly 20 years, scientists have been collecting physical, chemical and biological data through a large column of ocean water at Station ALOHA, a sampling site about 100 km (62 mi) north of Oahu that appears representative of oceanic conditions in the central North Pacific. In 2003, David M. Karl, a biogeochemist at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, reported a decline in the rate at which surface ocean waters were absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In 2001, the rate of carbon dioxide uptake was only about 15% of the rate in 1989. Why the change in carbon dioxide uptake? In this region of the Pacific north of Hawaii, sea surface temperatures showed no significant change during the period of observation but precipitation decreased and evaporation increased. Less precipitation associated with drought coupled with higher rates of evaporation caused the surface water salinity at ALOHA to increase by about 1%. Increasing salinity inhibits water's ability to absorb gases including carbon dioxide. Karl and his colleagues attribute 40% of the decline in the ocean's carbon dioxide uptake to the saltier waters. The balance of the decline may be due to changes in biological productivity or ocean mixing.

Projected changes in global climate indicate significant changes in precipitation around the globe including reduced precipitation over various large areas of the oceans, resulting in potential "drought" conditions. Since changes in oceanic salinity result from changes in precipitation, the contribution that salinity plays on future assimilation of atmospheric carbon dioxide by the ocean also becomes an important consideration.

Concept of the Week: Questions

Place your responses on the Chapter Progress Response Form provided in the Study Guide.

1. With rising sea surface temperatures, the rate of evaporation of seawater [(increases), (decreases)].
2. With increasing salinity and constant temperature, the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide that is taken up by ocean water [(increases), (decreases)].

Historical Events:

• 25 October 1977...Dutch Harbor in Alaska reported a barometric pressure reading of 27.31 inches (925 millibars) to establish an all-time record for the state. (The Weather Channel)
• 26 October 1859...New York City had their earliest substantial snow of record as four inches blanketed the city. (David Ludlum)
• 26 October 1919...The temperature at Bismarck, ND plunged to ten degrees below zero, the earliest subzero reading of record for the city, and a record for the month of October. (The Weather Channel)
• 26 October 1926...Barrow, AK received a record fifteen inches of snow, and also established a 24 hour precipitation record of 1.00 inch which lasted until the 21st of July in 1987. (The Weather Channel)
• 26 October 1993...The temperature at Eureka, CA soared to 87 degrees to set an all-time high temperature record for the city. (Intellicast)
• 27 October 1929...A snowstorm dumped 27 inches upon Ishpeming, MI in 24 hours to establish a state record. (David Ludlum)
• 28 October 1936...The temperature at Layton, NJ dipped to 9 degrees above zero to establish a state record for the month of October. (The Weather Channel)
• 28 October 1991...Yakima, WA recorded 2.4 inches of snow, equaling the record for October. (Intellicast)
• 29 October 1917...The temperature at Soda Butte, WY the mercury plunged to 33 degrees below zero, an U.S. record for the month of October. (David Ludlum)
• 29 October 1991...Bismarck, ND received 15.9 inches of snow on the 28^th and 29^th. This brought the October snowfall total to 23.5 inches, a new record. (Intellicast)
• 30 October 1925...Nashville, TN was blanketed with an inch of snow, their earliest measurable snow of record. (The Weather Channel)
• 31 October 1987...Yakima, WA reported measurable rainfall for the first time since 18 July. The 103-day long dry spell was their longest of record. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 31 October 1991...A severe winter storm dubbed the "Great Halloween Mega Storm" struck the upper Midwest. Minnesota bore the brunt of the storm. By the time the storm finally ended on 2 November, Duluth received 37 inches of snow and Minneapolis 28 inches, which were new all time records for single storm totals. These two cities received nearly half their normal seasonal snows in this one storm. In Wisconsin, 35 inches of snow was reported at Superior and 30 inches at Iron River. (Intellicast)
• 31 October 1993...Corpus Christi, TX dropped to 28 degrees to set the October (and November) record. Brownsville dropped to a monthly record 35 degrees. (Intellicast)

Return to DataStreme Earth's Climate System website

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