8-12 March 2010

ITEMS OF INTEREST

• Internship Opportunities -- The National Council for Science and the Environment provides college students and recent graduates paid Climate Change Internships with federal agencies, non-profit organizations and businesses. These internships involve science-based research, resource conservation, data collection, monitoring, communication, policy development, sustainable operations, and other projects to support adaptation to and mitigation of the effects of climate change on lands administered by the National Park Service. For further details and how to apply, visit http://www.ncseonline.org/CampustoCareers/.
• Regional climate science center planned for Alaska --
The Secretary of the US Department of Interior recently announced that the University of Alaska-Anchorage had been selected as the site for his Department's eight planned regional climate science centers around the nation that will provide science about climate change impacts, help land managers adapt to the impacts and engage the public through education initiatives. The focus of the Alaska center would be on the thawing of the permafrost and the loss of sea ice in the Arctic basin. [US Dept. of Interior] [Anchorage Daily News]
• Passing of a weather science legend --
Dr. Joanne Simpson, Chief Scientist Emeritus for Meteorology, Earth Sun Exploration Division, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, died last Thursday in Washington, DC at the age of 86. Dr. Simpson, who was the first woman to obtain a doctorate in meteorology in the US, was involved with the study of hurricanes, tropical meteorology and cloud physics. She received numerous scientific awards and was a past President of the American Meteorological Society. Joanne was married to Robert H. Simpson, who helped devise the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. [NASA]
• Viewing atmospheric circulation in three-dimensions --
Read this week's Supplemental Information.. In Greater Depth for information concerning the average circulation in the lower and upper troposphere.

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

• Giant iceberg collides with Antarctic ice tongue -- In early February 2010, Iceberg B-09B, the size of Luxembourg collided with the Mertz Glacier Tongue in Eastern Antarctica to form a new iceberg the size of Rhode Island. Scientists with Australia's Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACECRC) warned that this newly formed floating ice could affect ocean circulation, which could also affect the planetary climate. [National Geographic Daily News] A series of three images obtained from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite during the first half of February 2010 also shows this collision. [NASA GSFC] [Editor's Note: Special thanks are extended to Roy Chambers a LIT Leader from Portland, OR for forwarding this article. EJH]
• New estimates of Alaska's glacier melt rate are presented --
Researchers from Northern Arizona University, the University of British Columbia, the University of Northern British Columbia and France's Université de Toulouse recently claimed that their study of the glacier melt in Alaska from 1962 through 2006 using satellite imagery indicates a slower glacial retreat rate that contributed approximately one-third less to sea level rise than previously estimated. [Northern Arizona University]
• Ocean sensors indicate accelerated changes in global hydrological cycle --
An oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and his colleagues from other research institutions have found that data collected by the Argo network of ocean-observing sensors indicate increased salinity associated with increased evaporation from surface waters of the world's oceans because of increased global temperatures. Consequently, they argue that climate change is accelerating the world's hydrological cycle. [Explorations, Scripps Institution of Oceanography]
• 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

• Daylength could be shortened by Chilean earthquake -- A research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has computed that recent magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile has affected the Earth's rotation, shortening the length of each Earth day by approximately 1.26 microseconds. [NASA JPL]
• Chemicals employed to ease one environmental problem could worsen other problems --
A chemist from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and his colleagues report that hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) employed to replace chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) during the 1990s to reduce the damage to the stratospheric ozone layer appear to act as super greenhouse gases and decompose to form oxalic acid, one of the culprits in acid rain. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE IMPACTS ON THE BIOSPHERE

• Reductions in marine life found to accompany current El Niño event -- Using data collected from satellites, buoys and robotic submersible gliders, Researchers with the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center report that the northward spread of warm Pacific ocean water farther northward than normal along the Southern California coast has led to a high sea-level event in January and the low abundance of plankton and pelagic fish. They report that these conditions, which are affecting ecosystems in the North Pacific Ocean, are consistent with the currently occurring El Niño event, an anomalous but cyclic atmospheric and oceanic circulation episode. [Scripps Institution of Oceanography]
• Fossil corals may provide hope for current reefs --
A researcher at the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and The University of Queensland claims that eight fossil reefs in Papua New Guinea’s Huon Gulf region survived record low ocean levels and could provide hope that coral reefs may be able to survive the stresses due to human activity. [Coral Reef Studies]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

• Weaker ancient magnetic field affected early planetary atmosphere -- Scientists at the University of Rochester who studied the paleo-magnetic signatures of igneous rocks from Africa have discovered that the Earth's magnetic field approximately 3.5 billion years ago was only half as strong as the current field, which meant that water was more readily stripped from the planet's early atmosphere because of this weaker magnetic field along with a strong wind of energetic particles emanating from the young Sun. [EurekAlert!]
• Signs of an ancient "snowball Earth" found --
Scientists from Harvard University, Boise State University, Washington University in St. Louis, Princeton University and the Geological Survey of Canada have found evidence from ancient tropical rocks found in northwestern Canada that sea ice extended to the equator approximately 716.5 million years ago, which helps reinforce the theory that the ancient planet was essentially ice covered at a time when early life was beginning to evolve. [EurekAlert!]
• Mass extinction due to asteroid impact reaffirmed --
A panel of experts from the US, Mexico, Canada, Europe and Japan using new data collected from ocean drilling and continental sites conclude that an asteroid impact that created the Chicxulub crater in Mexico resulted in mass extinction of species of life including the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous geologic period (approximately 65.5 million years ago). They also found that alternative hypotheses are inadequate to explain the abrupt mass extinction. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

• White House unveils its Gulf Coast restoration plan -- Last week, President Obama's administration outlined a plan designed to support coastal restoration of the Gulf Coast from damage wrought by major hurricanes during the last four years including in the restoration of barrier islands and wetlands in Mississippi and Louisiana. The catastrophic dangers from future hurricanes, rising sea levels and erosion from the Gulf Coast would also be addressed. [USA Today]
• Changes in climate a factor in malaria spread --
Scientists from Emory University and Wageningen University in the Netherlands report that climate change appears to be one of several factors including migration and land-use change influencing the spread of malaria across highland areas of East Africa, Indonesia, Afghanistan. [EurekAlert!]
• Dirty California air could cost millions annually in medical care --
A new RAND Corporation study reports that exposure to high levels of near surface ozone and particulate pollution in California resulted in more than $60 annually in hospital-based medical care for people suffering from such medical problems as asthma and pneumonia triggered by the elevation pollution levels. [EurekAlert!]
• Atmospheric nanoparticles adversely impacts human health --
Researchers at Texas A&M University claim that the amount of tiny nanoparticles suspended in the atmosphere is increasing and that these particles are affecting not only global weather patterns, but also human health in a negative way, especially for those people with breathing problems. [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]

COMPARATIVE PLANETOLOGY

• Radar on orbiter helps in constructing Martian climate record -- The Shallow Radar instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has provided a detail map of widespread deposits of glacial ice buried under the surface in the midlatitudes of Mars. Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory hope that the data collected from this instrument on the orbiter can be used to construct a climate record of Mars. [NASA JPL]
• 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 (10,000 m). 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.

The explanation for these winds involves atmospheric mass distributions and forces on a rotating planet. Air in tropical latitudes is warmed, rises and then flows poleward, both north and south. On a rotating planet, moving air is deflected by the Coriolis effect, to the right in the Northern Hemisphere (and left in the Southern). The greater the temperature differences between warm lower and cold higher latitudes, the stronger the air motions and the faster the jet streams. The vertical temperature patterns result in the highest wind speeds near the top of the troposphere.

So Northern Hemisphere air headed northward, deflected to the right ends up headed east, a "westerly wind." In the Southern Hemisphere, southward moving air, deflected left will also go east, as a westerly wind. These "rivers" of strong upper-level winds steer surface weather systems as they move generally eastward across midlatitudes. They also provide boosts for jet aircraft headed eastward with them, but need to be avoided for going west! Of course, the full story is complex as land (especially mountains) and water surfaces interact with the heating of the air and eddies form in the turbulent flows, so jet streams wander. And with them go the storms and the weather patterns that form our short-term climate.

Concept of the Week: Questions

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

1. The Northern Hemisphere jet stream winds would be directed such that cold air is [(to the left),(to the right),(directly ahead)] of their forward motion.
2. In the Southern Hemisphere, the jet stream winds to be directed generally toward the [(south), (east), (west)].

Historical Events:

• 8 March 1971...A snowstorm dropped 10 to 20 inches of new snow across Vermont to raise snow depths to record levels. A snow cover of 116 inches was measured on the ground on top of Mount Mansfield, the second highest snow depth ever recorded on the mountain up to the time. The town of Orange measured 88 inches on the ground for a new state low-elevation snow depth record. (Intellicast)
• 8 March 1992...In the first 8 days of March, Las Vegas, NV recorded 1.87 inches of rain, setting a new monthly record for rainfall in March. The previous record was 1.83 inches set in 1973. (Intellicast)
• 8 March 1994...A major snowstorm buried sections of Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas. Ozark Beach, MO recorded 19 inches of snow, while Harrison, AR checked in with 18 inches. Tulsa, OK had 12.9 of snow, for its greatest single storm snowfall ever. (Intellicast)
• 8 March 1996...Elkins, WV received 2.1 inches of snow on this day to bring its seasonal snowfall to 125.8 inches -- its snowiest winter on record. (Intellicast)
• 9 March 1911…Aibonito, Puerto Rico had temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit, the lowest temperature recorded on that island. (The Weather Doctor)
• 9 March 1943...The temperature at Lac Frontiere, ME fell to 40 degrees below zero, the lowest reading ever in March in New England. (Intellicast)
• 9 March 1956...A whopping 367 inches of snow was measured on the ground at the Rainier Paradise Ranger Station in Washington. The snow depth was a state record and the second highest total of record for the continental U.S. (The Weather Channel)
• 10 March 1912...The barometric pressure reached 990.9 millibars (29.26 inches) at Los Angeles, CA, and 997.7 millibars (29.46 inches) at San Diego, CA, setting all-time records for those two locations. (David Ludlum)
• 10 March 1922...Dodge City, KS reported an all-time record 24-hour total of 17.5 inches of snow. (The Weather Channel)
• 10-11 March 1972, The temperature at Chicago, IL rose from 15 degrees on the 10th to 73 degrees on the 11th. The 58 Fahrenheit degree temperature rise tied the largest day-to-day rise on record. The city experienced a similar jump in temperature in February 1887. (The Weather Doctor)
• 11 March 1911...Tamarack, CA reported 451 inches of snow on the ground, a record for the U.S. (David Ludlum)
• 11 March 1948...Record cold followed in the wake of a Kansas blizzard. Lows of 25 degrees below zero at Oberlin, Healy, and Quinter established a state record for the month of March. Lows of 15 degrees below zero at Dodge City, 11 degrees below zero at Concordia, and 3 degrees below zero at Wichita were records for March at these locations. The low of 3 degrees below zero at Kansas City, MO was their latest subzero reading of record. (The Weather Channel) (Intellicast)
• 11 March 2006…The record run for dry days in Phoenix, AZ finally ended at 143 at 12:07 AM MST. The last measured rain in the city fell on 18 October 2005. The last time the region had significant precipitation was 2 August when 0.59 inch (15 mm) fell. Not only did the rain break the dry spell, the 1.40-inch total was a record amount for the date: The previous consecutive dry-day mark, set in 1998-99, was 101 days. (The Weather Doctor)
• 12-13 March 1907...A storm produced a record 5.22 inches of rain in 24 hours at Cincinnati, OH. (The Weather Channel)
• 12 March 1923...The record low air pressure of 971.9 millibars (28.70 inches) for Chicago, IL was set during a storm that produced heavy snow, a thick glaze, gales, and much rain that caused $800,000 damage. (Intellicast)
• 13-15 March 1952...The world's 5-day rainfall record was set when a tropical cyclone produced 151.73 inches of rain at Cilos, Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. The 73.62 inches that fell in a 24-hour period (15^th-16^th) set the world's 24-hour rainfall record. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 13 March 1993...The "Great Blizzard of '93" clobbered the eastern US and produced perhaps the largest swath of heavy snow ever recorded. Heavy snow was driven to the Gulf Coast with 3 inches falling at Mobile, AL and up to 5 inches reported in the Florida Panhandle, the greatest single snowfall in the state's history. Thirteen inches blanketed Birmingham, AL to set not only a new 24 hour snowfall record for any month, but also set a record for maximum snow depth, maximum snow for a single storm, and maximum snow for a single month. Tremendous snowfall amounts occurred in the Appalachians. Mount Leconte in Tennessee recorded an incredible 60 inches. Mount Mitchell in North Carolina was not far behind with 50 inches. Practically every official weather station in West Virginia set a new 24-hour record snowfall. Farther to the north, Pittsburgh, PA measured 25 inches, Albany, NY checked in with 27 inches, and Syracuse, NY was buried under 43 inches. The major population corridor from Washington, DC to Boston, MA was not spared this time as all the big cities got about a foot of snow before a changeover to rain. A rather large amount of thunderstorm activity accompanied the heavy snow. Winds to hurricane force in gusts were widespread. Boston recorded a gust to 81 mph, the highest wind gust at that location since hurricane Edna in 1954. Numerous cities in the south and mid Atlantic states recorded their lowest barometric pressure ever as the storm bottomed out at 960 millibars (28.35 inches) over Chesapeake Bay. Some 208 people were killed by the storm and total damage was estimated at $6 billion-- the costliest extratropical storm in history. (Intellicast)
• 14 March 1944...A single storm brought a record 21.6 inches of snow to Salt Lake City UT. (The Weather Channel)
• 14 March 1984...A coastal storm dumped very heavy snow over northern New England. Caribou, ME received 28.6 inches of snow in 24 hours, by far its greatest 24-hour snowfall on record. (Intellicast)

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