23-27 August 2010

DataStreme Earth Climate Systems will return for Fall 2010 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 30 August 2010. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

• Historic probe of Mars launched 35 years ago -- Last Friday marked the 35th anniversary of the launch of NASA's Viking Mission to Mars spacecraft, which ultimately placed the first Viking 1 lander on the Martian surface on 20 July 1976 after a 10-month journey to our neighboring planet. This Viking 1 lander transmitted the first high-resolution picture from the surface of Mars. The Viking 1 lander was followed by the Viking 2 lander that reached the surface on 3 September 1976. Both landers took surface samples, analyzed them for composition and signs of life, studied atmospheric composition and meteorology, and deployed seismometers. The orbiters took high-resolution pictures of the entire planet and relayed them to Earth. [NASA JPL]

• Reports from GRIP -- NASA's six-week field experiment designed to study the development of hurricanes in the North Atlantic Basin began at the start of last week and continues. Some notes from this experiment, called Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP), include:
• One of the first missions that was conducted as part of the GRIP experiments was a 5-hour "shakedown" flight made by NASA's DC-8 aircraft early last week along the northern Gulf Coast so that the scientists could test their instruments. [NASA GRIP Mission]
• A report on the work that the scientists performed on their first GRIP flight aboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft. [NASA GRIP Mission]
• One of the scientific investigations that is being made during the GRIP experiment entails the analysis of the shapes and sizes of precipitation particles in an effort to see if how these physical properties of precipitation influence the development of severe weather in storm clouds. The scientists and engineers from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center have redesigned the Advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer (AMPR), which will be flown on a high-altitude a WB-57 aircraft, to better observe the different shapes of precipitation at an altitude of 60,000 feet over the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean. [NASA GRIP Mission]

• Another look at July 2010 global temperatures -- Scientists at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) recently released their analysis of global temperatures for July 2010, finding that the global average temperature was almost 1 Fahrenheit degree above the 30-year average July temperature based upon the 1951 to 1980 interval, and tied with July 1998 and July 2005 for the highest July temperature on record that extends back to 1880. Their analysis departs slightly from that produced the previous week by NOAA scientists working at the National Climatic Data Center because of differences in averaging techniques. The GISS analysis shows that unseasonably high temperatures were found across sections of Eurasia. [NASA Earth Observatory]

• Monitoring the Northwest Passage from space -- An image obtained from data collected last week by the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite shows the nearly ice-free channels around some of islands of the Canadian Archipelago that would represent the famed Northwest Passage. According to National Snow and Ice Data Center, some of the straits have more ice this summer than back in the summer of 2007 when the extent of the Arctic sea ice had reached an all-time record minimum. [NASA Earth Observatory]

• Decade-long monitoring of atmospheric carbon monoxide by satellites -- NASA scientists have recently extended their animation of a sequence of global images of monthly atmospheric carbon monoxide concentration obtained by the MOPITT (Measurements Of Pollution In The Troposphere) sensor on NASA’s Terra satellite than began in March 2000. The maps, which display the tropospheric carbon monoxide concentrations at an altitude of approximately 12,000 feet, show the effects of human-generated pollution along with the effects of wildfires. [NASA Earth Observatory]

• 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]

• Growth of Antarctic sea ice seen as a paradox -- Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology recently explained that the increases in the Antarctic sea ice in recent years were due to a hydrological cycle that was accelerated by higher temperatures. This accelerated hydrological cycle resulted in more precipitation in the form of snow over the waters of the Southern Oceans surrounding Antarctica, which also helps to stabilize the upper ocean and insulate it from the heating below. [EurekAlert!]

• Thickness of Arctic sea ice is a matter of concern -- Sea ice physicists from Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute who have been monitoring the thickness of the sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean near Greenland from aircraft are concerned that the ice cover is thinning and could affect the long-term equilibrium of the Arctic Ocean. [Alfred Wegener Institute]

• New computer model software should advance climate change research--The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) recently released its Community Earth System Model (CESM) that is designed to become one of the center's primary climate models designed to provide scientists with greater resolution in their study of climate change as part of the next assessment by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). [NCAR/UCAR]

• Fall outlook issued -- Last week, forecasters with NOAA's Climate Prediction Center issued their outlooks for temperature and precipitation across United States for the three months of September through November, which are defined as meteorological autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. The temperature outlook indicates that a large section of the coterminous US running from the Southwest to the Great Lakes and Northeast would have a better than even chance of experiencing higher than normal temperatures. The Southwest would appear to have the highest probability of above normal temperatures. On the other hand, the outlook for sections of the Northwest and the Southeast does not appear to have a strong signal, resulting in an outlook that calls for equal chances of above or below average fall temperatures.
  The precipitation outlook for Fall 2010 indicates that the Pacific Northwest along with the central and northern Plains would have a better than even chance of above average precipitation. The forecasters anticipate that the Southwest along with the mid-Mississippi and lower Ohio Valleys would have a good chance of below average fall rainfall. Elsewhere, the outlook called for equal chances of above or below average precipitation. [NOAA Climate Prediction Center]
• National seasonal drought outlook issued -- The forecasters with NOAA's Climate Prediction Center also issued their US Seasonal Drought Outlook that would run from late August through November 2010, covering meteorological autumn. These forecasters foresee improvement in the current drought conditions around the northern Great Lakes and along the Atlantic Seaboard, as well as several areas along the eastern and central Gulf Coast. However, current drought conditions were expected to persist or new drought areas develop over the lower Mississippi Valley, the southern Plains and sections of the Great Basin. [NOAA Climate Prediction Center]

• Monitoring global vegetation health and crop growth trends from space -- Scientists have been monitoring the health of global vegetation along with the net primary productivity that indicates crop growth using satellite sensors for more than a decade. A new animated sequence of satellite images shows the health of the vegetation from around the globe running from February 2000 through June 2010. These displays are of the monthly vegetation index values obtained from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite and show the seasonal changes in the vegetation along with the geographic distribution of the vegetation. [NASA Earth Observatory] Researchers at the University of Montana have updated a study of the global plant growth during the last decade (2000-2009) using MODIS data from the Terra satellite. They found that large sections of the Southern Hemisphere experienced a decrease in overall plant growth as evidenced by a reduction in the net primary productivity, which is associated with the total amount of carbon that growing plants store. This decrease appears to be associated with major drought. [NASA Earth Observatory]

• Using weather and climate knowledge to chart maritime heritage -- Archeologists along with meteorologists at the Museum of Archaeology at Norway's University of Stavanger have been combining their knowledge of meteorology, climatology and archaeology to discover some of the old sea routes and mooring sites along the Scandinavian coast used by early Norwegian mariners from the Iron Age to the early Middle Ages. [EurekAlert!]

• Demise of the mammoths possibly due to dwindling grasslands -- Scientists from Durham University suggest that the widespread reduction in the grasslands together with the spread of forests spread near the end of the last Ice Age (between 14,000 and 11,400 years ago) may have been responsible for the decline and eventual extinction of several large mammals such as the woolly mammoth, the woolly rhino and the cave lion, rather than by hunting by early humans. [EurekAlert!]

• The Great Oxygenation Event revisited -- A geochemist from Washington University in St. Louis cautions that difficulties exist in attempting to interpret redox (reduction-oxidation reaction) proxies to help determine if the early Earth's atmosphere and oceans were either reducing or oxidizing. These proxies may involve the ratio of chromium isotopes in banded iron formations or the ratio of isotopes in sulfide particles trapped in diamonds, can be used. His analyses indicated the chemistry of the atmosphere-ocean system is more complex than previously thought, with several swings in atmospheric and oceanic oxygen concentrations between about 2.5 billion years ago, a time often called "Great Oxygenation Event," and the Ediacaran period (from 635 to 542 million years ago), when early multicellular animals may have appeared. Therefore, he calls for denser sampling and analysis of the rock samples. [Washington University in St. Louis Newsroom]

• 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.

• 24 August 1992...Hurricane Andrew slammed into south Florida, devastating the community of Homestead with 181-mph winds. With a central pressure at landfall of 922 millibars (27.22 inches of mercury), which at the time was the third lowest ever recorded in a hurricane at landfall in the United States. Camille (1969) and the Labor Day Hurricane (1935) were more intense. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina became the third most intense landfalling hurricane with a 920-millibar pressure reading (or 27.17 in Hg) when it reached the Louisiana Gulf Coast. (The Weather Doctor)
• 25 August 1910...The temperature at Bowen, MT dropped to 5 degrees, the lowest ever for the 48 states in August. (Intellicast)
• 25 August 1940...New Jersey experienced its coldest August morning of record, with lows of 32 degrees at Layton and Charlotteburg. (The Weather Channel)
• 25 August 1987...A new record for monthly rainfall was set at Chicago when a storm brought the total to 15.73 inches erasing the previous record for any month, which had been 14.17 inches in September, 1961 (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
• 26 August 1883...Krakatoa Volcano exploded in the East Indies. The explosion was heard more than 2500 miles away, and every barograph around the world recorded the passage of the air wave, up to seven times. Giant waves, 125 feet high and traveling 300 mph, devastated everything in their path, hurling ashore coral blocks weighing up to 900 tons, and killing more than 36,000 persons. Volcanic ash sent into the stratosphere was carried around the globe in thirteen days producing blue and green suns in the tropics, and then vivid red sunsets in higher latitudes. The temperature of the earth was lowered one degree for the next two years, finally recovering to normal by 1888. (David Ludlum)
• 26 August 1935...San Francisco, CA had their heaviest 24-hour rainfall for August when 0.25 inches fell. (Intellicast)
• 26 August 1989...Anchorage, AK was soaked with a steady rain, and the 24-hour total of 4.12 inches smashed their previous 24-hour precipitation total of 2.10 inches. It also pushed their rainfall total for the month past their previous record for August. (The National Weather Summary)
• 27 August 1948...Buffalo, NY hit its all-time maximum temperature of 99 degrees. (Intellicast)
• 27 August 1970...Elko, NV was deluged with 3.66 inches of rain in just one hour, establishing a state record. (The Weather Channel)
• 27 August 1973...The largest documented Canadian hailstone fell at Cedoux, Saskatchewan. The stone weighed 0.55 pounds and measured 4.5 inches across. (The Weather Doctor)
• 27 August 1986...A mix of snow, ice pellets and rain fell on Sault Ste. Marie, MI during the evening, the first time snow was observed in August since records started in 1888. (Intellicast)
• 27 August 1995...Remains of Tropical Storm Jerry unloaded 12.32 inches of rain in 24 hours in Greer, SC, a record for 24 hours, for a rain event and for August. At Antreville, 17.00 inches fell in 24 hours, setting a 24-hour rainfall record for the Palmetto State. (Intellicast)
• 28 August 1911...Saint George, GA was deluged with 18.00 inches of rain in 24 hours to establish a state record that was subsequently broken by the current record of 21.10 inches in July 1994. (The Weather Channel)
• 28-29 August 1962...Hackberry, LA was deluged with 22 inches of rain in 24 hours, establishing a state record. (The Weather Channel)
• 29 August 1876...A torrential downpour inundated St John's Newfoundland with 173.2 mm (6.8 inches) of rainfall, the greatest single daily accumulation ever recorded in the province. (The Weather Doctor)
• 29 August 1965...The observatory on top of Mount Washington NH reported a snowfall of 2.5 inches of snow, a national record for the month of August. (The Weather Doctor)
• 29 August 2005...As Hurricane Katrina traveled across the northern Gulf of Mexico toward the Louisiana Coast, a reconnaissance aircraft determined that Katrina's minimum central pressure was 902 millibars (or 26.64 inches of mercury), the fifth lowest pressure ever recorded in an Atlantic hurricane. Katrina was also the third most-intense landfalling hurricane in US history based on a minimum landfall pressure of 920 millibars (or 27.17 inches of mercury). (The Weather Doctor)
• 29 August 2007...With its high temperature pegged at 113degrees, Phoenix, AZ set a new record of 29 days with 110 degree or higher temperatures. (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.