WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

DataStreme ECS WEEK SIX: 8-12 October 2012

ITEMS OF INTEREST

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.
Celebrate Earth Science Week 2012 -- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including the National Weather Service, along with NASA, the US Geological Survey and several professional scientific organizations such as the American Geological Institute have recognized next week (14-20 October 2012) as Earth Science Week 2012 to help the public gain a better understanding and appreciation for the earth sciences and to encourage stewardship of the Earth. This year's theme for the 15th annual Earth Science Week is " Discovering Careers in the Earth Sciences", designed to "engage young people and the public in learning how geoscientists gather and interpret data about the Earth and other planets." [American Geological Institute]
Starting on the 14th, students will be invited to connect with NASA Earth explores on virtual trips to Antarctica, the Peruvian Amazon, the mangrove forests of Africa and many other places around the world to inspire them to pursue science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers. [NASA GSFC]
Tracking fall coloration from space -- Images made by the MODIS sensor onboard NASA's Aqua satellite over a span of 11 days in September and October shows the annual fall change in color of the taiga forests across eastern Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula from green to brown. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Winter snowstorms to receive formal names -- Recently, The Weather Channel decided to assign formal names to some of the winter storms that would affect the nation so as to help the public recognize these potentially deadly storms in much the same way that tropical storms and hurricanes have been identified for more than half a century. However, The Weather Channel has prepared a list of 26 names that will be distinctly different in style from those assigned by the World Meteorological Society and used by the National Hurricane Center for the named tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic and eastern North Pacific. Assignment of names to winter storms will depend upon weather factors such as expected snowfall, ice accumulations and wind speed along with factors such as the impact that the storm would have on large population centers. [Detroit Free Press]

CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS

Thinning of younger Arctic sea ice detected -- Scientists from the National Snow and Ice Data Center and their colleagues report that the year-round or multi-year Arctic sea ice at the end of the summer melt season in mid September 2012 was thinner and younger than in previous seasons. In addition, the amount of smallest extent of Arctic sea ice since satellite surveillance began in 1979. [NOAA ClimateWatch Magazine]
Assessing nation's dried vegetation from space -- A map was recently generated depicting the plant health across the United States and adjacent sections of Canada and Mexico in August 2012, based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) obtained from the MODIS sensors on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites. The map depicting the NDVI anomaly (differences between current and 11-year averages) shows below average "greenness" or plant growth across a large section of the nation, particularly across the Plains and the Midwest, caused by this summer's major drought. [NASA Earth Observatory]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

Southern Hemisphere appears to becoming drier -- Researchers at Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) report that the Southern Hemisphere has becoming drier especially during the austral fall season (April-May) due to a decline in rainfall during this season across southeastern Australia, as well as over the Southern Ocean to the south of Africa. This rainfall decline appears to be an expansion of the subtropical dry zone and a poleward (or southward) shift in the major storm tracks across the region. [Explore CSIRO]
Tracing methane emissions back to Roman times -- Researchers from Denmark's Niels Bohr Institute and their colleagues have used special analytical methods to determine the amount of methane, an important greenhouse gas, that has been emitted into the atmosphere from natural sources and the amount due to human activity, extending their record of methane emissions from present back to Roman times. Currently, more than half of the methane emissions to the atmosphere originate from human activity. Natural methane emissions are due to climate variations. [LabSpaces]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Southwestern forests to be crippled by changing climate -- A team of scientists from the US Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, the US Geological Survey, the University of Arizona, and other partner organizations recently warned that if the climate of the Southwest becomes warmer and drier in the future, widespread tree mortality should occur that would likely cause substantial changes in forest and species distributions. They based their projections on analysis of tree core samples, climate records and computer climate models for future climate trends. The current "megadrought" that is ongoing across the Southwest was compared with megadroughts in the 13th and 16th Centuries. [Los Alamos National Laboratory]
Manatees indicator of quality of health in marine ecosystems -- A team of scientists from George Mason University, the University of California-Davis, the US Geological Survey and Sea to Shore Alliance claim their research on manatees in the waters off Belize indicates manatees appear to be "sentinel species," serving as indicators of their environment that could potentially provide early warning of changes to the overall health of marine ecosystems. [George Mason University News]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Continued drought is likely across the West -- The latest Western Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook prepared by NOAA and the Western Governor's Association indicates that drought is likely to persist through December. This Outlook document, which includes maps, projections and other products, is designed to provide information about current and future weather conditions to decision makers across the West. [Western Governors Association]
What's up with the potential El Niño? -- Bob Henson from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) considers whether the El Niño event that was predicted to develop this fall would actually develop into a moderate event or remain relatively weak. While the waters of the eastern tropical Pacific did warm slightly this summer as a sign of an upcoming El Niño event, the pattern of sea surface temperatures across the region is now sending mixed signals. This new development will have a somewhat unclear effect on the weather pattern across North America during this winter [NCAR/UCAR AtmosNews] El Niño events differ distinctly from La Niña events. A La Niña event had occurred last year. Maps have been prepared that show the difference from average December-February temperature and precipitation across the nation averaged over 22 El Niño and 19 La Niña episodes that have occurred in the past 60 years. [NOAA ClimateWatch Magazine]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

Clam shells used to find clues to Atlantic's climate history -- Researchers from Iowa State University have collected clam shells from the waters of the Gulf of Maine and analyzed the annual shell increments or bands on these shells using geochemical testing and radiocarbon techniques to determine the temperature, circulation patterns and the growing conditions in the North Atlantic over the last thousand years. Changes in water temperatures during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (AD 950 to 1250) and the Little Ice Age (AD 1550 to 1850) were documented. [Iowa State University News Service]
Rainfall history over Amazon Basin reconstructed from tree rings -- An international team of scientists from the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Peru have analyzed the oxygen isotopes from annual tree rings extracted from cedar trees in Bolivia to reconstruct the history of rainfall across South America's Amazon Basin over a 100-year interval. Their rainfall reconstruction also helped them create time-series of the annual variations of the Amazon river levels. [University of Leeds]
History of the sea found from the "chemical memory" of seawater -- A chemist from Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research and his colleagues have been using mass spectrometers and other new techniques to analyze the biomolecular tracks of marine life dissolved in seawater as a means to study the past history of the oceans. The scientists are attempting to reconstruct the climate history and determine the global amount of carbon stored in the oceans as dissolved organic matter. [Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

More floods are caused by deforestation in snowy regions -- Researchers at the University of British Columbia report that cutting wide swaths of forest in snowy regions resulting in more than double the number of large floods along the streams and rivers that pass through the forests. [American Geophysical Union]
Climate skeptics given a prominent voice in UK and US media -- In recent research conducted at the United Kingdom's University of Oxford and University of London, climate skeptics appear to be given a more prominent and even uncontested voice in newspapers in the United Kingdom and the United States as compared with other countries such as Brazil, China, India and France. [Institute of Physics]
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

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.)

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.
In the Southern Hemisphere, the jet stream winds to be directed generally toward the [(south), (east), (west)].

Historical Events:

8 October 1871...Prolonged drought and desiccating winds from the southwest led to the great Chicago fire, the Peshtigo horror, and the Michigan fire holocaust. Fire destroyed more than seventeen thousand buildings killing more than 200 persons in the city of Chicago, while on the same night a fire consumed the town of Peshtigo, WI killing more than 1100 persons. In Wisconsin, a million acres of land were burned, and in Michigan, 2.5 million acres were burned killing 200 persons. "Tornadoes of fire" generated by intense heat caused houses to explode in fire, and burned to death scores of persons seeking refuge in open fields. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
8 October 1987...Phoenix, AZ reported a record high of 104 degrees and a record tying 116 days of 100-degree weather for the year. Tucson, AZ established an all-time record with 72 days of 100-degree weather for the year. (The National Weather Summary)
8 October 1988...The afternoon high of 80 degrees at Stampede Pass, WA exceeded their previous record for October by seven degrees. (The National Weather Summary)
8 October 1993...With 1.05 inches of rain that fell at Columbia, MO, the yearly total precipitation was pushed to 55.77 inches, breaking the annual record. (Intellicast)
9 October 1903...New York City was deluged with 11.17 in. of rain in 24 hours at Central Park to establish a state record, while 9.40 in. fell at Battery Park. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel) (Intellicast)
9 October 1980...Nashville, TN reached 91 degrees, highest ever for so late in the season. Just three days earlier, a low of 31 degrees was reported, lowest ever so early in the season. (Intellicast)
9 October 1981...The temperature at San Juan, Puerto Rico, soared to 98 degrees to establish an all-time record for that location. (The Weather Channel)
10-16 October 1780...The most deadly Western Hemisphere hurricane on record raged across the Caribbean Basin, killing 22,000 people on the islands of Martinique, St. Eustatius, and Barbados. Thousands more die at sea. (The Weather Doctor)
10 October 1928...The temperature at Minneapolis, MN reached 90 degrees, their latest such reading of record. (The Weather Channel)
10 October 1967...Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island experienced its wettest day ever when 4.19 inches of rain fell. (The Weather Doctor)
10 October 1973...Fifteen to 20 inches of rain deluged north central Oklahoma in thirteen hours producing record flooding. Enid was drenched with 15.68 inches of rain from the nearly stationary thunderstorms, which established a state 24-hour rainfall record. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
10 October 1979...A storm blanketed Worcester, MA with 7.5 inches of snow, a record snowfall total for so early in the season for that location. The earliest measurable snowfall was recorded at Boston, MA with 0.2 inches falling. Blue Hill Observatory at an elevation of 635 feet had 7 inches. (The Weather Channel) (Intellicast)
10 October 1991...Sacramento, CA hit 100 degrees setting a daily record. It was also the latest 100-degree reading and the warmest so late in the season. (Intellicast)
11 October 1977...The wet community of Ketchikan, AK experienced its wettest day: 8.71 inches. (The Weather Doctor)
11 October 2005...A tropical depression, the former Hurricane Vince, became the first tropical cyclone on record to make landfall in Spain. (The Weather Doctor)
12 October 1979...The lowest observed sea-level barometric pressure (870 mb or 25.69 inches of mercury) was recorded approximately 300 miles west of Guam in the western Pacific Ocean at the center of Typhoon Tip. (The Weather Doctor)
12 October 1982...Angoon, AK received 15.20 inches of precipitation, to set a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the 49th State. (NCDC)
12 October 2006...With 0.3 inches of snow falling at O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, IL set a new record for the earliest measurable snowfall since record-keeping began in 1871. The previous earliest date was 18 October in both 1972 and 1989. An unusually-early and intense lake-effect snow storm, resulted in 8.3 inches of snow that was measured at the official Buffalo, NY weather station on the 12th set a record for the snowiest October day in the station's 137-year history. The record did not last long, however, as the measurement on the morning of the 13th totaled10.9 inches. The two-day event totaled 22.6 inches (57.4 cm), breaking the October record for a single snowfall event. The storm was the sixth heaviest snowfall on record. (The Weather Doctor)

Return to DataStreme ECS website