WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

23-27 January 2012

ITEMS OF INTEREST

New climate change education website is launched -- The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) recently announced the launch of its new climate website. Their goal is "to help support and defend the teaching of quality climate change education See the website at http://ncse.com/climate.

CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS

December drought report -- The National Climate Data Center has posted its December 2011 drought report online. Using the Palmer Drought Severity Index, approximately 14 percent of the coterminous United States experienced severe to extreme drought conditions at the end of December, while 17 percent of the area had severely to extremely wet conditions.
Review of national weather indicates 2011 had numerous climate extremes in the US -- NOAA scientists recently announced that the recently concluded 2011 was a record-breaking year for climate extremes across the United States. Numerous long-standing records were smashed because of historic levels of heat, precipitation, flooding and severe weather that were encountered. Based upon preliminary data, the annual average temperature across the coterminous United States was the 23rd highest since relatively reliable climate records began in 1895. Although precipitation was close to the 20th century average, various areas across the nation experienced extremes in precipitation, ranging from drought to flooding conditions. The scientists also announced that two additional severe weather events, Tropical Storm Lee's landfall on the Gulf Coast in September and July severe weather outbreak across the Rockies and Midwest, each resulted in at least $1 billion damage, which raised the number of billion-dollar disasters across the nation from 12 to 14 events.
Preliminary data also indicated that the average global temperature in 2011 tied 1997 for the 11th highest since global records began in 1880. [NOAA News]
Using a slightly different methodology for averaging global surface temperatures, scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) reported that the global average temperature for 2011 was the ninth highest reading since 1880. [NASA GISS]
Current La Niña event may be peaking -- Scientists with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory report that the current La Nina episode, an anomalous pattern in large scale atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns typically seen as a colder than average eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, appears to be peaking. They claim that sea surface height data from NASA's Jason-1 and -2 satellites obtained in early January 2012 show a pattern of sea height that indicates a milder repeat of last year's strong La Niña has been occurring. [ NASA JPL]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

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

Ozone degradation over the Arctic may be enhanced by low temperatures -- Scientists at Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research claim that the massive destruction of the ozone layer in the atmosphere well above the Arctic basin during the winter of 2010-2011 appears to be related to the exceptionally low air temperatures. They feel that the cooling of the ozone layer may enhance the influence of such ozone-destroying substances as chlorofluorocarbons (CFC). [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology]
Past Southern Hemisphere rainfall cycles appear related to Antarctic temperatures -- Geoscientists from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Minnesota report that those well-documented warm-cold climate oscillations in the Northern Hemisphere called Dansgaard/Oeschger (D/O) cycles during the most recent glacial period also appear in the tropical rainfall variations in South America's Amazon Basin. The researchers conclude that the Southern Hemisphere rainfall appears to be influenced by temperature changes in the Antarctic. [University of Massachusetts Amherst ]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Climate change alters foraging of large bird -- Biologists from the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the German Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research report that wandering albatross, some of the world's largest birds, have been altering their foraging trips in the last 40 years due to changes in the wind fields of the Southern Hemisphere associated with changes in climate. [LabSpaces]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

New seasonal climate outlooks for late winter-early spring -- Late last week, forecasters at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) released their seasonal climate outlooks for the three months of February, March and April 2012, which covers the last month of meteorological winter (February) and the first two months of meteorological spring (March and April). The forecasters foresee a greater than average chance of above average temperatures across southern sections of the nation, especially across sections of the southern Plains and the lower Mississippi Valley. On the other hand, they anticipate a better than average chance of below average temperatures from the Pacific Northwest extending eastward to the northern Plains and southward along the West Coast to California. Elsewhere, they indicate nearly equal chances of below and above average temperatures for this three-month span. They also foresee that the southern tier of states from southern California eastward to Florida would have a good chance of having below average precipitation, with dry conditions across the Florida Peninsula, south Texas and the Southwest. Conversely, sections of the Northwest, and many of the Midwestern States surrounding the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley stand a better than average chance of experiencing a wet three-month period. Equal chances of either below or above average spring precipitation were anticipated across the northern Plains. [ NOAA CPC] At the same time, CPC also released its US Seasonal Drought Outlook that will run through April 2012. This outlook indicates the current drought conditions should either persist or become more intense through mid to late spring across the southern tier of states, from the Southwest across the southern Plains to the Southeast, as well as across the upper Midwest, especially over the upper Mississippi Valley. While some improvement in the drought conditions were possible across the Mid-South, major improvement in drought conditions were anticipated across the interior Northwest and northern California. This outlook is based upon the forecast of a continuation into late spring of the current La Niña event , an anomalous atmospheric and oceanic circulation regime that usually recognized by colder than normal waters in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. In many La Niña events, storms and their associated precipitation typically remain across the northern tier of states, leaving the South drier than normal. [NOAA News]
Improvements made in assessing tornado seasons -- A climate scientist at Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society along with is colleagues has been assessing short-term climate trends in an attempt to predict tornado activity up to a month or longer in advance. [Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory]

CLIMATE MODELING

Sea-level rises and surface temperature change rates seen as a climate balancing act -- A team of scientists from Penn State University and the United Kingdom's University of Bristol report that their numerical simulations indicates that any approaches to controlling both sea level rise and rates of surface air temperature changes would require a balancing act to accommodate the diverging needs of different locations. [Penn State Live]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Substantial decreases in acid rain are seen -- A recent report made to Congress by the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program indicates substantial reductions in acid rain have been achieved through emissions reductions from electric generating power plants, leading to measure able improvements in air quality, visibility, water quality and human health. [USGS Newsroom ]
National strategy to respond to impacts of climate change on plants, fish and wildlife proposed -- The Obama Administration recently released the first draft of a national strategy designed to assist resource managers and decision makers over the next five years in preparation for and response to the current and future impacts that climate change could have upon plant and animal species and ecosystems along with the people and economies dependent upon them. This draft, entitled "National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy," has been prepared in a partnership with the US Department of Interior's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation along with other state, tribal and federal agencies. Public comment on this draft is invited through early March. [NOAA News] Note: This link requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. See below.
Link between La Nina conditions and influenza pandemics seen -- Researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and the Harvard School of Public Health report that examination of past weather patterns leads them to believe that La Niña conditions in the equatorial Pacific preceding the worldwide pandemics of influenza in 1918, 1957, 1968 and 2009 may have been responsible for these influenza events that caused widespread death and illness. They theorize that the A new study examining weather patterns around the time of these pandemics finds that the anomalous weather patterns associated with La Nina could have altered migration patterns of birds that promoted the development of dangerous new strains of influenza. [Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health]
Auto insurance rates could increase due to rash of natural disasters – -- Experts report that the number and magnitude of the natural disasters including the weather related ones that hit the nation during the past year have broken records in the amount of damage caused, reaching into the billions of dollars. The experts warn that in addition to causing increases in the costs for homeowner policies, automobile insurance rates will be increasing as insurers attempt to recoup losses with higher premiums. [Daily Tribune, Oakland Co., MI]
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: 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

The first Climate Information link, "NOAA Climate Services", shows the Global Climate Dashboard where several graphs display Earth's temperature, atmospheric carbon dioxide level, spring snow cover, etc. with a time slider than can be set to display from [(1800)(1880)(1940)] to the latest data in 2010.
Under the Societal Interactions and Climate Policy section, click the "U.S. Global Change Impacts Report" link. 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 are categorized by [(only regional)(only sectoral)(both regional and sectoral)] climate information.

Historical Events:

24 January 1857...The coldest weather in pre-U.S. Weather Bureau history occurred with temperatures of 50 degrees below zero reported in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The temperature was 30 degrees below zero in Boston, MA and 11 degrees below zero on Nantucket Island. (Intellicast)
24 January 1916...The temperature at Browning, MT plunged 100 Fahrenheit degrees in just 24 hours, from 44 degrees above zero to 56 degrees below zero. It was a record 24-hour temperature drop for the U.S. (Weather Channel) (National Severe Storms Forecast Center)
24 January 1922...The all-time record low temperature for the state of Wisconsin was set at Danbury when the temperature dipped to 54 degrees below zero. (Intellicast) (This record has been broken by one degree in February, 1996)
24 January 1956...Thirty-eight inches of rain deluged the Kilauea Sugar Plantation of Hawaii in 24 hours, including twelve inches in just one hour. The 38.00 inches remains the Aloha State's 24-hour maximum precipitation record. (David Ludlum)
25 January 1965...Alta, UT was in the midst of a storm that left the town buried under 105 inches of snow establishing a record for the state. (David Ludlum)
26 January 1884...The coldest day on Canada's Prince Edward Island occurred when the temperature at Kilmahumaig, PEI fell to 35 degrees below zero. (The Weather Doctor)
27 January 1940...Florida had a 3-day long freeze with the lowest temperatures ever in January. Mason, FL dropped to 8 degrees. Eleven million boxes of citrus were damaged, resulting in a 10 million-dollar loss. Further north, Georgia's record low temperature of 17 degrees below zero was set near Calhoun. (Intellicast)
27 January 1994...A frigid arctic air was in place over New England and New York as a massive 1052-millibar (31.06 inches of mercury) high pressure provided ideal radiational cooling. Crown Point, NY dipped to 48 degrees below zero and Shoreham, VT shivered with 46 degrees below zero, Burlington, VT broke its old record daily low by 9 degrees with a reading of 29 degrees below zero and Caribou, ME set a record low for the third day in a row with a temperature of 23 degrees below zero. (Intellicast)
28 January 1925...The temperature at Pittsburg, NH fell to 46 degrees below zero, establishing a new record low temperature for the state. (Intellicast) In January 1934, this record was broken with a reading of 47 degrees below zero. (NCDC)
28 January 1963...The low temperature of 34 degrees below zero at Cynthiana, KY equaled the state record established just four days earlier at Bonnieville. (The Weather Channel) This all-time state record for Kentucky has since been eclipsed by a 37 degree zero reading in January 1994. (NCDC)
28 January 1988...Barometric pressure readings of 30.55 inches at Miami FL, 30.66 inches at Tampa, FL, and 30.72 inches at Apalachicola, FL were all-time record high readings for those locations. (National Weather Summary)
28 January 1989...Nome, AK reported an all-time record low reading of 54 degrees below zero. (National Weather Summary)
29 January 1934...The temperature at the Observatory on top of Mt. Washington, NH (the highest point in New England) fell to 47 degrees below zero, establishing a new all-time record low temperature for the state. (NCDC)

Return to DataStreme Earth Climate Systems website