WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

5-9 March 2012

This is Break Week for the Spring 2012 offering of the DataStreme Earth Climate Studies course. This Weekly Climate News contains new information items and historical data, but the Concept of the Week is repeated from Week 6.

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

• Thickest sections of Arctic ice melting faster than ice at the edge -- Using satellite data collected between 1980 and 2012, scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have found that the oldest and thickest multi-year sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean has been decreasing at a faster rate than the younger and thinner seasonal ice found at the edge of the sea ice. [NASA GSFC]
• Tenth anniversary of the Envisat satellite observed -- Last week, the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite marked its tenth anniversary in space as what the agency claims to be the "largest Earth-observation satellite ever built." This 8-ton polar orbiting satellite that has ten onboard optical and radar sensors is in a sun-synchronous orbit around the planet. These sensors have been monitoring planetary land cover, surface topography, ocean color, stratospheric ozone concentrations and pollutant plumes along with land and ocean surface temperatures. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Airborne snow study completed over Canada -- Two weeks ago, the last of 13 flights made by NASA's DC-8 airborne science laboratory was completed as part of NASA's six-week Global Precipitation Measurement Cold-season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEx) snow study over the Canadian province of Ontario. These airborne missions, made in conjunction with surface based observations, collected data on snow, rain and mixed precipitation events. [NASA Dryden Flight Research Center] See also "NASA Researchers on Snow Patrol."[NASA Goddard Space Flight Center]
• New way to monitor Earth's plant health from space --Researchers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and their colleagues from Germany and Japan have developed a new method to monitor the health of plants from orbiting satellites that involves measuring the fluorescent light produced by plants that photosynthesize. These measurements are being made by the Japanese satellite Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT). The team believes that their plant chlorophyll fluorescence measurements should provide a new look at the planetary carbon cycle. [NASA Global Climate Change]
• Variations in winter storm tracks across Northern Hemisphere -- A climatology of the winter storm tracks and their variations across Asia and North America is described along with maps. [Earth Gauge]
• 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

• Arctic air pollutants appear to be driven by sea ice -- An international science team from the United States, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom led by a researcher from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has proposed that the increased chemical release of bromine gas (the "bromine explosion") into the atmosphere may be the result of drastic reductions In Arctic sea lice during the last decade. The increased bromine concentrations have resulted in ground-level ozone depletion and the deposition of toxic mercury into the Arctic. The team used data from six NASA, European Space Agency and Canadian Space Agency satellites; field observations and a numerical weather model. [NASA JPL]
• Comparison made between effects of gasoline and diesel exhausts on air pollution -- In a study conducted by scientists from the University of Colorado's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory and several other institutions, exhaust fumes from gasoline vehicles appear to contribute more to the production of a specific type of air pollution-secondary organic aerosols than those from diesel vehicles. [CIRES- University of Colorado]
• Atmospheric dust linked to increased glacier melting and ocean productivity -- Researchers at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and the United Kingdom's Loughborough University report that they have found a link between large dust storms on Iceland and glacial melting, with the dust serving to increase glacial melting and to contribute important nutrients to the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean surrounding the island. They claim their results show an important role of airborne dust on climate change and subpolar ocean ecosystems. [University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science ]
• Current rates of ocean acidification could be unprecedented -- Oceanographers with Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the University of California, Santa Cruz and several other international institutions claim that their analysis of ocean sediment cores indicate that the world's oceans are currently becoming more acidic at a faster rate than they did during four major extinctions that occurred during the past 300 million years when both temperatures and atmospheric carbon increased dramatically. They used the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) approximately 56 million years ago as an analog to current ocean changes [The Earth Institute -- Columbia University]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

• How wildfires shape "Mediterranean-type climate" ecosystems -- A new book entitled "Fire in Mediterranean Ecosystems" authored by a fire ecologist with the US Geological Survey and a group of international colleagues explains how wildfires affect the evolution and ecology of ecosystems and plant communities in those dry temperature coastlands that are classified as "Mediterranean-type climate" regions. The study involved those ecosystems around major world cities that include Los Angeles in California, Santiago in Chile, Cape Town in South Africa, Perth in Australia and Athens in Greece. [USGS Newsroom]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

• Seasonal Drought Outlook updated -- Late last week, forecasters at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center updated their US Seasonal Drought Outlook that is valid for meteorological spring (March through May) 2012. This outlook indicates that drought conditions were expected to develop or persist across many sections of the nation, primarily across the southern tier of states from southern California eastward across the southern Rockies to the southern Plains and into the Southeast. Persistent drought conditions across the upper Mississippi Valley were also expected to expand westward. Some slight improvement across scattered sections of the Mid-South, primarily along the central Gulf Coast and across sections of the Northwest.

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

• Assessing impact of sea level rise on California beach towns -- Researchers from Duke University and five other research institutions recently reported on a study of 51 public beaches in the Los Angeles metropolitan in which they assessed how rising sea levels would impact the economies of coastal communities in Southern California during the 21st century. They found an uneven distribution of economic winners and losers for beach towns, based in part upon beach size. They considered both long-term changes due to rising global sea level associated with changing climate and on short term changes due to winter storms and high tides. Generally, the towns with wider beaches could become winners, while those with narrow beaches could lose tourist dollars. [Los Angeles Times]
• 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.

This Concept of the Week is repeated from Week 6.

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:

• 5 March 1960...The greatest March snowstorm of record in eastern Massachusetts began to abate. The storm produced record 24-hour snowfall totals of 27.2 inches at Blue Hill Observatory, 17.7 inches at Worcester, and 16.6 inches at Boston. (The Weather Channel)
• 5 March 2000...The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN established a new record for the fewest number of days between 70-degree Fahrenheit temperature reading from the last date in the autumn to the first date in the spring, with only 113 days passed. The previous record was 131 days, while the average has been 175 days. (The Weather Doctor)
• 6 March 1900...A chinook wind blowing down the slopes of the Rockies through Havre, MT raised the temperature 31 degrees in just three minutes. (The Weather Channel)
• 6 March 1954...Florida received its greatest modern-day snowfall of record, with 4.0 inches at the Milton Experimental Station. Pensacola, FL equaled their 24-hour record with 2.1 inches of snow. (The Weather Channel)
• 6 March 1962...Forty-two inches of snow fell at Big Meadows, located in the mountains of Virginia, for a state record as part of the Great Atlantic Coast Storm of 1962. (Intellicast)
• 6 March 1971...The temperature at Palteau Rosa, Italy fell to 30.2 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, Italy's lowest temperature on record. (The Weather Doctor)
• 7 March 1932...A severe coastal storm set barometric pressure records from Virginia to New England. Block Island, RI reported a barometric pressure reading of 955.0 millibars (28.20 inches of mercury). (David Ludlum)
• 7 March 1996...6.5 inches of snow fell at Boston, MA on this date to bring its seasonal total to 96.4 inches -- the city's snowiest winter in 105 years of record keeping. The old record was 96.3 inches set in the 1993-94 winter season. Now all major cities along this East Coast had broken their seasonal snowfall records in the 1995-96 winter season. (Intellicast)
• 7 March 2000...The temperature at Duluth, MN reached 70 degrees, which was the earliest that a 70-degree reading was reported in Duluth; the previous earliest date was 22 March 1945 when the temperature reached 72 degrees. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 7 March 1999...Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada's snowiest major city set a new record for a one-day snowfall of 45.7 inches, but prior to that date the winter's total had been a meager (for the city) 46 inches of snow. (The Weather Doctor)
• 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)

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Prepared by Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2012, The American Meteorological Society.