WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

2-6 June 2014

DataStreme Earth Climate System will return for Fall 2014 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 25 August 2014. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Change in season -- Meteorological summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the three-month span from June through August, commenced this past Sunday (1 June 2014). In three weeks, the summer solstice will occur on Saturday, 21 June, which marks the beginning of astronomical summer.
Early Sunrise -- Within the next week, many locations in the continental United States will experienced the date of earliest sunrise. While the longest daylight at each locale in the Northern Hemisphere will occur in over two weeks on the summer solstice (early on Saturday, 21 June 2014), the occurrence of earliest local sunrise occurs before this date because the apparent sun now "leads" the clock time. This time discrepancy, which now amounts to approximately 2 minutes, occurs because of a combination of factors that result from the earth moving more slowly in its elliptical orbit because the earth presently is near its farthest point from the sun (aphelion on the evening of 3 July 2014) and the effect of the tilt of the earth's spin axis (near the summer solstice). For reference, the latest sunsets of the year will occur later in June as the apparent sun slows and by the first week of July "lags" clock time by about 4 minutes.
World Environment Day -- This Thursday, 5 June 2014, is World Environment Day (WED), a day that has been created by the United Nations in an effort to stimulate worldwide awareness of the environment and to enhance political attention and action. This observance was established initially by the UN General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. Various activities are being planned. In support of the UN designation of 2014 as the International Year of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), this year's theme for World Environment Day is "Raise your voice, not the sea level," a campaign to encourage better understanding of SIDS and to emphasize the urgency to help protect the islands in the face of growing risks and vulnerabilities, particularly as a result of climate change. [World Environment Day]
World Ocean Day to be celebrated -- World Ocean Day or a "Celebration of the Sea" will be celebrated Sunday, 8 June 2014 in an effort to increase public awareness and to foster public involvement in the management of the ocean and its resources. Although this date was created at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, it had not been officially recognized by the United Nations until 2009. This year's theme is Together we have the power to protect the ocean! A partial listing is provided for events across the US and other nations that will celebrate World Ocean Day. [The Ocean Project]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

NASA's IceBridge Arctic field campaign concludes for the season -- Just before the start of last week, NASA's P-3 research aircraft left Thule Air Base, Greenland and returned to Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia signaling the conclusion of the 11-week field campaign of NASA's Operation IceBridge in the Arctic. Researchers used the aircraft to collect data on Arctic sea and land ice. In addition, the campaign resulted in two sea ice data products and provided a professional development opportunity for three science teachers. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center]
New precipitation measuring satellite passes tests and becomes operational -- Following a successful checkout period conducted after launch, control of the new Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory (GPM) satellite was handed over to the engineers and scientists of the Earth Science Mission Operations team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center late last week. The GPM spacecraft, which is a joint NASA JAXA mission, was launched last February. Its sensors collect precipitation information that will help map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center]
New satellite-based vegetation climate data record released -- NOAA's National Climatic Data Center recently announced the release of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) Climate Data Record. This NDVI data record contains daily high-resolution NDVI vegetation data from around the world extending back to 1981 that was collected by orbiting satellites. [NOAA National Climatic Data Center News]
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]

CLIMATE FORCING

Gigantic eruption of solar material seen by newest solar observatory --

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Airborne research missions study volcanoes -- NASA scientists have been conducting research missions to study volcanoes and their effects in several locations in Central America, South America and Australia.
- The NASA's C-20A aircraft with an onboard synthetic aperture radar was deployed to Central and South America in late April and early May. The Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar, or UAVSAR, was used to make detailed surface motion measurements to improve volcanic deformation models. In addition, the aircraft also obtained data that will aid in algorithm development and sensor calibration activities, improving scientists' ability to monitor and study Earth's carbon and water cycles. [NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center]
- In Australia's Northern Territory, a team of NASA and University of Wyoming scientists sent balloons into the atmosphere to make measurements of a volcanic plume originating from Mt. Kelud that erupted in neighboring Indonesia during February 2014. The mission was to obtain measurements to characterize particle sizes, composition and optical properties from a relatively fresh volcanic plume in the stratosphere. [ NASA Langley Research Center]
Describing how ENSO can lead to a "cascade of global impacts" -- A blog written by scientists at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center and Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) describes how the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, also known as ENSO, develop from changes in the atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns across the tropical Pacific Ocean and how this phenomenon affects the climate across large areas of the globe, even though many areas far from the tropical Pacific. [NOAA Climate.gov News]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Canadian national seasonal outlook issued -- Forecasters with Environment Canada issued their outlooks for temperature and precipitation across Canada for the three months of June, July and August of 2014, which constitutes meteorological summer. The temperature outlook indicates that western Canada that include British Columbia, southern sections of the Yukon and Northwest Territories and the western Prairie Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan would experience above normal (1981-2010) temperatures. In addition, sections of eastern Canada, including Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador also could have above average summer temperatures. On the other hand, sections of southwestern Ontario around and to the west of Lake Superior could have below average temperatures for the next three months. Elsewhere across Canada, near normal summer temperatures were anticipated.
The Canadian precipitation outlook for summer 2014 indicates that sections of British Columbia in southwestern and several other widely scattered areas across Canada could experience below average precipitation. Conversely, across southern Manitoba, southern Ontario, central Quebec and scattered sections of northern Canada could have above normal precipitation for June through August.
[Note for comparisons and continuity with the three-month seasonal outlooks of temperature and precipitation generated for the continental United States and Alaska by NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, one would need to use Environment Canada's probabilistic forecasts for temperature and precipitation.]

CLIMATE IMPACTS ON HUMANS

Urbanization and future heat-related mortality are linked -- Scientists at Arizona State University claim that increases in temperatures associated with urban grown in the Phoenix metropolitan area (Maricopa County) could result in more deaths and hospital visits in this region. They based their findings on historical temperature and mortality data for the Phoenix area between 1983 and 2007 and upon regional climate model simulations for several projected urbanization scenarios. Increases in overnight minimum temperatures in this metropolitan area would appear to create greater health concerns than corresponding increases in daytime maximum temperatures. [Arizona State University News]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Historical Events:

2 June 1917...The temperature at Tribune, KS dipped to 30 degrees to establish a state record for the month of June. (The Weather Channel)
3 June 1905...Seattle, WA received its heaviest ever 24-hour June rainstorm with 1.42 inches falling. (Intellicast)
4-5 June 1908...Helena, MT was deluged with 3.67 inches of rain to establish their all-time 24-hour rainfall record. (The Weather Channel)
5 June 1993...A strong, late season spring storm moved into California. The 0.76 inches of rain at Los Angeles set a new daily rainfall record for June. Lake Gregory was deluged with 3.24 inches of rain in 24 hours and a foot of snow fell at the Mammoth Mountain ski area. (Intellicast)
6-10 June 1816...The temperature reached 92 degrees at Salem, MA during an early heat wave, but then plunged 49 degrees in 24 hours to commence the famous "year without a summer". Late season snow fell across New England and eastern Canada. The editor of the Bangor (ME) Register observed that individual snowflakes that fell on Bangor during the afternoon of the 6^th covered areas up to two inches in diameter. Snow fell near Quebec City, Quebec over a 5-day period accumulating to 12 inches with "drifts reaching the axel trees of carriages" during this infamous Year Without a Summer. The Montreal Gazette reported that this "Extraordinary Season" gave snow squalls to the city on the 6^th and 8^th. On the 7^th, a famous June snow fell in the northeastern U.S. Danville, VT reported drifts of snow and sleet twenty inches deep. The Highlands were white all day, and snow flurries were observed as far south as Boston MA. Waltham, MA reported a low temperature of 33 degrees and New Haven, CT had a low of 35 degrees (David Ludlum) (Intellicast) (The Weather Doctor) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
6 June 1894...One of the greatest floods in U.S. history occurred as the Willamette River overflowed to inundate half of the business district of Portland, OR. (David Ludlum)
7 June 1972...Richmond, VA experienced its worst flood of record as rains from Hurricane Agnes pushed the water level at the city locks to a height of 36.5 feet, easily topping the previous record of thirty feet set in 1771. (The Weather Channel)

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