WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

7-11 July 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

An early start made to this year's noctilucent cloud season -- Scientists who analyzed data obtained from sensors onboard NASA's AIM (Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere) spacecraft report that noctilucent clouds returned over the polar cap in the Northern Hemisphere in mid-May, marking the earliest start to the noctilucent cloud season since 2007. These noctilucent clouds, or electric blue ice clouds, are found in the high mesosphere during the summer season at altitudes of approximately 85 km. [NASA GSFC]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) is launched -- Early on the morning of Wednesday 2 July 2014, NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) spacecraft was successfully launched from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base and placed into an initial 429-mile orbit above the Earth. This The landmark satellite will survey carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere and is expected to provide insight into how the planet is responding to the increasing concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. [NASA]
OCO-2 will become the sixth-member of NASA's "A-Train" or "Afternoon Constellation," a fleet of satellites that are orbiting the Earth similar to a train in a track-like orbit, flying within several minutes of one another. In addition to the newly added OCO-2, the other members of the A-Train are Japan's Global Change Observation Mission - Water (GCOM-W1) satellite and NASA's Aqua, CALIPSO, CloudSat and Aura satellites.[NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory]
US National Parks appear threatened by changing climate -- A recently released study by the National Park Service entitled "Climate Exposure of U.S. National Parks in a New Era of Change" reports that over 80 percent of the national park units in the system have experienced extreme heat, 78 percent have had excessive precipitation events and 43 percent had drought due to changing climatic conditions. These climate-induced changes could hurt plant and animal species within the National Park system. [Scientific American]
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

Explaining reasons for a relatively weak 2013 Atlantic hurricane season -- Scientists from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center have offered reasons as to why last year's Atlantic hurricane season did not live up to expectations that the season would be relatively active. Only two hurricanes formed in the North Atlantic Basin in 2013, the fewest number in over 30 years. Two of the reasons offered are strong wind shear and an atmospheric flow pattern that favored widespread sinking, dry air. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Increased population means more plant growth -- A team of scientists from NASA and academic research institutions have found that increased human populations around the world have resulted in more plant productivity, or growth due to intensive land use during the 29-year span between 1981 and 2010. The researchers developed a vegetation index based upon data collected by the fleet of polar-orbiting satellites operated by NOAA and NASA. [NOAA News]
New carbon storage tool kit unveiled -- The US Geological Survey recently unveiled a new tool kit called Land Carbon Viewer that allows the user to visualize the land carbon storage in the ecosystems across the 48 contiguous United States and the projected change in this storage between 2005 and 2050. This visualization includes maps, charts, and statistics. The ecosystems examined included terrestrial (forests, wetlands, agricultural lands, shrub lands and grasslands) and aquatic (rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters). The USGS mapped the amount of carbon that is sequestered in ecosystems using stream gage, soil and natural-resource inventory data, remote sensing techniques, and computer models. A set of 16 ecoregions defined by similarities in ecology and land cover were created for this Land Carbon Viewer. NOTE: The USGS Land Carbon Viewer Tutorial is available on YouTube. [USGS Newsroom]
Carbon storage in ecosystems of eastern US appear to help counter contributions of greenhouse gas emissions to changing climate -- The Secretary of the US Department of Interior recently released a report prepared by US Geological Survey that assessed the storage of carbon in the major terrestrial ecosystems across the nation to the east of the Mississippi Valley along with the flux of carbon and other greenhouse gases into and out of these ecosystems. This report shows that the forests, farms and wetlands across the eastern United States were storing approximately 300 million tons of carbon per year, which represents nearly 15 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions estimated to be emitted by the nation each year. This amount would exceed and offset the yearly emissions by the nation's automobiles. [USGS Newsroom]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Canadian national seasonal outlook issued -- Forecasters with Environment Canada issued their outlooks for temperature and precipitation across Canada for July, August and September 2014, which represents the last two months of meteorological summer and the first month of autumn. The temperature outlook indicates that nearly all of Canada would experience above normal (1981-2010) summer-early fall temperatures. Only few scattered areas across northern Canada would expected to have below normal summer temperatures.
The Canadian precipitation outlook for summer and early autumn 2014 indicates that below average precipitation could be expected across a wide area of central Canada, extending across Manitoba, western Ontario and into Nunavut. Scattered sections across northwestern and northeastern Canada could have above normal precipitation for these three months.
[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 AND SOCIETY

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

Historical Events:

7 July 1889...The greatest 20-minute rainfall ever recorded on Earth occurred when 8.1 inches of rain fell on Curtea-de-Arges, Romania. (The Weather Doctor)
7 July 1905...The mercury soared to 127 degrees at Parker, AZ to tie the state record established at Fort Mohave on 15 June 1896. (The Weather Channel)
7 July 1982...France's hottest day on record occurred at Le Luc near St. Tropez when the high reached 108.9 degrees. (The Weather Doctor)
7 July 1988...Thirty-eight cities in the north central and northeastern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. Youngstown, OH hit 100 degrees, and for the second day in a row, Flint, MI reached 101 degrees, equaling all-time records for those two cities. (The National Weather Summary)
8 July 1936...The temperature hit an all-time record high of 106 degrees at the Central Park Observatory in New York City, a record that lasted until La Guardia Airport hit 107 degrees on 3 July 1966. (The Weather Channel)
8 July 1989...Sixteen cities in the central and western U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. The high of 103 degrees at Denver, CO equaled their record for July, and a 110-degree reading at Rapid City, SD equaled their all-time record high. Denver reported a record five straight days of 100 degree heat, and Scottsbluff, NE reported a record eight days in a row of 100 degree weather. (The National Weather Summary)
8 July 2003...Dhahran, Saudi Arabia on the Persian Gulf, recorded a dewpoint of 95 degrees. (The Weather Doctor)
9 July 1914...Finland's hottest day on record occurred when the temperature at Turku, Finland reached 96.6 degrees. (The Weather Doctor)
9 July 1950...The town of York, NE was deluged with 13.15 inches of rain in 24 hours to establish a record for the Cornhusker State. (The Weather Channel)
9 July 1968...Columbus, MS received 15.68 inches of rain in 24 hours to establish a state record. (The Weather Channel)
9 July 1988...The percentage of total area in the country in the grips of severe to extreme drought reached 43 percent, the fourth highest total of record. The record of 61 percent occurred during the summer of 1934. (The National Weather Summary)
10 July 1913...The mercury hit 134 degrees at Greenland Ranch in Death Valley, CA, the highest temperature reading of record for the North American continent. Sandstorm conditions accompanied the heat. The high the previous day was 129 degrees, following a morning low of 93 degrees. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel) [Note: In September 2012, this 134-degree reading was determined to be the world record high temperature as a World Meteorological Organization panel disqualified the previously recognized world record temperature of 136 degrees set at El Azizia in Libya on 13 September 1922 due to errors made in recording the temperature at that location.]
10 July 1936...Afternoon high temperatures of 112 degrees at Martinsburg, WV, 109 degrees at Cumberland, MD and Frederick, MD, 110 degrees at Runyon, NJ, and 111 degrees at Phoenixville, PA, established all-time record highs for those four states, and marked the hottest day of record for the Middle Atlantic Coast Region. (The Weather Channel)
11 July 1888...The temperature at Bennett, CO reached 118 degrees, setting a record high temperature for the Centennial State. (NCDC)
11 July 1911...The highest temperature ever recorded in Maine was at North Bridgton, with a reading of 105 degrees. (NCDC)
11 July 1936...The temperature at St. Albans, Manitoba reached the provincial high temperature record of 112 degrees Fahrenheit, while the temperature at Atikokan, Ontario peaked at 108 degrees, tying the highest temperature ever in Ontario. (The Weather Doctor)
12 July 1900...The record high state temperature reading of 114 degrees in Wyoming was reached at Basin. This record has since been eclipsed in 1983 by a 115-degree reading. (Intellicast)
12 July 1910...Cherrapunji in India's northeastern Meghalaya State -- one of the rainiest places on Earth -- recorded 839 mm (33 inches) of rainfall on this day. (The Weather Doctor)
12-14 July 1936...The hottest three-day period in US history was recorded, with average temperatures of 88.5 degrees Fahrenheit; the second warmest such period had occurred three days earlier. (The Weather Doctor)
13 July 1975...Dover, DE was deluged with 8.50 inches of rain to establish a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the state. (The Weather Channel)
13 July 1996...Heavy rains from the remnants of Hurricane Bertha caused roads to washout in the Camden, ME area. Two people were hurt when they drove into a 600-pound boulder that had fallen onto the roadway due to the heavy rain. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)

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