WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

DataStreme ECS WEEK ONE: 9-13 September 2013

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Accessing and interpreting climate data -- If you would like to obtain a variety of climate data for your home town or state that are available from the National Weather Service, please read this week's Supplemental Information…In Greater Depth. This Supplemental not only identifies some of the sites to find the data, but also provides you with a brief explanation of the terminology used to identify the climate data.
Approaching the peak in the Atlantic hurricane season -- The historic or statistical annual peak in the Atlantic hurricane season will occur this week (9-13 September), as determined as the date during the entire season with most frequent number of named tropical cyclones (tropical storms and hurricanes), based upon over 100 years of record. This date corresponds closely with the time of peak sea-surface temperatures across those sections of the North Atlantic considered hurricane-breeding areas. [NWS National Hurricane Center] [Note: So far this Atlantic hurricane season, which commenced on 1 June 2013, no hurricanes have formed from any of the seven named tropical cyclones that reached tropical storm status. If no Atlantic hurricane forms before Wednesday, 11 September, a record would be reached for the latest occurring hurricane in the Atlantic. EJH]
September is National Preparedness Month -- The month of September has been declared National Preparedness Month (NPM), which is aims to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to all types of emergencies, including natural disasters. The Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), which has provided a toolkit of marketing materials to help promote the month, is the lead on this campaign that was originally launched in 2004. NOAA's National Weather Service is working with FEMA to communicate the importance of emergency preparedness as a key component of its Weather-Ready Nation campaign. [NOAA Weather Ready Nation]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

First buoy deployed in polar regions of North Atlantic to monitor ocean acidification -- In early August, the first high-latitude ocean acidification monitoring buoy was deployed in the North Atlantic Ocean by NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) in partnership with Iceland's Marine Research Institute. This new NOAA ocean acidification monitoring buoy, which is moored in the North Atlantic north of Iceland, is designed to determine the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide being absorbed by the ocean waters using a MAPCO₂ monitoring sensor. This type of carbon dioxide monitoring sensor, which was designed by PMEL to measure surface water and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations every 90 minutes, has been deployed on other moored buoys in tropical and midlatitude oceans as part of the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network. [NOAA Research News]
Digital cameras used to measure height of Northern Lights -- A Researchers at Japan's National Institute of Polar Research and collaborators have devised a new low-cost method for using two digital single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras set 8 km apart near Fairbanks, AK to capture 3D images of aurora borealis (northern lights) simultaneously that can be used to determine, using triangulation, the altitude where electrons in the atmosphere emit the light that produces aurora. [European Geosciences Union Press Release]
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

Evidence of human-caused climate change may have been in half of extreme weather and climate events in 2012 -- A report titled "Explaining Extreme Events of 2012 from a Climate Perspective" was released this week by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society that indicates human influences as having had an impact on 12 extreme weather and climate events during 2012. As many as 18 different research teams from around the world contributed to this peer-reviewed report that examined the causes of these 12 extreme events that occurred on five continents and in the Arctic during 2012. While the report shows that the effects of natural weather and climate fluctuations played a key role in the intensity and evolution of the 2012 extreme events, the analyses revealed compelling evidence that human-caused climate change also contributed to the extreme event through the emission of heat-trapping gases. [NOAA News]
Soot's role in 19th century glacier retreat investigated -- A team of scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and several academic institutions reported uncovering strong evidence that soot produced by rapidly developing industries in Europe in the mid 19th century helped cause the abrupt retreat of mountain glaciers in the European Alps beginning in the 1860s. Some researchers claim that this period signaled an end of the Little Ice Age, a cool period extending between the 14th and 19th centuries. Ice cores drilled from several European mountain glaciers were analyzed to determine the amount of black carbon in the atmosphere and snow when the Alps glaciers began to retreat. Computer models of glacier behavior were also run. [NASA Global Climate Change News]
Carbon sinks found in the deep ocean -- A researcher at the University of Iowa and colleagues from other academic research institutions have found that microbes living in the "dark ocean" at depths below where light does not penetrate may absorb sufficient amounts of carbon, estimating that the resident organisms and the dark ocean could hold between 300 million and 1.3 billion tons of carbon. The researchers were impressed by the significant amount of carbon fixation that occurs within the dark ocean, which appears to occur with reduced chemical energy sources such as sulfur, methane, and ferrous iron rather than sunlight. Hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor are hot spots generating plumes rich in chemical energy sources that stimulate the growth of microorganisms. [University of Iowa Now]
Overgrazing of Mongolian Steppe contributes to desertification -- Researchers at Oregon State University recently reported that overgrazing by millions of sheep and goats on the Mongolian Steppe appears to be the primary cause for the degradation and desertification of a large section of one of the largest remaining grassland ecosystems in the world. The Gobi Desert appears to be expanding northward into the once productive grasslands. The researchers based their findings upon data collected from a new satellite-based vegetation monitoring system, which showed that about 12 percent of the biomass has disappeared in this country, with overgrazing appearing to account for about 80 percent of the vegetation loss in recent years. Reduced precipitation across the region resulting from climatic change accounted for most of the rest. [Oregon State University News]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

An earlier start to West Antarctica ice sheet suggested -- Scientists at the University of California Santa Barbara and colleagues in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and the United Kingdom have found that an ice sheet on West Antarctica existed 20 million years earlier than previously thought, a discovery that is contrary to the popularly held scientific view. The researchers claim that ice sheets began growing on the West Antarctic subcontinent at the start of a global transition from warm greenhouse conditions to a cool icehouse climate 34 million years ago when the West Antarctica bedrock was much higher in elevation. [University of California, Santa Barbara News Release]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

The seasonal "whiting event" on Lake Ontario seen from space -- A digital photograph made by an astronaut on the International Space Station in August captures a late-summer phenomenon called a "whiting event" across much of Lake Ontario. This event commonly occurs in late summer and is caused by changes in water temperature, which allows fine particles of calcium carbonate to form in the water column and cause the characteristic lightening ("whiting") of the water color. Increased photosynthesis by phytoplankton and other microscopic marine life can also reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the water column, changing the acidity and allowing calcium carbonate to form. [NASA Earth Observatory]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

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 2013.
Under the Societal Interactions and Climate Policy section, click the "U.S. Global Change Research Program" link. Near the bottom of 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

9 September 1921...A dying tropical depression unloaded 38.20 inches of rain upon the town of Thrall in southeastern Texas killing 224 persons. The 36.40 inches that fell in 18 hours represents a record for the United States. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
9 September 1971...Hurricane Ginger formed, and remained a hurricane until the 5th of October. The 27-day life span was the longest of record for any hurricane in the North Atlantic Ocean. (The Weather Channel)
9 September 1994...Hurricane John become an extratropical storm in the central north Pacific Ocean, ending a 29-day life as a hurricane, the longest lived hurricane on record. (The Weather Doctor)
9 September 2000...The Antarctic ozone hole extended to more than 11.4 million square miles over Antarctica, the single-day largest area of depletion ever measured. (The Weather Doctor)
10 September 1900...Elk Point, SD received 8.00 inches of rain that set a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the state. (NCDC)
10-11 September 1963...A 24-hour rainfall record for the Northern Hemisphere was set at Paishih, Taiwan as 49.13 inches of rain fell as the result of Typhoon Gloria. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
11-12 September 1949...Early snowstorm dumped 7.5 inches on Helena, MT on the 11th, the earliest measurable snow for the city to date, then an additional 22 inches followed the next day. (The Weather Doctor)
11-12 September 1976...Japan's 24-hour rainfall record was set as 44.80 inches of rain fell at Hiso in Tokuhima Prefecture as a result of Typhoon Fran, which also was responsible for 167 deaths in Japan. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
11 September 1990...The high temperature at Phoenix, AZ reached 112, the highest ever for the date and for so late in the season. (Intellicast)
12 September 1987...Peak sustained winds in Hurricane Max reached 155 mph, the highest observed for an Eastern Pacific hurricane. (The Weather Doctor)
13 September 1922...The temperature at El Azizia in Libya soared to 136 degrees to establish a world record at a surface weather station. To make matters worse, a severe ghibi (dust storm) was in progress. (The Weather Channel) (NCDC)
13 September 1988...Hurricane Gilbert smashed into the Cayman Islands, and as it headed for the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico strengthened into a monster hurricane, packing winds of 175 mph. The barometric pressure at the center of Gilbert reached 26.13 inches (888 mb), an all-time record for any hurricane in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, or the Atlantic Ocean. Gilbert covered much of the Gulf of Mexico, producing rain as far away as the Florida Keys. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
14 September 1937...The mercury soared to 92 degrees at Seattle, WA, a record for September. (The Weather Channel)
14 September 1970...The temperature at Fremont, OR dipped to 2 degrees above zero to equal the state record for September set on the 24th in 1926. (The Weather Channel)
14 September 1987...Barrow, AK received 5.1 inches of snow, a record for September. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders - 1987)
14 September 1988...Pressure in the eye of Hurricane Gilbert moving across the Caribbean Sea fell to 885 millibars (26.17 inches of mercury), the lowest recorded barometric pressure in the Western Hemisphere. Ultimately, 318 died in seven countries across the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.
15 September 1939...The temperature at Detroit, MI soared to 100 degrees to establish a record for September. (The Weather Channel)
15 September 1982...A snowstorm over Wyoming produced 16.9 inches at Lander to establish a 24-hour record for September for that location. (13th-15th) (The Weather Channel)

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