WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

DataStreme ECS WEEK ONE: 1-5 September 2014

ITEMS OF INTEREST

A change in seasons -- This Monday, 1 September 2014, marks the start of the Northern Hemisphere's meteorological autumn season, the three-month span of September, October and November that meteorologists frequently use for record keeping processes. Additional information will be presented in the next several weeks concerning meteorological seasons and the astronomical seasons, such as the familiar autumn that begins on the autumnal equinox in three weeks (Monday, 22 September 2014).
High-quality maps of September temperature and precipitation normals across US available -- The PRISM Climate Group at Oregon State University's website has prepared high-resolution maps depicting the normal maximum, minimum and precipitation totals for September and other months across the 48 coterminous United States for the current 1981-2010 climate normals interval. These maps, with a 800-meter resolution, were produced using the PRISM (Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model) climate mapping system.
September weather calendar for a city near you -- The Midwestern Regional Climate Center maintains an interactive website that permits the public to produce a ready to print weather calendar for any given month of the year, such as September, at any of approximately 270 weather stations around the nation. (These stations are NOAA's ThreadEx stations.) The entries for each day of the month includes: Normal maximum temperature, normal minimum temperature, normal daily heating and cooling degree days, normal daily precipitation, record maximum temperature, record minimum temperature, and record daily precipitation; the current normals for 1981-2010.
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.
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 STATUS

Examining the directions of the temperature extremes in 2014 ....-- Scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center who analyzed the U.S. Climate Extremes Index (CEI) for the first six months of 2014 have concluded that the year so far has been atypical, with some sections of the nation experiencing below average temperatures while other sections recorded above average temperatures. A map generated that displays the ranking of minimum temperatures for January-July 2012 against the 1895-2014 time span shows sections of the nation's midsection having much below average readings this year, while sections of the Southwest had much above average daily minimum temperatures. [NOAA Climate.Gov News]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

Monitoring sea ice around Greenland from space -- A sea ice specialist from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center monitoring the extent of sea ice in the Greenland Sea using satellite imagery recently noted that sea ice was approaching extent dimensions more typical of the September minimum. A natural color image made nearly two weeks ago from data collected by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument onboard NASA's Aqua satellite shows ice in the Greenland Sea off of the coast of Greenland. [NOAA News]
New Earth-Observing instrument makes successful balloon ascent -- Two weeks ago the HyperSpectral Imager for Climate Science (HySICS), an instrument that will be used to make measurements of solar radiation in the Earth's atmosphere underwent a successful high-altitude ascent to an altitude of 123,000 feet attached to a balloon over New Mexico. The instrument is designed to measure solar radiation over all wavelengths from ultraviolet to infrared. [NASA]
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

Ozone-depleting compound found to persist in Earth's atmosphere -- Atmospheric scientists from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and their colleagues have discovered an unexpectedly large quantity of carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄), an ozone-depleting compound, emitted into the atmosphere by some unknown source decades after manufacture of the compound was banned. The scientists obtained observed CCl₄ data from NOAA and ran global atmospheric chemistry simulations using NASA's 3-D GEOS Chemistry Climate Model to arrive at their findings. [NASA]
Air pollution worsens significantly by worldwide trash burning -- Researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) have determined that more than 40 percent of the world's garbage is burned in trash fires, which emit gases and particulate matter that can substantially affect human health and climate change. In addition, unregulated trash burning around the globe is emitting more pollution into the atmosphere than is shown by official records, resulting in an underestimation of emissions of these gases and particles. [NCAR/UCAR AtmosNews]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Bigger snowstorms may be possible in a warmer world -- A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has concluded from his analysis of daily snowfall totals from simulations run on 20 different climate models that extreme snow events are still possible across many subpolar areas in the Northern Hemisphere even as air temperatures could increase in the future as projected. However, the total seasonal snowfall accumulations may decrease in many location. Interestingly, extreme snow events tend to occur in a relatively narrow temperature range just below the freezing point of water. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology News]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Federal agencies collaborate to harness energy from oceans -- NASA is assisting the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) and Sandia National Labs in developing a modeling tool called WEC-Sim (Wave Energy Converter Simulator) that would be available to users to determine the potential power source from oceans under a variety of conditions. [NASA Global Climate Change News]
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

1 September 1914...The town of Bloomingdale, MI was deluged with 9.78 inches of rain in 24 hours to establish a state record for the Wolverine State. (31^st-1^st) (The Weather Channel) (NCDC)
1 September 1955...The temperature at Los Angeles, CA soared to an all-time high of 110 degrees during an eight-day string of 100-degree weather. (David Ludlum)
2 September 1935...Perhaps the most intense hurricane ever to hit the U.S. struck the Florida Keys with sustained winds of over 155 mph with gusts exceeding 200 mph. The "Labor Day Hurricane" produced a fifteen-foot tide and waves thirty feet high. More than 400 persons perished in the storm on that Labor Day, including many World War I veterans building a bridge from the Keys to the mainland. The barometric pressure at Matecumbe Bay, FL hit a record low for the U.S. of 26.35 inches of mercury (or 892.3 millibars). (David Ludlum)
2 September 1950...The temperature at Mecca, CA soared to 126 degrees to establish the U.S. record high temperature for the month of September. The low that morning was 89 degrees. (The Weather Channel)
2 September 1961...Denver, CO received 4.2 inches of snow, the earliest measurable snow on record for this city. (Intellicast)
3 September 1953...The temperature at Erie, PA reached 99 degrees, and Stroudsburg, PA established a state record for September with a reading of 106 degrees. (The Weather Channel)
3 September 1961...Denver, CO received 4.2 inches of snow, their earliest snow of record. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders - 1987)
3 September 1970...During the early evening hours, in the midst of a severe hailstorm at Coffeyville, KS, a stone 17.5 inches in circumference and 1.67 pounds in weight was recovered. At the time, it was the largest measured hailstone in U.S. weather records. Average stone size from the storm was five inches in diameter, with another stone reportedly eight inches in diameter. (David Ludlum) A larger, though lighter stone has since fallen in Nebraska, 22 June 2003 (The Weather Doctor)
5 September 1925...The temperature at Centerville, AL soared to 112 degrees to establish a state record. Every reporting station in Alabama was 100 degrees or above that afternoon. (The Weather Channel)
5 September 1950...Hurricane Easy produced the greatest 24-hour rainfall in U.S. weather records up to that time. The hurricane deluged Yankeetown, on the upper west coast of Florida, with 38.70 inches of rain. While this US record has since been replaced by 43 inches of rain at Alvin, TX on 25-26 July 1979, it remains the 24-hour precipitation record for the Sunshine State. (David Ludlum) (NCDC)
5 September 1958...The heaviest hailstone recorded in Britain had a weight of 0.31 pounds (141 grams) and fell at Horsham (Sussex), Great Britain. (The Weather Doctor)
5 September 1970...Heavy rain from the remnants of a tropical system from the eastern Pacific spread across the Southwest as 11.40 inches fell in 24 hours at Workman Creek, AZ to establish a 24-hour precipitation record for the Grand Canyon State, while an estimated six inches of rain fell at Bug Point, UT, setting a 24-hour precipitation record for the Beehive State. (NCDC)
6 September 1840...The first official weather observation in Canada was taken at King's College, University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario by members of the British Royal Artillery. (The Weather Doctor)
6 September 1929...Iowa recorded its earliest snow on record as a few flakes noted in Alton at 9 AM. (The Weather Doctor)
6-7 September 1909...Topeka, KS was drenched with 8.08 inches of rain in 24 hours to establish a record for that location. (The Weather Channel)

Return to DataStreme ECS website