WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

DataStreme ECS WEEK SIX: 13-17 October 2014

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Celebrate Earth Science Week 2014 -- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including the National Weather Service, along with NASA, the US Geological Survey and several professional scientific organizations such as the American Geological Institute have recognized next week (12-18 October 2014) as Earth Science Week 2014 to help the public gain a better understanding and appreciation for the earth sciences and to encourage stewardship of the Earth. This year's theme for the 17th annual Earth Science Week is "Earth's Connected Systems,” which is designed to engage "young people and others in exploring the ways that geoscience illuminates natural change processes." [American Geological Institute]
In celebration of Earth Science Week, NASA invites the public, including school children, to view the sky and help scientists who study Earth's clouds by participating in he agency's #SkyScience. [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory #SkyScience]
Free NOAA online teaching tools and earth science curricula available for teachers -- NOAA Office of Education's collections portal, http://www.education.noaa.gov/about.html, is available to teachers, providing them access to NOAA earth science teaching tools and materials from one easy-to-use location. These resources are designed to educate students about the Earth's ocean, atmosphere and climate systems. The curricula series are based on the Third National Climate Assessment Report released in May 2014. [NOAA Features]
Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2014 Campaign continues -- The series of GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaigns for 2014 will continue with a 10-night campaign starting on 14 October and running through 23 October. GLOBE at Night is a worldwide, hands-on science and education program designed to encourage citizen-scientists worldwide to record the brightness of their night sky by matching the appearance of a constellation (Pegasus in the Northern Hemisphere, and Sagittarius in the Southern Hemisphere) with the seven magnitude/star charts of progressively fainter stars. Activity guides are also available. The GLOBE at night program is intended to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution. This campaign that will focus on Hercules will continue in November and December. [GLOBE at Night]
Viewing atmospheric circulation in three-dimensions -- Read this week's Supplemental Information.. In Greater Depth for information concerning the average circulation in the lower and upper troposphere.
Portrait of Earth and Mars from lunar orbit -- An image obtained last May from the sensors onboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in orbit around the Moon shows both planets Earth and Mars. While Mars appears as a dot, cloud patterns along with Africa and the Atlantic Ocean are clearly visible on Earth. [NASA Earth Observatory]

CLIMATE MONITORING

New record size of Antarctic sea ice reached -- Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the National Snow and Ice Data Center recently reported that during the third week of September 2014 the size of the sea ice covering the oceans surrounding Antarctica reached its largest size (more than 20 million square kilometers) since satellite surveillance began in 1979. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, the single-day maximum Antarctic sea ice extent for this year was reached on 21 September 2014 when the sea ice covered 7.78 million square miles (20.14 million square kilometers). Researchers are attempting to explain the increase of Antarctic sea ice in recent decades, during a time when the summer sea ice cover in the Arctic has shrunk to near record low extent. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center]
Sea-surface wind data collected from newly installed instrument on Space Station -- The first science data on wind speeds and direction just above the world's oceans has been collected the NASA's International Space Station-Rapid Scatterometer, or ISS-RapidScat, that was installed recently on the International Space Station's Columbus module. Once the two-week calibration/validation period is completed, the two-year science mission will commence. [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory News]
Lightning mapper instrument readied for next geosynchronous satellite mission -- Engineers and scientists have readied the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) for placement and integration on NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite–R (GOES-R) that is scheduled to be launched in early 2016. The GLM is a sophisticated lightning mapping instrument that will be the first to be placed in geosynchronous orbit and that is designed to provide an early warning of lightning ground strike hazards, along improved short range forecasts of heavy rainfall and flash flooding. [NOAA NESDIS News]
Earth's ocean depths have not warmed during last decade -- Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have analyzed satellite and direct ocean temperature data from 2005 to 2013 and they report finding the deep ocean "abyss" at depths exceeding 1.24 miles (1,995 meters) below the surface has not warmed measurably during this period, although the near surface waters have warmed. The data the scientists used were from NASA's Jason-1, Jason-2 and Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites along with the ARGO profiling floats. [NASA Headquarters]
An oceanographer at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and an oceanographer at NOAA's cooperative institute with the University of Hawaii have recently published an essay describing how a new international program called "Deep Argo" that is being developed that they believe will provide new information about the heat in the deep ocean. "Deep Argo" will employ a global array of robotic floats that measure temperature and salinity from the surface to an ocean depth of almost 1.25 miles (or 2 kilometers) throughout the year and worldwide. [NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research News]

CLIMATE FORCING

Satellite data detect methane "hot spot" in US Southwest -- Analysis of satellite data by scientists at NASA and the University of Michigan has revealed that a 2500-square mile region of the Southwest near the Four Corners (where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet) appears to be a methane "hot spot" as this region contains highest concentration of methane gas over the United States. This methane concentration in the hot spot is more than three times the standard ground-based estimate made by the European Union's widely used Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research. The researchers used data collected by the European Space Agency's Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) instrument. A ground station in the Total Carbon Column Observing Network, operated by the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, provided independent validation of the measurement. [NASA Headquarters]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Will renewable energy resources shift due to changing climate? -- Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have generated seasonal maps depicting how near-surface wind speeds (at an altitude of the 250-ft wind turbine hub height) and incident sunlight (solar irradiance) could evolve by 2060 across the coterminous United States as a result of projected changes in climate. The scientists used the NCAR-based database of current wind and solar resources, known as the "Climate Four Dimensional Data Assimilation System."[NCAR/UCAR AtmosNews]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

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

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.)

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.
In the Southern Hemisphere, the jet stream winds to be directed generally toward the [(south), (east), (west)].

Historical Events:

15-17 October 2005...The summit of Mount Washington, NH, the highest peak in the Northeast received 34 inches of snow between Saturday and Monday. The 24-hour record for the most snowfall was broken when 25.5 inches of snow piles up between noon Sunday and noon Monday. (The Weather Doctor)
16 October 1913...The temperature in Downtown San Francisco soared to 101 degrees to equal their record for October. (The Weather Channel)
16 October 1988...The afternoon high temperature of 100 degrees at Red Bluff, CA was the latest such reading of record for so late in the autumn season. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
17-18 October 2005...Heavy rain fell on Las Vegas, NV over the two-day period, with a rainfall total of 1.42 inches, which broke the full month record for October set in 1992. (The Weather Doctor)
17-19 October 2007...According to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center, 87 tornadoes were reported in the United States on these three days -- a new record outbreak for the month. With the outbreak, the monthly total of confirmed tornado reached 105, the second highest for October, behind the 117 in October 2001 since records began in 1950. Over 300 reports of severe weather were filed on 18 October across the lower and mid-Mississippi Valleys. (The Weather Doctor)
18 October 1984...Heavy snow began falling late on the 17^th at Salt Lake City and when it ended, 18.4 inches fell, setting a new 24-hour snowfall record. (Intellicast)

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