WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

15-19 December 2014

DataStreme Earth's Climate Systems will return for Spring 2015 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 19 January 2015. All the current online website products, including updated issues of Weekly Climate News, will continue to be available throughout the winter break period.

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Public invited to participate in "Climate Resilience Data Challenge" -- NASA and its partner, the US Geological Survey, are offering more than $35,000 in prizes to citizen scientists in what is called the "Climate Resilience Data Challenge" for ideas that would use climate data to address vulnerabilities faced by the nation in coping with climate change. This challenge, which commenced this Monday, will run through March 2015. [USGS Newsroom]
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 that started on 11 December and will run through 20 December. 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 (Perseus in the Northern Hemisphere and Cetus 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. [GLOBE at Night]
Happy Winter Solstice! The winter solstice will occur next Sunday, 21 December 2014 (officially, at 2302 Z, or 6:11 PM EST, 5:02 PM CST, etc.). At that time, the earth's spin axis will be oriented such that the sun appears to be the farthest south in the local sky of most earth-bound observers. While most of us consider this event to be the start of astronomical winter, the British call that day the "Midwinter Day", as the apparent sun will begin its northward climb again. For essentially all locations in the Northern Hemisphere, in two weeks, the night will be the longest and the daylight on the following day will be the shortest of the year. Starting Sunday, the length of darkness will begin to shrink as we head toward the summer solstice on 21 June 2015 at 1638Z.
Student scholarships announced -- The NOAA Office of Education recently announced that scholarships are available to undergraduate and graduate students who are majoring in the atmospheric and oceanic sciences, along with several of the other scientific and technical disciplines that support NOAA's mission and programs. [NOAA Office of Education] These scholarships include:

Educational Partnership Program (EPP) Undergraduate Scholarship: http://www.epp.noaa.gov/ssp_undergrad_page.html. This program provides an opportunity for rising junior students to study disciplines relating to the NOAA's mission. Students attending Minority Serving Institutions are encouraged to apply. The application deadline for the 2015 EPP Undergraduate Scholarship Program is 31 January 2015.
Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship Program: http://www.oesd.noaa.gov/scholarships/hollings.html#page=timeline. This program is designed to: (1). increase undergraduate training in oceanic and atmospheric science, research, technology, and education and foster multidisciplinary training opportunities; (2) increase public understanding and support for stewardship of the ocean and atmosphere and improve environmental literacy; (3.) recruit and prepare students for public service careers with NOAA and other natural resource and science agencies at the federal, state and local levels of government; and (4.) recruit and prepare students for careers as teachers and educators in oceanic and atmospheric science and to improve scientific and environmental education in the United States. The application deadline for the 2015 Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship Program is 30 January 2015.

CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS

Review of November and autumn 2014 weather and climate across the US -- Preliminary monthly temperature data for November 2014 from across the nation have led scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center to report that the November temperature across the coterminous United States was 2.4 Fahrenheit degrees below the 20th-century (1901-2000) average, making last month the 16th coldest November since a sufficiently dense national climate observing network was established in 1895. In addition, the average maximum (or daytime) November temperature for 2014 was 21st lowest on record for the month, while the average minimum (or nighttime) November 2014 temperature was the 15th lowest on record. As many as 20 states across the Mississippi Valley and the Southeast reported much below average November temperatures, most ranking in the lowest 10 temperature readings in 120 years. On the other hand, California was the only state to have a much above average temperature for the month, as November 2014 was the ninth warmest on record.
Furthermore, the temperature across the 48 coterminous states for meteorological autumn (September-November) was 0.5 Fahrenheit degree above the 20th-century averages. Many of the states across the nation's midsection experienced below average autumn statewide temperatures, with Illinois having the eight lowest statewide autumn temperature and Indiana the ninth lowest. Nearly all of the states to the west of the Rockies reported above to much above autumn temperatures, with California experiencing its highest September-November average statewide temperature in 120 years of record.
The nationwide precipitation total for November 2014 across the country was 0.16 inches below the 20th century average, placing this past month as the 46th driest November since 1895. Several states across the northern Plains and the eastern Great Lakes had below average November precipitation totals, while states across the Southwest, central Plains, Northeast and sections of the Midwest had above average precipitation in November.
The national precipitation total for autumn 2014 was 0.24 inches above the 20th-century precipitation average, which corresponded to the 69th driest September-November season in 120 years. States across the northern Plains and the eastern Great Lakes had below average statewide temperatures, while many states scattered across the nation had above average autumn precipitation.
The Rutgers Global Snow Lab reported that the November snow cover extent for the contiguous U.S. was the largest November snow cover extent in the 49-year satellite record. [NOAA/NCDC State of the Climate]
NOTE: A description is provided of the climatological rankings employed by NCDC for their monthly and seasonal maps. [NOAA/NCDC]
November national drought report -- The National Climate Data Center has posted its November 2014 drought report online. Using the Palmer Drought Severity Index, approximately eight percent of the coterminous United States experienced severe to extreme drought conditions at the end of November, while 12 percent of the area had severely to extremely wet conditions.
California drought visualization website unveiled -- The US Geological Society recently unveiled an interactive California Drought visualization website that is designed to provide the public with an atlas-like, statewide coverage of California's current drought along with a timeline of its impacts upon the state's water resources. [USGS Newsroom]
A return of the "Pineapple Express" seen from a satellite perspective -- An animation of satellite images obtained from sensors onboard NOAA's GOES-West satellite over a 4-day span (Tuesday through Friday) shows a plume of clouds associated with the "Pineapple Express," an atmospheric river of humid air running from the central North Pacific near the Hawaiian Islands to the West Coast of North America, that brought copious quantities of rain and snow to California. An image is also provided showing a map of near surface winds off the coast of California last Thursday evening obtained from data collected by the International Space Station-RapidScat instrument. This "Pineapple Express," which was the second one over the last several weeks, was compared to a similar storm in December 2010. Although this storm brought locally heavy rain and mountain snow to a state experiencing exceptional drought conditions, many areas in California experienced flooding and mudslides. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center News]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

Recent surge in Great Lakes water levels documented -- Scientists at NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, the US Army Corps of Engineers and Environment Canada recently documented a record-setting increase in water levels on Lakes Superior, Michigan-Huron that began in January 2013 and that has continued through the most recent month of November 2014. This recent increase or "surge" in lake levels of this time span exceeds any similar two-year interval over the last 100 years. Furthermore, all of the Great Lakes have been above their seasonal averages for the first time since the late 1990s. In addition, the researchers for these US and Canada federal agencies foresee lake levels remaining near or above average levels for all of the Great Lakes through this upcoming spring. [NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research News]
An update on the Argo float program and it impacts -- The Argo float program, an international program involving more than 3500 instrumented submersible floats deployed in the world's oceans, was recently highlighted. The impacts of this program, which began in 2000, upon the ocean and climate sciences are also discussed. Future plans for the program are mentioned. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Extreme high temperatures around globe increase faster than mean temperatures in last three decades -- Researchers at Indiana University have found that spatial patterns of extreme temperature anomalies (or arithmetic differences between observed and long-term average temperatures) over a recent 30-year span (1984-2013) are increasing more than the increases in the mean temperatures for that same time interval. In the past 30 years warm anomalies are increasing at a faster rate than cold anomalies. [Indiana University Bloomington News]

CLIMATE FORCING

Insights offered for predicting future California droughts -- Early last week an assessment report entitled "Causes and Predictability of the 2011-14 California Drought" was released as part of a NOAA-sponsored study that points to natural oceanic and atmospheric patterns as being the primary drivers behind California's ongoing drought. A large high pressure ridge has persisted over the eastern North Pacific for the last three winters, blocking wet season storms from bringing rain to California. This report confirmed an earlier report that found no conclusive evidence linking human-caused climate change and the California drought. The researchers offered new insights as to predicting future droughts in California, especially in terms of studying oceanic conditions. [NOAA News]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Tracking fish populations in a changing climate -- A biologist at Rutgers University, in collaboration with NOAA Fisheries, has developed a website called "OceanAdapt" that is designed to help the public along with fishery managers track fish populations. This site should be valuable for helping people who fish monitor changes in the movements of fish populations as oceans warm due to changing climate. "OceanAdapt" has data on more than 650 species of fish and invertebrates for more than four decades. [NOAA News]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

Nitrous oxide gas concentrations rose at end of last Ice Age -- An international team of scientists who analyzed the composition of air bubbles embedded in the ancient glacial ice extracted from a glacier in Antarctica discovered that the nitrous oxide (N₂O) concentrations in the atmosphere increased by 30 percent near the end of the last Pleistocene Ice Age from approximately 16,000 to 10,000 years ago. Nitrous oxide, also known as "laughing gas" is an important greenhouse gas and may have risen rapidly due to changes in environmental conditions in both the ocean and on land as large ice sheets melted. [Oregon State University News]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Initial outlook for 2015 Atlantic hurricane season issued -- Last week Philip J. Klotzbach, his mentor Professor Bill Gray, and other colleagues at Colorado State University issued a qualitative discussion of what they foresee as factors that should determine next year's Atlantic basin hurricane activity. They note that one of the big uncertainties for the 2015 Atlantic basin hurricane season is if the current weak El Niño conditions that were currently developing would persist through next summer (in the Northern Hemisphere). The team has developed a new way of assessing next year's activity in terms of two primary physical parameters: (1.) the strength of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation and
(2.) the phase of ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation). The team expects typical tropical cyclone activity conditions associated with a positive Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation (AMO) and strong thermohaline circulation (THC) will return in 2015. The team plans on issuing their first quantitative forecast in early April 2015. Details of their initial qualitative assessment appear in the report issued by the Tropical Meteorology Project. [Colorado State University Report]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Role of water in the Roman Empire's rise and fall considered -- An international ream of hydrologists and Roman historians recently published their analysis as to how good water management, agricultural practices and an extensive grain-trade network enabled the Romans to thrive in the water-limited environment of the Mediterranean more than 2000 years ago. However, the stable food supply brought about by these measures promoted population growth and urbanization, which pushed the Empire to the limits of its food resources and eventually, to its downfall. The authors caution that a similar scenario may be occurring presently around the world. [European Geosciences Union News]
A decade of tsunami preparedness research reviewed -- As the tenth anniversary of the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami approaches, researchers at NOAA recently provided a summary of the efforts made by the agency following that disaster to better monitor, predict and help prepare for future tsunamis. Included in the list of accomplishments over the last decade include additional and more sophisticated tsunami sensors, along with a new generation of computer forecast models and improved tsunami warning system. [NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research News] [NOAA Weather-Ready Nation]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Historical Events:

15 December 1582...The Spanish Netherlands, Denmark and Norway adopted the Gregorian calendar.
15 December 1945...A record December snowstorm buried Buffalo, NY under 36.6 inches of snow, with unofficial totals south of the city ranging up to 70 inches. Travel was brought to a halt by the storm. (14^th-17^th) (The Weather Channel)
16 December 1890...A big snowstorm at Pittsburgh, PA dropped 23.9 inches in 24 hours, the greatest 24-hour snow for that city. (Intellicast)
16 December 2000...NASA announced that an ocean was most likely located beneath the icy surface of the Jovian moon Ganymede. (Wikipedia)
17 December 1884...A three-week blockade of snow began at Portland, OR. A record December total of 34 inches was received. (David Ludlum)
17 December 1930...Greensboro, NC experienced its greatest 24-hour snowfall when 14.3 inches fell. (Intellicast)
18 December 1919...The temperature fell to one degree below zero at Central Park in New York City for the earliest sub-zero temperature on record. (Intellicast)
18 December 1989...Unseasonably warm weather continued ahead of an arctic cold front. Miami FL equaled their record for December with an afternoon high of 87 degrees. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)
19 December 1911...A 24-hour snowfall record occurred in Oklahoma with 22 inches at Beaver. (Intellicast)
19 December 1924...The Riverside Ranger Station in Yellowstone Park, WY reported a low of 59 degrees below zero, a December record for the contiguous U.S. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
19 December 1967...The second heavy snow in a week brought a total of 86 inches of snow to Flagstaff, AZ with a record snow depth of 83 inches. (Intellicast) (David Ludlum)
20 December 1989... Squalls produced more heavy snow in the Great Lakes Region. Erie, PA received 21 inches of snow, including four inches in one hour, to bring their total snow cover to 39 inches, an all-time record for that location. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)
20 December 1990...Snow fell at Santa Maria, CA for the first time since records were kept. (Intellicast)
21 December 1892...Portland, OR was buried under an all-time record 27.5 inches of snow. (21^st-24^th) (The Weather Channel)
21 December 1989...Forty cities in the north central U.S., including thirteen in Iowa, reported record low temperatures for the date. The high for the date of 16 degrees below zero at Sioux Falls, SD was December record for that location. (The National Weather Summary)

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