WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

DataStreme ECS WEEK SIX: 12-16 October 2015

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Celebrate Earth Science Week 2015 -- 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 (11-17 October 2015) as Earth Science Week 2015 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 18th annual Earth Science Week is “Visualizing Earth Systems,” which is designed to explore "what it means to see our planet through eyes informed by the geosciences." [American Geological Institute]
Last week's auroral displays due to fast solar wind -- .Polar and subpolar latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere were treated to a dancing display of aurora borealis (or northern lights). According to a space physicist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center this auroral display was produced by a coronal mass ejection (CME) on the sun that created a high-speed solar wind, which eventually interacted with the Earth's magnetosphere to create excitation of the molecules in the upper atmosphere. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center]
Teaching climate literacy -- NOAA Climate Program Office has recently posted a set of seven concepts that can be used to support the "teaching the guiding principle for informed climate decisions." These practical tips relate climate principles to real world experiences and problems. [NOAA Climate.gov News] [Editor's note: Thanks go to Professor Mark Seeley, an extension climatologist/meteorologist at the University of Minnesota and a long-time LIT member with the AMS DataStreme program in the eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin. EJH]
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.

CLIMATE MONITORING

Antarctic "ozone hole" is approaching its annual maximum for 2015 -- NASA and NOAA scientists recently announced that the region of depleted stratospheric ozone over polar regions of the Southern Hemisphere often called the "Antarctic ozone hole" appears to be approaching its largest annual size during the last several weeks, running from mid-September and early October, which is typical for this time of year. Colder than average 2015 stratospheric weather conditions contributed to ozone depletion that covered a larger area than during the last several years. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center ] or [NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory News]

CLIMATE FORCING

Asteroid impact and volcanism combined to cause demise of dinosaurs -- Geologists at the University of California Berkley have found evidence indicating that an asteroid impact of Earth approximately 66 million years ago accelerated the number of volcanic eruptions in India for the next several hundred thousand years, beginning approximately 50,000 years after the asteroid or comet impact. The combined effects of the asteroid impact and the volcanic eruptions produced an environment with sufficiently dense aerosols and noxious fumes leading to a change in climate and ultimately the extinction of many marine and land animals, including the dinosaurs. This extinction is at the Cretaceous–Tertiary (K–T) boundary. [University of California Berkley News]

CLIMATE MODELING

Comparisons made between model simulations of future national temperatures -- A team of scientists from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites–North Carolina and the University of North Carolina—Asheville's National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center recently released a report comparing the results of climate model simulations using two generations of climate model simulations. Some of these simulations involved changes in temperature across the contiguous United Stated during the last three decades of the 20th century, while others involved projected temperature changes for the later part of the 21st century. The two climate models used were identified as CMIP3 and CMIP5 (where CIMP stands for Coupled-Model Intercomparison Project), with simulations run by CMIP3 having been used in the Third National Climate Assessment in May 2014. The report indicates that simulations made by the more recently developed CMIP5 produce very similar results. [NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information News]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion & El Niño advisory -- NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society recently released their El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion that showed a strong El Niño event continued as sea surface temperatures (SST) were above average across the central and eastern tropical Pacific during September 2015. SST values ranged from between two to three Celsius degrees above normal from the central into the eastern equatorial Pacific [NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory]. Consequently, forecasters at CPC have continued their El Niño advisory that indicates the continuation and possible strengthening of a strong El Niño event possibly peaking by late fall and early winter in the Northern Hemisphere. These forecasters foresee a greater than 95 percent chance that this El Niño event would continue through the boreal winter of 2015-16, followed by a gradual weakening through spring 2016. A detailed El Niño/Southern Oscillation Diagnostic Discussion with supporting maps and charts is available from CPC.
An ENSO blog written by CPC staff suggests that this current El Niño event is one of the strongest since 1950 as SST values for the three months of July, August and September 2015 were the third highest on record. These forecasters expect this El Niño event to peak during the late fall or early winter 2015-16 (in the Northern Hemisphere). The blog also has a discussion and accompanying graphics as to how strong El Niño events have influenced winter precipitation events across the United States. [NOAA Climate.gov News]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Global coral bleaching event is declared for only the third time -- NOAA scientists recently issued their standard four-month bleaching outlook for coral reefs around the world that shows a continuing threat for bleaching in the Caribbean, Hawaii and Kiribati, along with a potentially expanding threat into the Republic of the Marshall Islands due to record high ocean temperatures causing widespread coral bleaching. Their outlooks were developed jointly by NOAA's Satellite and Information Service and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction through funding from the Coral Reef Conservation Program and the Climate Program Office. This global coral bleaching event is the third ever on record following previous events in 1998 and 2010. [NOAA News]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS

As climate warms, Horn of Africa is drying faster -- Scientists from the University of Arizona and Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have found that the eastern Horn of Africa, which includes Somalia, Djibouti and Ethiopia, have been receiving less rain during the typical rainy season (March through May) as regional and global temperatures rise. They base their findings on the paleoclimate record of temperature and aridity for the Horn of Africa extending over the last 2000 years that was extracted from ancient marine sediment cores from the nearby Gulf of Aden. The researchers warn that the trend for lower rainfall associated with projected increases in temperature could exacerbate tensions in one of the most geopolitically unstable regions in the world. [University of Arizona News]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Grants awarded to advance climate research and improve community resilience -- During the past week NOAA's Climate Program Office announced that it awarded $48 million for 53 new research projects at a variety of governmental and university laboratories that are designed to advance the understanding, modeling and prediction of Earth's climate system and to improve decision making. [NOAA News]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com]

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:

12 October 1979...The lowest observed sea-level barometric pressure (870 mb or 25.69 inches of mercury) was recorded approximately 300 miles west of Guam in the western Pacific Ocean at the center of Typhoon Tip. (The Weather Doctor)
12 October 1982...Angoon, AK received 15.20 inches of precipitation, to set a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the 49th State. (NCDC)
12 October 2006...With 0.3 inches of snow falling at O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, IL set a new record for the earliest measurable snowfall since record-keeping began in 1871. The previous earliest date was 18 October in both 1972 and 1989. An unusually-early and intense lake-effect snow storm, resulted in 8.3 inches of snow that was measured at the official Buffalo, NY weather station on the 12th set a record for the snowiest October day in the station's 137-year history. The record did not last long, however, as the measurement on the morning of the 13th totaled10.9 inches. The two-day event totaled 22.6 inches (57.4 cm), breaking the October record for a single snowfall event. The storm was the sixth heaviest snowfall on record. (The Weather Doctor)
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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