WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

9-13 January 2017

DataStreme Earth's Climate Systems will return for Spring 2017 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 23 January 2017. 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

Historic view of Earth and Moon from Mars -- A composite image was made of planet Earth and its natural satellite, the Moon, in late November from two images produced from data collected by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as this spacecraft was orbiting planet Mars. [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory News]

CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS

A climate scientist's view of major weather and climate events of 2016 -- Deke Arndt, Chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), has written a Beyond the Data blog identifying what he felt were five of the more meaningful climate and weather events from the calendar year of 2016. These events were: the possibility that 2016 was the warmest year on record globally; the "noncommittal La Niña"; the massive flooding across the Southeast from tropical systems; drought across several large sections of the nation; and record-setting Alaska heat. For each of these events, he described what happened, discussed why the event matters and then looked beyond the data. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Satellite altimeters show sea surface height changes as strong El Niño becomes a subdued La Niña -- Two images of the sea surface height anomaly (differences between observed and long-term average sea surface altitudes) across the Pacific Ocean basin were generated from data collected from altimeter sensors onboard NASA's Jason-2 and Jason-3 satellites in January 2016 and in November 2016. The image from last January reflects the strong El Niño event that had developed by that time, featuring above average sea surface heights in the eastern and central Pacific due to warmer than average ocean temperatures and weaker trade winds, while below average sea surface heights were found in the western tropical Pacific. On the other hand, the image from this past November shows a muted La Niña as sea surface heights along the equatorial Pacific were slightly above average. Two additional sea surface height anomaly maps were also presented, with one from late December 1998 and the other from nearly two weeks ago. The image for 1998, obtained from data collected by NASA's TOPEX/Poseidon mission, shows an example of one of the strongest La Niña events on record, featuring well above average sea surface height anomalies across a broad region of the eastern and central equatorial Pacific. In contrast, the recent image (from the Jason-3 satellites) shows a mottled pattern of positive and negative height anomalies, suggestive of a weak La Nina event that was transitioning into an ENSO-neutral event (El Niño/Southern Oscillation) where neither El Niño nor La Niña conditions were present. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Review of Canada's top ten weather stories in 2016 -- The Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society recently released a list of what it considered the top ten weather events across Canada during the calendar year of 2016. The top story was the major destructive wildfire at Fort McMurray, Alberta in May that was nicknamed "The Beast." Additional stories on the list included the "Super El Niño" that resulted in the second warmest winter in the nation's history, the hot summer across the East and the shrinking size of the Arctic sea ice. [Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society]
Atmospheric rivers cross central Pacific heading for North American West Coast -- An image was made of the "total precipitable water," or the vertical depth of liquid water that would be condensed out of a column of water vapor in the atmosphere with a unit cross-sectional area, found across the central North Pacific Ocean early last week. This image, obtained from satellite observations, shows several bands containing large quantities of water vapor as indicated by high precipitable water levels running generally from west to east just north of the equator. These long plumes of high atmospheric humidity originating over tropical and subtropical waters of the Pacific Ocean are called "atmospheric rivers" and are associated with the abundant amounts of precipitation that can fall along the West Coast of North America and the west-facing slopes of the Western Cordillera. The rain and snow from this atmospheric river could help reduce the long standing drought conditions across California and adjacent states. [NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory]
Huge iceberg on verge of breaking off Antarctic ice shelf -- BBC News recently learned that a rift has rapidly developed on the Larson Ice Shelf C in West Antarctica during the summer month of December in the Southern Hemisphere. Currently, the ice shelf is barely being held to the Antarctic continent. Once broken off, the resulting iceberg would be about a quarter of the size of Wales and one of the ten largest ever. [BBC News]

CLIMATE MONITORING

A NASA satellite celebrates 15 years monitoring Earth's upper atmosphere -- Early last month marked the 15th anniversary of the launch of NASA's TIMED (Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics) mission, an orbiting spacecraft that has been making observations of the dynamics and chemistry of those sections of the Earth's atmosphere lying between 40 to 110 miles above the Earth's surface in a region called the mesosphere, thermosphere and ionosphere. Data collected by the TIMED spacecraft during its 15 years in orbit have allowed scientists to gain a better understanding of processes in this region of the upper atmosphere that involve the input of solar radiation and high energy particles especially during solar storms and the behavior of atmospheric carbon dioxide and terrestrial winds. The 15-years of data collection has extended over at least one solar activity cycle that is approximately 11 years in length. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center]
New knowledge of ionosphere and Earth's interface to space revealed -- Scientists from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the Catholic University of America, the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of California, Berkeley have presented their discoveries about the processes involved with the transfer of heat and energy into and through the ionosphere. This region of the Earth's upper atmosphere is located at altitudes ranging between 50 and 360 miles above the Earth's surface. The researchers considered the energy transfer processes from the Sun and interplanetary space move above the ionosphere and from the Earth below. Interactions between the ionosphere and the thermosphere, another region of the Earth's atmosphere were described, as well as how changes in the upper atmosphere responds to solar storms that can place a drag on satellites in low Earth orbit. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center]
"Global warming hiatus" is disproved for another time -- Researchers from the University of California Berkeley and the non-profit research institute Berkeley Earth have used independent data to confirm an earlier claim that no detectable slowdown in ocean warming had occurred in the previous 15 years, during a time span that has been called the "global warming hiatus" – a slowdown in the rate of the increase in global ocean temperature. A recent analysis indicates that modern buoys that are now used to measure ocean temperatures tend to report slightly lower temperatures than older ship-based sensors, leading to the "hiding" of the ocean warming. NOAA researchers correcting this "cold bias" concluded that the oceans had warmed by 0.12 Celsius degrees per decade since 2000, as compared with the earlier estimates of 0.00 Celsius per decade, bringing the rate of ocean temperature rise in line with estimates for the previous 30 years (1970-1999). The newer NOAA estimates are confirmed by the California researchers. [University of California Berkley News] Scientists from the United Kingdom's University of York also confirm this new assessment. [University of York News]
Working under the ice -- Two widely flung scientific missions are collecting data on conditions under ice:

Scientists at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science have deployed a high-tech mooring beneath the seasonally ice-covered waters around Antarctica to better understand ocean acidification in polar regions, particularly during the winter months. Autonomous sensors mounted on the mooring sensors measure concentrations of dissolved carbon dioxide, pH, temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen. The mooring is located in the waters off the West Antarctic Peninsula, within the study area of the Palmer Antarctic Long-Term Ecological Research program. [Virginia Institute of Marine Science News]
Scientists at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have developed an improved technique that allows airborne ice-penetrating radar to reveal meltwater's life under the ice throughout the year. They have been studying the meltwater under the Greenland Ice Sheet. [Earth Institute/Columbia University State of the Planet]

CLIMATE FORCING

Hurricanes making US landfalls are weaker during active Atlantic hurricane periods -- A scientist with NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) has found that a protective barrier of vertical wind shear and lower ocean temperatures forms along the US East Coast during periods of greater Atlantic hurricane activity, which serves to weaken the tropical cyclones as they approach land. Conversely, during periods of low hurricane activity, sea surface temperatures are lower and wind shear is stronger, tending to lead to hurricane intensification. [NOAA NCEI News]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Beluga whale migration impacted by Arctic sea ice loss -- A recent study by researchers from the University of Washington and colleagues from Alaska and Canada reveals that the annual migration of some beluga whale populations in the waters of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas north of Alaska is being altered by sea ice changes in Arctic due to changing climate. The changes in Arctic sea ice are manifest by later freeze dates in fall. However, the researchers found that other beluga whale populations do not appear to be affected. [University of Washington News]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Local Chicago group building city's climate resilience through fortifying its urban forest -- Concerned with the loss of 13 million ash trees that was reducing the tree canopy in Chicago (IL) metropolitan area, neighborhood groups have joined together to form the Chicago Region Trees Initiative. The trees in the Chicago metropolitan area have climate stressors that include increases in temperature, more excessive rain events and local flooding. The Chicago Region Trees Initiative is partnering with a climate change specialist with the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science and the U.S. Forest Service, to confront the decline in urban trees and develop a program with goals that include improving management skills and knowledge, increasing the region's tree canopy, and incorporating tree species that are resistant to pests and the impacts of climate change. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Addressing stewardship of natural and cultural resources as climate changes -- The US Interior Department's National Park Service recently released a 60-page report entitled "Cultural Resources Climate Change Strategy" that addresses the stewardship of the nation's natural and cultural resources in the context of modern climate change. The National Park Service has been charged with conserving not only natural resources but also cultural resources so that they may be enjoyed by future generations. Four goals were identified for cultural resources and climate change: i.) connect impacts and information; ii.) understand the scope; iii.) integrate practice; and iv.) learn and share. [National Park Service]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com]

Historical Events:

9 January 1875...The temperature at Cheyenne, WY dipped to an all-time record low reading of 38 degrees below zero. (The Weather Channel)
9 January 1899...The temperature at Norway House, Manitoba: 1899 plummeted to 63 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit), marking the coldest day ever recorded in Manitoba. (The Weather Doctor)
9 January 1954...The temperature reading taken during the British North Greenland Expedition at Northice, Greenland was 87 degrees below zero, the lowest temperature ever recorded in Greenland and in the Western Hemisphere. (The Weather Doctor) (National Weather Service files)
9 January 1992...An unbelievable 14 consecutive days of cloudy skies finally ended at Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. Every single weather observation during this time period showed overcast conditions -- 350 consecutive hours of cloudy skies! There was not even a "mostly cloudy" -- all observations were completely cloudy. During this cloudy period, it was very mild. The average temperature from 26 December to 8 January was 19 degrees above normal. (Intellicast)
10 January 1800...Savannah, GA received a foot and a half of snow, and ten inches blanketed Charleston, SC. It was the heaviest snowfall of record for the immediate Coastal Plain of the southeastern U.S. (David Ludlum)
10 January 1949...Snow was reported at San Diego, CA for the first and only time since 1882. Snow was noted even on some of the beaches in parts of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
10 January 1958...The world record for a 48-hour rainfall amount was set at Aurere, La Reunion, with 97.10 inches. This record has been broken with a rainfall of 98.15 inches at Cherrapunji, India in June 1995. (National Weather Service files)
11 January 1911...The temperature at Fort Vermilion, Alberta fell to 78 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit), which is Alberta's lowest temperature on record. (Weather Doctor).
11 January 1942...Rhode Island's record low temperature of 23 degrees below zero was set at Kingston. (Intellicast)
11 January 2002...The temperature at the Russian research Vostok Station (elevation 11,444 feet above sea level) reached 10 degrees, the all-time high temperature record for this station that is the site of the world's all-time record low temperature of 129 degrees below zero set on 21 July 1983. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
12 January 1912...The morning low temperature of 47 degrees below zero at Washta, IA established a state record for the Hawkeye State. (The Weather Channel) (This record was tied in February 1996 at Elkader).
12 January 1981...The temperature fell to 35 degrees below zero at Chester, MA, setting an all-time record low temperature for the Bay State. (NCDC)
12 January 1985...A record "snowstorm of the century" struck portions of western and south central Texas. The palm trees of San Antonio were blanketed with up to thirteen and a half inches of snow, more snow than was ever previously received in an entire winter season. Del Rio measured 5.5 inches, which was also their most snow ever in 24 hours as well as for any season. (Weather Channel) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
13 January 1862...The "Noachian flood of California" created a vast sea in the Sacramento Valley. San Francisco had a January rainfall total of 24.36 inches. (Intellicast)
13 January 1871...The mercury plunged to 41 degrees Fahrenheit at Key West, FL, the lowest reading ever at this farthest south location in the contiguous US. The mark was tied on 12 January 1993. (The Weather Doctor)
13 January 1888...The mercury plunged to 65 degrees below zero at Fort Keogh, located near Miles City, MT. The reading stood as the all-time lowest temperature record for the continental U.S. for sixty-six years. (David Ludlum)
13 January.1912...The temperature at Oakland, MD plunged to 40 degrees below zero to establish a state record. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders - 1987)
14 January 1863...The greatest snowstorm of record for Cincinnati, OH commenced, and a day later twenty inches of snow covered the ground. That total has remained far above the modern day record for Cincinnati of eleven inches of snow in one storm. (David Ludlum)
14 January 1972...A record 24-hour temperature rise for the United States, as well as the world, occurred at Loma, MT when the temperature rose from 54 degrees below zero at 9 AM on the 14th to 49 degrees on the 15th, due to a powerful chinook. This record 103-Fahrenheit degree temperature change in 24 hours was not acknowledged until 2002, when it was recognized due to recommendation of the National Climate Extremes Committee. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
14 January 1979...Chicago, IL was in the midst of their second heaviest snow of record as, in thirty hours, the city was buried under 20.7 inches of snow. The twenty-nine inch snow cover following the storm was an all-time record for Chicago. (David Ludlum)
15 January 1952...A six-day snowstorm was in progress in the western U.S. The storm produced 44 inches of snow at Marlette Lake, NV, 52 inches at Sun Valley, ID and 149 inches at Tahoe CA, establishing single storm records for each of those three states. In addition, 24-hour snowfall totals of 22 inches at the University of Nevada and 26 inches at Arco, ID established records for those two states. The streamliner, City of San Francisco was snowbound in the Sierra Nevada Range, near Donner Summit. (David Ludlum)
15 January 1988...A small storm over the Atlantic Ocean produced heavy snow along the coast of North Carolina. The five inch total at Wilmington, NC was their third highest for any storm in January in 117 years of records. (National Weather Summary)

Return to RealTime Climate Portal