WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

4-8 December 2017

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Nation's newest polar orbiting environmental satellite becomes NOAA-20 -- When the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS)-1 spacecraft successfully attained its final polar orbit of Earth on Saturday, 18 November 2017, it was renamed NOAA-20 in accordance with a nearly 40-year old tradition for naming NOAA's polar-orbiting satellites. [NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service]
The "first light" image (or the first image transmitted back) from the newly launched NOAA-20 satellite was a composite image obtained from its Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) sensor that shows the global distribution of precipitable water (total amount of water vapor in the lowest 5 km of the atmosphere) as associated with antenna temperatures. [NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory]
GOES-16 satellite is on the move -- After an extensive series of tests run following its launch slightly more than one year ago (19 November 2016), the NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-16 spacecraft began a move Thursday, 30 November 2017. The spacecraft is moving from its position in geosynchronous orbit around the Earth that is along the Equator at a longitude of 89.5 degrees West. GOES-16 should reach its new home over the equator at a longitude of 75.2 West on Monday, 11 December, where it will eventually replace NOAA's GOES-13 as the GOES-EAST Satellite. GOES-13 will continue to provide instrument data during an overlap period until 2 January 2018, at which time instruments will be turned off and moved to its storage location at 60 degrees west. [NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service]
Questions answered about the NOAA fleet of satellites -- NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) recently posted a set of questions frequently asked by the public about its fleet of satellites. Several of the questions included: "Can satellites see you?" and "Can you see a satellite?" Several satellite images are provided. [NOAA NESDIS News]
First European meteorological satellite launched 40 years ago -- On 23 November 1977, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched Meteosat-1 into geosynchronous orbit around the Earth, Europe's first meteorological satellite. This satellite was the first geosynchronous meteorological satellite to have a water vapor channel, where an onboard sensor takes measurements of the infrared radiation emanating from the planet in selected wavelength bands that permit the tracking of the motion of water vapor along with ice crystals and liquid droplets in clouds. [EUMETSAT News]
Celebrate World Soil Day -- This Tuesday, 5 December 2017, has been declared to be World Soil Day, an event that is annually held on the 5th of December "to celebrate the importance of soil as a critical component of the natural system and as a vital contributor to human wellbeing" as made in a resolution by the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS). This year's theme for World Soil Day is "Caring for the Planet starts from the Ground," since soil is a finite natural resource. [Food and Agricultural Organization of UN - World Soil Day]
Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2017 Campaign commences -- The twelfth in a series of GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaigns for 2017 will commence this Saturday (9 December) and continue through Monday, 18 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 (Pegasus in the Northern Hemisphere and Grus 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. The first series in the 2018 campaign is next and is scheduled for 6-15 January 2018. [GLOBE at Night]

CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS

Mount Agung volcano on Bali erupts -- After weeks of seismic activity, the Mount Agung volcano on the Indonesian island of Bali erupted at the start of last week, with volcanic ash and condensate being carried aloft. This volcanic ash posed a hazard to aircraft and resulted in the closing of the Bali airport. [The Sun] [World Meteorological Organization News]
Images produced by data collected by the Ozone Mapper Profiler Suite (OMPS) on the NASA/NOAA Suomi-NPP satellite early this week show sulfur dioxide emanating from the recent Mount Agung stratovolcano following the explosive eruption last weekend. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Sulfur dioxide carried upward into the stratosphere can react with water and form shiny sulfuric acid droplets that reflect solar radiation, thereby reducing surface heating and causing a lowering of the surface temperatures as occurred following Mount Agung's last major eruption in 1963. That eruption resulted in a reduction in global temperatures by as much as 0.2 Celsius degrees during the following year. [Vox Media]
Additional summaries of 2017 hurricane seasons in North Atlantic basins -- At the end of the official 2017 hurricane season in the North Atlantic, eastern North Pacific and central North Pacific basins last Thursday (30 November 2017), NOAA scientists issued their preliminary assessment of this hurricane season in the Atlantic basin. They reported that the Atlantic basin experienced an extremely active season, not only in terms of the number of named tropical cyclones (tropical storms and hurricanes), but also upon the magnitude of a parameter noted as the "Accumulated Cyclone Energy" index, which measures the combined intensity and duration of the storms during the season. The scientists also noted that investments in research and forecasting during recent years have paid dividends in more accurate predictions of tropical cyclone tracks in 2017. A four-and-a-half-minute video was made of the 2017 hurricane season using an animation of satellite images obtained from the NOAA GOES-East satellite. [NOAA News]
The forecast team at Colorado State University released their summary of the tropical cyclone activity in the North Atlantic basin during 2017 along with a verification of their long-range seasonal and two-week forecasts. [Tropical Meteorological Project]
Satellites reveal changes in the size of Africa's Lake Chad -- Images obtained by NASA's Landsat 1 satellite in 1973, the agency's Landsat 8 satellite in 2017, the CIA's Corona strategic reconnaissance satellite in 1963 and by an astronaut on the International Space Station in 2015 reveal changes in the areal size of Lake Chad, located in Africa's Sahel. The size of the lake is dependent upon the inflow of water from the highly variable rainfall totals associated with the rainy season (July through September) of the West African Monsoon. Lake Chad, a relatively shallow lake that provides fresh water for more than 30 million people, has undergone large changes in size, not only over the last half century, but over the last 10,000 years. [NASA Earth Observatory]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

More boreal forest wildfires sparked by lightning strikes in northern Alaska and Canada -- Using data collected from MODIS sensors on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites, the Alaska Large Fire Database and the lightning detection network, a team of scientists has found that wildfires across the boreal forests in Alaska and northern Canada have been increasing in frequency and in areal size over the last several decades. More lightning discharges due to increasing unstable atmospheric conditions caused by a warming climate appears to be responsible for igniting many of the wildfires. In addition, earlier spring thaws have been leading to longer fire seasons. [NASA Earth Observatory]

CLIMATE AND HUMAN HEALTH

Connections between extreme weather events and human health explored -- Researchers from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites–North Carolina, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Florida State University have recently published a paper that explores the interconnections between extreme weather and climate events and human health on both short-term and long-term scales. However, important gaps in knowledge about the health impacts of extreme events still exist. The paper also highlights ways that research into these connections can help build resilience. [NOAA NCEI News]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Canadian national seasonal outlook issued -- Forecasters with Environment Canada issued their outlooks for temperature and precipitation across Canada for December 2017 through February 2018, which represents meteorological winter. The temperature outlook indicates that the northern Canada running from the coast of the Yukon Territory eastward and northward to Nunavut's Ellesmere Island could experience above normal (1981-2010) temperatures for these three months. Above average winter temperatures are possible across southeastern Canada, running from the sections of Ontario along the Great Lakes to the Maritime Provinces. Elsewhere, average temperatures could be anticipated from British Columbia eastward across the Prairie Provinces and northern sections of Ontario and Quebec to Labrador.
The Canadian precipitation outlook for the 2017-18 winter season indicates that above average precipitation was to be anticipated across scattered areas of southern Canada. Only a few small areas in the southern Yukon Territory of western Canada could have below average precipitation. Near-average winter precipitation was expected across wide areas of the nation.
[Note for comparisons and continuity with the three-month seasonal outlooks of temperature and precipitation generated for the continental United States and Alaska by NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, one would need to use Environment Canada's probabilistic forecasts for temperature and precipitation.]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com]

Historical Events:

4 December 1982...The temperature in New York City's Central Park reached 72 degrees to establish a record high for December. The month as a whole was also the warmest of record. (The Weather Channel)
5 December 1941...The temperature at Enosburg Falls soared to 72 degrees to establish a state record for Vermont for the month of December. (The Weather Channel)
6 December 1950...Duluth, MN had their greatest 24-hour snowfall when 25.4 inches fell. (Intellicast)
7 December 1966...ATS-1 satellite (Applications Technology Satellite) was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, FL. This satellite, which was placed in a geosynchronous orbit, had the first spin-scan camera designed by Professor Verner Suomi of the University of Wisconsin-Madison designed to monitor cloud patterns on Earth on a nearly continuous basis. (Fritz Hasler, NASA)
8 December 1938...The temperature at La Mesa, CA soared to 108 degrees to set a U.S. record for the month of December. Los Angeles reached 91 degrees, the only time a 90-degree reading was reached in December in that city's history. (The Weather Channel) (Intellicast)
10 December 1919...A 28-inch snowfall for 24 hours at Bend, OR set a new 24-hour snowfall record for the state. (Intellicast)
10 December 1946...The temperature at New York City soared to 70 degrees, the highest ever for a December day. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
11 December 1905...The highest recorded temperature in South America was 120 degrees set in Rivadavia, Argentina. (National Weather Service files)
11 December 1944...Toronto, Canada, received a record one-day snowfall of 19 inches. (National Weather Service files)
10 December 1949...The barometric pressure at Las Vegas, NV reached a record low reading of 29.17 inches (987.8 millibars). (The Weather Channel)
10 December 1995...Intense lake effect snow squalls buried Buffalo, NY under 37.9 inches in 24 hours, the city's greatest 24-hour snowfall and biggest snowstorm ever. Watertown, NY recorded 39 inches in just 12 hours and had 4 inches of snow an hour each hour for six consecutive hours. (Intellicast)

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