WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

16-20 March 2009

International observances -- Several days during this upcoming week have been designated as special days that are intended to focus public attention on the environment and earth science:
- "International Polar Day" -- Wednesday, 18 March 2009, has been designated as the eighth quarterly "International Polar Day" with the focus upon the Polar Oceans. This observance, with activities continuing through the following week, will include topics on physical oceanography and marine biodiversity. [International Polar Day]
- "Earth-Sun Day"-- Since Friday, 20 March 2009 is the vernal equinox, the day has been declared Earth-Sun Day, which is includes a series of programs and events that occur throughout the year culminating with a celebration on the Spring Equinox. NASA will engage a worldwide audience in the celebration of the International Year of Astronomy, with an emphasis on daytime astronomy.
- "World Water Day" -- Sunday, 22 March 2009, has been designated by the United Nations as the annual World Water Day, with this year's theme identified as "Shared Water - Shared Opportunities," which focuses upon transboundary waters and highlights cooperation on water management between countries. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will lead the activities of the World Water Day 2009 with the support of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Observance of World Water Day around the world arose from the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. [UN-Water]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

Review of February 2009 and the 2008-09 boreal winter -- Based upon preliminary data, scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center reported that
- Across the US -- temperatures across the coterminous US for the recently-concluded meteorological winter season (December 2008 through February 2009) were close to the long-term average for the period of record that commenced in 1895. States in the upper Midwest and the northern Plains, along with Maine and Washington had statewide temperatures that were below average, while the states in the central and southern Rockies, as well as across the Southeast were warmer than average. While the three-month average was close to average, the average temperature for February 2009 was above the long-term average, with only Florida experiencing below average February temperatures. Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas had much above average statewide temperatures for February. The winter of 2008-2009 was the fifth driest December-February period on record, as Texas had its driest winter in recorded history. While the Southeast reported its tenth driest winter, states in the upper Midwest had above average winter precipitation. [NOAA News]
  NCDC's February drought report is has been placed online at http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2009/feb/us-drought.html.
- Across the globe -- the preliminary combined global land and ocean surface average temperature for February 2009 was the ninth highest since comprehensive climate records began in 1880. In addition, the three-monthly average (December 2008-February 2009) corresponding to boreal winter was also the eighth highest on a combined global and ocean average temperature. The ocean surface temperature for February 2009 was the eighth highest, while the December-February average was the seventh highest. [NOAA News]
"Eyes on the Earth 3-D" website is launched -- NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has added new interactive features to an expanded NASA Global Climate Change Web site, resulting in "Eyes on the Earth 3-D" that displays the location of all of NASA's 15 currently operating Earth-observing missions in real time. This site is devoted to educating the public about Earth's changing climate. [NASA JPL]
Citizen help needed for phenological network -- The USA-National Phenology Network is currently recruiting interested people across the nation to record phenological events, such as the dates when trees bud, flowers bloom and migrating animals return. Tracking the multiyear trends in these events can help scientists better understand climate change. [National Public Radio]
Climate research could be threatened by aging satellite fleet -- Climate researchers around the country are concerned that the US satellites operated by NASA and NOAA that monitor climate change have aged and replacements would be years away, meaning that valuable data streams needed to assess climate variations could be interrupted. [National Public Radio]
Ice remains on the Great Lakes -- Images obtained from the MODIS sensors onboard NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites during the first week of March showed large areas of ice on several of the Great Lakes. An image shows an extensive ice cover on Lake Superior, a somewhat rare occurrence for the month of March. [NASA Earth Observatory] Images of Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron along Michigan's Lower Peninsula made over a five-day span show how a wind storm help break up the ice on the Bay and produce dramatic ice shoves that damaged homes near Bay City, MI. [NASA Earth Observatory]
An All-Hazards Monitor -- This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, fire weather, marine weather, severe weather, drought and floods. [NOAAWatch]
Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes -- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, including drought, floods and storms during the current month. [NCDC]

CLIMATE FORCING

Trends in air pollution seen from blue sky research -- Researchers from the University of Maryland and the University of Texas, Austin have compiled a new database of aerosol measurements over land from more than 30 years of clear sky visibility observations at 3250 weather stations around the world. They also made comparisons with available satellite data from recent years. These researchers have found that the visibility have decreased over the last three decades as aerosols from airborne pollution have increased, which could cause changes in climate. [EurekAlert!]
New observing technique observers aerosols -- NASA scientists have developed a new aerosol detection technique and a new satellite instrument called the Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor that will provide accurate measurements of the composition, size and global distribution of aerosols, atmospheric constituents that affect the global climate and climatic variability. [NASA GSFC]
Geoengineering project could reduce solar power generation -- A recently released report by scientists at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory warns that the geoengineering project that would add particles to the stratosphere to serve as a "sunscreen" and delay global temperature increases could unintentionally reduce electricity generated by large solar power plants by as much as 20 percent. [NOAA News]
Fumigant found to be a potential greenhouse gas -- An atmospheric chemist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and colleagues at MIT and other institutions have found that the fumigant sulfuryl fluoride (SO₂F₂) frequently used to kill termites in buildings is also a greenhouse gas that could remain in the atmosphere for up to 36 years, much longer than previously thought. [Scripps News] [MIT News]
Urbanization and drought thought to be contributing factors to an Atlanta tornado -- Researchers from Purdue University and the University of Georgia using NASA satellite data along with historical archives suggest that a combination of factors, including an extended drought across the Southeast and extensive urbanization in the Atlanta (GA) metropolitan area along with a recent intermittent rain that formed "wet pockets", helped set the stage for a historic tornado that ripped through downtown Atlanta on the evening of 14 March 2008. [NASA GSFC]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Nutritional value of algae could be reduced by climate change -- Researchers from the Netherlands Institute for Ecology and the Universiteit van Amsterdam warn that while changes in climate have caused freshwater micro-algae to grow more rapidly, their composition changed, resulting in decreased nutritional value for other aquatic life higher in the food chain. [Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research]
Changes detected in phytoplankton off Antarctica -- Marine scientists at Rutgers University and other research institutions who inspected 30 years of data collected from satellites and field studies concluded that amount of phytoplankton in the coastal waters off the northern section of the Antarctic Peninsula has decreased, while increases in phytoplankton have occurred off the southern sections of the Peninsula because of changes in the region's climate. [EurekAlert!]
A new look at marine phytoplankton -- Marine researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have been studying the biology and ecology of marine phytoplankton in the central North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, hoping to determine how these microscopic organisms contribute to the production of nearly half of the free oxygen on Earth. [EurekAlert!]
Dust fall could be toxic to marine algae -- Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Cornell University, the US Geological Survey and Israel's Interuniversity Institute of Marine Sciences report that while airborne dust from continents can provide an important source of nutrients for marine phytoplankton when the dust is deposited in the oceans, some of the dust can carry toxic elements that can kill the phytoplankton. [EurekAlert!]
Coral reefs could dissolve with increased carbon dioxide -- Researchers at the Carnegie Institution and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem warn that if atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations reach levels double those of the pre-industrial age, coral reefs could begin dissolving in the world's ocean basins due to increased ocean acidification. [EurekAlert!]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

"Peking Man" may be old and adapted to cold -- A research team from Purdue University and China's Nanjing Normal University and the Academia Sinaca report that their mass spectrometer dating methods indicates that the Zhoukoudian, China site that contained remains of Homo erectus or "Peking Man" has been dated at between 680,000 and 780,000 years ago, much older than previously thought. They also indicate that Peking Man many have adapted to the cold of a mild glacial period. [EurekAlert!]
Shift in the wind could have released more carbon dioxide from Southern Ocean -- A team of scientists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory claims that an orbital-induced southward displacement in the prevailing westerly wind flow approximately 17,000 years ago could have caused increased upwelling in the waters of the Southern Ocean around Antarctica resulting in an increased release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which would hastened the end of the last Ice Age. [EurekAlert!]
Current off South Africa may influence Europe's climate -- A marine scientist at Spain's Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona recently reported that her research indicates that the major Agulhas Current that transports warm water southward from the tropical Indian Ocean along the coast of South Africa contributes to the strength of the circulation in the Atlantic Ocean including the Gulf Stream, thereby ultimately affecting the climate of Europe. Her research involved the radiochemical study of sediments under the Agulhas Current over the last 345,000 years. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Federal government should provide more decision making support concerning climate change -- A new report entitled "Informing Decisions in a Changing Climate" issued by the National Research Council recommends that various federal agencies such as NOAA and the US Environmental Protection Agency should expand their efforts at providing climate information to officials with various state, local and private agencies across the nation who need to make decisions on infrastructure that cope with climate change. [The National Academies]
Climate change could impact economic issues in the UK -- A researcher at the United Kingdom's University of Bath who is working with the UK Climate Impacts Programme warns that projected climate changes across the British Isles would result in increased costs for such items as health insurance and infrastructure maintenance. [EurekAlert!]
Reports from the International Scientific Congress on Climate Change -- The International Scientific Congress on Climate Change met last week in Copenhagen, Denmark with approximately 2500 participants from more than 70 countries. Several of the topics discussed were:
- Six preliminary key messages are identified at the Congress that involved: climatic trends; social disruption, long-term strategy; equity dimensions; inaction is inexcusable and meeting the challenge. [University of Copenhagen]
- The rise in global sea levels during the 21st century could have a major impact around the world, with the low-lying countries to be hit hardest. [University of Copenhagen]
- A "Climate Marshall Plan" proposed by the Director of Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research at the United Kingdom's University of Cambridge that would offer growth and development opportunities while combating global warming. [University of Copenhagen]
Public may think global warming is "exaggerated" -- A recent Gallup Poll of Americans indicates that a sizeable number of citizens (41 percent) thinks that the news about global warming is "exaggerated." [Gallup Poll]
Could weather or air pollution trigger headaches? A researcher with Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School along with colleagues have conducted a seven-year study in which they concluded that weather events that included higher air temperatures and lower barometric pressure appeared to have a higher and shorter risk of headaches, but air pollution may not have a significant effect on the risk of headaches. [EurekAlert!]
Higher ozone exposure over time leads to higher respiratory death risks -- A new nationwide study indicates that long-term exposure to ground-level ozone associated with smog in 96 metropolitan areas across the country over a recent two-decade span can result in an increased risk of death from a variety of respiratory ailments. [EurekAlert!]
The Sun brought darkness -- A recent NASA feature article describes how a solar storm 20 years ago (13 March 1989) caused a major electrical power blackout across the entire province of Quebec. As described, the cause of the "Quebec Blackout" was a vast cloud of solar plasma that struck the Earth after a major round of solar flares and coronal mass ejections, resulting in the generation of geomagnetically induced electric currents across North America that interrupted the province's power grid. [NASA]
Website for human dimensions of climate change -- An interagency effort within the US federal government that included NOAA, the Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service, has resulted in a website called HD.gov (for HumanDimensions.gov) that provides users, such as natural resource managers, with information on the human dimensions on a variety of topics of interest such as climate change. [HD.gov]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Historical Events:

16 March 1975...A single storm brought 119 inches of snow to Crater Lake OR establishing a state record. (The Weather Channel)
16-17 March 2002…A snowstorm dumped 28.7 inches of snow on Anchorage, AK breaking the old daily record of 15.6 inches. Snow amounts ranged from 24 to 29 inches at lower elevations. (The Weather Doctor)
17 March 1906...The temperature at Snake River, WY dipped to 50 degrees below zero, a record for the coterminous U.S. for the month of March. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders -1987)
17 March 1998...Calgary, Alberta experienced its worst March snowstorm in 113 years, measuring 13 inches of snow at the airport and from 15 to 18 inches in other parts of the city. (The Weather Doctor)
17-24 March 1999…Intense Tropical Cyclone Vance (Category 5) moved across portions of Western Australia. A record wind gust for the Australian mainland of 167 mph was recorded at the Learmonth Meteorological Office. (The Weather Doctor)
18 March 1914...San Francisco, CA reached its highest temperature ever recorded in March. The mercury rose to 86 degrees. (Intellicast)
18 March 1925...The great "Tri-State Tornado" occurred, the most deadly tornado in U.S. history. The tornado, which claimed 695 lives (including 234 at Murphysboro, IL and 148 at West Frankfort, IL), cut a swath of destruction 219 miles long and as much as a mile wide from east central Missouri to southern Indiana between 1 PM and 4 PM. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
18 March 2002…A snowstorm over coastal British Columbia produced the latest and heaviest single-day snowfall on record for the city of Vancouver of 2.55 inches. (The Weather Doctor)
19 March 1950...Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood reported 246 inches of snow on the ground, a record for the state of Oregon. (The Weather Channel)
19 March 1964...Up to 39 inches of snow fell at Cape Whittle for Quebec's greatest one-day snow total. (The Weather Doctor)
20-21 March 1948…Juneau, AK received 31.0 inches of snow, to set a 24-hour snowfall record for Alaska's capital. This snowfall record pales compared to the state's 24-hour snowfall record of 62.0 inches set at Thompson Pass on 28-29 December 1955. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
20 March 1986…A wind gust of 173 mph was recorded in the Cairngorm Mountains, Scotland, the highest ever recorded in the United Kingdom. (The Weather Doctor)
22 March 1888… The morning' low temperature at Chicago, IL dipped to one degree below zero, the latest sub zero Fahrenheit reading in the Windy City's history. (The Weather Doctor)

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