WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

20-24 April 2009

Celebrations this week:

EARTH DAY -- This Wednesday (22 April 2009) is the 39th Earth Day, first proposed by the late Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin in 1970 as a teach-in to heighten awareness of the environment. A government website provides links to various activities and resources.
ARBOR DAY -- This coming Friday, 24 April 2009, many locations across the nation will celebrate Arbor Day, a day when the planting of trees is encouraged. Arbor Day was originally proposed in 1872 by J. Sterling Morton, Nebraska's first newspaper editor, and continues to be most often celebrated by individual states on the last Friday in April. However, since planting conditions vary greatly due to the state's climate it may occur from September to May. In Arkansas, Arbor Day is celebrated on the third Monday in March, but in Alaska, the date is the third Monday in May. For your state's observance (and name of the official state tree), please consult the National Arbor Day Foundation.

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

Global temperatures for March 2009 -- Based upon analysis of preliminary monthly climate data, scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center report that the monthly global combined land and ocean surface average temperature for the concluded month of March 2009 indicates this past month was the tenth warmest March since climate records began in 1880. [NOAA News]
March national drought report posted -- The National Climatic Data Center has posted it March drought report online.
The 2008 hurricane season reviewed -- The 2008 hurricane season in both the North Atlantic and North Pacific is reviewed and compared to the more than 150 years of record keeping in the North Atlantic and the 40 years in the eastern North Pacific. [AMS DataStreme Atmosphere]
Instrument switch on CALIPSO keeps data flowing -- Scientists at NASA's Langley Space Flight Center were able to switch from a primary laser onboard the three-year old Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) satellite to backup laser, permitting data to be obtained from the satellite. [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

Mathematics applied to sea ice and climate change -- A mathematician at the University of Utah has developed a mathematical model of percolation that simulates the physical process by which water moves through porous sea ice in an attempt to improve modeling efforts involving polar climate dynamics. [EurekAlert!] Editor's Note: The American Mathematical Society, the American Statistical Association, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics have made Mathematics and Climate the theme for Mathematics Awareness Month, April 2009. EJH

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Heat can kill drought-stressed trees -- Scientists at the University of Arizona citing the results from their research at the university's Biosphere 2 warn that piñon pine forests across the Southwest that have been stressed by drought could die off rapidly if temperatures increase by as much as 4 Celsius degrees. [EurekAlert!]
More carbon dioxide and less oxygen in oceans could harm marine life -- Marine chemists from California's Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute claim that a combination of increased dissolved carbon dioxide and decreased dissolved oxygen levels in the oceans appears to harm deep-ocean animals, leading to expanded low-oxygen "dead zones" in the ocean during the next century. [Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute]
Soils could lose phosphorous due to changing climate -- Scientists with the United Kingdom's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council warn that changes in rainfall patterns around the world due to changes in climate potentially could result in a loss of phosphorus from the soil, which could have a devastating effect upon the environment. [UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council]
"Sleeper" weeds could awaken with climate change -- Scientists associated with Australia's Climate Adaptation Flagship have found that changes in climate could cause potential weed species to move southward by as much as 1000 km across Australia during the next half century, which cause serious damage to the environment and cost the nation a significant sum of money in weed control or lost production. [CSIRO]
Climate-related damage to forests have major implications for carbon budget -- A report entitled "Adaptation of Forests and People to Climate Change – A Global Assessment" authored by the world's top forestry scientists for the International Union of Forest Research Organizations warns that environmental stresses placed upon global forests by changes in climate could not only damage the forests but change their role from providing a major sink for greenhouse gases to becoming a net source of carbon in these gases. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Greenhouse gas emission cuts could save Arctic sea ice -- Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and their colleagues at other institutions claim that their analysis of experiments run of the center's Community Climate System Model indicates that if nations cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 70 percent during this century, the threat of massive loss of Arctic sea ice and permafrost leading to significant sea level rise could be partially avoided even though global temperatures would continue to rise. [NCAR/UCAR]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

Drought is common across West Africa -- Researchers from the Unites States and Ghana using a variety of paleoclimatic indicators report that drought across sub-Saharan West Africa has been not only more severe during the last 3000 years than what the region is currently experiencing, but these droughts have been quite common, with lengths of individual drought episodes usually lasting between 30 to 60 years. [EurekAlert!]
Microbes found in water under Antarctic glacier -- A team of researchers from six research universities have discovered microbes in briny water under Antarctica's Taylor Glacier that appear to have survived for several million years consuming leached iron compounds and that are similar to modern marine species. [EurekAlert!] [EurekAlert!]
Early oxygen history obtained from sulfur in rocks -- Geochemists from the University of Maryland and Penn State University have used a chemical analysis technique and claim that an abnormal isotope fractionation of sulfur in rocks from the ocean floor may indicate that the atmosphere approximately 2.4 billion years ago may have not been as oxygen poor as earlier assumed. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Improved Indian Ocean tropical cyclone forecasts could save lives -- Researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and colleagues have used NASA satellite data and a new modeling approach that could improve weather forecasts across the northern Indian Ocean where tropical cyclones form that result in nearly 80 percent of the world's cyclone related deaths. [NASA Earth Science News Team]
Weather and Climate Education in the United Kingdom -- The United Kingdom's Meteorological Office recently announced a new section on their web site that is designed to teach school age children about weather and climate change and to provide resources for classroom teachers to use. [UK Met Office]
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:

20 April 1880...Sacramento, CA had its heaviest 24-hour rainfall when 7.24 inches fell. (Intellicast)
20 April 1901...A spring storm produced unusually heavy snow in northeast Ohio. Warren received 35.5 inches in thirty-six hours, and 28 inches fell at Green Hill. Akron established April records of 15.6 inches in 24 hours, and 26.6 inches for the month. Pittsburgh, PA established April records of 12.7 inches in 24 hours, and 13.5 inches for the month. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
20 April 1984...A temperature of 106 degrees in Del Rio, TX set a new record high for April. (Intellicast)
20 April 1987...Fifty-two cities in the central and eastern U.S. reported new record high temperatures for the date. The high of 92 degrees at Memphis, TN was a record for April, and the high of 94 degrees at Little Rock, AR equaled their April record. (The National Weather Summary)
20 April 1989...Hot weather spread from the southwestern U.S. into the Great Plains Region. Twenty-three cities reported new record high temperatures for the date. The afternoon high of 104 degrees at Tucson, AZ was an April record, and highs of 87 degrees at Provo, UT, 90 at Pueblo, CO, and 85 at Salt Lake City, UT, equaled April records. (The National Weather Summary)
21 April 1989...The temperature at Las Animas, CO soared to 100 degrees to establish a state record for April. Twenty-two cities in the central and southwestern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. Eight cities equaled or exceeded previous April records. Tucson, AZ experienced its fourth consecutive day of record heat with an afternoon high of 104 degrees, bringing the total number of days during the month of April 1989 to 11 when record high values had either been matched or broken. (The Weather Channel) (The National Weather Summary) (Intellicast)
21 April 1992...Two inches of snow fell at International Falls, MN, bringing the winter season snowfall to 106.7 inches and setting a new all-time record for the city. The old record was 104.7 inches set back in the 1988-89 winter season. (Intellicast) Editor's Note: As of Sunday, 19 April 2009, the seasonal snowfall accumulation for the 2008-09 winter has reached a record 124.0 inches. EJH
22 April 2003…Tropical Storm Ana formed in the southwestern North Atlantic Ocean, becoming the first Atlantic tropical storm (since records began in 1871) to form during the month April. Maximum sustained winds reached 50 mph. (The Weather Doctor)
23 April 1910...The temperature at the Civic Center in Los Angeles, CA hit 100 degrees to establish an April record for the city. (The Weather Channel)
23 April 1989...Salina, KS was the hot spot in the nation with a high of 105 degrees. The high of 105 degrees established an April record for the state of Kansas. A total of eighteen cities in the central U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (The Weather Channel)
23 April 1996...One inch of snow on this day at Cleveland, OH brought its seasonal snowfall to 101.1 inches -- the city snowiest winter ever. The old record was 100.5 inches set in 1981-82. (Intellicast)
24 April 2003…The temperature at Juneau, AK soared to a maximum of 70 degrees, the earliest occurrence of a 70-degree reading for the period of record in Alaska's capital city. (The Weather Doctor)
25 April 1875...New York City received three inches of snow, the latest measurable snow of record for that location. (David Ludlum)
25 April 1898...The temperature at Volcano Springs, CA hit 118 degrees to establish an U.S. record for the month of April. (The Weather Channel)

Return to DataStreme ECS website