WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

18-22 May 2009

DataStreme Earth Climate Systems will return for Fall 2009 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 31 August 2009. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

ITEMS OF INTEREST --

Bill for National Climate Service moves forward -- On Wednesday, the Science Committee of the US House of Representatives will put the finishing touches on H.R. 2407, the National Climate Service Act of 2009, that was written by the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, which would provide the necessary legislation for the formation of the National Climate Service within NOAA. [US House of Representatives]
Global Climate Change Education Grant Awards announced -- NASA recently announced that $6.4 million in grants have been awarded to 22 institutions of higher education and not-for-profit education organizations nationwide to enhance learning in climate science using NASA's Earth science resources. [NASA Earth Observatory]
NASA Earth System Science to celebrate 20 years of discovery -- The Earth Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate together with the National Academy of Sciences' Ocean Studies Board, Space Studies Board, and Board on Earth Sciences and Resources will be co-hosting "NASA Earth System Science at 20: Accomplishments, Plans and Challenges" in Washington, DC on 22-24 June 2009 to celebrate 20 years of accomplishments attained by NASA's Earth system science program and discuss future discoveries and opportunities. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Zenithal Sun -- This week marks one of the two times during the year when the noontime sun is directly overhead to residents on the Big Island (18-19 May at Hilo), while those on Oahu (Honolulu metropolitan area) will experience the noon sun at the zenith in approximately one more week (25-27 May). The sun will again be over the Big Island during the last week of July. [US Naval Observatory, Data Services]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

April US drought status -- The National Climatic Data Center recently posted the national drought report for April 2009 that provides various maps, charts and narrative describing drought conditions across the country.
State and city weather extremes for April 2009 -- The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) has posted a listing of some of the notable extremes in temperature, precipitation and other weather elements across the nation for the recently completed month of March 2009 in "Selected U.S. City and State Extremes for April 2009." Note that this site may be updated during the following several weeks as more data are received and analyzed.
Follow an expedition to the Arctic -- A blog has been posted that describes how NASA scientists are mapping Greenland glaciers with their new airborne radars as their current expedition continues. [NASA JPL]
A new weather satellite is featured on kids cartoon show -- Andre Dress, NASA GOES Deputy Project Manager at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, was recently interviewed by the NASA "Space Place Live!," an animated "television show" that is found on the Internet. His 10-minute interview was focused on the upcoming launch of a geosynchronous weather satellite called "GOES-O" by NASA in the next few weeks. [NASA GOES] [Editor's Note: GOES-O, the second spacecraft in the GOES-NOP Series of satellites, is scheduled to be launched from Florida's Kennedy Space Flight Center on the evening of 26 June 2009. Consult http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GOES-O/main/index.html for more launch details. EJH]
Tracking snowmelt in mountainous regions -- Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have developed an improved method for accurately determining snow water equivalent in the snowpack in southwestern Colorado's San Juan Mountains using data from NASA's Earth orbiting satellites (including Landsat-7 and Terra) and a new mathematical snowmelt model. [NASA JPL]
Changes in climate are affecting Cascades snowpack -- Researchers at the University of Washington using four different methods to examine the water content records of the Cascades snowpack adjacent to Washington States' Puget Sound over the last 60 years have concluded that increased regional temperatures during the last 30 years have caused a decline in the winter snowpack. This research has followed some recent contentious disagreements as to the amount and direction of change in the Cascade snowpack. [EurekAlert!]
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

New North Atlantic circulation pathway found -- Using field observations from 76 floats and computer models, oceanographers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Duke University have discovered that much of the southward flow of cold water from the Labrador Sea travels along a previously unknown diffuse path in the interior of the North Atlantic, rather than along the suspected deep western boundary current. Their discovery could help in the study of the influence that humans would have on climate change. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Michigan mammals moving northward due to climate change -- Researchers at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Ohio's Miami University recently reported that several mammal species native to Michigan have been expanding their ranges rapidly northward in apparent response to changes in climate. [University of Michigan News Service]
Biota in world's largest lake could be threatened -- An international team of scientists from Wellesley College in Massachusetts and Russia's Irkutsk State University claim that increased temperatures and annual precipitation totals in Russia around Lake Baikal, the world's largest lake, not only have decreased the lake's average ice thickness and increased the ice-free season, but also appear to have threatened the lake's unique biota, especially the diatoms found at the base of the lake's food chain. [EurekAlert!]
Mapping made of West Coast areas affected by humans -- Marine ecologists affiliated with the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California, Santa Barbara have produced a map of the West Coast and the adjacent waters of the eastern North Pacific Ocean showing the locations where stresses have had a cumulative impact upon marine ecosystems, including climate change and 25 anthropogenic caused impacts such as fishing and land-based pollution. [University of California, Santa Barbara]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Contemplating a future if ozone layer had not been protected -- A review article has been produced that describes the modeling efforts dubbed "World Avoided" conducted by atmospheric chemists from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the Johns Hopkins University, and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency to learn "what might have been" to the environment if chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and similar ozone-destroying chemicals had not been banned through the 1989 Montreal Protocol, resulting in a possible loss in the stratospheric ozone layer. [NASA Earth Observatory]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

The Andes could be older than previously dated -- Researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, the University of Potsdam in Germany and Ecopetrol in Colombia claim that that their zircon-fission track analysis of sediments collected along the eastern range of the Andes Mountains indicates that this mountain range formed 25 million years ago, which is approximately 18 million years prior to the previously accepted starting date of the rise of the Andes. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Millions of Asians could be displaced by climate change-- A new study commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund entitled "The Coral Triangle and Climate Change: Ecosystems, People and Societies at Risk" warns that projected changes in climate by the end of the 21st century could cause coral reefs in the western Pacific Ocean's Coral Triangle to disappear entirely, threatening the food supply and livelihood of approximately 100 million people in Asia. [World Wildfire Fund]
River deltas can provide information on environmental changes -- Researchers at Texas A&M University and the University of Texas recently reported that their analysis of sediments obtained from the world's largest delta areas where rivers empty into the global oceans indicates changes in sediment chemistry in the last half century, reflecting the impact of human activity on the environment. The sediment also provides records of flood and storm events. [EurekAlert!]
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:

18 May 1980...Mount St. Helens in Washington State erupted, ejecting smoke and ash to a height of 63,000 feet. The smoke plume rose to a height of 80,000 feet. The ground was covered with heavy ash to the immediate northeast and visibility was reduced to less than one mile for a downwind distance of 400 miles. Five deaths were caused and over 2000 people were evacuated due to mudslides and flooding when the snowpack melted. Small particles in the cloud reached the East Coast in 3 days and circled the world in 19 days. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
18 May 1960...Salt Lake City, UT received an inch of snow, marking their latest measurable snowfall of record. (The Weather Channel)
19 May 1780...The infamous "dark day" in New England tradition occurred as noon was nearly as dark as night. Chickens went to roost, and many persons were fearful of divine wrath. Forest fires to the west of New England caused the phenomena. (David Ludlum)
19 May 1955...Lake Maloya, NM received 11.28 inches of rain in 24 hours to establish a state record. (The Weather Channel)
19 May 1962...An all-time May record was set when the temperature climbed to 99 degrees at Central Park in New York City. (Intellicast)
20 May 1996...Bridgeport, CT soared to 97 degrees for its highest temperature on record in May. (Intellicast)
1 May 1895...The temperature at Norwalk, OH dipped to 19 degrees to set a state record for the month of May. (The Weather Channel)
21 May 1896...The mercury soared to 124 degrees at Salton, CA to establish an U.S. record for May. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders - 1987)
21 May 1980...The temperature at Williston, ND reached 102 degrees to set a record for May, and the next day the mercury hit 106 degrees. (The Weather Channel)
22 May 1876...Denver, CO was drenched with 6.53 inches of rain in 24 hours, an all-time record for that location. (The Weather Channel)
22 May 1911...The temperature at Lewiston, ME soared to 101 degrees, the highest temperature ever recorded in New England during the month of May. (David Ludlum)
22 May 1922…The United Kingdom recorded its hottest May day on record when the thermometer hit 91 degrees at Camden Square, London, England. (The Weather Doctor)
22 May 1980 The temperature at Winnipeg, Manitoba rose to 98.6 degrees, setting a record high for May. (The Weather Doctor)
23 May 1953...The temperature at Hollis, OK soared from a morning low of 70 degrees to an afternoon high of 110 degrees, to establish a state record for the month of May. (The Weather Channel)

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