17-22 May 2010

DataStreme Earth Climate Systems will return for Fall 2010 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 30 August 2010. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

• Hurricane season begins in the eastern North Pacific -- The 2010 hurricane season in the eastern North Pacific Ocean basin begins on Saturday, 15 May 2010. The hurricane season in the North Atlantic basin, including the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico will begin in two weeks on 1 June. The official hurricane seasons in both basins end on 30 November 2010. NOAA has declared the week of 23-29 May 2010 to be Hurricane Awareness Week across the nation.
• 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 (15 May at South Cape, and 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]

• April drought reports -- The National Climate Data Center have posted its April 2010 drought reports online. Using the Palmer Drought Severity Index as a gauge, approximately one percent of the coterminous United States experienced severe to extreme drought conditions at the end of April, while eight percent of the area had moderate to extreme drought. On the other hand, 15 percent of the area in the Lower 48 had severely to extremely wet conditions.
• Floods remain a problem in Midwest -- Comparison of the images obtained from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite in late April and at the start of last week shows the extent of some of the flooding that occurred across sections of Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana due to the torrential rains that hit the region on the first weekend of May. [NASA Earth Observatory]
  Recent estimates made by the US Geological Survey indicate that some rivers in middle Tennessee crested at record high levels, exceeding previous record levels in some cases by nearly 14 feet. [USGS Newsroom]
• CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING
• Modernization of global temperature records urged -- Climate scientists from the United Kingdom's Met Office and from NOAA's Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites recently explained the need for an international project designed to modernize global temperature records. This plan, which is endorsed by the World Meteorological Organization, stems from the challenge made by the Met Office earlier this year to the international community of climate scientists to increase the measurement of land surface temperatures and permit independent scrutiny of the data as a way of answering criticism of the datasets by skeptics. [UK Met Office] [USA Today]

• Contract awarded for instrument to measure global precipitation from space -- NASA recently awarded a contract to Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp. of Boulder, CO for the manufacture, testing and delivery of the Global Precipitation Measurement Microwave Imager, that will be placed on a satellite to be launched in 2014, which will join the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission improving the estimation of precipitation accumulation from tropical and midlatitude weather systems. [NASA Headquarters]

• Demise of glaciers in Glacier National Park -- On the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Glacier National Park in Montana, NASA released an image made from data collected of Grinnell Glacier and several other glaciers in the park by the Advanced Land Imager on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. Outlines of the extent of Grinnell Glacier and the other glaciers in 1950 are shown to show the reduction in the areal size of the glaciers over more than half a century. [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]

• Iceland's volcano update -- The Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland continued to spew a second ash plume during the first week of May. Images from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite shows volcanic ash being spread by the winds up to 4 miles above the surface. [NASA GSFC]
  Scientists at the Germany's GKSS Research Centre Geesthacht using computer models have been studying the dispersion of the ash cloud by the winds and comparing their results with the forecasts made by the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) in London. [GKSS]
• Strategies considered for increasing carbon storage in forests -- Researchers for the US Department of Agriculture's Forest Service and Duke University recently described the risks, uncertainties and tradeoffs associated with the eight strategies being used or proposed by the US for offsetting carbon emissions, which would involve forests. They note that carbon stored in forests and harvested wood products would currently offset 12-19 percent of US fossil fuel emissions. [EurekAlert!]

• Rising global temperatures result in a reduction in lizard populations -- An international team of researchers has found that rising global temperatures have resulted in the extinction of lizard populations. The scientists warn that 20 percent of all lizard species could be extinct by 2080 due to projected temperature increases due to increased carbon dioxide emissions. [EurekAlert!]

• Fossils help in visualization of ancient marine life -- Paleontologists from Yale University who have been analyzing the 1500 fossils of soft-bodied marine animal that they collected from northern Morocco are helping complete a picture of the marine life in the early Ordovician Period (between 480 and 472 million years ago), a time of intense bio-diversification. [Yale University]
• Phosphorous may have triggered complex evolution and blue skies on ancient Earth -- A researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science claims that geological processes during the Proterozoic (from approximately 2.5 billion to 540 million years ago) may have washed large quantities of phosphorus in to the Earth's oceans, resulting in vast algal blooms and subsequent major global biogeochemical changes. The algal blooms would have increased quantities of oxygen that would have not only allowed larger, more complex types of organisms to thrive, but also caused skies to change from having a orange tinge to one that was blue. [EurekAlert!]
• Water may have been present when Earth formed -- In research conducted at the United Kingdom's University of Manchester and the Carnegie Institution of Washington involving the analysis of silver isotopes in ancient rocks, scientists suggest that volatile elements, including water, may have been available when planet Earth formed between 30 and 100 million years after the creation of the solar system. These results would cause a reconsideration of the current theory that water came from comets and asteroids. [EurekAlert!]

• Climate panel's work defended by UN science chief -- As a group of scientists began reviewing the recent work of the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in an effort to eliminate errors that have bolstered skeptics' claims that global warming is a hoax, the chairman of the UN's IPCC, Rajendra Pachauri, not only defended the efforts made by the thousands of scientists who have contributed to the reports, but also welcomed the review. [USA Today]
• Three new climate change reports to be released this week -- The National Research Council has announced that it will release three new climate change reports collectively known as "America's Climate Choices" on Wednesday at a public briefing in Washington, DC. These reports will focus on the climate science involved with human-induced climate change, along with the options that the nation can take to limit the magnitude of increased global temperatures and adapt to a warmer climate. [EurekAlert!]
• Public's concern for environment may be underestimated by polls -- In a study conducted by Stanford University's Woods Institute and the Associated Press of the results of a recent internet survey, the way in which the poll questions are worded would drastically alter the results of the poll in terms of Americans' concern for the environment. If the question were posed in the traditional "most important problem" wording, only a few percent would mention the environment, but if the question were phrased to ask identify the most serious problem if left unchecked, more than 25 percent of respondents would identify the environment or global warming. [Woods Institute for the Environment - Stanford]
• 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.

• 17 May 1997...Two inches of snow fell at Herman, MI, marking the last measurable snow for the 1996-1997 snow season. The 384.0 inches for this just concluded snow season broke a state snowfall record that was set the previous 1995-1996 season of 347.0 inches. The average snowfall at Herman is 239.7 inches. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 17 May 1979...A reading of 12 degrees at Mauna Kea Observatory (elevation 13,770 feet) established an all-time record low temperature for the state of Hawaii. (The Weather Channel)
• 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)
• 21 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)

Return to DataStreme ECS website

Prepared by Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2010, The American Meteorological Society.