21-25 June 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.

• HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE! The summer solstice will occur early Monday morning (officially, 21 June 2010 at 1128 Z, or 7:28 AM EDT, 6:28 AM CDT, etc.). At that time, the earth's spin axis is oriented such that the sun appears to be the farthest north in the local sky of most earth-bound observers. While most of us consider this event to be the start of astronomical summer, the British call the day the "Midsummer Day", as the apparent sun will begin its southward descent again. For essentially all locations in the northern hemisphere, daylight today will be the longest and the night will be the shortest of the year. Starting Tuesday, the length of darkness will begin to increase as we head toward the winter solstice on 21 December 2010 at 2338 Z. However, because the sun is not as perfect a time-keeper as a clock, the latest sunsets of the year at many mid-latitude locations will continue through about the first week of July -- a consequence of the earth being near aphelion (on 6 July 2010) and the apparent sun moving across the sky well to the north of the celestial equator.
• World Hydrography Day celebrated -- The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) will celebrate the fifth annual World Hydrography Day on Monday 21 June 2010, the anniversary date on which the IHO was created in 1921. The theme for this year's celebration is Hydrographic Services – the essential element for maritime trade. [IHO] [Note: This link is to a pdf file that requires Adobe Acrobat Reader - see below.]
• Lightning Awareness Week -- The nation will celebrate its tenth annual National Lightning Safety Awareness Week, this upcoming week, 20 through 26 June 2010, as declared by the National Weather Service. On average, 66 people in the nation are killed annual by lightning and numerous more are injured. A cartoon character, Leon the Lightning Lion, is promoting the slogan "When thunder roars, go indoors!" The National Weather Service, in conjunction with other sponsors, has a "Lightning Safety" website, http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/, that has links to a variety of informational and teacher resource materials. As many as 20 states are also observing this week with statewide activities. A video can be downloaded with Quicktime software featuring a 2009 Miss America hopeful, Ellen Bryan, whose sister was struck and seriously injured by lightning. [NOAA News]
• Winds, sand and gas emissions along the African coast -- An image made by the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite last week shows the effects of easterly trade winds along the Atlantic coast of Namibia last week. Dust plumes from African deserts were being carried out over the Atlantic Ocean, while plumes of sulfur and organic sediments in the waters of the Atlantic attest to bubbles of hydrogen sulfide reaching the surface, reacting with the surface waters and organic materials. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Vivid sunset from space -- A photograph taken recently by an astronaut on the International Space Station shows a spectacular sunset over the Indian Ocean. The gradation of colors gives an indication of the various layers in the atmosphere, ranging from the relatively dense troposphere near the Earth's surface up through the thin stratosphere and rarified upper atmosphere that includes the mesosphere. (Editor's note: This image shows the relative thin gaseous envelope that surrounds the planet and sustains life. EJH) [NASA Earth Observatory]

• May drought reports -- The National Climate Data Center have posted its May 2010 drought reports online. Using the Palmer Drought Severity Index as a gauge, approximately two percent of the coterminous United States experienced severe to extreme drought conditions at the end of May, while five 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.
• A dry start to the year in the British Isles -- Scientists at the United Kingdom's Met Office recently released statistics indicating that the first five months (January-May) 2010 was the driest in over 40 years. This dry start to the year contrasts with areas of France and Italy that have experienced wet weather. [UK Met Office] Editor's note: The statistics and graphs for meteorological spring 2010 in the United Kingdom are available. EJH
• Canadian seasonal climate summary for Spring 2010 -- Climate scientists with Environment Canada recently reported that the nationwide average temperature during meteorological spring 2010 (March through May) was the warmest spring since nationwide records began in 1948. Nationwide, spring precipitation across Canada was slightly above average, as the Prairie Provinces, southern British Columbia and the Canadian Archipelago had above average precipitation. On the other hand, dry conditions were found across southeastern Canada, from the Great Lakes to the Maritime Provinces, along with central Canada. [Environment Canada]
• Review of global weather and climate for May 2010 -- Scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center who calculated the combined global land and ocean surface temperature for May 2010 from preliminary weather data have determined that the recently concluded month was the warmest May since global climate records began in 1880. Furthermore, the combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the highest for the last three months (March through May), considered meteorological spring in the Northern Hemisphere (fall in the Southern Hemisphere), and for the first five months of the calendar year 2010. The worldwide average land surface temperature for May was the highest for May since 1880, while the global ocean surface temperature was second highest on record.
  Snow cover extent across the Northern Hemisphere during May was also the smallest on record. While Arctic sea ice was the ninth smallest since satellite records began in 1979, the sea ice around Antarctica was the fourth largest for any May on record. [NOAA News]
  See also [NOAA Global State of the Climate] for additional information.
• Atlantic heating as hurricane season commences -- Scientists and forecasters have been monitoring the waters of the tropical and subtropical North Atlantic at the start of the Atlantic hurricane season in a region that they call the "Main Development Region," which is the preferential region for hurricane development. Sea surface temperatures for the last four months have been higher than for any February through May since records began in 1850, which may result in more frequent and more intense tropical cyclones. Several reasons for these record high temperatures have been discussed, including the effects of the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation and the long-term increase in global temperatures. [Discovery News]
• Spring reaches the Arctic -- While meteorological summer began nearly three weeks ago, the snow and ice across the Arctic basin has begun to wane as evident from recent images made by instruments onboard NASA's satellites:
• A series of three MODIS images made by the Terra satellite over a nearly two and one half-week span in early June shows the snow disappearing from Alaska's North Slope, along with the formation of ponds from meltwater. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• A MODIS image from the Aqua satellite last week shows smoke and the location of wildfires signaling the start of the annual spring fire season in northwestern Canada's boreal forest near the Mackenzie River. This image also shows that the sea ice has retreated from the coast, leaving ice-free or open sections in the Beaufort Sea. [NASA Earth Observatory]

• Determining the most likely hour for summer rain -- Researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County analyzed hourly precipitation data for a ten-year period across the United States to ascertain if any hours of the day had a greater chance for summer rainfall. They found that the peak rainfall occurred during the early afternoon across the Rocky Mountains, but later in the day across the Great Plains, but with the peak hour occurring during the early morning across the Midwest. The Florida Peninsula experiences its peak rainfall during the late afternoon hours. [LiveScience]
• More ocean-observing needed for monitoring Antarctic climate change -- A group of oceanographers from Rutgers University; the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA; Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; the British Antarctic Survey; California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo; and the Polar Ocean Research Group in Sheridan, MT recently called for more observations made of the Southern Oceans surrounding Antarctica, especially around the western Antarctic Peninsula in order to monitor and ascertain the effects of changing climate on Antarctica. The researchers climate that climate of the western Antarctic Peninsula is changing more rapidly than elsewhere on the continent and their proposed polar ocean observation program would be a cost-effective approach to the prediction of the impacts of climate change on all marine ecosystems. [Rutgers University]
• 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]

• African drought affected by climate change over North Atlantic -- An international research team from Israel's University of Haifa, the French National Meteorological Service, Columbia University and the University of San Diego recently reported on their findings indicating that cyclic changes in the sea surface temperature in the North Atlantic Ocean along with the atmospheric pressure over this basin appear to affect the drought across Africa's sub-Sahara region called the Sahel. Low sea surface temperatures resulted in drought in the Sahel, while warmer waters would result in rain. In addition, drought coincided with weaker Atlantic hurricanes. The researchers found two "natural climate signals" in the sea surface temperature and the sea-level pressure: a multi-decadal signal with a periodicity exceeding 40 years and a quasi-decadal signal with periodicity ranging between 8 and 14 years. [University of Haifa]
• Alpine hazard risk increasing with climate change -- A team of researchers from the United Kingdom's University of Exeter and Austrian colleagues have found that two extreme weather events in the Eastern European Alps – the 2003 heat wave and the 2005 floods – appear to be associated with the changing climate and that these type of events could increase in frequency, resulting in increased risk of hazards in alpine regions. [EurekAlert!]
• Volcanic emissions used to study past atmospheric conditions -- A geology professor at Louisiana State University and NOAA colleagues have used computer models and geological data to simulate the effects of volcanic eruptions on the atmospheric conditions across the northern high Plains of North America due to massive volcanic eruptions that injected sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere. They modeled the sulfur gas oxidation chemistry. [EurekAlert!]
• Water has more than three phases -- At "normal" temperatures and pressures, water (H₂O) exists in three phases: ice, liquid and vapor. However, as many as 15 phases have been identified under extreme temperatures and pressures. Recently, University of Utah chemists have found the coexistence of ice and liquid at very low temperatures (-90 degrees Celsius) in the upper atmosphere even after water molecules crystallize. This research may have implications on the formation of clouds that regulate global radiation and hence, global climate. [EurekAlert!]
• Solution for easing one environmental problem worsens another -- Several researchers claim that the use of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) as replacements for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) to minimize damage to the stratospheric ozone layer appears to have created at least two new environmental problems. HCFCs appear to be "super greenhouse gases" that are 4500 times more potent than carbon dioxide and that these molecules could undergo photodissociation in the atmosphere, forming oxalic acid, one of the components in acid rain. [EurekAlert!]
• Climate-induced ocean changes may impact millions of residents-- Marine scientists from Australia's University of Queensland, the University of Maine and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill warn that current changes in global climate have resulted in changes in the Earth's oceans at unprecedented rates, which could potentially lead to dire consequences for hundreds of millions of the planet's residents. [EurekAlert!]
• Rethinking the ocean conveyor belt model is needed -- An oceanographer at Duke University recently called for reexamination of the giant ocean conveyor belt model that has been used to describe the large scale transport of ocean waters from pole to pole, along with its effect upon climate. The theory has invoked the concept of overturning driven by density differences due to temperature and salinity variation. She claims that an in-depth consideration of the role of eddies and the wind field is needed. [EurekAlert!]
• Human impacts on ocean chemistry studied -- A marine geochemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution recently evaluated the impacts of climate change, increased carbon dioxide, pollution and other human-related phenomena on the chemistry of the world's oceans. He claims that human activity has a profound impact upon the ocean chemistry due to fossil fuel consumption, pollution and agricultural practices. [EurekAlert!]
• Global warming slowed by high-yield agriculture -- Earth scientists at Stanford University have determined that advances in high-yield agriculture since the 1960s have substantially reduced the amount of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere by the equivalent of 590 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, thereby resulting in a slowing of the rise in global temperature. Part of the reduction has been in the lower need for conversion of forests to farmland. [Stanford University]

• Flowers help make tropics wetter and cooler -- Using a computer model to simulate past climates, researchers at the University of Chicago have found that flowering plants appear to have made the tropics wetter and cooler than non-flowering plants. The researchers point to the importance of flowering-plant physiology to climate regulation in wet rainforests. [University of Chicago]

• Link found between air pollution, increased temperature and sleep-disordered breathing -- Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health who conducted the three-year Sleep Heart Health Study that included more than 6000 participants report that they have established the first link between air pollution and sleep-disordered breathing, a known cause of cardiovascular diseases. Their analysis included EPA air pollution monitoring data from seven metropolitan areas across the US. [EurekAlert!]
• Leaded gasoline represented a major source of lead exposure in 20th century -- Researchers from Case Western Reserve University claim that leaded gasoline was the dominant source of lead exposure to residents of large metropolitan areas during the last 60 years of the 20th century. The lead was ingested and inhaled from water and air pollution. Other sources included lead paint and lead soldering in food cans. While the health threat from lead affects children the most, the effects appear to continue well into adulthood. [EurekAlert!]

• La Niña watch issued -- During the first week of June, scientists at the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center issued an La Niña Watch as atmospheric and oceanic conditions around the world appeared to be favorable for a transition from El Niño conditions to La Niña conditions during Northern Hemisphere Summer (June, July and August) 2010. Since the El Niño dissipated in May, the El Niño Advisory was allowed to expire. [NWS Climate Prediction Center]
• The British anticipate an active Atlantic hurricane season -- Forecasters at the United Kingdom's Met Office recently issued their prediction of this upcoming Atlantic hurricane season. Like their American counterparts at the National Hurricane Center and at Colorado State University, the British call for an active season, with as many as 20 named tropical cyclones (hurricanes and tropical storms). Using their "Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) index", they anticipate stronger and longer lasting tropical cyclones. [UK Met Office]

• Assessing the deadly Arkansas flooding -- Torrential rain fell across southwestern Arkansas at the end of the second week of June that resulted in a flash flood along the Little Missouri River that killed 20 people.
  A team of scientists from the US Geological Survey was deployed to the watershed to document the disaster and to study the river flow and the height of the floodwater. The USGS recently released a new service, called WaterAlert, that allows users to receive text or email updates about specific river flows, groundwater levels, water temperatures, rainfall and water quality at any of the sites where USGS collects real-time water information. This system also helps inform emergency responders and those who would be along the river of potential flooding. [USGS Newsroom]
  An image obtained from the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite made five days after the flash flood shows that the Little Missouri River had returned to normal conditions. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• 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.

• 21 June 1942...The temperature at Tirat Tsvi, Israel reached 129 degrees, the highest temperature ever recorded in Asia. (The Weather Doctor)
• 22 June 1947...Heavy rains deluged Holt, MO as a foot of rain fell in 42 minutes, still a world's record rainfall rate for the fastest foot of rain accumulation. (The Weather Doctor)
• 22 June 1987...Thunderstorms in New York State produced 5.01 inches of rain in 24 hours at Buffalo, an all-time record for that location.
  The temperature at Fairbanks, AK soared to 92 degrees, establishing a record for the date. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 22 June 1988...Tucson, AZ reported an all-time record high of 114 degrees, surpassing the previous record of 112 degrees established a day earlier. Highs of 98 degrees at Pittsburgh, PA and 100 degrees at Baltimore, MD tied records for the month of June. (The National Weather Summary)
• 22 June 2003...The largest recorded hailstone in the United States fell on Aurora, NE. The diameter of this hailstone was 7 inches, and its circumference was 18.75 inches. (Northern Indiana NWSFO) The National Weather Service reported this hailstone was the largest ever documented in the U.S. by size, but the second largest hailstone by weight.
  The mercury peaked at 95 degrees in the northern community of Moosonee, Ontario, the hottest June day ever recorded here. (The Weather Doctor)
• 23 June 1902...The temperature at Volcano Springs, CA soared to 129 degrees to set a June record high temperature for the U.S. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders)
• 23 June 1982...The temperature fell to all-time record low of 117 degrees below zero for Antarctica's South Pole Weather Station. (The Weather Doctor)
• 24 June 1946...Mellen, WI received 11.72 inches of rain, setting a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the Badger State. (NCDC)
• 24 June 1972...Rainier Park Ranger Station in Washington State had 4.4 inches of snow on this day. This turned out to be the last snowfall for the 1971-72 season and brought the seasonal total to 1122 inches -- a new single season snowfall record for the U.S. (Intellicast)
• 24 June 1988...Forty-three cities reported record high temperatures for the date. Valentine, NE reported an all-time record high of 110 degrees, and highs of 102 degrees at Casper, WY, 103 degrees at Reno, NV, and 106 degrees at Winnemucca, NV were records for the month of June. Highs of 98 degrees at Logan, UT and 109 degrees at Rapid City, SD equaled June records. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 25 June 1925...The mercury hit 101 degrees at Portland, OR, their earliest 100 degree reading of record. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders)
• 25 June 1953...The temperature at Anchorage, AK soared to 86 degrees, their highest reading of record. (The Weather Channel)
• 25 June 1988...Fifty-two cities in the central and eastern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. Highs of 100 degrees at Erie, PA and 104 degrees at Cleveland, OH established all- time records for those two locations. Highs of 101 degrees at Flint, MI, 105 degrees at Chicago, IL, and 106 degrees at Fort Wayne, IN equaled all-time records. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
  Southwestern Ontario experienced a heat wave as the mercury soared to 104.4 degrees in Windsor and 100.8 degrees in London, the hottest day ever recorded in these cities. (The Weather Doctor)
• 26 June 1931...The temperature soared to 92 degrees at Anchorage, AK, the highest reading of record to date for that city. (The Weather Doctor)
• 27 June 1915...The temperature at Fort Yukon, AK soared to 100 degrees to establish a state record. (The Weather Channel)
• 27 June 1988...The afternoon high of 107 degrees at Bismarck, ND was a record for the month of June, and Pensacola, FL equaled their June record with a reading of 101 degrees. Temperatures in the Great Lakes Region and the Ohio Valley dipped into the 40s. (The National Weather Summary)
• 27 June 1994...The temperature reached 122 degrees at the Waste Isolation Treatment Plant east of Carlsbad, NM to set the state high temperature record for New Mexico. In Oklahoma, the temperature at the mesonet station near Tipton reached 120 degrees, setting an all-time record for the Sooner State. (NCDC) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)

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