9-13 August 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.

• The "Dog Days" officially end on 11 August, having begun the third day in July. Superstition has it that dogs tend to become mad during that time of the year. (The Weather Channel)

• Solar activity and aurora -- Following a two-year minimum in solar activity, the side of the Sun facing earth erupted at the start of last week, as evident by a coronal mass ejection (CME) and solar flares. The CME reached the Earth's magnetic field early in the week, resulting in a geomagnetic storm that produced aurora (Northern Lights) across Europe and North America. Nearly 20 pictures of aurora were placed on Spaceweather's Aurora Photo Gallery website.
  An animated set of images of the solar flare and the CME has been captured from NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) Ahead spacecraft. [NASA Earth Observatory] In addition, a multi-wavelength extreme ultraviolet image was obtained from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft shows the sun's northern hemisphere in mid-eruption. The different colors in the image represent different gas temperatures. [NASA]

• A Nighttime Show -- The annual Perseid meteor shower should peak in the predawn hours of Friday morning, but the display should continue Saturday. The Perseids, which are associated with the some bits of Comet Swift-Tuttle, are noted for being fast and bright, and often leave persistent trains. Typically, the Perseids are usually very active for several days before and after the peaks, often producing 30 to 60 meteors per hour. With a waxing crescent moon, some illumination from the moon could interfere with viewing the Perseids during the early nighttime hours. If the skies are clear in your area, go to a region that has few lights and look up and to the northeast during the early morning hours. [NASA JPL]

• New chief for USGS National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center is selected -- The US Geological Survey (USGS) recently announced that Doug Beard has been selected as chief of the USGS National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC), which is located at the USGS national headquarters and which represents the US Department of Interior's efforts at understanding climate change impacts on fish and wildlife. NCCWSC, together with eight yet-to-be selected regional Interior Department Climate Science Centers, will develop tools that resource managers can use to protect these species and their habitats. [US Geological Survey Newsroom]

• Lightning research goes to great heights -- Scientists and engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center are readying the Lightning Instrument Package (LIP) that will fly on the remotely piloted Global Hawk airplane, which will reach altitudes of 60,000 feet during the NASA hurricane study called Genesis and Rapid Intensification Process (GRIP) over the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean within the next month. The Global Hawk can remain aloft for up to 30 hours and the onboard LIP instrument, which is an electric field mill, is designed to track and document lightning as hurricanes develop and intensify. [NASA GRIP Hurricane Mission]
• Hurricane research mission to commence this week -- NASA scientists from Goddard Space Flight Center, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Dryden Flight Research Center and other laboratories are preparing to commence an intense six-week major field campaign called GRIP (Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes) later this week. This GRIP campaign is designed to study why some tropical cyclones can rapidly develop into hurricanes. A variety of instruments will be used, with some of the instruments being on satellites, such as the Aqua, Terra and TRMM, DC-8 aircraft and NASA's unmanned Global Hawk drone.

• Monitoring the deadly flooding in Pakistan from space -- Images obtained from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite shows the extent of the flooding of the Indus River in northwest Pakistan last weekend. Torrential rains associated with the summer monsoon season were responsible for the flooding that caused more than 1100 deaths this year. [NASA Earth Observatory]

• Hot and dry in Russia -- Parts of western Russia experienced a record heat wave during the month of July 2010. The capital city of Moscow reported an all-time record high temperature of 102 degrees. The heat, together with the dry conditions due to a lack of precipitation, exacerbated the critical fire weather conditions. Numerous wildfires resulted. [BBC News]
  The drought and record heat in the wheat growing regions of Russia also caused Russian Prime Minister Putin to place a temporary ban on grain exports until December. His action caused wheat futures in the US to soar, despite inventories that were at a 20-year high according to the US Department of Agriculture. [MarketWatch] [MarketWatch]

• New hail record is documented -- NOAA's National Climate Extremes Committee, which is responsible for validating national weather records and consists of representatives of the National Climatic Data Center, the National Weather Service and the South Dakota State Climatologist, recently declared that a hailstone found by a resident of Vivian, SD following a severe thunderstorm on 23 July 2010 was a record in terms of diameter and weight for any hailstone recorded in the US. While some melting did occur, the retrieved hailstone was 8.0 inches in diameter, weighed 1.9375 pounds and had a 18.62-inch circumference. [NOAA Press Release] Photographs, radar images and meteorological analyses of the severe thunderstorm event that resulted in the record hailstone are also available from the National Weather Service Forecast Office at Aberdeen, SD. [NWSFO Aberdeen]

• Measuring water volume in Amazon floodplain from a satellite -- Using data collected between 2003 and 2006 by three NASA satellites (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, the Global Precipitation Climatology Project and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) and the Japanese Earth Resources Satellite, scientists from Ohio State University and their colleagues have measured the seasonally variable volume of water in the Amazon River floodplain. Their research represents the first such measurement of the flow in this flood plain that was not based on sporadic measurements and crude assumptions. [Ohio State University Research]

• Large ice island calves from Greenland glacier -- Researchers from the University of Delaware and the Canadian Ice Service reported that a large 100-square mile "ice island" that they estimate to be four times the size of Manhattan Island calved last week from northern Greenland's Petermann Glacier. They claim that this ice island is the largest piece of ice to been broken free in the Arctic since 1962. [University of Delaware]

• 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]

• Ancient Hawaiian glaciers provide clues to impacts of changing climate -- Climate scientists from Oregon State University, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, University of British Columbia and U.S. Geological Survey recently reported on their research involving geochemical analysis of boulders deposited from a glacier near the summit of the 13,803-foot Mauna Kea on Hawaii's Big Island. The researchers indicate that the Hawaiian glaciers indicate that changes in the North Atlantic Ocean current system could affect the global climate, including a readvance of the Mauna Kea glaciers when the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) slows in the North Atlantic Ocean.. [Oregon State University News]

• "Bad ozone" increases and poses threat to plants and animals -- Using data collected from surface monitoring stations and from NASA's Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) and the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) onboard a variety of satellites, a senior research scientist at NASA's Langley Research Center warns that surface ozone levels have been increasing at various locations around the globe due to human activity and that this increase in "bad ozone" is having a negative impact on essentially all living organisms, including humans. [NASA LaRC]

• Hurricane season outlooks are updated -- With the beginning of the month of August, the probability of tropical storms and hurricanes in the North Atlantic basin significantly increases. Forecasters with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, along with those from the National Hurricane Center, recently released an updated Atlantic hurricane season outlook last week. These forecasters continue to expect an active 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, due to several indicators. They anticipate the active season because of the continuation of a low vertical wind shear over the Atlantic Basin due to an unfolding La Niña event; warmer than average sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean; and the continuation of a favorable tropical multi-decadal signal. Minor adjustment was made to the mid-May NOAA outlook. Including the three named tropical cyclones (Alex, Bonnie and Colin) that have developed to date, NOAA’s updated outlook projects, with a 70 percent probability, that 14 to 20 named cyclones (maximum sustained surface winds exceeding 38 mph) will develop, 8 to 12 hurricanes (winds greater than 73 mph) will form, with four to six hurricanes possibly becoming major (category 3 or greater on the Saffir-Simpson Scale). [NOAA News]
  Likewise, the hurricane forecasters at Colorado State University, including Philip Klotzbach and William Gray, have issued an updated August forecast, which calls for above average named tropical cyclone activity in the North Atlantic basin in 2010, due to the development of La Niña conditions and warm waters in the tropical Atlantic. They foresee the occurrence of 18 named cyclones, 10 hurricanes and 5 major hurricanes. They also anticipate a higher than average probability that a major hurricane will make landfall in the US and Caribbean. [The Tropical Storm Project]

• Uncertainty considered in the global climate forecasts -- A question sometimes asked is "What if global warming were not as severe as predicted?" A review article considers the uncertainty in the projections of future global climate based upon several computer forecasts that were run. If the atmospheric carbon dioxide values were doubled, most of the models would show that the global temperatures would increase by as much as 4 Celsius degrees, while several would have increases of approximately 2 Celsius degrees. [NASA Earth Observatory]

• Greenland ice drilling project hits bedrock -- Last week, an international team of scientists and engineers working on the North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) project hit bedrock as the drill cutting an ice core reached a depth of more than 83000 feet below the surface of the Greenland ice sheet. The ice cores samples near the bedrock should provide information as to how the climate changed back to the Eemian interglacial period, approximately 115,000 to 130,000 years ago, when the Earth had temperatures that may have been as much as 5 Fahrenheit degrees higher than at present. [National Science Foundation]

• Public support for government action on climate change affirmed by new surveys -- A new in-depth public opinion survey conducted in mid July 2010 in three states (Florida, Maine and Massachusetts) by the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University shows that more than 70 percent of the residents in these two states support government action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to mitigate climate change. [EurekAlert!]

• Modeling effects of sea level rise in northern Gulf receives funding -- A team of scientists from the University of Central Florida and other institutions has been awarded $750,000 for the first year of a longer term research investment designed to develop computer models and other tools needed to plan for sea level rise along the Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle shoreline along the northern Gulf of Mexico due to changing climate. [NOAA News]
• 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]

• A close-up view of the north polar layers of Mars -- A high resolution image obtained by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) "camera" onboard the NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the layers of dusty ice that cover the north polar region of Mars to a thickness of approximately two miles. Scientists point to the "unconformities" in the textures of the individual layers, which may be related to changes in Martian climate and weather. [NASA JPL]

• Simulating the harsh environment of the lunar surface in the basement -- A team of scientists from several research universities in New Mexico, California and Texas used an ion beam in a basement room at Los Alamos National Laboratory to simulate solar winds impinging upon the surface of the Moon. They found that their tabletop simulation helped confirm that since the lunar surface is inherently dry, the Moon may never have had water of its own. [EurekAlert!]

• Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

• 9 August 1930...The temperature reached 113 degrees at Perryville, TN to establish an all-time maximum temperature record for the Volunteer State. (NCDC) (Intellicast)
• 9 August 1960...Vancouver (British Columbia) International Airport's hottest day on record as the mercury hit 91.4 degrees (The Weather Doctor)
• 9 August 2003...The Bavarian city of Roth, Germany had a temperature that hit 105 degrees, a new national record. (The Weather Doctor)
• 10 August 1898...The temperature at Pendleton, OR climbed all the way to 119 degrees to tie the state record set two weeks previously at Prineville. (The Weather Channel)
• 10 August 1936...The temperature soared to 114 degrees at Plain Dealing, LA, and reached 120 degrees at Ozark, AR, to establish record highs for those two states. (The Weather Channel)
• 10 August 1988... The temperature reached 102 degrees at Ely, NV breaking the all-time record there. (Intellicast)
• 10 August 2003...A heat wave continued across the British Isles. At Gravesend in southern England, a new national heat record was set as the mercury soared to 100.58 degrees. The heat forced rail service officials across Britain to limit train speeds to 60 mph because of fears the tracks could buckle. Londoners experience their hottest recorded day in the London's history when the temperature hit 100.22 degrees, which was the first ever time that the temperature went over 100 degrees at Heathrow Airport. (The Weather Doctor)
• 11 August 1914...The temperature at Northwest River, Labrador soared to an all-time Labrador record high of 107 degrees. (The Weather Doctor)
• 11 August 1933...The unofficial shade temperature at San Luis, Mexico reached 58°C (136.4°F), for share of the world record with Aziziyah, Lybia. (The Weather Doctor)
• 11 August 1944...The temperature at Burlington, VT soared to an all-time record high of 101 degrees. (The Weather Channel)
• 11 August 2003...The temperature at Turin, Italy hit 107 degrees, marking the hottest day in over the 250 years that temperature readings have been recorded. (The Weather Doctor)
• 11 August 2004...The temperature at Reykjavík, Iceland reached 76.6 degrees, the hottest day ever recorded in the city where record have been kept since the 19th century. (The Weather Doctor)
• 11 August 2007...Dutch Harbor/Unalaska Airport, AK set its all-time high temperature with a reading of 81 degrees. (The Weather Doctor)
• 12 August 1891...An 80-minute deluge, possibly related to a tropical storm system, pelted Vampo, CA with between 11.5 and 11.8 inches of rain. The observer measured, then emptied the rain gauge several times as it filled. No other U.S. storm has come close to producing this much precipitation in an 80-minute span. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 12 August 1933...The temperature at Greenland Ranch in Death Valley, CA hit 127 degrees to establish the officially recognized U.S. record for the month of August. (The Weather Channel)
• 12 August 1936...The temperature at Seymour, TX hit 120 degrees to establish a state record. This Lone Star State record was later tied in June 1994. (The Weather Channel)
• 12 August 1985...With the span of two hours, 17.32 inches of rain fell at Gajo, Gansu, China, marking a worldwide record rainfall event for such a length of time. (NWS)
• 12 August 2001...The temperature at Osoyoos, British Columbia: rocketed to an all-time August record high for the province of 107 degrees. (The Weather Doctor)
• 13 August 1991...The first rainfall recorded on this date in Stockton, CA since weather records began in 1906, when 0.05 inches of rain fell. (The Weather Doctor)
• 13-14 August 1987...Slow-moving thunderstorms deluged northern and western suburbs of Chicago, IL with torrential rains. O'Hare Airport reported 9.35 inches in 18 hours, easily exceeding the previous 24-hour record of 6.24 inches. The airport was closed due to extensive flooding, the first time ever for a non-winter event. Flooding over a five-day period resulted in 221 million dollars damage. It was Chicago's worst flash flood event, particularly for northern and western sections of the city. Kennedy Expressway became a footpath for thousands of travelers to O'Hare Airport as roads were closed. The heavy rains swelled the Des Plaines River above flood stage, and many persons had to be rescued from stalled vehicles on flooded roads. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (The Weather Channel) (Intellicast)
• 14 August 1936...Temperatures across much of eastern Kansas and western Missouri soared above 110 degrees. Kansas City, MO hit an all-time record high of 113 degrees. It was one of sixteen consecutive days of 100-degree heat for Kansas City. During that summer there were a record 53 days of 100-degree heat, and during the three summer months Kansas City received just 1.12 inches of rain. (The Kansas City Weather Almanac)
• 14-17 August 2003...Residents of Bismarck, ND wilted under a record string of four consecutive days with temperatures greater than 100 degrees. (The Weather Doctor)
• 15 August 1946...Saint Louis, MO was deluged with a record 8.78 inches of rain in 24 hours. (The Weather Channel)
• 15 August 1995...Apalachicola, FL soared to 103 degrees to set all-time high temperature. (Intellicast)
• 15 August 2004...The weather station at Yakutat, AK reported its all-time maximum temperature: 88 degrees. (The Weather Doctor)

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