16-20 May 2011

DataStreme Earth Climate Systems will return for Fall 2011 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 29 August 2011. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

• Hurricane season has begun in the eastern North Pacific -- The 2011 hurricane season in the eastern North Pacific Ocean basin began on Sunday, 15 May 2011. 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 2011. NOAA has declared the week of 22-28 May 2011 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]
• Antarctic glaciologist interviewed -- Dr. Robert Bindschadler, a glaciologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and Antarctic ice sheet expert, was recently interviewed on his 15 field expeditions to the Antarctic as part of the Center's research efforts in ice sheets. [NASA Global Climate Change]

• Animated maps of weather/climate data produced from satellite data -- Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have assembled animations of monthly maps showing the global and seasonal distribution of a variety of weather and climate elements including:
  Aerosol distribution and size from the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite for each month from January 2005 through April 2011. [NASA Earth Observatory]
  Maps of total monthly rainfall in the tropics and midlatitudes running from January 1998 through March 2011 using data from NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission TRMM satellite. [NASA Earth Observatory]

• New GIS program to help monitor African rainfall -- A NOAA-funded program called Rainwatch has been developed by climate researchers at the University of Oklahoma and the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies as a geographic information system (GIS) designed to monitor the monsoonal rains across West Africa. [NOAA News]
• Increased Sino-American cooperation in environmental issues -- The third U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue meeting, which was held recently in Washington, DC, produced an agreement for increased cooperation between the two countries on observing greenhouse gases and a renewed dialogue on bilateral fisheries and ocean management. [NOAA News]
• Ocean acidification buoys deployed in Alaskan waters -- Last month, researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks deployed the first of three instrumented buoys that will be moored in state waters that will collect data aimed at monitoring changes in the pH and carbon dioxide levels of the Gulf of Alaska, the Bering and Chukchi Sea due to changes in climate. [University of Alaska Fairbanks]
• Satellite to monitor linkages between salt and climate -- The salinity-measuring instrument that will be placed onboard NASA's new Aquarius satellite is featured in an article prepared by the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Aquarius satellite, which will be launched from California next month, is designed to measure the salinity (or saltiness) of the planet's ocean surface so as to provide a better indication of how salinity is linked to Earth's water cycle, ocean circulation and climate. [NASA JPL]
• 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]

• Antarctic icebergs help sequester carbon dioxide in oceans -- A research team funded by the National Science Foundation recently reported that Antarctic icebergs help the ocean assimilate atmospheric carbon dioxide because of the iron-rich sediments that the icebergs carry from land out into the ocean. These sediments on icebergs that had originated on the Antarctic continent helped fertilize the waters of the Southern Ocean, which helped the growth of algae, ultimately transferring carbon compounds into the deep ocean. [Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute]
• Biology could play a role in manipulation of cloud formation over oceans -- Scientists at the University of Georgia have discovered the biochemical pathway in which bacteria influence the flux of a sulfur compound gas from seawater, which would lead ultimately to cloud formation. These researchers claim that their findings have important implications for cloud manipulations to mitigate global warming that involve the use of ocean bacteria. [University of Georgia]
• Direct removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide appears uneconomical -- In a recently released report, a team of 13 experts including those from Princeton University concluded that technologies called "Direct Air Capture (DAC)" using chemicals to directly absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere would be too expensive a strategy to slow increases in this greenhouse gas due to human activity. The experts propose that methods used to reduce emissions would be more economical to reduce the potential changes in climate due to higher carbon dioxide levels. [Princeton University]

• Increased carbon dioxide levels adversely affect coccoliths -- A researcher at Denmark's University of Copenhagen and colleagues have found that increased ocean acidity due to increased levels of carbon dioxide dissolved in sea water are causing coccoliths, the small calcium carbonate shells surrounding several species of marine algae, to dissolve. [University of Copenhagen]

• Latitude and precipitation on Pangaea important for life in the Triassic -- Researchers at Brown University, Columbia University and Rutgers University claim that the distribution of animals on the supercontinent called Pangaea from 234 million to 209 million years ago was related to the latitudinal distribution of precipitation. The researchers found that mammals tended to live in sections of the continent that experience twice-yearly seasonal precipitation, while reptiles congregated in regions with a singular rainy season. [Brown University]
• South American lake sediments indicate severe tropical droughts due to warmer Northern Hemisphere -- In reconstructing a 2300-year long climate record from sediments obtained from a lake in the Andes Mountains of South America, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, Union College and SUNY-Albany have determined that tropical droughts typically become severe when the temperature of the Northern Hemisphere increases. [University of Pittsburgh]

• Final volume of "America's Climate Choices" report released -- The fifth and final volume of the "America's Climate Choices" series of studies that had been requested by the US Congress was released last week by the National Research Council committee who authored the report. The committee reiterated the need for substantial action to limit the magnitude of climate change and to prepare to adapt to its impacts. [The National Academies]
• Members of advisory committee for next National Climate Assessment are named -- The NOAA administrator, Dr. Jane Lubchenco, announced her selection of the members of the governing panel for the National Climate Assessment Development and Advisory Committee who will produce the next National Climate Assessment within the next two years. [NOAA News]
• Interagency collaboration to support water resources management -- In a ceremony held last week at a park along the Potomac River in Washington, DC, high ranking officials from NOAA, the US Army Corps of Engineers and the US Geological Survey signed a memorandum of understanding in which these federal agencies would partner to address the nation's growing water resources challenges, especially in terms of information and management needs. These three federal agencies have complementary missions in water science, observation, prediction and management. [NOAA News or USGS Newsroom]
• Nation experiencing high-cost weather disasters at record pace -- At the end of the first half of May 2011, the nation has been hit by five major weather disasters that have cost more than a billion dollars each. These disasters have included tornado outbreaks, floods and winter storms. According to insurance estimates and government records, these disasters have set a modern record for the most high-cost weather events so early in a calendar year. Experts indicate that the damage wrought by these disasters could affect people nationwide, by increasing insurance rates and by draining taxpayer-supported disaster-relief funds. [USA Today]
• 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.

• 16 May 1917...Marquette, MI had its latest opening of navigation on Lake Superior in history. (Intellicast)
• 16 May 1924...The temperature at Blitzen, OR soared to 108 degrees to set a state record for the month of May. The record was later tied at Pelton Dam on the 31 May 1986. (The Weather Channel)
• 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)

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Prepared by Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2011, The American Meteorological Society.