13-17 June 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.

• Southwest monsoon season begins -- This coming Wednesday, 15 June 2011, is the typical date when the summer monsoon season begins in the Southwestern US. At that time, a dome of warm air expands northward across Arizona and New Mexico from the plateau of northern Mexico, with an attendant shift in the wind direction. Low level winds transport humid air northward from the Gulf of California and the eastern Pacific, while midlevel winds bring humid air from the Gulf of Mexico. The National Weather Service Forecast Office in Tucson, AZ has a webpage called "Tracking the Monsoon."
• World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought -- This Friday, 17 June 2011, has been declared World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). This year, the theme is " Forests keep drylands working." In December 1994, the United Nations General Assembly declared that World Day to Combat Desertification would be observed on 17 June of each year; this international observance would highlight the urgent need to curb the desertification process. In addition, the goal is to strengthen the visibility of the drylands issue on the international environmental agenda. [UNCCD]
• Lightning Awareness Week -- The nation will celebrate its eleventh annual National Lightning Safety Awareness Week, this upcoming week, 19 through 25 June 2011, 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 "Don't be a fool! Get out of the pool!" 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.
• US and local tsunami preparedness programs discussed -- NOAA and its federal partners met with officials from the East and Gulf Coast states and the Caribbean Islands last Friday on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC to discuss US warning tsunami capabilities and local preparedness needs. Lessons learned from the recent Japan tsunami were highlighted. [NOAA News]

• National weather and climate reviewed for May 2011 -- Scientists at the NOAA National Climatic Data Center recently reported that their analysis of preliminary data indicates that May 2011 was cooler and wetter than the long-term average conditions across the United States. The monthly temperature averaged across the coterminous US for March 2009 was one Fahrenheit degree below the 20th-century (1901-2000) average. The western third of the nation was the coldest, with Oregon, Washington, Utah and Wyoming experiencing statewide temperatures that ranked in the ten coldest Mays since 1895 when comprehensive climate records became available nationwide. Conversely, sections of the Northeast and Texas experienced much above average May temperatures.
  Precipitation across the coterminous US was approximately one third of an inch above the 20th-century average. Many areas of the nation had above average precipitation, especially across the northern high Plains and the northern Rockies. However, the southern tier of states was exceptionally dry in May. The Gulf Coast states that included Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas reported statewide May precipitation totals that ranked within the driest ten since records began in 1895. [NOAA News]
• National climate extremes in Spring 2011 -- Scientists at the NOAA National Climatic Data Center have prepared a special report that describes the extreme weather and climate events that many parts of the United States experienced during the 2011 meteorological spring (March-May). Some of the extreme events included 875 tornadoes in April (according to preliminary reports made to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center), record rainfall in the Ohio and lower Mississippi Valleys that resulted in record flooding and excessive drought leading to serious wildfire conditions across the southern Plains and southern Rockies. Discussion of the atmospheric and oceanic conditions that appear responsible for the unusual weather and climate conditions are detailed in the "full report" section. [NOAA National Climatic Data Center Special Reports]

• Mobile temperature tracking devices could have climate monitoring applications -- Researchers the US Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) claim that using mobile temperature-sensing technology developed by the shipper FedEx to track delicate or perishable packages in transit could also reduce the uncertainty associated with climate-change measurements. NIST researchers plan to use this technology in a pilot project to monitor and improve climate measurements. Thermal sensors are accurate to within 0.02 Celsius degrees and able to send and store data for up to 30 days. [National Institute of Standards and Technology News]
• Aquarius spacecraft is successfully launched -- Last Friday morning, NASA's Aquarius/SAC-D observatory was successfully launched on a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, followed by the establishment of communication with ground controllers and the deployment of its solar arrays. This spacecraft, officially known as the Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas-D, or SAC-D, will measure salinity in the Earth's oceans and help scientists understand ocean circulation and currents, the global water cycle, and other fundamental features of the seas. [NASA JPL]
• New antenna for nation's polar orbiting environmental satellites installed -- An antenna receptor that was recently installed at McMurdo Station in Antarctica represents the first of its type to receive data from the next-generation of polar orbiting satellites in the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) program. Ironically, NOAA continues to highlight consequences of a budget shortfall that could limit funding of the JPSS program and create gaps in polar satellite coverage. [NOAA News]
• Recent snowpack declines in the Rockies are called "unusual" -- A recently released US Geological Survey study prepared by Survey scientists and partners from the Universities of Arizona, Washington, Wyoming, and Western Ontario indicates that the seasonal declines in snowpack across the Rocky Mountains have been unusual when compared with the declines over the last several centuries. The researchers foresee worsening of the snowpack decline through the 21st century due to projected increased springtime temperatures. [US Dept. of Interior Press Release]
• 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]

• Studying the tail of record heat -- Climate scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research and colleagues have been conducting research that indicates relatively small increases in global average temperature could result in an increase in the frequency of heat waves that could have record-breaking high temperatures. They have found that the rate at which record high daily temperatures in the United States are being established is outpacing the setting of record low daily temperatures by a ratio of 2 to 1. Overseas, the ratio is larger. [NCAR/UCAR News Center]

• Hazy skies and carbon monoxide across the United States and Canada -- An image obtained by data collected from the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) sensor on NASA's Terra satellite displays the carbon monoxide concentration in the atmosphere across the US and southern Canada over a recent two-week span (25 May-8 June 2011). The relatively large concentrations of carbon monoxide were caused in part by several large wildfires in Arizona and Alberta that were also responsible for smoke particles and hazy skies. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Chilean volcano monitored from space -- The Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcano in the Andes of Chile erupted early last week. Sensors onboard NASA, NOAA and European Space Agency satellites have provided data that have been used to produce high-resolution images and animations of the ash and condensate plume that has emanated from the volcano. The MODIS sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image of the eruption. A sequence of images obtained by the sensors on NOAA's GOES-13 satellite forms a two-day animation of the eruption. [NASA GSFC] An image was obtained from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer on Eumetsat’s MetOp-A satellite. [ESA]
• Paved surfaces can increase increased air pollution -- In a study led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a research team from the US, China and Japan found the widespread urban coastal areas such as those found in Houston, TX alter weather patterns that can result in accumulation of air pollutants during warm summer weather. The researchers pointed to the paved surfaces as being responsible for higher temperatures in the urban areas that could result in more stagnant atmospheric conditions that reduces the dispersal of the air pollutants over the adjoining large water bodies. [NCAR/UCAR News Center]
• Water may not be all "wet" -- Researchers at the University of Southern California, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Wayne State University have found that some of the water molecules in the layer at a liquid water surface can become arranged in such a manner that a "free" hydrogen atom behaves like it were in the gas phase, while its twin remained within the "bulk" water. The researchers claim that their findings may help in understanding processes occurring at the water's surface, such as the transfer of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the water and atmosphere. [University of South California]

• Final La Niña advisory issued -- During the last week, forecasters at National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center reported that they had issued their last La Niña advisory since they had found ENSO-neutral conditions have developed across the equatorial Pacific. ENSO stands for El Niño Southern Oscillation and ENSO-neutral conditions are associated with relatively small anomalies or departures in the sea surface temperatures from long-term average values across the equatorial Pacific Ocean east of the Dateline. They anticipate the ENSO-neutral conditions to persist through at least the next three months, which includes Northern Hemisphere summer 2011 (June through August), and possibly through the end of the calendar year. [NWS Climate Prediction Center]
• Venice could have fewer storm surges in future -- An international team of scientists from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Italy's University of Padova and the United Kingdom's University of Reading predict that the Italian coastal city of Venice should experience fewer extreme storm surge events through the end of this century. They based their forecast on their analysis of atmospheric circulation patterns across the Mediterranean region that could result in storms capable of generating storm surges that would progress across t Adriatic Sea toward Venice. [CSIRO]

• Life-starting compounds may have arrived on asteroids -- A geologist from the University of Alberta and colleagues claim that their analysis of a recently recovered meteorite indicates that the composition of organic compounds it carried changed during the early history of the solar system. Some of the organic compounds found were amino acids and monocarboxylic acids, thought to be essential to the evolution of simple life forms on early Earth. [University of Alberta Express 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]
• Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

• 13 June 1907...The temperature at Tamarack, CA dipped to 2 degrees above zero, the lowest reading of record for June for the U.S. The high that day was 30 degrees. Tamarack received 42 inches of snow between the 10^th and the 13^th. On the 13^th the snow depth was 130 inches. (The Weather Channel)
• 13 June 1977...Masirah, Oman received 16.95 inches of rain this day, a national record. (The Weather Doctor)
• 14 June 1876...Cherrapunji, India recorded 1036.3 mm (40.8 inches) of rain in 24 hours. (The Weather Doctor)
• 14 June 1961...The temperature in Downtown San Francisco, CA soared to 106 degrees to establish an all-time record for that location. (The Weather Channel)
• 15 June 1879...McKinney, ND received 7.7 inches of rain in 24 hours, a state record. This 24-hour state precipitation record has since been broken in June 1975 with an 8.10-inch reading. (The Weather Channel)
• 15 June 1887...Regina, Saskatchewan reported its wettest day to date as 6.31 inches rain fell. (The Weather Doctor)
• 15 June 1896...The temperature at Fort Mojave, CA soared to 127 degrees, the highest reading of record for June for the U.S. The low that day was 97 degrees. Morning lows of 100 degrees were reported on the 12^th, 14^th and 16^th of the month. (The Weather Channel)
• 15 June 1957...East Saint Louis, IL was deluged with 16.54 inches of rain in 24 hours, a record for the state of Illinois. In July 1996, this record was broken when 16.91 inches fell. (The Weather Channel)
• Month of June...According to a 1969 US Army technical report, the average dewpoint temperature at Ras Andahglie and Assab, Eritrea (Ethiopia) average slightly more than 84 degrees F. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 16 June 1917...The temperature soared to 124 degrees at Mecca, CA climaxing the most destructive heat wave of record in California history. (David Ludlum)
• 17 June 1965...Holly, CO was deluged with 11.08 inches of rain to establish a state 24-hour rainfall record. (The Weather Channel)
• 18 June 1991...Atlanta, GA set a new record for the amount of the rain in one hour as 3.47 inches fell between 6:52 and 7:52 PM EDT. (Intellicast)
• 19 June 240 BC...On the summer solstice, Eratosthenes estimated the circumference of the Earth using two sticks.
• 19 June 2004...An all-time record high temperature of 93 degrees was set: at Annette Island, Alaska. (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.