WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

11-15 July 2016

DataStreme Earth Climate System will return for Fall 2016 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 22 August 2016. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Zenithal Sun -- Residents of Honolulu will experience a noontime sun that would be directly overhead this upcoming weekend (15-17 July). This occurrence of a zenithal sun is one of the two times during the year when the noontime sun is directly overhead to residents of Honolulu and the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. The other time when Oahu experienced a zenithal sun was in late May. [US Naval Observatory, Data Services]
Remembering the deadly 1995 Midwestern heat wave -- NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) posted a feature that describes the intense heat wave that spread across a large section of the Midwest, which resulted in the deaths of 583 people in the Chicago (IL) metropolitan area because of the extended heat. This heat wave began on 12 July 1995 and continued for four days, with daytime temperatures across the region reaching 104 degrees and nighttime temperatures falling only to the upper 70s and low 80s because of high levels of atmospheric humidity. The combination of triple digit air temperatures and dewpoints in the upper 70s and low 80s resulted in heat indices reaching 125 degrees. [NOAA NCEI News]
Video describes seasonal variations of monsoon circulation regimes and how a new satellite monitors monsoonal precipitation -- In a 3:48 min video (with sound), scientists from the University of Maryland and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center describe the seasonal variations in the monsoon circulation regime across South Asia and other subtropical continents such as Africa and North America as well as how the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission helps track the water budget across the tropical regions affected by the monsoon circulation. [NASA GPM]
Massive landslide dumps rocks onto glacier in southeastern Alaska -- Geoscientists monitoring seismographs reported a recent massive landslide from the side of a mountain in southeastern Alaska's Glacier Bay National Park that caused millions of tons of rock to spill out onto a glacier, as well as producing a large dust cloud that caused a local pilot to have trouble seeing the ground. The landslide registered as a 2.9-magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale. [The Weather Channel News]

CURRENT CLIMATE STATUS

Waters of equatorial Pacific continued cooling during June 2016 -- An article in the "ClimateWatch" magazine describes the cooling that has been occurring in the surface waters of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. This cooling has allowed NOAA forecasters to declare this past winter's El Niño event to be over in June. [NOAA Climate.gov News]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

Airborne campaign begins to track greenhouse gases across the eastern US -- During this month of July 2016, NASA will begin Atmospheric Carbon and Transport–America, or ACT-America, a multi-year airborne campaign that is intended to improve scientists' understanding of the sources of carbon dioxide and methane, two powerful greenhouse gases, and how they cycle into and out of the atmosphere. During this summer the ACT-America campaign will focus on three areas of the eastern United States with flights originating from Virginia, Nebraska and Louisiana. [NASA Global Climate Change News]
Exploring the global atmosphere -- A new NASA airborne campaign called Atmospheric Tomography, or ATom, mission is about ready to commence and it represents the first mission to survey the atmosphere over the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Scientists aboard NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory will travel from the North Pole south over the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand and then eastward across to Cape Horn at the tip of South America before returning northward over the Atlantic Ocean to Greenland. This mission will make measurements of atmospheric gases and aerosols with the goal of discovering how much pollution survives to the most remote regions of the planet and assess how the environment has changed as a result. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center News]

CLIMATE FORCING

Expanding sea ice around Antarctica is linked to natural climate variability -- In a recently released study, researchers from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and their colleagues from other research institutions in the US and Australia report that the recent trend of increasing sea ice extent in the waters of the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica can be explained for the most part by natural climatic fluctuations. Using climate models, the researchers found evidence that the negative phase of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO), characterized by lower than-average sea surface temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific, has created favorable conditions for additional Antarctic sea ice growth since 2000. [NCAR/UCAR AtmosNews]

CLIMATE FORECASTS

Slightly below average Chesapeake Bay "dead zone" expected for this summer -- Scientists with NOAA Fisheries, the US Geological Survey, the University of Maryland and the University of Michigan recently announced that they are expecting this summer's hypoxic low-oxygen zone, or "dead zone" in Chesapeake Bay to be slightly below the long-term average as measured since 1950. The smaller areal extent may be due to this spring's low river flow and low nutrient loading from the Susquehanna and Potomac Rivers. [NOAA News]
Smaller than normal harmful algal bloom predicted this summer for western Lake Erie -- Late last week scientists from NOAA and the partner institutions of Ohio Sea Grant, Ohio State University, Heidelberg University and University of Toledo predict a harmful algal bloom in western Lake Erie for summer 2016 that would be smaller than normal, as well as being much smaller than the record 2015 bloom. This 2016 seasonal forecast involves the generation of a severity index based upon numerical models that involve assessing and predicting the nutrient runoff. The anticipated smaller than normal algal bloom is due to less discharge that was projected from the Maumee River. [NOAA News]

CLIMATE AND THE BIOSPHERE

Map of Sierra conifer forests from airborne survey reveals devastating effects of California drought -- A map of the condition of the conifer forests along California's Sierra Nevada Mountains was produced by the US Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Region Remote Sensing Lab using spectroscopic data collected by an Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) instrument developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and flown onboard a high flying NASA ER-2 aircraft. This new map reveals the devastating effects of the ongoing extreme Western drought on these forests as many of the water-stressed conifers became susceptible to bark beetle. The map will be used to help the U.S. Forest Service assess and respond to the impacts of increased tree mortality caused by the drought. [NASA Global Climate Change News]

CLIMATE AND HUMAN HEALTH

Hundreds of deaths in two European cities during 2003 heat wave attributed to human-made climate change -- Scientists from the United Kingdom's University of Oxford and from other institutions in the UK and the US recently blamed the cause of more than 500 of the 1050 deaths in Paris, France and London, England during the massive 2003 summer heat wave as being human-caused climate change. The researchers calculated that nearly 70 percent of the deaths in Paris and 20 percent of the fatalities in London were caused by the summer heat worsened by human activity. They also noted that the total number of deaths across Europe during the summer heat wave in 2003 that could be attributed to climate change is likely to be substantially higher. [University of Oxford News]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

Reconstruction of Antarctic Ocean temperatures at end of Cretaceous Period helps explain causes for mass extinction -- Researchers at the University of Florida and the University of Michigan used a new technique called the carbonate clumped isotope paleothermometer to analyze the chemical composition of fossil shells in the Antarctic Ocean and then to reconstruct a 3.5 million-year time series of ocean temperatures from the late Cretaceous and into the early Paleogene Period. This reconstructed ocean time series appears to support the theory that the combined impacts of volcanic eruptions in India and an asteroid impact on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula brought about one of Earth's largest mass extinctions at approximately 66 million years ago. [University of Florida News]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

List of US billion-dollar disasters for 2016 is updated -- At the start of this month, which is also the halfway point of the calendar year of 2016, NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) issued its updated list of billion-dollar weather and climate related disasters across the nation so far this year. According to this list, eight weather and climate related disasters resulted in losses that exceeded $1 billion each, with two of these disasters being flood events and the other six being several storm events. Furthermore, these eight events claimed 30 lives. For comparison, the eight events for 2016 were more than the long-term (1980-2016) average of 2.8 billion-dollar disaster events for the first six months of a calendar year, but the number fell below the 10 events for the January to June interval in 2011. [NOAA NCEI News]

COMPARATIVE PLANETOLOGY

A new look at the atmosphere of Jupiter -- After departing Earth in August 2011, NASA's Juno spacecraft was successfully inserted into an orbit around Jupiter, the solar system's largest planet, on the 4th of July. By late last week, the nine science instruments were being activated as they had been turned off as a precaution during the insertion into orbit phase of the mission. [Space.com News]
The instruments onboard Juno have been built to withstand the intense radiation environments surrounding Jupiter's atmosphere. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Infographic]
As a part of the Juno mission, astronomers have been studying the auroras near the polar cap of Jupiter using the ultraviolet sensing instruments onboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. An image shows an aurora over one of Jupiter's magnetic poles. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com]

Historical Events:

11 July 1888...The temperature at Bennett, CO reached 118 degrees, setting a record high temperature for the Centennial State. (NCDC)
11 July 1911...The highest temperature ever recorded in Maine was at North Bridgton, with a reading of 105 degrees. (NCDC)
11 July 1936...The temperature at St. Albans, Manitoba reached the provincial high temperature record of 112 degrees Fahrenheit, while the temperature at Atikokan, Ontario peaked at 108 degrees, tying the highest temperature ever in Ontario. (The Weather Doctor)
11 July 1990...The costliest hailstorm in U.S. history occurred along the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies. In Denver, CO, softball-sized hail destroyed roofs and cars, causing more than $600 million in total damage. (National Weather Service files)
12 July 1900...The record high state temperature reading of 114 degrees in Wyoming was reached at Basin. This record has since been eclipsed in 1983 by a 115-degree reading. (Intellicast)
12 July 1910...Cherrapunji in India's northeastern Meghalaya State -- one of the rainiest places on Earth -- recorded 839 mm (33 inches) of rainfall on this day. (The Weather Doctor)
12-14 July 1936...The hottest three-day period in US history was recorded, with average temperatures of 88.5 degrees Fahrenheit; the second warmest such period had occurred three days earlier. (The Weather Doctor)
12 July 1995...An intense heat wave affected much of the Midwest for a 4-day period beginning on this day. The worst effects of the heat were noted in the Chicago metropolitan area, where 583 people died from the heat. Temperatures across the area reached as high as 104 degrees, overnight lows on falling to the upper 70s to low 80s. Dew point temperatures in the upper 70s to low 80s created heat indexes peaking at 125 degrees. Electricity and water usage reached record levels, causing periodic outages. (National Weather Service files)
13 July 1975...Dover, DE was deluged with 8.50 inches of rain to establish a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the state. (The Weather Channel)
13 July 1996...Heavy rains from the remnants of Hurricane Bertha caused roads to washout in the Camden, ME area. Two people were hurt when they drove into a 600-pound boulder that had fallen onto the roadway due to the heavy rain. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
13 July 2005...The highest temperature ever recorded in Greenland, 78 degrees, was measured at Tasiilaq. (National Weather Service files)
14 July 1886...Los Angeles, CA had its greatest 24-hour July rainfall with 0.24 inches. (Intellicast)
14-15 July 1911...Baguio, Luzon, Philippines reported 46 inches of rain, which represents Asia's greatest 24-hour rainfall: (The Weather Doctor).
14 July 1886...Los Angeles had its greatest 24-hour July rainfall with 0.24 inches. (Intellicast)
14-15 July 1911...Baguio, Luzon, Philippines reported 46 inches of rain, which represents Asia's greatest 24-hour rainfall: (The Weather Doctor).
15 July 1888...The Bandai volcano erupts on the Japanese island of Honshu on this day in 1888, killing hundreds and burying many nearby villages in ash. (National Weather Service files)
16 July 1914...The 30-minute rainfall record in the US was set at Cambridge, OH with exactly seven inches. (National Weather Service files)
15-16 July 1916...A dying South Atlantic Coast storm produced torrential rains in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Altapass, NC was drenched with 22.22 inches of rain, a 24-hour rainfall record for the Tarheel State, and at the time, a 24-hour record for the U.S. (The current 24-hour rainfall record for the US is 43 inches set 25-25 July 1979 at Alvin, TX). Flooding resulted in considerable damage, particularly to railroads. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast) (NCDC)
15 July 1983...The Big Thompson Creek in Colorado flooded for the second time in seven years, claiming three lives, and filling the town of Estes Park with eight to ten feet of water. (The Weather Channel)
15 July 1989...Thunderstorms drenched Kansas City, MO with 4.16 inches of rain, a record for the date. Two and a half inches of rain deluged the city between noon and 1 PM. Afternoon thunderstorms in South Carolina deluged Williamstown with six inches of rain in ninety minutes, including four inches in little more than half an hour. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
15 July 1993...Four-inch diameter hail fell at Hot Springs, SD. In North Dakota, Jamestown recorded 6.40 inches of rain, Fargo 5.09 inches and Bismarck 4.08 inches. (Intellicast)
15 July 2001...Rain fell at 3.91 inches per hour in Seoul, South Korea, the heaviest amount since 1964. In total, 12.2 inches of rain fell in Seoul and Kyonggi. The rain was responsible for 40 reported fatalities. (The Weather Doctor)
17 July 1934...One of the worst heat waves in the nation's history began. During the last two weeks of July, extreme heat claimed 679 lives in Michigan, with 300 of them in Detroit alone. (National Weather Service files)
17 July 1972...South America's lowest temperature, 38 degrees below zero, was attained at San Juan, Argentina. (National Weather Service files)
17 July 1987...Slow-moving thunderstorms caused flooding on the Guadalupe River in Texas resulting in tragic loss of life. A bus and van leaving a summer youth camp stalled near the rapidly rising river, just west of the town of Comfort, and a powerful surge of water swept away 43 persons, mostly teenagers. Ten drowned in the floodwaters. Most of the others were rescued from treetops by helicopter. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
17-18 July 1996...Heavy rains were responsible for unprecedented flooding across north central and northeast Illinois, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Aurora, IL received 16.91 inches of rain, which established a new 24-hour precipitation record for the Prairie State. Approximately 60 percent of the city's homes were affected by flooding. At Romeoville, 10.36 inches of rain fell. Interstates were closed and some towns were isolated. Rampaging floodwaters scoured out roads near Dayton, leaving gravel and sand deposits to twenty feet high. (NCDC) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)

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