WEEKLY CLIMATE NEWS

DataStreme ECS WEEK 9: 2-6 November 2009

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Interesting images of Earth from space -- A variety of images obtained by MODIS sensors onboard NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites during the last week show a variety of processes on Earth that can affect the local weather and climate.
Dust from southeastern Alaskan glaciers sweep down the Copper River Valley and out over the northern Gulf of Alaska. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Haze from fires in agricultural fires in northern India cover the Ganges River Valley. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Thick haze and fog stretched across China along the Yellow River Valley because of industrial areas in eastern sections of that nation. [NASA Earth Observatory]
A smoke plume from an oil depot fire stretched across western India. [NASA Earth Observatory]
A plume of volcanic ash and gas emanated from the eruption of Nevado del Huila, a stratovolcano in the Colombian Andes. [NASA Earth Observatory]

CURRENT CLIMATE MONITORING

Midpoint of Antarctic airborne science mission is reached -- Last week marked the midpoint of the first southern campaign of NASA's Operation Ice Bridge, a six-year NASA field campaign which represents the largest airborne survey of Earth's polar ice ever flown. As of last week, seven science flights were completed over Antarctica using NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory. [NASA]
Monitoring African drought by satellite - An image produced from data collected by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer on the NOAA-17 POES satellite between late July and mid October shows the lack of health of vegetation across east Africa because of an extensive drought that has persisted across the region for the last two years. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Reflection of summer sunlight helps cool Arctic -- Images obtained from the CERES (Clouds and the Earth's Radiative Energy System) sensor on NASA's Terra satellite shows the amount of reflected sunlight from the Arctic basin's snow cover, sea ice and Greenland ice cap during the Northern Hemisphere's meteorological summer (June through August). [NASA Earth Observatory]
New European Earth observation satellite readied for launch -- The European Space Agency (ESA) Soil Moisture & Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite, a new European Earth observation satellite, is scheduled to be launched early Monday from northern Russia. This satellite is to measure both soil moisture levels and the salinity of the surface waters of the world's oceans. [Natural Environment Research Council] The launch can be followed on line on the ESA website. [ESA]
Rapid rise in sea level seen along the Carolina coast -- A team of environmental scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, East Carolina University, Florida International University, the Netherland's Vrije Universiteit, England's University of Plymouth and Ireland's University College Dublin studying North Carolina salt marshes has found that during the 20th century sea level along the coast of the Carolinas appears to have risen at a rate three times higher than the rate of sea-level rise during the last 500 years. They conclude that the jump in sea level between 1879 and 1915 appears to be related directly to human-induced climate change. [EurekAlert!]
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]

CLIMATE FORCING

Lightning impacts pollution and climate -- Researchers from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have using data from aircraft and satellites along with the lightning detection network to investigate the production of oxides of nitrogen (NO_x) in the atmosphere by lightning discharges. These nitrogen oxide gases, which include nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), react photochemically to produce ozone. [NASA GSFC]
Warming potential of some gases enhanced by aerosols -- Scientists using sophisticated climate models at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies have found that atmospheric methane as an elevated warming effect due to interactions with aerosols within the atmosphere. [NASA GISS]
New green parking lot may help environment -- The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was announced that it is testing various permeable pavement materials along with rain gardens in the parking lot of its Edison, NJ facility in an effort to reduce the storm water runoff from paved surfaces and the easy flow of pollutants to underground water sources. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE IMPACTS ON THE BIOSPHERE

Global tree mortality patterns show climate change risks for forest -- A US Geological Survey report indicates that tree loss patterns from around the world since 1970 indicate that many of the world's forests are sensitive to climate-related drought and heat stress, raising fear that these forests may become increasingly vulnerable. [USGS Newsroom]
Global shellfish decline possibly linked to ocean acidification -- Researchers at Stony Brook University have found that increased levels of carbon dioxide dissolved in seawater and the associated increases in ocean acidification appear to have detrimental effects upon the growth and survival of a variety of shellfish species including hard clams, bay scallops and Eastern oysters. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE MODELING EFFORTS

Quantifying climate modeling uncertainty -- Climate scientists using the computing facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have identified a new method for quantifying the level of uncertainty found in the projections made by climate modeling. They based their uncertainty levels upon the ensemble of output statistics obtained by running a set of scenarios on a sophisticated climate model. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory]

PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION

Studying ancient ocean chemistry to determine early increases in free oxygen -- Analysis of 2.5 billion-year-old black shales from Western Australia has led geoscientists at the University of California, Riverside, Arizona State University and the United Kingdom's University of Leeds to conclude that oxygen production began in Earth's oceans at least 100 million years before the "Great Oxidation Event" a time approximately 2.4 billion years ago when oxygen levels rose sharply in the Earth's atmosphere. [EurekAlert!]
Ancient volcanoes helped end an early ice age -- Researchers at Ohio State and Penn State Universities have discovered that massive amounts of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by giant volcanoes approximately 450 million years ago appear to have helped cause sufficient global warming so as to end a deadly ice age, which had killed nearly two-thirds of all species existing on the planet. These giant volcanoes occurred during the closing of the Iapetus Ocean, the proto-Atlantic Ocean, during the Paleozoic era when the rise of the Appalachian Mountains was removing carbon dioxide and helping maintain the ice age through global cooling. [Ohio State University]
Snail fossils indicate wetter Canary Islands 50,000 years ago -- Researchers at Southern Methodist University who made isotopic measurements of terrestrial snail fossils found in the ancient soils of the eastern Canary Islands report that their research indicates that this currently semiarid archipelago off the northwest African coast was wetter 50,000 years ago, but became drier with recent global cooling during the last Pleistocene Ice Age. [EurekAlert!]

CLIMATE AND SOCIETY

Simple changes could yield big cuts in greenhouse gas emissions -- A sociology and environmental science professor at Michigan State University recently claimed that several simple actions taken by the public such as home weatherization and routine vehicle maintenance would not only save energy and money, but also remove atmospheric carbon and limit greenhouse gas emissions. [EurekAlert!]
Using weather patterns to predict dengue fever outbreaks -- A Chinese research team has found that certain weather patterns over a recent six-year period that favored high air temperatures, high humidity and low wind speeds were associated with high occurrence of dengue fever in Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong Province, China. The team feels that the ability to predict these weather patterns could help minimize morbidity due to this viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes in tropical and subtropical regions. [EurekAlert!]
Americans currently are using less water than a generation ago-- A recently released US Geological Survey report entitled "Estimated Use of Water in the United States in 2005" reveals that Americans used 410 billion gallons per day in 2005, which was approximately five percent less than in 1980. These declines in water use were attributed to the increased use of more efficient irrigation systems and alternative technologies at power plants. [USGS Newsroom]
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.

Concept of the Week: Extending the Historical North American Drought Record

Through history, drought has been a major concern for many people as the lack of adequate water can adversely affect agriculture, and in the extreme case, the availability of potable (drinkable) water. The Case in Point for Chapter 9 describes the migration of ancient peoples across the semiarid Southwest due to what may have been major drought conditions. During the last century, the "Dust Bowl" era drought in the 1930s created many problems in this country. The effects of this seven-year long drought were made worse by poor agricultural techniques and land management. The effect of the drought on the nation was also exacerbated by the coincident Great Depression. Drought remains a problem today across Texas and the West Coast as we can see from inspection of the current weekly US National Drought Monitor produced by the National Drought Mitigation Center.

How do the current drought events compare with earlier droughts? A time series of computed Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) values began in 1895 when a sufficiently dense climate network was established. During the 20th century, several episodes of drought have had a major national impact. The exceptional drought that developed in the early 1930s extended across much of the nation resulting in the "Dust Bowl" era. The PDSI time series shows that the 1930s drought was the worst in the last century, with nearly 80 percent of the nation experiencing moderate to extreme drought in 1934. During the 1950s, the southern Plains and the Southwest also experienced a major drought, when 50 to 60 percent of the nation was under drought conditions.

What about farther back in history? Sophisticated tree-ring analysis techniques allow researchers to extend the drought record across a large section of North America farther into the past. In 1998, Edward R. Cook at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory along with colleagues at Arizona and Arkansas reconstructed past drought conditions across the nation based upon annual tree-ring data obtained from a network of 388 climatically sensitive tree-ring sites. From these data, time series of annual summertime (June-August) PDSI values were determined back to 1700 at 155 grid points across the nation. These gridded tree-ring chronologies were calibrated with PDSI chronologies generated by instrumental records at selected Historical Climate Network stations commencing in the late 19th century. The researchers found that the 1930s drought was the most severe drought to hit the nation since 1700.

By 2004, the series was expanded to 835 tree-ring sites, primarily across the West, where exactly dated annual tree-ring chronologies were obtained. The new grid covered most of North America with a latitude-longitude spacing of 2.5 degrees. In addition to the 286 grid point PDSI time series, annual contour maps of PDSI were constructed that span much of the continent. This work permitted extension of the spatial and temporal coverage of the drought reconstruction not only into Canada and Mexico, but back 2000 years. From this more recent data set they produced an online "North American Drought Atlas." They found several "megadroughts" in North America that were even more severe than the 1930s drought. In addition to being more severe, some droughts extended over several decades, considerably longer than those of the 20th century. One such megadrought was in the 16th century, an event that along with another megadrought into the early 17th century has been implicated by some researchers in the hardships encountered by British settlers in the Virginia area, such as the disappearance of the Roanoke Colony.

Concept of the Week: Questions

(Place your responses on the Chapter Progress Response Form provided in the Study Guide.)

The 1930's Dust Bowl era drought [(does), (does not)] appear to be the most intense across the nation of any in the last two thousand years.
The "North American Drought Atlas" is based on 835 sites where trees in climatically sensitive areas produce [(monthly),(annual),(biennial)] growth rings.

Historical Events:

2 November 1946...A heavy wet snow began to cover the Southern Rockies. Up to three feet of snow blanketed the mountains of New Mexico, and a three-day snowstorm began at Denver, CO. By the time it ended, this storm had dropped 31 inches, making it the second greatest snowfall ever in city history and causing roofs to collapse. (David Ludlum)
2 November 1961...The temperature at Atlanta, GA reached 84 degrees to establish a record for November. (The Weather Channel)
2 November 1966...A storm brought 18 inches of snow to Celia, KY in 24 hours. It tied the state 24-hour snowfall record first established at Bowling Green. (The Weather Channel)
2 November 1988...A very intense low pressure system brought heavy rain, snow, and high winds, to parts of the northeastern U.S. Portland, ME established a record for November with 4.52 inches of rain in 24 hours, and winds along the coast of Maine gusted to 74 mph at Southwest Harbor. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
3 November 1890...The temperature at Los Angeles, CA reached 96 degrees, a November record for 76 years. (David Ludlum)
3 November 1927...The "Great Vermont Flood" began as a two-day rain of up to 9 inches put rivers in western New England over their banks. Somerset, VT was deluged with 8.77 inches of rain to establish a 24-hour record for the state. (3^rd-4^th) (The Weather Channel) (Intellicast)
3 November 1989...Cold weather prevailed in the central U.S. The low of 7 above zero at Marquette, MI was their lowest reading of record for so early in the season. (The National Weather Summary)
4 November 1983...The temperature at Billings, MT soared to 77 degrees, a new record for the data and month. (Intellicast)
4-5 November 1966...The River Arno surged above flood stage and caused irreparable damage to much of the architectural and art treasure of Florence, Italy. Millions of historical library volumes were either damaged or destroyed. More than 15,000 vehicles were also destroyed. Roughly two-thirds of Florence was flooded, 113 people died and 30,000 were made homeless by the flooding on both the Arno and Po rivers. (Accord Weather Calendar) (Wikipedia)
5 November 1977...A slow moving storm produced five to nine inch rains across northern Georgia causing the Toccoa Dam to burst. As the earthen dam collapsed, the waters rushed through the Toccoa Falls Bible College killing three persons in the dorms. Thirty-eight persons perished at a trailer park along the stream. Eighteen bridges were washed out in Madison County. (David Ludlum)
5 November 1987...Heavy rains in California's Death Valley National Park washed out many park roads. As much as 1.20 in. of rain fell at Scotty's Castle, compared with the annual rainfall average of 2.28 in. Up to 8000 people attending a recreational encampment were stranded. (Accord Weather Calendar)
5 November 1991...Elkins, WV dropped to 8 degrees, the coldest so early in the season. Pittsburgh, PA dropped to 11 degrees also the coldest so early. Jackson, KY fell to 17 degrees, a daily record. (Intellicast)
6 November 1988...A powerful low-pressure system over the Great Lakes Region continued to produce snow across parts of the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes Region. Snowfall totals along the shore of Lake Superior reached 24 inches, with three feet of snow reported in the Porcupine Mountain area of Upper Michigan. Marquette, MI established a November record with 17.3 inches of snow in 24 hours. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
6 November 1989...Unseasonably warm weather prevailed in the south central and southeastern U.S. The high temperature of 89 degrees at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport in Texas equaled their record for November. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)
6 November 1994...Downtown San Francisco, CA was drenched with 6.19 inches of rain in 24 hours to set an all-time record for the city.
7 November 1986...Temperatures reached a daily record 86 degrees at New Orleans, LA, equaling the highest ever for November. (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
8 November 1914...On this date the longest "official" rain-free time span on record for the U.S. of 767 days ended in Bagdad, CA. Some meteorologists question the accuracy of this record kept by railroad employees at that time. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
8 November 1966...The temperature in downtown San Francisco reached a November record of 86 degrees. (The Weather Channel)
8 November 1991...The first week of November ended in Iowa with the average temperature for the state of 18.3 degrees, a full 24.7 degrees below normal. Easily this was the coldest first week of November ever. (Intellicast)
8 November 1999...The temperature reached 89 degrees at Kennebec, South Dakota, breaking the all time record for the warmest November maximum temperature ever recorded in the state. (The Weather Doctor)

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