Tag Archives: NOAA

Local Indonesian El Niño progression, possibility strong wildfire season Borneo, Sumatra

Over the course of 2012 ENSO has moved from La Niña to El Niño state. Various ENSO forecasting models (see NOAA NECP, IRI ensemble below) now show Pacific equatorial SSTs anomalies will remain positive for the remainder of 2012 – … Continue reading →

Natural and human-made CO2 differentiation possible thanks to new monitoring technique

A large diversity of gasses in the atmosphere influence air quality, climate change and the recovery of the ozone layer. Measuring the concentrations of these gases in the atmosphere is quite straightforward. But pinpointing wether the gasses are a natural … Continue reading →

Animated NOAA GOES-13 satellite data shows space view of Great Plains tornado outbreak

Satellite data gives forecasters a leg up on severe weather. NASA has just released an animation of visible and infrared satellite data showing the development and movement of the Great Plains tornado outbreak, using data from NOAA’s GOES-13 satellite. There were more than 135 reports of tornadoes and 124 different warnings over April 14-15, 2012.

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Oyster larvae fail to survive ocean acidification

Researchers at Oregon State University have definitively linked an increase in ocean acidification to the collapse of oyster seed production at a commercial oyster hatchery in Oregon, where larval growth had declined to a level considered by the owners to be “non-economically viable.”

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Tiny air samplers new tool in improving climate models

Miniscule air samplersAn air sampler the size of an ear plug is expected to cheaply and easily collect atmospheric samples to improve computer climate models.

“We now have an inexpensive tool for collecting pristine vapor samples in the field,” said Sandia National Laboratories researcher Ron Manginell, lead author of the cover story for the Review of Scientific Instruments, the often-cited journal of the American Institute of Physics.

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Amount of deep cold Antarctic bottom water decreasing over last decades

Antarctic bottom water

A layer of Antarctic Bottom Water colder than 0ºC (Credit: NOAA)

Scientists have found a large reduction in the amount of the coldest deep ocean water, called Antarctic Bottom Water, all around the Southern Ocean using data collected from 1980 to 2011.

These findings, in a study now online, will likely stimulate new research on the causes of this change.

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Sea level rise brings millions of Americans at risk of storm surge flooding

Nearly four million Americans, occupying a combined area larger than the state of Maryland, find themselves at risk of severe flooding as sea levels rise in the coming century, new research suggests.

Sea level rise flooding

Figure 4 - 2nd of two Environmental Research Letters SLR publications. Sea level rise storm surge flooding risk along US coast. For the ensemble average estimate of relative SLR at each gauge, projected return periods, by 2050, for floods currently qualifying as 100 yr events.

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Good news: we somehow killed just the right blue whales

Earth is a bit over 4.5 billion years old. Life on it is only about one billion years younger. And let´s say Homo smartphonensis is a mere three years old.