|
| ©DailyTech |
| An example of the Y2K discontinuity in action (Source: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies) |
Earth Changes
My earlier column this week detailed the work of a volunteer team to assess problems with US temperature data used for climate modeling. One of these people is Steve McIntyre, who operates the site climateaudit.org. While inspecting historical temperature graphs, he noticed a strange discontinuity, or "jump" in many locations, all occurring around the time of January, 2000.
More than 40 people have been reported killed as torrential monsoon rains battered south Pakistan, local media reported Saturday.
Hardest hit was the province of Sind, where at least 36 people have died in the past two days. Several neighborhoods of the provincial capital Karachi have been flooded, and water and electricity supplies have been cut.
Another five people were reported to have died in the province of Belujistan.
Hardest hit was the province of Sind, where at least 36 people have died in the past two days. Several neighborhoods of the provincial capital Karachi have been flooded, and water and electricity supplies have been cut.
Another five people were reported to have died in the province of Belujistan.
A powerful magnitude-7.5 earthquake under the Java Sea rattled Indonesia's capital early today, violently shaking tall buildings and sending panicked residents into the streets.
There were no immediate reports of damage, and geophysicists said there was little risk of a tsunami. The quake was centered about 65 miles east of Jakarta at a depth in the Earth of 180 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
There were no immediate reports of damage, and geophysicists said there was little risk of a tsunami. The quake was centered about 65 miles east of Jakarta at a depth in the Earth of 180 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Natural weather variations have offset the effects of global warming for the past couple of years and will continue to keep temperatures flat through 2008, a study released Thursday said.
But global warming will begin in earnest in 2009, and a couple of the years between 2009 and 2014 will eclipse 1998, the warmest year on record to date, in the heat stakes, British meteorologists said.
Existing global climate computer models tend to underestimate the effects of natural forces on climate change, so for this analysis, Met Office experts tweaked their model to better reflect the impact of weather systems such as La Nina, or fluctuations in ocean heat and circulation.
But global warming will begin in earnest in 2009, and a couple of the years between 2009 and 2014 will eclipse 1998, the warmest year on record to date, in the heat stakes, British meteorologists said.
Existing global climate computer models tend to underestimate the effects of natural forces on climate change, so for this analysis, Met Office experts tweaked their model to better reflect the impact of weather systems such as La Nina, or fluctuations in ocean heat and circulation.
A storm system spawned tornados as it swept across the upper Midwest and into Pennsylvania, killing at least one person, flooding basements and leaving thousands of homes and businesses without power early Friday.
In western Pennsylvania, Allegheny County and Pittsburgh officials declared a state of emergency as residents dealt with flooding and damage from the torrential downpours.
The worst damage in Ohio was across the north-central part of the state, where the National Weather Service confirmed a tornado in Shelby and were investigating tornado reports in several counties, meteorologist Walter Fitzgerald said.
In western Pennsylvania, Allegheny County and Pittsburgh officials declared a state of emergency as residents dealt with flooding and damage from the torrential downpours.
The worst damage in Ohio was across the north-central part of the state, where the National Weather Service confirmed a tornado in Shelby and were investigating tornado reports in several counties, meteorologist Walter Fitzgerald said.
|
| ©Richelle via WKYC |
| NBC affiliate WKYC obtained this storm photograph from a viewer who said it was taken over Richland County, Ohio, on Thursday. The formation is known as a supercell, a well organized and notably intense thunderstorm. |
Summer thunderstorms become much more fierce when they collide with a city than they would otherwise be in the open countryside, according to research led by Princeton engineers.
Alexandros A. Ntelekos and James A. Smith of Princeton University's School of Engineering and Applied Science based their conclusion on computer models and detailed observations of an extreme thunderstorm that hit Baltimore in July of 2004.
Their modeling suggests that the city of Baltimore experienced about 30 percent more rainfall than the region it occupies would have experienced had there been no buildings where the city now sits.
While thunderstorms are thought of as being purely forces of nature, the Princeton research suggests that man's built environment can radically alter a storm's life cycle.
Alexandros A. Ntelekos and James A. Smith of Princeton University's School of Engineering and Applied Science based their conclusion on computer models and detailed observations of an extreme thunderstorm that hit Baltimore in July of 2004.
Their modeling suggests that the city of Baltimore experienced about 30 percent more rainfall than the region it occupies would have experienced had there been no buildings where the city now sits.
While thunderstorms are thought of as being purely forces of nature, the Princeton research suggests that man's built environment can radically alter a storm's life cycle.
More than a mile beneath the Atlantic's surface, roughly halfway between New York and Portugal, seawater rushing through the narrow gullies of an underwater mountain range much as winds gust between a city's tall buildings is generating one of the most turbulent areas ever observed in the deep ocean.
In fact, the turbulence packs an energy wallop equal to about five million watts -- comparable to output from a small nuclear reactor, according to a landmark study led by Florida State University researcher Louis St. Laurent and described in the August 9 edition of the journal Nature.
The study -- an international collaboration of scientists from the United States and France -- documents for the first time the turbulent conditions in an undersea mountain range known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It provides never-before-seen evidence that deep water turbulence swirling in the small passageways of such mountains is generating much of the mixing of warm and cold waters in the Atlantic Ocean.
In fact, the turbulence packs an energy wallop equal to about five million watts -- comparable to output from a small nuclear reactor, according to a landmark study led by Florida State University researcher Louis St. Laurent and described in the August 9 edition of the journal Nature.
The study -- an international collaboration of scientists from the United States and France -- documents for the first time the turbulent conditions in an undersea mountain range known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It provides never-before-seen evidence that deep water turbulence swirling in the small passageways of such mountains is generating much of the mixing of warm and cold waters in the Atlantic Ocean.
Heavy snow in Chile, the worst in eight years, has caused an estimated $250 million worth of damage, Spain's news agency EFE said Friday citing local authorities.
"The losses, so far, total some $250 million and at least 38,000 jobs have been lost temporarily," the news agency said citing Luis Schmidt, the head of the National Agriculture Society.
"The losses, so far, total some $250 million and at least 38,000 jobs have been lost temporarily," the news agency said citing Luis Schmidt, the head of the National Agriculture Society.
The area of floating ice in the Arctic has shrunk more than in any summer since satellite tracking began in 1979, and it has reached that record point a month before the annual ice pullback typically peaks, experts said.
The widely accepted (albeit unproven) theory that manmade global warming will accelerate itself by creating more heat-trapping clouds is challenged this month in new research from The University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Instead of creating more clouds, individual tropical warming cycles that served as proxies for global warming saw a decrease in the coverage of heat-trapping cirrus clouds, says Dr. Roy Spencer, a principal research scientist in UAHuntsville's Earth System Science Center.
That was not what he expected to find.
Instead of creating more clouds, individual tropical warming cycles that served as proxies for global warming saw a decrease in the coverage of heat-trapping cirrus clouds, says Dr. Roy Spencer, a principal research scientist in UAHuntsville's Earth System Science Center.
That was not what he expected to find.
Comment: If you're trying to connect to Climate Audit and get a connection error it's because the site seems to be suffering a DDOS attack: