Oh wise Global Guru, Uncle Al, inventer of the internet, can you please clean up this mess??? - HLG
NASA Data Worse Than Climate-Gate Data, Space Agency Admits
By Blake Snow
NASA can put a man on the moon, but the space agency can't tell you what the temperature was back then.
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NASA / Goddard Institute for Space Studies
NASA was able to put a man on the moon, but the space agency can't tell you what the temperature was when it did. By its own admission, NASA's temperature records are in even worse shape than the besmirched Climate-gate data.
E-mail messages obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that NASA concluded that its own climate findings were inferior to those maintained by both the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) -- the scandalized source of the leaked Climate-gate e-mails -- and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center.
The e-mails from 2007 reveal that when a USA Today reporter asked if NASA's data "was more accurate" than other climate-change data sets, NASA's Dr. Reto A. Ruedy replied with an unequivocal no. He said "the National Climatic Data Center's procedure of only using the best stations is more accurate," admitting that some of his own procedures led to less accurate readings.
"My recommendation to you is to continue using NCDC's data for the U.S. means and [East Anglia] data for the global means," Ruedy told the reporter.
"NASA's temperature data is worse than the Climate-gate temperature data. According to NASA," wrote Christopher Horner, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute who uncovered the e-mails. Horner is skeptical of NCDC's data as well, stating plainly: "Three out of the four temperature data sets stink."
related links
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Embattled U.N. Climate Chief Apologizes Again, Won't Resign
Eat Less Meat, Reduce Global Warming -- or Not
Global warming critics call this a crucial blow to advocates' arguments that minor flaws in the "Climate-gate" data are unimportant, since all the major data sets arrive at the same conclusion -- that the Earth is getting warmer. But there's a good reason for that, the skeptics say: They all use the same data.
"There is far too much overlap among the surface temperature data sets to assert with a straight face that they independently verify each other's results," says James M. Taylor, senior fellow of environment policy at The Heartland Institute.
"The different groups have cooperated in a very friendly way to try to understand different conclusions when they arise," said Dr. James Hansen, head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, in the same 2007 e-mail thread. Earlier this month, in an updated analysis of the surface temperature data, GISS restated that the separate analyses by the different agencies "are not independent, as they must use much of the same input observations."
Neither NASA nor NOAA responded to requests for comment. But Dr. Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at Weather Underground, still believes the validity of data from NASA, NOAA and East Anglia would be in jeopardy only if the comparative analysis didn't match. "I see no reason to question the integrity of the raw data," he says. "Since the three organizations are all using mostly the same raw data, collected by the official weather agency of each individual country, the only issue here is whether the corrections done to the raw data were done correctly by CRU."
Corrections are needed, Masters says, "since there are only a few thousand surface temperature recording sites with records going back 100+ years." As such, climate agencies estimate temperatures in various ways for areas where there aren't any thermometers, to account for the overall incomplete global picture.
"It would be nice if we had more global stations to enable the groups to do independent estimates using completely different raw data, but we don't have that luxury," Masters adds. "All three groups came up with very similar global temperature trends using mostly the same raw data but independent corrections. This should give us confidence that the three groups are probably doing reasonable corrections, given that the three final data sets match pretty well."
But NASA is somewhat less confident, having quietly decided to tweak its corrections to the climate data earlier this month.
In an updated analysis of the surface temperature data released on March 19, NASA adjusted the raw temperature station data to account for inaccurate readings caused by heat-absorbing paved surfaces and buildings in a slightly different way. NASA determines which stations are urban with nighttime satellite photos, looking for stations near light sources as seen from space.
Of course, this doesn't solve problems with NASA's data, as the newest paper admits: "Much higher resolution would be needed to check for local problems with the placement of thermometers relative to possible building obstructions," a problem repeatedly underscored by meteorologist Anthony Watts on his SurfaceStations.org Web site. Last month, Watts told FoxNews.com that "90 percent of them don't meet [the government's] old, simple rule called the '100-foot rule' for keeping thermometers 100 feet or more from biasing influence. Ninety percent of them failed that, and we've got documentation."
Still, "confidence" is not the same as scientific law, something the public obviously recognizes. According to a December survey, only 25 percent of Americans believed there was agreement within the scientific community on climate change. And unless things fundamentally change, it could remain that way, said Taylor.
"Until surface temperature data sets are truly independent of one another and are entrusted to scientists whose objectivity is beyond question, the satellite temperature record alone will not have any credibility," he said.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Nice TRMM Pass of TC Paul's Rainfall
Gotta love TRMM, especially since Quikscat died, and I don't have any marine winds to analyze! At least I have space radar-rainfall-estimates! - HLG
No need to worry about global storming
They have fired up the LHC in Europe, and reach 7 TeV, so they will surely blow the world up soon! - HLG
Hadron Smashes Through Door to New Era in Physics
Print Version
E-Mail Article
By Richard Adhikari
TechNewsWorld
03/30/10 12:22 PM PT
The Large Hadron Collider set another record on Tuesday, smashing two proton beams together at a total energy level of 7 TeVs, the highest energies ever observed in laboratory conditions. More than half a million collision events were recorded during the day's experiment, CERN tweeted to the world.
CERN was trying to get the two proton beams to collide at an energy level of 7 trillion electron volts (TeV), but problems with the electrical system forced the scientists to reset the system and try again.
The experiment succeeded shortly after 1 p.m. central European summer time.
CERN will run the collider for 18 to 24 months.
ATLAS 3.5 TeV Collision Event Record
Do the Proton Mash
The experiment had two proton beams traveling at more than 99.9 percent of the speed of light to collide, creating showers of new particles for physicists to study.
Each beam consisted of nearly 3,000 bunches of up to 100 billion particles each. The particles are tiny, so the chances of any two colliding are small. There will only be about 20 collisions among 200 billion particles, CERN said.
However, the continuous streaming of the beams into each other had bunches colliding about 30 million times a second, resulting in up to 600 million collisions a second.
The experiment ran for more than three hours and recorded half a million events, according to a tweet from CERN. Four huge detectors -- Alice, Atlas, CMS and LHCb -- observed the collisions and gathered data.
Physicists worldwide are examining the results. They're looking to solve the origin of mass, the grand unification of forces and the presence of dark matter in the universe.
Alice and the Kids
Alice will study the quark-gluon plasma, a state of matter that probably existed in the first moments of the universe. Quarks and gluons are the basic building blocks of matter. A quark-gluon plasma, also known as "quark soup," consists of almost free quarks and gluons. It exists at extremely high temperatures or extremely high densities or a combination of both.
CERN first tried to create quark-gluon plasma in the 1980s, and the results led it to announce indirect evidence for a new state of matter in 2000. The Brookhaven National Laboratory's Relativistic Heavy Collider is also working on creating quark-gluon plasma, and scientists there claim to have created the plasma at a temperature of about 4 million degrees Celsius. CERN's experiment with the LHC is a continuation of the work on this subject.
Atlas, the largest detector at the LHC, is a multipurpose detector that will help study fundamental questions such as the origin of mass and the nature of the Universe's dark matter.
CMS is the heaviest detector at the LHC. It is a multipurpose detector consisting of several systems built around a powerful superconducting magnet.
LCHb will help scientists find out why the universe is all matter and contains almost no antimatter.
How LHC Works
The Large Hadron Collider is simply a machine for concentrating energy into a relatively small space.
In Tuesday's experiment, two proton beams were smashed together at a total energy level of 7 TeVs, the highest energies ever observed in laboratory conditions.
Here's how the collider works: After the beams are accelerated to 0.45 TeV in CERN's accelerator chain, they are injected into the LHC ring, where they'll make millions of circuits. On each circuit, the beams will get an energy impulse from an electric field. This will go on until they hit the 7 TeV level.
For some perspective on that 7 TeV figure, 1 TeV is roughly the amount of energy a flying mosquito puts out. Not much -- but then a proton is about a trillion times smaller than a mosquito.
At full power, each beam will have as much energy as a car traveling at about 995 miles per hour.
Some people feared the LHC would generate small black holes that might have some impact on the universe. Not to worry, Joseph Lykken, a particle physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., told TechNewsWorld.
"It is indeed possible that LHC collisions could produce microscopic black holes, but these would be rare events, if they happened at all," he explained. "At most, we'd have one tiny black hole at a time, and each of these should be highly unstable."
If black holes could be produced and studied this way, it would revolutionize our understanding of space, time and gravity, Lykken pointed out.
Lykken, who's involved in the CMS experiments at CERN, said that detector was recording about 100 collisions per second, more than expected.
The CMS analysis teams have begun posting the first results from that data, he said.
Keeping the LHC Running
CERN will run the LHC for 18 to 24 months to get enough data to make significant advances throughout the science of physics. Once the scientists have discovered the Standard Model particles, they'll begin looking for the elusive Higgs boson.
The Standard Model of particle physics is a theory of three of the four known fundamental interactions and the elementary particles that take part in these interactions. These particles make up all visible matter in the universe. They are quarks, leptons and gauge bosons.
"This is only the beginning of a discovery process that will take months and years, as thousands of physicists analyze the debris from billions of collisions," Lykken said.
"The discovery of the Higgs boson will most likely take several years, but other discoveries could happen much sooner," he added.
"There's a lot of preliminary data that we'll be getting that will be useful in the sense that we can check predictions made about cross sections and multiplicities and charge particle production," said Brandeis University physics professor James Bensinger, who participated in the development of the Atlas Experiment on the LHC.
The search for the Higgs boson will probably have to wait until the next run, Bensinger told TechNewsWorld. The LHC will probably run for another 20 to 30 years, and will have cycles where it will run for two years and be shut off for the third for tweaking and maintenance.
America, Where Are You Now?
The United States had a supercollider project of its own under way, but the project was killed when the House of Representatives canceled funding for it in 1993.
By that time, 14 miles of tunnels had been dug and US$2 billion spent on it.
The laboratory site is close to the town of Waxahachie, Texas, south of Dallas. The site has been sold to an investment group that plans to turn it into a secure data storage center.
It's not likely that this supercollider project will be revived, Bensinger said.
"The LHC could probably do what that supercollider could do anyway," he pointed out.
If major discoveries result from the LHC experiment, however, U.S. scientists may be able to make the case for a new generation of colliders to explore new avenues of research, he suggested.
"The U.S. has a strong research and development program in place that could allow us to build a future supercollider using radically new technologies," Lykken pointed out. "It remains to be seen whether we have the political will to compete with the Europeans, who have devoted $10 billion to the successful LHC project."
Hadron Smashes Through Door to New Era in Physics
Print Version
E-Mail Article
By Richard Adhikari
TechNewsWorld
03/30/10 12:22 PM PT
The Large Hadron Collider set another record on Tuesday, smashing two proton beams together at a total energy level of 7 TeVs, the highest energies ever observed in laboratory conditions. More than half a million collision events were recorded during the day's experiment, CERN tweeted to the world.
CERN was trying to get the two proton beams to collide at an energy level of 7 trillion electron volts (TeV), but problems with the electrical system forced the scientists to reset the system and try again.
The experiment succeeded shortly after 1 p.m. central European summer time.
CERN will run the collider for 18 to 24 months.
ATLAS 3.5 TeV Collision Event Record
Do the Proton Mash
The experiment had two proton beams traveling at more than 99.9 percent of the speed of light to collide, creating showers of new particles for physicists to study.
Each beam consisted of nearly 3,000 bunches of up to 100 billion particles each. The particles are tiny, so the chances of any two colliding are small. There will only be about 20 collisions among 200 billion particles, CERN said.
However, the continuous streaming of the beams into each other had bunches colliding about 30 million times a second, resulting in up to 600 million collisions a second.
The experiment ran for more than three hours and recorded half a million events, according to a tweet from CERN. Four huge detectors -- Alice, Atlas, CMS and LHCb -- observed the collisions and gathered data.
Physicists worldwide are examining the results. They're looking to solve the origin of mass, the grand unification of forces and the presence of dark matter in the universe.
Alice and the Kids
Alice will study the quark-gluon plasma, a state of matter that probably existed in the first moments of the universe. Quarks and gluons are the basic building blocks of matter. A quark-gluon plasma, also known as "quark soup," consists of almost free quarks and gluons. It exists at extremely high temperatures or extremely high densities or a combination of both.
CERN first tried to create quark-gluon plasma in the 1980s, and the results led it to announce indirect evidence for a new state of matter in 2000. The Brookhaven National Laboratory's Relativistic Heavy Collider is also working on creating quark-gluon plasma, and scientists there claim to have created the plasma at a temperature of about 4 million degrees Celsius. CERN's experiment with the LHC is a continuation of the work on this subject.
Atlas, the largest detector at the LHC, is a multipurpose detector that will help study fundamental questions such as the origin of mass and the nature of the Universe's dark matter.
CMS is the heaviest detector at the LHC. It is a multipurpose detector consisting of several systems built around a powerful superconducting magnet.
LCHb will help scientists find out why the universe is all matter and contains almost no antimatter.
How LHC Works
The Large Hadron Collider is simply a machine for concentrating energy into a relatively small space.
In Tuesday's experiment, two proton beams were smashed together at a total energy level of 7 TeVs, the highest energies ever observed in laboratory conditions.
Here's how the collider works: After the beams are accelerated to 0.45 TeV in CERN's accelerator chain, they are injected into the LHC ring, where they'll make millions of circuits. On each circuit, the beams will get an energy impulse from an electric field. This will go on until they hit the 7 TeV level.
For some perspective on that 7 TeV figure, 1 TeV is roughly the amount of energy a flying mosquito puts out. Not much -- but then a proton is about a trillion times smaller than a mosquito.
At full power, each beam will have as much energy as a car traveling at about 995 miles per hour.
Some people feared the LHC would generate small black holes that might have some impact on the universe. Not to worry, Joseph Lykken, a particle physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., told TechNewsWorld.
"It is indeed possible that LHC collisions could produce microscopic black holes, but these would be rare events, if they happened at all," he explained. "At most, we'd have one tiny black hole at a time, and each of these should be highly unstable."
If black holes could be produced and studied this way, it would revolutionize our understanding of space, time and gravity, Lykken pointed out.
Lykken, who's involved in the CMS experiments at CERN, said that detector was recording about 100 collisions per second, more than expected.
The CMS analysis teams have begun posting the first results from that data, he said.
Keeping the LHC Running
CERN will run the LHC for 18 to 24 months to get enough data to make significant advances throughout the science of physics. Once the scientists have discovered the Standard Model particles, they'll begin looking for the elusive Higgs boson.
The Standard Model of particle physics is a theory of three of the four known fundamental interactions and the elementary particles that take part in these interactions. These particles make up all visible matter in the universe. They are quarks, leptons and gauge bosons.
"This is only the beginning of a discovery process that will take months and years, as thousands of physicists analyze the debris from billions of collisions," Lykken said.
"The discovery of the Higgs boson will most likely take several years, but other discoveries could happen much sooner," he added.
"There's a lot of preliminary data that we'll be getting that will be useful in the sense that we can check predictions made about cross sections and multiplicities and charge particle production," said Brandeis University physics professor James Bensinger, who participated in the development of the Atlas Experiment on the LHC.
The search for the Higgs boson will probably have to wait until the next run, Bensinger told TechNewsWorld. The LHC will probably run for another 20 to 30 years, and will have cycles where it will run for two years and be shut off for the third for tweaking and maintenance.
America, Where Are You Now?
The United States had a supercollider project of its own under way, but the project was killed when the House of Representatives canceled funding for it in 1993.
By that time, 14 miles of tunnels had been dug and US$2 billion spent on it.
The laboratory site is close to the town of Waxahachie, Texas, south of Dallas. The site has been sold to an investment group that plans to turn it into a secure data storage center.
It's not likely that this supercollider project will be revived, Bensinger said.
"The LHC could probably do what that supercollider could do anyway," he pointed out.
If major discoveries result from the LHC experiment, however, U.S. scientists may be able to make the case for a new generation of colliders to explore new avenues of research, he suggested.
"The U.S. has a strong research and development program in place that could allow us to build a future supercollider using radically new technologies," Lykken pointed out. "It remains to be seen whether we have the political will to compete with the Europeans, who have devoted $10 billion to the successful LHC project."
This will SURELY resurrect Global Al!
Rhode Island Braces for ‘Historic’ Flooding
March 30, 2010 - 10:16 AM | by: Molly Line
Rhode Island has called in the National Guard to help with the worst flooding the state has seen in a century.
300 soldiers will be filling sand bags and working to help authorities manage flooding that has swamped neighborhoods. The swift waters are threatening bridges and dams across the state.
“This is an extraordinary time that we’re facing,” said Gov. Don Carcieri. He urged residents to take the rising waters seriously and evacuate if authorities believe it’s necessary.
“The flooding impact, as bad as it is right now, is going to get worse,” warned Carcieri who called on residents to get home early and expect further road closings.
The rain is expected to lighten up periodically throughout the evening hours but several addition inches are still expected to fall.
---
Relentless rain continues to pound the Northeast. Communities from New Jersey to Maine are getting hit hard with another round of flooding as the second major storm in March dumps water on the region.
In Rhode Island the Pawtuxet River is over it’s banks, flooding homes and cars left in low lying areas.
The Lumpkin family has lived on East Ave. in Warwick, Rhode Island for nearly 20 years.
“I’ve never seen it this bad,” said Diana Lumpkin, who watched a sand box float across her flooded back yard. Sand bags are piled high around their cellar door to little avail. The river is flooding inside.
Emergency Management officials say major flooding is affecting Cranston, Providence, Warwick and surrounding towns. They’re warning residents that water levels could reach historic highs and flooding will be seen in areas that have never flooded before.
The Blackstone River is 9 feet over flood stage, estimated to be at 18 feet, and the Pawtuxet River could hit 21 feet by Thursday.
“We have no idea with that kind of water where it’s going to go,” said Steve Kass, Communications Coordinator for the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency.
Five to seven inches of rain is predicted across eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island. In some spots eight inches is possible.
In Massachusetts, Governor Deval Patrick has declared a state of emergency. The Massachusetts National Guard has mobilized to fill sand bags and aid residents.
Homeowners are weary. Many residents are pumping out basements yet again, rushing to move furniture and belongings to higher ground.
March 30, 2010 - 10:16 AM | by: Molly Line
Rhode Island has called in the National Guard to help with the worst flooding the state has seen in a century.
300 soldiers will be filling sand bags and working to help authorities manage flooding that has swamped neighborhoods. The swift waters are threatening bridges and dams across the state.
“This is an extraordinary time that we’re facing,” said Gov. Don Carcieri. He urged residents to take the rising waters seriously and evacuate if authorities believe it’s necessary.
“The flooding impact, as bad as it is right now, is going to get worse,” warned Carcieri who called on residents to get home early and expect further road closings.
The rain is expected to lighten up periodically throughout the evening hours but several addition inches are still expected to fall.
---
Relentless rain continues to pound the Northeast. Communities from New Jersey to Maine are getting hit hard with another round of flooding as the second major storm in March dumps water on the region.
In Rhode Island the Pawtuxet River is over it’s banks, flooding homes and cars left in low lying areas.
The Lumpkin family has lived on East Ave. in Warwick, Rhode Island for nearly 20 years.
“I’ve never seen it this bad,” said Diana Lumpkin, who watched a sand box float across her flooded back yard. Sand bags are piled high around their cellar door to little avail. The river is flooding inside.
Emergency Management officials say major flooding is affecting Cranston, Providence, Warwick and surrounding towns. They’re warning residents that water levels could reach historic highs and flooding will be seen in areas that have never flooded before.
The Blackstone River is 9 feet over flood stage, estimated to be at 18 feet, and the Pawtuxet River could hit 21 feet by Thursday.
“We have no idea with that kind of water where it’s going to go,” said Steve Kass, Communications Coordinator for the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency.
Five to seven inches of rain is predicted across eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island. In some spots eight inches is possible.
In Massachusetts, Governor Deval Patrick has declared a state of emergency. The Massachusetts National Guard has mobilized to fill sand bags and aid residents.
Homeowners are weary. Many residents are pumping out basements yet again, rushing to move furniture and belongings to higher ground.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Tropical Cyclone Paul Hits Wooloowooloogonggong Australia!
OK, I made that name up, but that really is TC Paul, going into croc-country, Australia. Watch out Nick Dundee!!! - HLG
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Yet another Baroclinic Bomb for the Eastern US
According to the models the low in the Ohio Valley today is really going to blow up on the East Coast by Tuesday. Whatever happened to March "coming in like a lion, and going out like a lamb"? There will be cherry blossoms everywhere in DC!! Japanese tourists blowing all over the place, with a death-grip on their cameras!!! The Hummanity! - HLG
Saturday, March 27, 2010
DUST, DUST BABY
A continuation of HLG's "Dust Around The World (DATW)" Series - from CIMSS Web Site, this one of dust from New Mexico and TexASS.
BB
BB
Friday, March 26, 2010
Altimetry Fulfills Dr Jim Mitchell's Vision
This amazing image from NASA shows the Kelvin waves in the SSHs from satellite altimetry measurements, which clearly shows the El Nino showing at least a pulse of reintensification, thus 40 days of rain coming! Build the Ark!!! - HLG
Dust, dust, everywhere.
After seeing major dust storms in the middle east, the entire Sahara, and China recently, you have to wonder what in the name of Global Al is going on????
The recent dust-storm was so massive it paralyzed parts of eastern China, and was entrained in a frontal system and made it past Japan. Pretty amazing images. - HLG
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Massive Dust Storm Blankets Entire Sahara
Looks like a Martian dust-storm! What in the name of Global Al? - HLG
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Real Ice-Budget-Global-Change Science from NASA
I am a well-known, "Global Warming" skeptic (or "so-called skeptics, as Global Al calls us). The little known fact is that I broke up with a girl I really cared about when she was gushing over how important "An Inconvenient Truth" (which has at least 9, well-documented scientific frauds in it), and I told her the inconvenient truths about the movie. She concluded I was a gun-toting-repbulican-oil-company-loving-bigot, all of which is false, except for the gun-toting. The key to our argument was when I told her we actucally don't know if Greenland, nor the Antarctic ice-caps are growing or shrinking. She knew this was false, due to Global Al's preaching, but of course we don't know this most basic fact. ICESat from NASA was doing great work when it failed last year, and ICESat 2 is comeing in 2015 (don't hold your breath on that date), but NASA has the ICEBRIDGE mission to try and fill key parts of the gap. Read-on, fellow Climatologists. - HLG
NASA IceBridge Mission Prepares for Study of Arctic Glaciers
March 18, 2010
NASA's Operation IceBridge mission, the largest airborne survey ever flown of Earth's polar ice, kicks off its second year of study when NASA aircraft arrive in Greenland March 22.
The IceBridge mission allows scientists to track changes in the extent and thickness of polar ice, which is important for understanding ice dynamics. IceBridge began in March 2009 as a means to fill the gap in polar observations between the loss of NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite, or ICESat, and the launch of ICESat-2, planned for 2015. Annual missions fly over the Arctic in March and April and over Antarctica in October and November.
"NASA's IceBridge mission is characterizing the changes occurring in the world's polar ice sheets," said Tom Wagner, cryosphere program manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The mission's goal is to collect the most important data for improving predictive models of sea level rise and global climate change."
Researchers plan to resurvey previous flight lines and former ground tracks of ICESat while adding new areas of interest. Scientists also will target some areas that have been undergoing mysterious changes. The major glaciers in southeast Greenland once thinned simultaneously, but some of those glaciers have been thinning at an accelerated rate -- as much as 40 feet per year -- while others have thickened. And glaciers in northwest Greenland, once a stable region, have mostly begun to thin.
In preparation for approximately 200 science flight hours during the spring 2010 campaign, engineers have been outfitting NASA's DC-8 aircraft with an array of science instruments. On March 21-22, the aircraft will travel to Thule, Greenland, where researchers and crew will spend about five weeks making 10 to 12 science flights. The first priority is to survey Arctic sea ice, which reaches its maximum extent each year in March or early April. High- and low-altitude flights also will survey Greenland's ice sheet and outlet glaciers.
In mid-April, the engineers will transfer the science instruments to the smaller, more maneuverable P-3B aircraft. The crew will spend May making another 10 to 12 science flights from Kangerlussuaq and Thule, Greenland.
Both aircraft will carry the Airborne Topographic Mapper, or ATM -- a laser altimeter similar to those on ICESat. ATM measures changes in the surface elevation of the ice by reflecting lasers from the ground back to the aircraft and converting the readings into elevation maps. Another laser altimeter, the Land, Vegetation, and Ice Sensor, operates at higher altitudes and can survey larger areas quickly.
The spring flights are led by project scientists Lora Koenig of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and Michael Studinger of Goddard Earth Science and Technology Center at the University of Maryland. The mission also includes scientists, crew and technicians from Goddard, Wallops, NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.; The Earth Institute at Columbia University in Palisades, N.Y.; the University of Kansas; and the University of Washington.
The versatility of the planes will allow some new observations not currently possible from satellites. Radar instruments from the University of Kansas and a gravimeter from Columbia University will allow scientists to "see" snow, ice, and bedrock characteristics at depths below the surface. Such information will enhance our understanding of glacier and ice sheet processes and will help scientists predict a glacier's future behavior.
"NASA has a unique capability to look at these things from a bird's-eye perspective, not only from space but also from multiple long-range, high performance aircraft," said John Sonntag, a senior scientist with URS Corporation in Wallops Island, Va., and member of the IceBridge management team. "If not for IceBridge, the global science community and the public would miss out on a great deal of knowledge about Greenland and Antarctica."
NASA IceBridge Mission Prepares for Study of Arctic Glaciers
March 18, 2010
NASA's Operation IceBridge mission, the largest airborne survey ever flown of Earth's polar ice, kicks off its second year of study when NASA aircraft arrive in Greenland March 22.
The IceBridge mission allows scientists to track changes in the extent and thickness of polar ice, which is important for understanding ice dynamics. IceBridge began in March 2009 as a means to fill the gap in polar observations between the loss of NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite, or ICESat, and the launch of ICESat-2, planned for 2015. Annual missions fly over the Arctic in March and April and over Antarctica in October and November.
"NASA's IceBridge mission is characterizing the changes occurring in the world's polar ice sheets," said Tom Wagner, cryosphere program manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The mission's goal is to collect the most important data for improving predictive models of sea level rise and global climate change."
Researchers plan to resurvey previous flight lines and former ground tracks of ICESat while adding new areas of interest. Scientists also will target some areas that have been undergoing mysterious changes. The major glaciers in southeast Greenland once thinned simultaneously, but some of those glaciers have been thinning at an accelerated rate -- as much as 40 feet per year -- while others have thickened. And glaciers in northwest Greenland, once a stable region, have mostly begun to thin.
In preparation for approximately 200 science flight hours during the spring 2010 campaign, engineers have been outfitting NASA's DC-8 aircraft with an array of science instruments. On March 21-22, the aircraft will travel to Thule, Greenland, where researchers and crew will spend about five weeks making 10 to 12 science flights. The first priority is to survey Arctic sea ice, which reaches its maximum extent each year in March or early April. High- and low-altitude flights also will survey Greenland's ice sheet and outlet glaciers.
In mid-April, the engineers will transfer the science instruments to the smaller, more maneuverable P-3B aircraft. The crew will spend May making another 10 to 12 science flights from Kangerlussuaq and Thule, Greenland.
Both aircraft will carry the Airborne Topographic Mapper, or ATM -- a laser altimeter similar to those on ICESat. ATM measures changes in the surface elevation of the ice by reflecting lasers from the ground back to the aircraft and converting the readings into elevation maps. Another laser altimeter, the Land, Vegetation, and Ice Sensor, operates at higher altitudes and can survey larger areas quickly.
The spring flights are led by project scientists Lora Koenig of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and Michael Studinger of Goddard Earth Science and Technology Center at the University of Maryland. The mission also includes scientists, crew and technicians from Goddard, Wallops, NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.; The Earth Institute at Columbia University in Palisades, N.Y.; the University of Kansas; and the University of Washington.
The versatility of the planes will allow some new observations not currently possible from satellites. Radar instruments from the University of Kansas and a gravimeter from Columbia University will allow scientists to "see" snow, ice, and bedrock characteristics at depths below the surface. Such information will enhance our understanding of glacier and ice sheet processes and will help scientists predict a glacier's future behavior.
"NASA has a unique capability to look at these things from a bird's-eye perspective, not only from space but also from multiple long-range, high performance aircraft," said John Sonntag, a senior scientist with URS Corporation in Wallops Island, Va., and member of the IceBridge management team. "If not for IceBridge, the global science community and the public would miss out on a great deal of knowledge about Greenland and Antarctica."
Global Warming Slows Home Sales in USA!
The Washington Post to me
show details 10:26 AM (12 minutes ago)
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News Alert: New home sales sink 2.2 percent to record low amid stormy weather, weak economy
10:11 AM EDT Wednesday, March 24, 2010
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Sales of newly built U.S. single-family homes fell for a fourth straight month to a record low in February, a government report showed on Wednesday, heightening fears of renewed weakness in the housing market.
The Commerce Department said sales fell 2.2 percent to a 308,000 unit annual rate from an upwardly revised 315,000 units in January.
show details 10:26 AM (12 minutes ago)
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News Alert: New home sales sink 2.2 percent to record low amid stormy weather, weak economy
10:11 AM EDT Wednesday, March 24, 2010
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Sales of newly built U.S. single-family homes fell for a fourth straight month to a record low in February, a government report showed on Wednesday, heightening fears of renewed weakness in the housing market.
The Commerce Department said sales fell 2.2 percent to a 308,000 unit annual rate from an upwardly revised 315,000 units in January.
Monday, March 22, 2010
It is shaping up to be a long, sad, tropical season in Haiti
Heavy Rains Sweeping Away Screaming Haitians in Homeless Camps
An overnight downpour has swamped homeless camps in Haiti's capital, sweeping screaming residents into eddies of water, overflowing latrines and panicking thousands.
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AP
March 19, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- One of the heaviest rainfalls since Haiti's Jan. 12 earthquake swamped homeless camps Friday, sweeping screaming residents into eddies of water, overflowing latrines and panicking thousands.
The overnight downpour sent water coursing down the slopes of a former golf course that now serves as a temporary home for about 45,000 people.
There were no reports of deaths in the camp, a town-size maze of blue, orange and silver tarps located behind the country club used by the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne as a forward-operating base.
But the deluge terrified families who just two months ago survived the collapse of their homes in the magnitude-7 earthquake and are now struggling to make do in tent-and-tarp camps that officials have repeatedly said must be relocated.
"I was on one side (of the tarp), the children were on the other side and I was trying to push the water out," Jackquine Exama, a 34-year-old mother of seven, said through tears.
"I'm not used to this," she said.
Aid workers said people were swept screaming into eddies of water and flows ripped down tents an Israeli aid group is using to teach school.
"They were crying. There was just fear down there. It was chaos," said Jim Wilson of the aid group Praecipio, who came running from his own shelter up the hill when he heard the screams.
After the sun rose Friday, people used sticks and their bare hands to dig drainage ditches around their tarps and shanties.
Marie Elba Sylvie, 50, could not decide whether it was worth repairing damage to her lean-to of scrap wood and plastic.
"It could be fixed but when it rains again it will be the same problem," said the 50-year-old mother of four.
Standing water and mud also pervaded a tarp-and-tent city on the outskirts of Cite Soleil, several miles away. Residents waded through the shallow flood collecting their belongings.
Officials know they must move many of the 1.3 million people displaced by the earthquake before the rainy season starts in earnest in April. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters at the golf-course camp Sunday that the people living there were in particular danger.
But after two months of searching and wrangling with landowners, the government has still not opened any of the five promised relocation sites that are better able to withstand rain and aftershocks on the capital's northeastern outskirts.
Aid groups are also struggling to open their own camps.
"It's been frustrating to us because we need to have those sites in order to build something ... better. Until we can do that people have no incentive to move," U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes told The Associated Press during Ban's visit.
"We're running out of time, honestly," Holmes said.
An overnight downpour has swamped homeless camps in Haiti's capital, sweeping screaming residents into eddies of water, overflowing latrines and panicking thousands.
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AP
March 19, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- One of the heaviest rainfalls since Haiti's Jan. 12 earthquake swamped homeless camps Friday, sweeping screaming residents into eddies of water, overflowing latrines and panicking thousands.
The overnight downpour sent water coursing down the slopes of a former golf course that now serves as a temporary home for about 45,000 people.
There were no reports of deaths in the camp, a town-size maze of blue, orange and silver tarps located behind the country club used by the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne as a forward-operating base.
But the deluge terrified families who just two months ago survived the collapse of their homes in the magnitude-7 earthquake and are now struggling to make do in tent-and-tarp camps that officials have repeatedly said must be relocated.
"I was on one side (of the tarp), the children were on the other side and I was trying to push the water out," Jackquine Exama, a 34-year-old mother of seven, said through tears.
"I'm not used to this," she said.
Aid workers said people were swept screaming into eddies of water and flows ripped down tents an Israeli aid group is using to teach school.
"They were crying. There was just fear down there. It was chaos," said Jim Wilson of the aid group Praecipio, who came running from his own shelter up the hill when he heard the screams.
After the sun rose Friday, people used sticks and their bare hands to dig drainage ditches around their tarps and shanties.
Marie Elba Sylvie, 50, could not decide whether it was worth repairing damage to her lean-to of scrap wood and plastic.
"It could be fixed but when it rains again it will be the same problem," said the 50-year-old mother of four.
Standing water and mud also pervaded a tarp-and-tent city on the outskirts of Cite Soleil, several miles away. Residents waded through the shallow flood collecting their belongings.
Officials know they must move many of the 1.3 million people displaced by the earthquake before the rainy season starts in earnest in April. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters at the golf-course camp Sunday that the people living there were in particular danger.
But after two months of searching and wrangling with landowners, the government has still not opened any of the five promised relocation sites that are better able to withstand rain and aftershocks on the capital's northeastern outskirts.
Aid groups are also struggling to open their own camps.
"It's been frustrating to us because we need to have those sites in order to build something ... better. Until we can do that people have no incentive to move," U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes told The Associated Press during Ban's visit.
"We're running out of time, honestly," Holmes said.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Surreal or Impressionistic Polution over Eastern China
The massive,toxic clouds from the communist slave factories, cranking out poisonous toys for capitalist pig children makes for amazing sky patterns, possibly never seen over Earth, or since the initial industrial revolution of Northern Europe in the 1700s. - HLG
Just Can't Make It Up Category: Britain Bans Global Warming Nurery Rhymes!
Amazing but true, Rub a Dub Dub with Global Alarming twist is BANNED in Britain! - HLG
Government rebuked over global warming nursery rhyme adverts
Two nursery rhyme adverts commissioned by the Government to raise awareness of climate change have been banned for overstating the risks.
By Matthew Moore
Published: 9:25AM GMT 14 Mar 2010
In definitely asserting that climate change would cause flooding and drought the adverts went beyond mainstream scientific consensus, the watchdog said.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that the adverts – which were based on the children's poems Jack and Jill and Rub-A-Dub-Dub – made exaggerated claims about the threat to Britain from global warming.
In definitely asserting that climate change would cause flooding and drought the adverts went beyond mainstream scientific consensus, the watchdog said.
It noted that predictions about the potential global impact of global warming made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) "involved uncertainties" that the adverts failed to reflect.
The two posters created on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change juxtaposed adapted extracts from the nursery rhymes with prose warnings about the dangers of global warning.
One began: “Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. There was none as extreme weather due to climate change had caused a drought.” Beneath was written: “Extreme weather conditions such as flooding, heat waves and storms will become more frequent and intense.”
The second advert read: "Rub a dub dub, three men in a tub — a necessary course of action due to flash flooding caused by climate change.” It was captioned: “Climate change is happening. Temperature and sea levels are rising. Extreme weather events such as storms, floods and heat waves will become more frequent and intense. If we carry on at this rate, life in 25 years could be very different.”
Upholding complaints from members of the public, the ASA said that in both instances the text accompanying the rhymes should have been couched in softer language.
The newspaper adverts were part of a controversial media campaign launched by the DECC last year which attracted a total of 939 complaints.
The watchdog found that the other elements of the campaign, including a television and cinema advert in which a father read his daughter a nightmarish bedtime story about a world blighted by climate change, did not breach its guidelines.
Ed Miliband, the Environment Secretary, said that that his department had been "comprehensively vindicated" by the ASA but promised to better reflect scientific uncertainty about global warming in future campaigns.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Who knew there was a "Darwin Ash Advisory Centre"?
The tiny volcanic island of Batu Tara has been erupting sporadically since March 2007. Located in the Flores Sea, Batu Tara is about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Indonesia’s Lesser Sunda Islands. The Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre reported eruptions of ash up to 8,000 feet (2,000 meters) on March 15, 2009. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image of the ash plume on March 15, 2010. - NASA
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
New-Jersy-York-Uconn Storm Looked Tropical ...
and caused very tropical-like damage! Holy Global Al!!!
Northeast Pounded by Deadly Storm Leaving Many Powerless
AP
At least nine people died in storm-related accidents, and nearly half a million people were without electricity in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut at the peak of the storm.
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EGG HARBOR CITY, N.J. -- A torrential rainstorm that brought heavy winds to the Northeast, downing trees, flooding roadways and knocking out power, continued to pour rain on New England on Monday.
At least nine people died in storm-related accidents, and nearly half a million people were without electricity in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut at the peak of the storm.
The ferocious storm led to near-record numbers of 911 calls in New York. New York City experienced the second-highest volume of 911 calls ever. It got 65,000 calls between 11 p.m. Friday and 11 p.m. Saturday, second only to the 96,000 calls made during the 2003 blackout.
While the rain tapered off south of New York on Monday morning, wind-whipped precipitation continued to fall in New England.
In Boston, workers threw up sand bags around the entrance to a subway station near Fenway Park on Monday morning as the Muddy River rose and threatened the station. The Massachusetts Port Authority said the weather was causing some delays and cancellations at Logan International Airport and several low-lying roads and highway ramps in Massachusetts were closed.
There also were numerous road closures in southeastern New Hampshire due to flooding.
In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie declared a state of emergency, which would allow National Guard troops to be called up if needed. In signing the declaration Sunday night, Christie said he wants to ensure local and county resources are supplemented if needed.
Schools were closed in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York on Monday.
Utility crews were making headway in restoring power. In New Jersey, more than 100,000 customers were without service Monday, down from a peak of 235,000. In Connecticut, two major utility companies said more than 57,000 customers were still without power, down from a peak of about 80,000.
The storm, which carried wind gusts of up to 70 mph, came about two weeks after heavy snow and hurricane-force winds left more than 1 million customers in the Northeast in the dark.
"I spent most of the past few months clearing snow and ice out my driveway, sidewalks, front walks, and now we're picking up all these branches," Jack Alexander said Sunday as he and his family worked to clear debris from the front yard of their Egg Harbor City home. "It seems like we've had every type of weather event you could have this winter -- I'm almost afraid to see what else can happen."
In Atlantic City, N.J., residents in a condominium complex and two apartment buildings were ordered to leave their homes Saturday after a crane snapped and twisted at the Revel Entertainment casino construction site, sending debris crashing through a window of a police cruiser. No one was hurt. The residents may not be able to return until Tuesday.
Hundreds of people remained out of their homes in the northern New Jersey community of Bound Brook, where flooding is common.
Among those in a shelter were the Malik family, including eldest son Norbert, who celebrated his ninth birthday Sunday. His mom said he had cried Saturday night because he was worried the storm would ruin his celebration. Instead, he said it was the best birthday he ever had.
"I got to ride in a police boat, and then a truck and a small bus," said Norbert.
Falling trees proved to be a deadly hazard.
A New Jersey woman was killed and three others were injured in Westport, Conn., after a tree fell on a car Saturday night during the storm, police said. Another woman died when a tree struck her as she was walking in Greenwich, Conn., they said.
In the suburb of Teaneck, N.J., two neighbors were killed by a falling tree as they headed home from a prayer service at a synagogue. In Hartsdale, N.Y., another suburb, a man was killed when a large tree crushed the roof of his car and entangled it in live wires.
A 73-year-old woman was killed by a falling tree while walking to her car in Bay Shore, N.Y. Three people tried to save the Brooklyn woman.
In New Hampshire, a large pine tree fell on a car traveling on Interstate 93 on Sunday afternoon, killing a man and injuring his wife and child, state police said.
In Lyme, Conn., a 75-year-old man drowned accidentally Sunday afternoon in a pond behind his home. And in Rhode Island, an off-duty state trooper died early Sunday after his car hydroplaned in standing water left from the storm, state police said.
Northeast Pounded by Deadly Storm Leaving Many Powerless
AP
At least nine people died in storm-related accidents, and nearly half a million people were without electricity in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut at the peak of the storm.
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EGG HARBOR CITY, N.J. -- A torrential rainstorm that brought heavy winds to the Northeast, downing trees, flooding roadways and knocking out power, continued to pour rain on New England on Monday.
At least nine people died in storm-related accidents, and nearly half a million people were without electricity in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut at the peak of the storm.
The ferocious storm led to near-record numbers of 911 calls in New York. New York City experienced the second-highest volume of 911 calls ever. It got 65,000 calls between 11 p.m. Friday and 11 p.m. Saturday, second only to the 96,000 calls made during the 2003 blackout.
While the rain tapered off south of New York on Monday morning, wind-whipped precipitation continued to fall in New England.
In Boston, workers threw up sand bags around the entrance to a subway station near Fenway Park on Monday morning as the Muddy River rose and threatened the station. The Massachusetts Port Authority said the weather was causing some delays and cancellations at Logan International Airport and several low-lying roads and highway ramps in Massachusetts were closed.
There also were numerous road closures in southeastern New Hampshire due to flooding.
In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie declared a state of emergency, which would allow National Guard troops to be called up if needed. In signing the declaration Sunday night, Christie said he wants to ensure local and county resources are supplemented if needed.
Schools were closed in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York on Monday.
Utility crews were making headway in restoring power. In New Jersey, more than 100,000 customers were without service Monday, down from a peak of 235,000. In Connecticut, two major utility companies said more than 57,000 customers were still without power, down from a peak of about 80,000.
The storm, which carried wind gusts of up to 70 mph, came about two weeks after heavy snow and hurricane-force winds left more than 1 million customers in the Northeast in the dark.
"I spent most of the past few months clearing snow and ice out my driveway, sidewalks, front walks, and now we're picking up all these branches," Jack Alexander said Sunday as he and his family worked to clear debris from the front yard of their Egg Harbor City home. "It seems like we've had every type of weather event you could have this winter -- I'm almost afraid to see what else can happen."
In Atlantic City, N.J., residents in a condominium complex and two apartment buildings were ordered to leave their homes Saturday after a crane snapped and twisted at the Revel Entertainment casino construction site, sending debris crashing through a window of a police cruiser. No one was hurt. The residents may not be able to return until Tuesday.
Hundreds of people remained out of their homes in the northern New Jersey community of Bound Brook, where flooding is common.
Among those in a shelter were the Malik family, including eldest son Norbert, who celebrated his ninth birthday Sunday. His mom said he had cried Saturday night because he was worried the storm would ruin his celebration. Instead, he said it was the best birthday he ever had.
"I got to ride in a police boat, and then a truck and a small bus," said Norbert.
Falling trees proved to be a deadly hazard.
A New Jersey woman was killed and three others were injured in Westport, Conn., after a tree fell on a car Saturday night during the storm, police said. Another woman died when a tree struck her as she was walking in Greenwich, Conn., they said.
In the suburb of Teaneck, N.J., two neighbors were killed by a falling tree as they headed home from a prayer service at a synagogue. In Hartsdale, N.Y., another suburb, a man was killed when a large tree crushed the roof of his car and entangled it in live wires.
A 73-year-old woman was killed by a falling tree while walking to her car in Bay Shore, N.Y. Three people tried to save the Brooklyn woman.
In New Hampshire, a large pine tree fell on a car traveling on Interstate 93 on Sunday afternoon, killing a man and injuring his wife and child, state police said.
In Lyme, Conn., a 75-year-old man drowned accidentally Sunday afternoon in a pond behind his home. And in Rhode Island, an off-duty state trooper died early Sunday after his car hydroplaned in standing water left from the storm, state police said.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
ANALYZE THIS!
"Z-man, go get the North Atlantic tape from Bldg. 1003."
"Someone needs to analyze the Loop Current."
"Who bent back all these pens?"
"Another chair is broke."
"I'm going over to Bldg. 8100."
Memories
BB
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Amazing Banded Radar from Mid-Atlantic Storm
If I told you this storm radar image was from July, not March, what would you think? The banding is amazing in this storm, and probably strong enough to wake Global Al from his winter hibernation! - HLG
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Accuweather Calls for Active 2010 Hurricane Season
U.S. to See More Hurricanes in 2010
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MIAMI -- AccuWeather.com said Wednesday it expects five hurricanes to hit the U.S. coast in the 2010 Atlantic Hurricane season, which begins on the first day in June, Reuters reported.
The private weather forecaster predicts at least two of them will be major hurricanes.
"The forecast is calling for a much more active 2010 season with above-normal threats on the U.S. coastline," AccuWeather.com said, according to Reuters.
Forecaster Joe Bastardi heads the AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center team. He predicts 16-18 tropical storms during Hurricane season. About 15 of the tropical storms would hit land along the western Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico, Reuters reported.
Nine tropical storms hit the Atlantic basin in 2009. Three of those storms increased in strength to become hurricanes.
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MIAMI -- AccuWeather.com said Wednesday it expects five hurricanes to hit the U.S. coast in the 2010 Atlantic Hurricane season, which begins on the first day in June, Reuters reported.
The private weather forecaster predicts at least two of them will be major hurricanes.
"The forecast is calling for a much more active 2010 season with above-normal threats on the U.S. coastline," AccuWeather.com said, according to Reuters.
Forecaster Joe Bastardi heads the AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center team. He predicts 16-18 tropical storms during Hurricane season. About 15 of the tropical storms would hit land along the western Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico, Reuters reported.
Nine tropical storms hit the Atlantic basin in 2009. Three of those storms increased in strength to become hurricanes.
More Tropical Storms, Fewer Destructive Earthquakes
Tropical Storms Prevent Quakes - From Science Illustrated - March/April 2010 Issue:
"Typhoons can cause widespread destruction, but they can also prevent some disasters. So say geophysicists from the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the Institute of Earth Sciences at Academia Sinica in Tawain, who found a correlation between the tropical storms and so-called slow earthquakes in eastern Taiwan.
Between 2002 and 2007, the scientists measured 20 of these nonviolent quakes, which last from hours to more than a day rather than just seconds like the more familiar, destructive earthquakes. Eleven of the small quakes coincided with typhoons in the region, and none occurred during non-typhoon months. The storms reduce air pressure over land but not at the ocean floor. This pressure imbalance may trigger the slow quakes, researchers say, frequently releasing stress from areas of a fault--and explaining why devastating earthquakes are rare in eastern Taiwan."
-note: As a geologist and weather enthusiast, I find this fascinating!!!
gg aka rocket girl
"Typhoons can cause widespread destruction, but they can also prevent some disasters. So say geophysicists from the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the Institute of Earth Sciences at Academia Sinica in Tawain, who found a correlation between the tropical storms and so-called slow earthquakes in eastern Taiwan.
Between 2002 and 2007, the scientists measured 20 of these nonviolent quakes, which last from hours to more than a day rather than just seconds like the more familiar, destructive earthquakes. Eleven of the small quakes coincided with typhoons in the region, and none occurred during non-typhoon months. The storms reduce air pressure over land but not at the ocean floor. This pressure imbalance may trigger the slow quakes, researchers say, frequently releasing stress from areas of a fault--and explaining why devastating earthquakes are rare in eastern Taiwan."
-note: As a geologist and weather enthusiast, I find this fascinating!!!
gg aka rocket girl
Flooding North of Rota, Spain
Lots of rain has greened Spain, but the latest MODIS shows flooding just north of Rota. - HLG
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
DR BB'S ANNUAL ATLANTIC HURRICANE FORECAST
After months of research, running dozens of models, analyzing the stars and asking my dog - I've compiled all the information and am ready to make a bold, startling prediction about this year's hurricane season.
My prediction is that it will be an average year - 10 named storms, 6 hurricanes and 2 storms of Cat 3 or higher. All my data and evaluation can be found at - http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastprofile.shtml.
Like others, I will be reevaluating my prediction throughout the year, and changing the numbers if it looks like this prediction is out to lunch.
Media outlets - please refer to my publicist for interviews regarding my prediction.
Happy Hurricane Season.
BB
Friday, March 5, 2010
Help for Storm Next Week
Hello real forecasters. I am looking at the forecast maps for late next week and can't tell if this is a rain-storm for the Mid-Atlantic, or snow. We have been right on the snow/rain line for the last two, but this one has a completely different track/dynamic. Will it be snow, or rain for DC? If you say snow, how much with the totals be?
Thanks.
HLG
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Rocket Launch Waves in Sun Dogs
The Solar Dynamics Observatory launch last month wac captured in a fascinating photo that shows waves from the launch interfering with the clouds/optics of a sun-dog. - HLG
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Weather Looks Good for GOES "P" Launch
If the sticky valve is fixed by Thursday, that is. - HLG
GOES P Launch Slips To March 4
Mar 2, 2010
By Staff Aviation Week
Component issues have pushed the launch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite P (GOES P) weather satellite back to Thursday, March 4, during a window lasting from 6:17-7:17 p.m. EST.
Originally scheduled for March 2, the launch was pushed back a day after mission managers decided on Feb. 26 that a steering control valve on one of the Delta IV’s solid rocket motors was faulty and had to be replaced. That fix has already taken place and is being verified.
Then during inspections Feb. 28 managers decided that a quick disconnect in a fuel line also had to be replaced, which pushed the mission out another day.
The weather forecast at Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is favorable, with only a 20 percent chance of a scrub, according to Delta maker United Launch Alliance. The primary concern is ground winds at the pad. In the event of a scrub, the mission will target March 5, during the same launch window.
GOES P Launch Slips To March 4
Mar 2, 2010
By Staff Aviation Week
Component issues have pushed the launch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite P (GOES P) weather satellite back to Thursday, March 4, during a window lasting from 6:17-7:17 p.m. EST.
Originally scheduled for March 2, the launch was pushed back a day after mission managers decided on Feb. 26 that a steering control valve on one of the Delta IV’s solid rocket motors was faulty and had to be replaced. That fix has already taken place and is being verified.
Then during inspections Feb. 28 managers decided that a quick disconnect in a fuel line also had to be replaced, which pushed the mission out another day.
The weather forecast at Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is favorable, with only a 20 percent chance of a scrub, according to Delta maker United Launch Alliance. The primary concern is ground winds at the pad. In the event of a scrub, the mission will target March 5, during the same launch window.
Maybe This Story will Help Find Uncle Al
Who appears to be in hiding until Spring.
"Sub-tropical Storm Xanthia" causes chaos and death in Europe....
Monday, March 1, 2010
Can't Predict Tsunami's, but ....
surely we know what the climate will be in a century! It was entertaining watching the life tsunami coverage in Hawaii, and the cameras panning the beautiful blue water, with whales playing in the water, and nothing else happening at all! - HLG
Scientists Defend Overstated Tsunami WarningsMonday, March 01, 2010
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AP
HONOLULU — The warning was ominous, its predictions dire: Oceanographers issued a bulletin telling Hawaii and other Pacific islands that a killer wave was heading their way with terrifying force and that "urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property."
But the devastating tidal surge predicted after Chile's magnitude 8.8-earthquake for areas far from the epicenter never materialized. And by Sunday, authorities had lifted the warning after waves half the predicted size tickled the shores of Hawaii and tourists once again jammed beaches and restaurants.
SLIDESHOW: Photos from Chilean quake
Scientists acknowledged they overstated the threat but many defended their actions, saying they took the proper steps and learned the lessons of the 2004 Indonesian tsunami that killed thousands of people who didn't get enough warning.
"It's a key point to remember that we cannot under-warn. Failure to warn is not an option for us," said Dai Lin Wang, an oceanographer at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii. "We cannot have a situation that we thought was no problem and then it's devastating. That just cannot happen."
Hundreds of thousands of people fled shorelines for higher ground Saturday in a panic that circled the Pacific Rim after scientists warned 53 nations and territories that a tsunami had been generated by the massive Chilean quake.
It was the largest-scale evacuation in Hawaii in years, if not decades. Emergency sirens blared throughout the day, the Navy moved ships out of Pearl Harbor, and residents hoarded gasoline, food and water in anticipation of a major disaster. Some supermarkets even placed limits on items like Spam because of the panic buying.
At least five people were killed by the tsunami on Robinson Crusoe Island off Chile's coast and huge waves devastated the port city of Talcahuano, near hard-hit Concepcion on Chile's mainland.
But the threat of monster waves that left Hawaii's sun-drenched beaches empty for hours never appeared — a stark contrast to the tidal surge that killed 230,000 people around the Indian Ocean in 2004 and flattened entire communities.
Related Stories•Chile Seaside Resort of Pelluhue Washed Away After Quake
•Chile Assesses Damage From Powerful Earthquake
•State of Catastrophe Declared in Chile After Massive 8.8-Magnitude Quake
This time, waves of more than 5 feet were reported in Kahului Bay in Maui and in Hilo, on the eastern coast of Hawaii's Big Island, but did little damage. Predictions of wave height in some areas were off by as much as 50 percent.
In Tonga, where up to 50,000 people fled inland hours ahead of the tsunami, the National Disaster Office had reports of a wave up to 6.5 feet hitting a small northern island, with no indications of damage.
And in Japan, where authorities ordered 400,000 people out of coastal communities, the biggest wave was a 4-foot surge that hit the northern island of Hokkaido, flooding some piers.
A Japanese official offered an apology to those affected after the government had warned that waves of up to 10 feet (three meters) could hit some northern regions.
"The tsunami estimates of the Meteorological Agency were too large, and so I'd like to apologize to individuals that were evacuated or inconvenienced," Sekita Yasuo, an official at the agency, told reporters Monday.
He said the agency compared its estimates to those from abroad and chose the larger of the two, leading to the overzealous forecasts, and that he wanted to improve accuracy in the future.
After the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center lifted its warning, some countries kept their own watches in place as a precaution. Early Monday, the Japan Meteorological Agency warned of a possible tsunami about a foot and a half in size along its entire Pacific coast and told people to stay away from the waterfront. That warning was cleared later Monday morning.
But scientists offered no apologies for the warnings and defended their work, all while worrying that the false alarm could lead to complacency among coastal residents — a disastrous possibility in the earthquake-prone Pacific Rim.
A similar quake in Chile in 1960 created a tsunami that killed about 140 people in Japan. The same surge hit Hawaii and devastated downtown Hilo, on the Big Island, killing 61 residents and wiping out more than 500 homes and businesses.
"If you give too many warnings and none of them materialize, then you lose your credibility," Wang said. "That's something that we have to deal with and we have to improve."
Despite some of the panic in Hawaii, public officials called the evacuation "perfect" and said it was a good test case that proved the system worked.
Chaos was at a minimum as people heeded evacuation orders and roads were free of the gridlock that can paralyze a region before a disaster. The smooth response occurred largely because the state had so long to prepare; Hawaii is nearly 7,000 miles from where the quake hit, and it took 15 hours for the tsunami to arrive.
"I hope everyone learned from this for next time, and there will be a next time," said Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist for the warning center.
The science of predicting tsunamis is difficult, given the vast size of the ocean and the volatile forces at work miles below the surface.
Scientists use an earthquake's magnitude and location as the basis for their predictions and then refine it constantly with data from more than 30 deep-water sensors stationed across the Pacific as the shock wave sweeps across the ocean floor.
The sensors, located at 15,000 to 20,000 feet beneath the surface, measure the weight of the water and beam it to buoys floating on the surface. Scientists then use the data to calculate the tsunami's wave height in the open ocean as it progresses toward shallower waters.
Coastal inundation models based on topographic mapping add another layer of analysis, helping scientists make assumptions about how the surge will behave in shallower waters and how it might affect shoreline communities.
"There are all sorts of assumptions that we make in trying to figure out how big the waves are going to be. If we can avoid some of those assumptions, maybe we can do a better job," said Fryer.
"If this event happened tomorrow, even with this knowledge, we would be forced to do the exact same thing."
Those models could be more accurate if scientists had more deep-water sensors and could build coastal inundation models for vast parts of the Pacific Rim where the topography hasn't yet been well-surveyed, Wang said.
Because complete data doesn't exist for every coastal area, scientists must play it safe in their wave predictions, he said.
"Even for Hawaii, we only have a forecast for less than 10 locations, we don't have inundation models for every coastal point in Hawaii and it's the same story for the U.S. mainland," Wang said. "We've got to be a little conservative. One point doesn't tell you that's going to be the maximum everywhere else."
In areas where inundation models exist, scientists' predictions were close to accurate, Wang said.
Residents and tourists alike in Hawaii said they weren't bothered by the evacuation and supported the scientists' actions — even though the waves never showed up.
Eugene Okamoto, 33, said he came to Honolulu from Hilo to visit some tourist attractions with his father and was disappointed the two had to cancel their plans because of the evacuation orders.
But Okamoto said his family understands the tsunami threat better than most because some of his relatives lived through the tidal surge in 1960. They remember how the water was sucked down the beach moments before the wave hit.
"My uncle was on the top floor when all the water washed away and all the kids ran out to grab the fish and before they could get back, the wave came. He was way up top, he saw all his friends get washed away and none of them were found, ever," Okamoto said, as he sat with his father in a hotel lobby. "They did the right thing."
Scientists Defend Overstated Tsunami WarningsMonday, March 01, 2010
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AP
HONOLULU — The warning was ominous, its predictions dire: Oceanographers issued a bulletin telling Hawaii and other Pacific islands that a killer wave was heading their way with terrifying force and that "urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property."
But the devastating tidal surge predicted after Chile's magnitude 8.8-earthquake for areas far from the epicenter never materialized. And by Sunday, authorities had lifted the warning after waves half the predicted size tickled the shores of Hawaii and tourists once again jammed beaches and restaurants.
SLIDESHOW: Photos from Chilean quake
Scientists acknowledged they overstated the threat but many defended their actions, saying they took the proper steps and learned the lessons of the 2004 Indonesian tsunami that killed thousands of people who didn't get enough warning.
"It's a key point to remember that we cannot under-warn. Failure to warn is not an option for us," said Dai Lin Wang, an oceanographer at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii. "We cannot have a situation that we thought was no problem and then it's devastating. That just cannot happen."
Hundreds of thousands of people fled shorelines for higher ground Saturday in a panic that circled the Pacific Rim after scientists warned 53 nations and territories that a tsunami had been generated by the massive Chilean quake.
It was the largest-scale evacuation in Hawaii in years, if not decades. Emergency sirens blared throughout the day, the Navy moved ships out of Pearl Harbor, and residents hoarded gasoline, food and water in anticipation of a major disaster. Some supermarkets even placed limits on items like Spam because of the panic buying.
At least five people were killed by the tsunami on Robinson Crusoe Island off Chile's coast and huge waves devastated the port city of Talcahuano, near hard-hit Concepcion on Chile's mainland.
But the threat of monster waves that left Hawaii's sun-drenched beaches empty for hours never appeared — a stark contrast to the tidal surge that killed 230,000 people around the Indian Ocean in 2004 and flattened entire communities.
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This time, waves of more than 5 feet were reported in Kahului Bay in Maui and in Hilo, on the eastern coast of Hawaii's Big Island, but did little damage. Predictions of wave height in some areas were off by as much as 50 percent.
In Tonga, where up to 50,000 people fled inland hours ahead of the tsunami, the National Disaster Office had reports of a wave up to 6.5 feet hitting a small northern island, with no indications of damage.
And in Japan, where authorities ordered 400,000 people out of coastal communities, the biggest wave was a 4-foot surge that hit the northern island of Hokkaido, flooding some piers.
A Japanese official offered an apology to those affected after the government had warned that waves of up to 10 feet (three meters) could hit some northern regions.
"The tsunami estimates of the Meteorological Agency were too large, and so I'd like to apologize to individuals that were evacuated or inconvenienced," Sekita Yasuo, an official at the agency, told reporters Monday.
He said the agency compared its estimates to those from abroad and chose the larger of the two, leading to the overzealous forecasts, and that he wanted to improve accuracy in the future.
After the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center lifted its warning, some countries kept their own watches in place as a precaution. Early Monday, the Japan Meteorological Agency warned of a possible tsunami about a foot and a half in size along its entire Pacific coast and told people to stay away from the waterfront. That warning was cleared later Monday morning.
But scientists offered no apologies for the warnings and defended their work, all while worrying that the false alarm could lead to complacency among coastal residents — a disastrous possibility in the earthquake-prone Pacific Rim.
A similar quake in Chile in 1960 created a tsunami that killed about 140 people in Japan. The same surge hit Hawaii and devastated downtown Hilo, on the Big Island, killing 61 residents and wiping out more than 500 homes and businesses.
"If you give too many warnings and none of them materialize, then you lose your credibility," Wang said. "That's something that we have to deal with and we have to improve."
Despite some of the panic in Hawaii, public officials called the evacuation "perfect" and said it was a good test case that proved the system worked.
Chaos was at a minimum as people heeded evacuation orders and roads were free of the gridlock that can paralyze a region before a disaster. The smooth response occurred largely because the state had so long to prepare; Hawaii is nearly 7,000 miles from where the quake hit, and it took 15 hours for the tsunami to arrive.
"I hope everyone learned from this for next time, and there will be a next time," said Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist for the warning center.
The science of predicting tsunamis is difficult, given the vast size of the ocean and the volatile forces at work miles below the surface.
Scientists use an earthquake's magnitude and location as the basis for their predictions and then refine it constantly with data from more than 30 deep-water sensors stationed across the Pacific as the shock wave sweeps across the ocean floor.
The sensors, located at 15,000 to 20,000 feet beneath the surface, measure the weight of the water and beam it to buoys floating on the surface. Scientists then use the data to calculate the tsunami's wave height in the open ocean as it progresses toward shallower waters.
Coastal inundation models based on topographic mapping add another layer of analysis, helping scientists make assumptions about how the surge will behave in shallower waters and how it might affect shoreline communities.
"There are all sorts of assumptions that we make in trying to figure out how big the waves are going to be. If we can avoid some of those assumptions, maybe we can do a better job," said Fryer.
"If this event happened tomorrow, even with this knowledge, we would be forced to do the exact same thing."
Those models could be more accurate if scientists had more deep-water sensors and could build coastal inundation models for vast parts of the Pacific Rim where the topography hasn't yet been well-surveyed, Wang said.
Because complete data doesn't exist for every coastal area, scientists must play it safe in their wave predictions, he said.
"Even for Hawaii, we only have a forecast for less than 10 locations, we don't have inundation models for every coastal point in Hawaii and it's the same story for the U.S. mainland," Wang said. "We've got to be a little conservative. One point doesn't tell you that's going to be the maximum everywhere else."
In areas where inundation models exist, scientists' predictions were close to accurate, Wang said.
Residents and tourists alike in Hawaii said they weren't bothered by the evacuation and supported the scientists' actions — even though the waves never showed up.
Eugene Okamoto, 33, said he came to Honolulu from Hilo to visit some tourist attractions with his father and was disappointed the two had to cancel their plans because of the evacuation orders.
But Okamoto said his family understands the tsunami threat better than most because some of his relatives lived through the tidal surge in 1960. They remember how the water was sucked down the beach moments before the wave hit.
"My uncle was on the top floor when all the water washed away and all the kids ran out to grab the fish and before they could get back, the wave came. He was way up top, he saw all his friends get washed away and none of them were found, ever," Okamoto said, as he sat with his father in a hotel lobby. "They did the right thing."
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