Science Daily May 6, 2019 Researchers in Australia have identified spatial and temporal patterns in observed sea surface temperatures that distinguish the evolution of Eastern and Central Pacific El Niño events in the tropical Pacific for the past four centuries, using patterns recorded by a network of 27 seasonally resolved coral records. They found a simultaneous increase in Central Pacific events and a decrease in Eastern Pacific events since the late twentieth century. Compared to the past four centuries, the most recent 30-year period includes fewer, but more intense, Eastern Pacific El Niño events. Having a better understanding of how […]
Category Archives: Climatology
Climate extremes: Impact on global crop yield variations
Science Daily May 3, 2019 An international team of researchers (Australia, Spain. Germany USA – University of M Minnesota, Switzerland) analyzed the impacts of climate extremes on yield anomalies of maize, soybeans, rice and spring wheat at the global scale using yield data and applying a machine-learning algorithm. They found that growing season climate factors explain 20%–49% of the variance of yield anomalies, with 18%–43% of the explained variance attributable to climate extremes. Temperature-related extremes show a stronger association with yield anomalies than precipitation-related factors. The hotspot regions that are critical for global production include North America for maize, spring […]
Climate panel disbanded by Trump, now regrouped, releases its report
Science Daily April 4, 2019 With support from the Earth Institute at Columbia University, New York State and the American Meteorological Society, the Independent Advisory Committee on Applied Climate Assessment released a report that calls for the creation of the Science to Climate Action Network (SCAN) which is independent of the federal government and comprises experts from civil society and state, local, and tribal settings. By providing hubs for businesses, communities and academics to work together on practical challenges, the network is designed to produce guidance for using science to update infrastructure and building codes, reduce wildfire risk, manage flooding, […]
Predicting the monsoon a year ahead
Science Daily February 22, 2019 Researchers at the City College of New York estimate the predictability horizon of monsoon precipitation amount by systematically comparing statistical forecasts made using information from different lead times before the monsoon start. Linear and nonlinear prediction methods are considered that use the leading modes of the global sea surface temperature field to forecast monsoon-season (June-September) total precipitation. Forecasts were found to outperform a climatology baseline up to at least 1 year ahead, with a nonlinear method (random forest) on average outperforming linear regression with group lasso, although with greater variability in skill across locations and […]
Lightning’s electromagnetic fields may have protective properties
Space Daily February 11, 2019 Researchers in Israel repot that in the course of numerous laboratory experiments, where they induced fields similar to those in the atmosphere, they witnessed significant effects on living heart cells of rats within 30-40 minutes. Extremely weak magnetic fields in the 7.6-8Hz frequency range induced several effects when applied to rat cardiac cells, including reductions in spontaneous contractions, calcium transients and the release of Creatine Kinase. It may explain why all living organisms have electrical activity in the same ELF spectral range. This may have some therapeutic implications down the line, since these ELF fields […]
Passing aircraft wring extra snow and rain out of clouds
Science Daily January 31, 2019 Researchers in the UK observed that existing precipitation is enhanced locally on spatial scales from a few kilometers to several tens of kilometers. The precipitation intensity in these localized areas was 6‐14 times higher than the background large‐scale precipitation rate. Surface observations and dual‐polarization radar data indicate that snowflakes within the ice portion of the falling precipitation in the intensification regions are larger and more isotropic than in the surrounding precipitation. There appears to be an increase in the ice particle number concentration within the intensification region. The observed events were linked to arriving or […]
Extreme rainfall events are connected around the world
Science Daily January 30, 2019 An international team of researchers (UK, Germany, Russia) developed a new method rooted in complex system theory to study high-resolution satellite data of rainfall. By breaking the globe into a grid, the team could see where events occurred and determine how ‘synchronous’ they were. The results from this ‘complex network’ model, analysed using their understanding of the motion of the atmosphere, revealed a possible mechanism for how the events were connected. The research could help better predict when and where extreme rainfall events will occur around the world. The insights can be used to test […]
A century and half of reconstructed ocean warming offers clues for the future
Science Daily January 7, 2019 Most of the excess energy stored in the climate system due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions has been taken up by the oceans, leading to thermal expansion and sea-level rise. Accurate estimates of past ocean heat content is critical for understanding the future anthropogenic warming An international team of researchers (UK, USA) has succeeded in reconstructing ocean temperature change from 1871 to 2017. This work offers an answer to an important gap in knowledge of ocean warming and help predict future patterns of warming and sea level rise…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Forecasters may be looking in wrong place when predicting tornadoes
Science Daily December 21, 2018 Researchers at Ohio University demonstrated that tornadoes form at the ground and move up rapidly, contrary to the long-held hypothesis that most tornadoes form at cloud level and descend to touch the earth. They coupled visual and near-surface radar observations from the El Reno 2013 case enabled them to analyze the tornadogenesis process. The findings indicate that a tornado-strength vortex can be active on the ground for a minute or more before the deeper tornadic column forms and is picked up by conventional radar. However, tornado warnings are issued based on radar readings that pick-up […]
Six feet under, a new approach to global warming
Science Daily November 26, 2018 A team of researchers in the US (Washington State University, UC Santa Barbara) measured carbon held by reactive minerals across a broad range of climates. Carbon retained by reactive minerals was found to contribute between 3 and 72% of organic carbon found in mineral soil, depending on mean annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration. They estimate globally ~600 Gt of soil carbon is retained by reactive minerals, with most occurring in wet forested biomes. For many biomes, the fraction of organic carbon retained by reactive minerals is responsive to slight shifts in effective moisture, suggesting high sensitivity […]