By:
Jeff Masters
, 2:42PM,GMT on March 19,2015
February 2015 was the second warmest February since global record keeping began in 1880, said NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) on Wednesday. NASA
also rated February 2015 as the 2nd warmest February on record, behind
February 1998 (which was exceptionally warm due to the super-El Niño
going on at the time.) February 2015's near-record warmth continues a
trend of very warm months for the planet--2014 was Earth's warmest
calendar year on record, the period spanning the Northern Hemisphere
winter (December 2014 - February 2015) was the warmest such period on
record, and the past twelve months have been the warmest 12-month period
in recorded history. Global ocean temperatures during February 2015
were the 3rd warmest on record, and global land temperatures were the
2nd warmest on record. Global satellite-measured temperatures in
February 2015 for the lowest 8 km of the atmosphere were the 6th or 3rd
warmest in the 37-year record, according to Remote Sensing Systems and the University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH), respectively.
Figure 1. Departure of temperature from average for February 2015, the 2nd warmest February for the globe since record keeping began in 1880. Image credit: National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) .
No billion-dollar weather disasters in February 2015
No billion-dollar weather-related disasters hit the Earth during February 2015, according to the February 2015 Catastrophe Report from insurance broker Aon Benfield. February 2015 joins January 2015 and November 2014 as the only months since February 2012 to go without a billion-dollar weather disaster. However, damages from the series of winter storms and cold weather outbreaks that affected the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. during February killed 72 people and will likely add up to more than a billion dollars, Aon Benfield said.
Figure 2. The Alps of MIT: With more than 40 inches of snow blanketing the Boston area in a two week period in February 2015, snow removal efforts on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge created this five-story-high mountain of snow. It was the coldest month (any month) on record for some sites in the Northeast, including Syracuse, NY: 9.1°F; old record 12.1° (Feb. 1934); Buffalo, NY: 10.9°F; old record 11.6° (Feb. 1934); Rochester, NY: 12.2°F, old record 12.6°F (Feb. 1934); Bangor, ME: 6.1°F, old record 8.4°F (Jan. 1994); Worcester, MA: 14.2°F; old record 14.4°F (Feb. 1934); and Hartford, CT: 16.1°F; old record 16.5° (Feb. 1934). Blue Hill Observatory COOP site near Boston measured 83.6” of snowfall in February. This qualifies as the snowiest month on record for any site in Massachusetts records. The previous state record for such was 78.0” at Monroe in Feb. 1893. Image credit: Tom Gearty/MIT.
Deadliest disaster of February 2015: Afghanistan blizzards and avalanches
The deadliest disaster of February 2015 was the series of blizzards and avalanches that hit Afghanistan
February 24 - 28, killing at least 286. Some of the slides wiped out entire villages in the provinces of Panjshir, Badakhshan, and Bamyan, and 1,250 homes were destroyed.
Figure 3. Afghan survivors of an avalanche search their destroyed houses in the Abdullah Khil village of the Dara district of Panjshir province, north of Kabul on March 1, 2015. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani February 28 pledged to set up a relief fund for the victims of avalanches that claimed over 286 lives, and called for international help with the relief effort. Image credit: SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images.
El Niño arrives in February 2015
NOAA issued an El Niño advisory in February 2015, heralding the official arrival of weak El Niño conditions in the equatorial Eastern Pacific. Sea surface temperatures were 0.6°C above average in the so-called Niño3.4 region (5°S - 5°N, 120°W - 170°W), where SSTs must be at least 0.5°C above average for five consecutive months (each month being a 3-month average) for an El Niño event to be declared. One more such period (Jan – Mar) is needed for the current event to go into record books as an El Niño episode. NOAA is giving a 50 - 60% chance of El Niño lasting through summer, and subsurface water temperatures are well above average through most of the equatorial Pacific. I gave a detailed analysis of the possibility of El Niño intensifying later this year in Wednesday's blog post.
Arctic sea ice falls to 3rd lowest February extent on record
Arctic sea ice extent during February 2015 was the 3rd lowest in the 36-year satellite record, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). However, during the first half of March, Arctic sea ice extent fell to its lowest level on record, and set a record for the lowest winter maximum, as discussed by Bob Henson in a March 9 blog post.
Notable global heat and cold marks set for February 2015
Hottest temperature in the Southern Hemisphere: 49.2°C (120.6°F) at Roebourne Airport (Australia), February 21
Coldest temperature in the Southern Hemisphere: -61.5°C (-78.7°F) at Dome Fuji (Valkyrjedomen), Antarctica, February 27
Hottest temperature in the Northern Hemisphere: 43.0°C (109.4°F) at Navrogno, Ghana, February 12
Coldest temperature in the Northern Hemisphere: -60.9°C (-77.6°F) at Summit, Greenland, February 13
On February 21, Wittenoom, Australia recorded a minimum temperature of 35.1°C (95.2°F), which is a new world record of highest minimum temperature for the month of February.
Major stations that set new all-time heat or cold records in February 2015
Ottosdal (South Africa) max. 40.6°C, February 9
Llay Llay (Chile) max. 40.2°C, February 12
Lynchburg (Pennsylvania, USA) min. -23.9°C, February 20
Lamap Malekula (Vanuatu) max. 34.8 °C, February 24
New all-time national and territorial heat records set or tied in 2015
Ghana tied the national record of highest temperature with 43.0°C (109.4°F) at Navrongo on February 12.
Wallis and Futuna Territory (France) set a new territorial heat record with 35.5°C (95.9°F) on January 19 at Futuna Airport.
Samoa tied its national heat record with 36.5°C (97.7°F) on January 20 at Asau. Previously, the record was set at the same location in December 1977.
A big thanks goes to Maximiliano Herrera for providing the global heat and cold records. He maintains a comprehensive list of extreme temperature records for every nation in the world on his website.
The Climate Change Elevator Pitch
Climate change videographer Peter Sinclair, whom I've done a number of interviews with, interviewed scientists in San Francisco in December 2014 at the annual American Geophysical Union's annual meeting. Climate scientist John Cook, who asked the actual questions during the interviews, had the brilliant idea to ask each of them one last question:
“Ok, you’re getting on an elevator with someone, and they say, “So you’re a climate scientist--what’s all this about climate change and global warming? You’ve got 10 floors. Go.”
The Elevator Pitch series has been pretty well received. Al Gore’s Climate Reality group uploaded some of these to their facebook page where Glaciologist Eric Rignot's piece got more than a quarter million views. Here are the Climate Change Elevator Pitches that have been released so far:
NASA glaciologist Eric Rignot
Penn State glacier expert Richard Alley
Texas Tech's Katherine Hayhoe
Ken Caldeira, Carnegie Institution for Science
Simon Donner, University of British Columbia
Another interesting collection of short videos by climate scientists has just been released by morethanscientists.org. Featured are hurricane scientist Kerry Emanuel, Texas Tech's Katherine Hayhoe, and more than 100 others. The videos offer a unique glimpse into the real life stories, personal views and feelings of the experts on climate change, emphasizing not the science itself, but why it matters--and what it will mean for our children and grandchildren. "I'm very excited about this new campaign. Too few people have seen the lighter and more personal side of climate scientists," said climate scientist Michael E. Mann, director of Penn State's Earth System Science Center and advisory board member of More Than Scientists. "Many of us are science nerds. But we are ordinary people too, and like anyone else, we care about our children and grandchildren, and the health of the world we leave behind for them. So I'm very excited about this new campaign and the promise it holds for communicating that message to the public."
Jeff Masters
Figure 1. Departure of temperature from average for February 2015, the 2nd warmest February for the globe since record keeping began in 1880. Image credit: National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) .
No billion-dollar weather disasters in February 2015
No billion-dollar weather-related disasters hit the Earth during February 2015, according to the February 2015 Catastrophe Report from insurance broker Aon Benfield. February 2015 joins January 2015 and November 2014 as the only months since February 2012 to go without a billion-dollar weather disaster. However, damages from the series of winter storms and cold weather outbreaks that affected the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. during February killed 72 people and will likely add up to more than a billion dollars, Aon Benfield said.
Figure 2. The Alps of MIT: With more than 40 inches of snow blanketing the Boston area in a two week period in February 2015, snow removal efforts on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge created this five-story-high mountain of snow. It was the coldest month (any month) on record for some sites in the Northeast, including Syracuse, NY: 9.1°F; old record 12.1° (Feb. 1934); Buffalo, NY: 10.9°F; old record 11.6° (Feb. 1934); Rochester, NY: 12.2°F, old record 12.6°F (Feb. 1934); Bangor, ME: 6.1°F, old record 8.4°F (Jan. 1994); Worcester, MA: 14.2°F; old record 14.4°F (Feb. 1934); and Hartford, CT: 16.1°F; old record 16.5° (Feb. 1934). Blue Hill Observatory COOP site near Boston measured 83.6” of snowfall in February. This qualifies as the snowiest month on record for any site in Massachusetts records. The previous state record for such was 78.0” at Monroe in Feb. 1893. Image credit: Tom Gearty/MIT.
Deadliest disaster of February 2015: Afghanistan blizzards and avalanches
The deadliest disaster of February 2015 was the series of blizzards and avalanches that hit Afghanistan
February 24 - 28, killing at least 286. Some of the slides wiped out entire villages in the provinces of Panjshir, Badakhshan, and Bamyan, and 1,250 homes were destroyed.
Figure 3. Afghan survivors of an avalanche search their destroyed houses in the Abdullah Khil village of the Dara district of Panjshir province, north of Kabul on March 1, 2015. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani February 28 pledged to set up a relief fund for the victims of avalanches that claimed over 286 lives, and called for international help with the relief effort. Image credit: SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images.
El Niño arrives in February 2015
NOAA issued an El Niño advisory in February 2015, heralding the official arrival of weak El Niño conditions in the equatorial Eastern Pacific. Sea surface temperatures were 0.6°C above average in the so-called Niño3.4 region (5°S - 5°N, 120°W - 170°W), where SSTs must be at least 0.5°C above average for five consecutive months (each month being a 3-month average) for an El Niño event to be declared. One more such period (Jan – Mar) is needed for the current event to go into record books as an El Niño episode. NOAA is giving a 50 - 60% chance of El Niño lasting through summer, and subsurface water temperatures are well above average through most of the equatorial Pacific. I gave a detailed analysis of the possibility of El Niño intensifying later this year in Wednesday's blog post.
Arctic sea ice falls to 3rd lowest February extent on record
Arctic sea ice extent during February 2015 was the 3rd lowest in the 36-year satellite record, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). However, during the first half of March, Arctic sea ice extent fell to its lowest level on record, and set a record for the lowest winter maximum, as discussed by Bob Henson in a March 9 blog post.
Notable global heat and cold marks set for February 2015
Hottest temperature in the Southern Hemisphere: 49.2°C (120.6°F) at Roebourne Airport (Australia), February 21
Coldest temperature in the Southern Hemisphere: -61.5°C (-78.7°F) at Dome Fuji (Valkyrjedomen), Antarctica, February 27
Hottest temperature in the Northern Hemisphere: 43.0°C (109.4°F) at Navrogno, Ghana, February 12
Coldest temperature in the Northern Hemisphere: -60.9°C (-77.6°F) at Summit, Greenland, February 13
On February 21, Wittenoom, Australia recorded a minimum temperature of 35.1°C (95.2°F), which is a new world record of highest minimum temperature for the month of February.
Major stations that set new all-time heat or cold records in February 2015
Ottosdal (South Africa) max. 40.6°C, February 9
Llay Llay (Chile) max. 40.2°C, February 12
Lynchburg (Pennsylvania, USA) min. -23.9°C, February 20
Lamap Malekula (Vanuatu) max. 34.8 °C, February 24
New all-time national and territorial heat records set or tied in 2015
Ghana tied the national record of highest temperature with 43.0°C (109.4°F) at Navrongo on February 12.
Wallis and Futuna Territory (France) set a new territorial heat record with 35.5°C (95.9°F) on January 19 at Futuna Airport.
Samoa tied its national heat record with 36.5°C (97.7°F) on January 20 at Asau. Previously, the record was set at the same location in December 1977.
A big thanks goes to Maximiliano Herrera for providing the global heat and cold records. He maintains a comprehensive list of extreme temperature records for every nation in the world on his website.
The Climate Change Elevator Pitch
Climate change videographer Peter Sinclair, whom I've done a number of interviews with, interviewed scientists in San Francisco in December 2014 at the annual American Geophysical Union's annual meeting. Climate scientist John Cook, who asked the actual questions during the interviews, had the brilliant idea to ask each of them one last question:
“Ok, you’re getting on an elevator with someone, and they say, “So you’re a climate scientist--what’s all this about climate change and global warming? You’ve got 10 floors. Go.”
The Elevator Pitch series has been pretty well received. Al Gore’s Climate Reality group uploaded some of these to their facebook page where Glaciologist Eric Rignot's piece got more than a quarter million views. Here are the Climate Change Elevator Pitches that have been released so far:
NASA glaciologist Eric Rignot
Penn State glacier expert Richard Alley
Texas Tech's Katherine Hayhoe
Ken Caldeira, Carnegie Institution for Science
Simon Donner, University of British Columbia
Another interesting collection of short videos by climate scientists has just been released by morethanscientists.org. Featured are hurricane scientist Kerry Emanuel, Texas Tech's Katherine Hayhoe, and more than 100 others. The videos offer a unique glimpse into the real life stories, personal views and feelings of the experts on climate change, emphasizing not the science itself, but why it matters--and what it will mean for our children and grandchildren. "I'm very excited about this new campaign. Too few people have seen the lighter and more personal side of climate scientists," said climate scientist Michael E. Mann, director of Penn State's Earth System Science Center and advisory board member of More Than Scientists. "Many of us are science nerds. But we are ordinary people too, and like anyone else, we care about our children and grandchildren, and the health of the world we leave behind for them. So I'm very excited about this new campaign and the promise it holds for communicating that message to the public."
Jeff Masters
Quoting 297. Tornado6042008X: Graduate teaching associate. I get my own classes to teach, but no nifty title yet. This semester it's Animals and Society, a 3000 level medical sociology course. |
305. yoboi
3:59 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 303. sar2401: You are asking me about adding more C02...and yes the answer would depend with what method you are using to add C02....It would also be helpful are you doing this during the daytime or nighttime.... |
304. Xyrus2000
3:54 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 223. Naga5000: What Chuck seems to not understand is that water vapor is also a trace gas (on average about 5000ppm), and yet without it we'd be living on a snowball. The greenhouse effect of various gases have been known for well over a century. It's not even advanced science; you learn about this stuff in high school. Basic physics and chemistry. |
303. sar2401
3:53 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting yoboi:No fair!!!! You have to answer my question before you're allowed to ask your own question. |
302. sar2401
3:51 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting Naga5000:I'm still trying to wrap my head around why this eclipse is being portrayed as such a big deal for solar power in Europe in general and Germany in particular. Solar power only generates 7% of the grid power in Germany. The solar eclipse doesn't mean there's no solar generation, just less than what you've get from a perfectly clear day. I've seen predictions that the eclipse means a 30 gigawatt decrease in solar power. This only pencils out if you went from a plant generating a full load of clear day power to sudden darkness. Strangely enough, most of these predictions come from agencies that get in trouble if the grid doesn't function properly and companies selling things like grid automation software....kind of like Y2K! Man, I made a lot of money off that fiasco. At some point, like when Germany has 50% of their power come from solar, this might be a real issue but, for tomorrow, my forecast is...no problems. :-) |
301. Dakster
3:50 AM GMT on March 20, 2015|
This isn't good. I know the good Dr. Masters like to blog and post
about sea ice extent. Looks like the arctic started melting early and
had low ice to begin with. This could be the year that a new minimum is
reached. http://www.adn.com/article/20150319/arctic-ice-me lt-season-underway-early Link |
300. yoboi
3:44 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 296. sar2401: What is the method for getting C02 into your greenhouse???? |
299. Dakster
3:44 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Here's your climate change in action. Large snakes surviving and thriving in the everglades... Eating alligators.
|
298. BaltimoreBrian
3:41 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
|
297. Tornado6042008X
3:31 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 295. Naga5000:Wait you're a professor? |
296. sar2401
3:31 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting yoboi:Of course, but that's why I limited my question a greenhouse, not the entire earth. You can add way more heat and CO2 to a greenhouse than you can the globe but the principle remains the same. My question was if the temperature gets too hot, will adding more CO2 offset the effects of the higher temperature. The other two you mentioned are mineral nutrients. Hydrogen, oxygen and carbon are the three non-mineral nutrients that plants get from the air and water, and photosynthesis is what makes those three usable. |
295. Naga5000
3:24 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 293. TimTheWxMan: It breaks up the monotony of grading papers. |
294. Dakster
3:10 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 291. Naga5000: I'll forgive you this time.... Just don't let it happen again... |
293. TimTheWxMan
3:09 AM GMT on March 20, 2015| Seriously? Y'all are still arguing with Chucktown? This has been going on almost all day! Anyway, if you're in Europe (including barbamz the foreign wx correspondent), wake up early for the solar eclipse! |
292. yoboi
3:07 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 290. BaltimoreBrian: Yes C02 plays a role but not the only thing concerning plant growth.... |
291. Naga5000
3:07 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 289. Dakster: Sorry, I forgot to CC you. :) |
290. BaltimoreBrian
3:03 AM GMT on March 20, 2015| Yoboi, if as you say nitrogen and phosphorous are the limiting reagents in plant growth, then increased CO2 is no benefit to plants. |
289. Dakster
3:01 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 281. LAbonbon: I used to live in and still technically work in the State of Florida... I haven't got the memo on how I am supposed to refer to it... |
288. Dakster
3:00 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 282. BaltimoreBrian: That is just to punny for me... |
287. yoboi
2:56 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 286. sar2401: If the temperature rises by 1-2 degrees when the ventilation fails...Not much to worry about... it is nitrogen and phosphorous that are the limiting reagents in plant growth..... |
286. sar2401
2:48 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting yoboi:OK, let's accept that some level of increased CO2 is good for plants. What's the ideal level got most plants? Do plants grow faster as the level of CO2 increases ad infinitum? Is the atmosphere the only source of CO2 available to plants? Will rising levels of CO2 offset rising temperatures? Not asking about the whole earth, let's just say it was your greenhouse. If the ventilation system failed and the greenhouse got too hot, will pumping in more CO2 offset the plant damage caused by higher temperatures? |
285. MaxWeather
2:48 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 166. KEEPEROFTHEGATE: Hey, that's a cool beat! |
284. beell
2:46 AM GMT on March 20, 2015|
Bad Meteorology-The reason clouds form when air cools is because cold air cannot hold as much water vapor as warm air. Be very, very careful what you put into that head, because you will never, ever get it out. Thomas Cardinal Wolsey (1471-1530) |
283. Xulonn
2:42 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 212. Chucktown:I cannot believe that someone with a university degree in meteorology would make such a ludicrous statement. You apparently don't even know that satellite lower troposphere temperature calculations are not the same as land and oceanic surface temperature readings, and that satellites don't actually measure temperatures, but rather use mathematical models to transform radiation measurements into temperature approximations. And that the the models have been revised and updated many times after inaccuracies were found. Such comments by you demonstrate utter and complete ignorance of the findings of climate science - findings which have been re-examined and verified to the point of becoming unassailable facts. I can only conclude that your "beliefs" - which run counter to science - are based on ideological or political prejudices, and not on an understanding of science and data analysis. Much research has been done on the UHIE, and arguably, the most notable analysis was done recently in 2013 by physicist and former AGW/CC skeptic Dr. Richard Muller and his team at Berkeley Earth. A significant portion of the funding for the study was from Charles Koch. Dr. Muller is no longer a skeptic, but he is still very conservative in his approach to climate science. The Berkeley Earth projects are completely open and transparent. You can read the Berkeley Earth procedures for examining and analyzing the data,and also read the papers that were published andother findings from their research and analysis. You can even download the entire global datasets from land, ocean or combined data repositories - and analyze it yourself. (LINK) Here is the Berkeley Earth's concise distilled summary of their findings on the urban heat island effect (UHIE): Berkeley Earth also has carefully studied issues raised by skeptics, such as possible biases from urban heating, data selection, poor station quality, and data adjustment. We have demonstrated that these do not unduly bias the results.There are many other easily located sources for real scientific information about the UHIE and how it is dealt with, as well as answers for many other skeptic questions. However, your apparent willingness to endlessly repeat debunked myths rather than doing a bit of research indicates that you are not interested in finding out the truth. I would also suggest that you watch this the below BBC video - an excellent new documentary that is hosted by three British mathematicians. They discuss the reasons that inaccurate raw data must be adjusted or thrown out if it cannot be verified as accurate. View on YouTube |
282. BaltimoreBrian
2:39 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
281. LAbonbon
2:38 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 279. Dakster: TimSoCal earlier referred to it as 'That Which Shall Not Be Named' (in a reply to a post regarding states trying to control use of 'climate change' terminology)...I'm not sure whose posts were more humorous today - his or beell's... |
280. LAbonbon
2:35 AM GMT on March 20, 2015|
Okay, ladies and gents, it's been...fun(?) I'm off to read some fiction. Yes, that's right...fiction...a nice make believe story that has nada to do w/ weather, the planet or science! Just good old fashioned escapism :) Good night, all. |
279. Dakster
2:31 AM GMT on March 20, 2015|
BaltimoreBrian - That article on HOT Alaska shows a lot of downtown
Anchorage. It has been hot and weird here. Heck, today the high was 55F!
Kincaid Park is amazing. One of the truly great things about Alaska are all the parks and natural land around us. I hope that "climate change" doesn't destroy it. I hear that now it is called man influenced climate destabilization? |
278. SLINKY
2:27 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 260. Chucktown: But its the re-distribution of that moisture and all its components that makes a significant difference as to how it affects all of earth's inhabitants. Rising sea levels as glaciers melt inundating coastal population centers, warmer oceans melting more sea ice, more atmospheric moisture from warming oceans leading to more extreme rainfall and flooding events, reinforcement of the atmospheric warming as more moisture retains heat energy, less polar ice altering earth's albedo thus enhancing the warming of the oceans, etc. It all got started with the changing the composition of the earth's atmosphere and how it is able to help retain more heat within the global energy budget system. You know...basic atmospheric physics...something every meteorologist studied in college. I learned all this stuff way back in the 1970's before global warming became such a controversial public debate subject and the anti-science campaign kicked in. |
277. Dakster
2:25 AM GMT on March 20, 2015| Labonbon - Thanks I will check it out. I was almost sure she would have posted something about it... I just didn't go back far enough I see. |
276. LAbonbon
2:20 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 272. Dakster: See her post #229...she's letting us know if she doesn't show up tomorrow morning it could be due to grid problems over there from the eclipse |
274. BaltimoreBrian
2:19 AM GMT on March 20, 2015|
Snow in southern New England 1995/96 Hartford CT 115.2" Boston MA 107.6" Worcester Ma 132.9" Providence RI 106.1" Massachusetts snow severity index 14,300.04 (product of totals of Boston and Worcester) Southern New England snow severity index 174,758,384.9 (product of totals of all four cities) 2014-15 Hartford CT 59.3" Boston MA 108.6" Worcester Ma 115.6" Providence RI 73.5" Massachusetts snow severity index 12,554.16 Southern New England snow severity index 54,717.934.07 Boston MA has had its snowiest season on record Worcester MA is in third place Providence RI is also in third place Hartford CT not in top 10 |
273. Naga5000
2:19 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 271. sar2401: 8,000 is the level the alert sounds at, for clarification. |
272. Dakster
2:16 AM GMT on March 20, 2015|
Barbamz and other Europeans on the Bog... Looks like tomorrow you get a neat astrological treat. http://www.wsj.com/video/solar-eclipse-offers-vie wers-a-celestial-treat/ACA91AAB-1C10-4C5B-8896-CAA CB731B1AF.html Super Moon and Eclipse. |
271. sar2401
2:14 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting yoboi:So, 8000 ppm is equal to 8,000,000 parts per billion. Our current atmosphere is about 400 ppb, or 0.40 ppm. The Navy's 8,000 ppm figure is the limit for 90 day exposure. Short term emergency exposure of up to 40,000. Obviously, somewhere between our current 0.40 ppm and something like 5,000 ppm of CO2 is not going to kill us. That has nothing to with the atmospheric trapping of heat that's part of why we have global warming, but you already knew that, right??? |
270. yoboi
2:11 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 264. Naga5000: Does naga understand climate change???? Magic Eight Ball said Magic 8 ball says My sources say no. Link |
269. AussieStorm
2:08 AM GMT on March 20, 2015|
Climate Change/Global Warming is REAL folks. Get used
to it. It ain't going away anytime soon. It's not like the earth has a
slight fever. Mother Earth is very sick and sooner or later we'll all
start to feel the effects. In fact, we are already seeing the effects
and they have been deadly. Peace out |
268. BaltimoreBrian
2:01 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
267. help4u
2:00 AM GMT on March 20, 2015| Nothing new under the sun,enjoy the rest of night guys and gals. |
266. BaltimoreBrian
1:57 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting Sfloridacat5: Looks a lot like April 1982. |
265. LAbonbon
1:56 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 262. BaltimoreBrian: Thanks, Brian. And great reading list tonight (not that it's not good every night!). And special thanks for the article on the bees :) |
264. Naga5000
1:56 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 260. Chucktown: I don't get what this argument is supposed to be. Sure the water is finite, so what does that tell you when the atmosphere is showing an increasing trend in water vapor over time, mean sea levels are rising from both ice melt and thermal expansion, and glaciers are melting. There is no change in the amount of water, but there is in the phase of water. I'll consult the magic 8 ball. Magic 8 Ball, is it the planet warming?  |
263. sar2401
1:55 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting georgevandenberghe:It's about a week early for us but our average high the past week has been 79.8 and low 56.9 so I suspect the trees have been tricked a bit. Climatology, we're past our last freeze date, which is between March 1-10. I think frost vs freeze is a little different down here as well. Even though our last freeze shouldn't happen after March 10, we've had frosts as late as April 14. The accepted definition seems to be that temperatures below 32 for at least six hours during the growing season is a freeze whereas a temperature of 32 for only an hour or two is a frost, regardless of of there's any actual frost on the ground. It makes sense for us since we only have about 50 days out of the year that's not considered the growing season. I noticed the azaleas have started coming out today as well, so everything seems about a week early. |
262. BaltimoreBrian
1:51 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting LAbonbon: I have read that Death Valley is the only place in the United States to record lows over 100 F. On July 12, 2012 Death Valley had a low of 107.1 F That has to be close to the world record. |
261. LAbonbon
1:45 AM GMT on March 20, 2015|
An ominous new study, published in Nature: Amazon rainforest is taking up a third less carbon than a decade ago 18 Mar 2015, 18:05 Robert McSweeney The amount of carbon that the Amazon rainforest is absorbing from the atmosphere and storing each year has fallen by around a third in the last decade, says a new 30-year study by almost 100 researchers. This decline in the Amazon carbon sink amounts to one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide - equivalent to over twice the UK's annual emissions, the researchers say. If this pattern exists in other forests around the world, deeper cuts in human-caused carbon dioxide emissions are needed to meet climate targets, the researchers say. Three billion trees The Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world. Spanning nine countries in South America, it's 25 times the size of the UK. Using a process known as photosynthesis, the Amazon's three billion trees convert carbon dioxide, water and sunlight into the fuel they need to grow, locking up carbon in their trunks and branches. As they grow, Amazon trees account for a quarter of the carbon dioxide absorbed by the land each year. Studies suggest that as human-caused carbon dioxide emissions increase, forests will absorb and store more carbon, assuming they have enough water and nutrients to grow. But a new study, published today in Nature, suggests the Amazon has passed saturation point for how much extra carbon it can take up. Read full article |
260. Chucktown
1:44 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting Naga5000: Yes a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, but the total amount of water (liquid, solid, and vapor) on this planet is constant. |
259. Naga5000
1:42 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 255. yoboi: Good for those on submarines, it doesn't change the fact that CO2 absorbs long wave radiation now does it? Keep self marginalizing. Greenhouse effect deniers are my favorite, because middle schoolers have a better grasp of the science than you guys do. |
258. sar2401
1:41 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting PensacolaDoug:True, but we generally don't breathe water...or at least not for very long. :-) |
257. beell
1:41 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 246. sar2401: Apparently, I have spent many a night suffering from Carbon Dioxide Intoxication. I was told I had a good time... |
256. KEEPEROFTHEGATE (Mod)
1:40 AM GMT on March 20, 2015
Quoting 237. georgevandenberghe: nice here snow cover is next to nil just little piles left from plows now temps just above freezing or better during day still freezing at night but that's normal it will get better but not till mid april maybe longer the more east and north u go and there still could be some snow to come for some yet |
306. Naga5000
3:59 AM GMT on March 20, 2015