Latest Climatology Stories
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online Food shortages, natural disasters, energy supply issues and the spread of epidemics are some of the possible climate-related perils the U.S. military needs to prepare to deal with, the National Academies claim in a new report released Friday. According to Suzanne Goldenberg, U.S. Environment Correspondent with The Guardian, the report advises American defense personnel to "start planning for natural disasters, sea-level rise,...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online We hear reports every day about the dangers and evils of carbon emissions, but could there be a good side? A research team at the University of Gothenburg thinks so. Their new study, published in Mires and Peat, suggests that mankind's emissions of fossil carbon, and the temperature rise that accompanies it, could prove to be our salvation from the next ice age. The current increase in peatland extent could reverse this effect,...
Alan McStravick for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Regardless of which side of the issue you might stand on, regarding climate change and what is going to happen in the future, there is one thing we can all agree on: This summer was HOT! According to a new study funded by NASA, we may want to buckle in because apparently this ride is just beginning and its only going to get hotter. According to analysis by scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR),...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online There has been a controversy in the scientific community about the role of climate change in the development and subsequent demise of the Maya civilization, which thrived from AD 300 to 1000. The debate has raged because of a lack of well-dated climate and archaeological evidence. An international team of archaeologists and earth scientists from Pennsylvania State, ETH Zurich and the University of Durham, among others, has compiled a...
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The words we choose to use have a big impact on how we communicate. As the 20th century Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan once said, “The medium is the message.” A new study from a joint team of U.S. and U.K. investigators has used this idea of word choice to examine how research surrounding climate change has impacted the larger public discourse. For example, a New Jersey scientist is credited with coining the phrase ‘global...
Grant contribution from Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation moves technology forward to mitigate carbon emissions from oil sands production TSX-V: CST Outstanding Shares: 79,187,836 QUEBEC CITY, Oct. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - CO(2) Solutions Inc. (TSX-V:CST), an innovator in the field of enzyme-enabled carbon capture technology, today announced that it has been selected to receive up to $500,000 in grant funding from Alberta's Climate Change and Emissions...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is asking citizen scientists to come together to help reconstruct the historical climate of the Arctic. NOAA is teaming up with National Archives and Records Administration and Zooniverse, a citizen science web portal, to find volunteers to transcribe a newly digitized set of ship logs dating back to 1850. The ship logs are from the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard and Revenue Cutter...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A new study led by the University of California, Davis finds that more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, coupled with rising temperatures, is making rice agriculture a larger source of the potent greenhouse gas methane. Relatively simple changes in rice cultivation, according to the study, could help reduce methane emissions. "Together, higher carbon dioxide concentrations and warmer temperatures predicted for the end of this...
At the end of the 21st century, the temperature in the Baltic Sea will be higher and the salt content lower than at any time since 1850. If no action is taken to alleviate the effects of climate change, there may be major consequences for the marine environment. "This is the first time that anyone has taken a detailed look at how climate models and individual factors combine to affect a specific region. This makes this project unique," says Jonathan Havenhand from the Department of...
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online In a plot that could have been yanked from the script of the upcoming James Bond film, American entrepreneur Russ George has released over 100 tons of iron sulphate into the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to foster a massive plankton bloom that would capture carbon dioxide and sink to the bottom of the ocean, thereby effecting climate change—U.K. news organization The Guardian has reported. Besides having a potential impact on global...
Latest Climatology Reference Libraries
An urban heat island (UHI) is a metropolitan area that is drastically warmer than its surrounding rural areas because of human activities. The phenomenon was first looked into and described by Luke Howard during the 1810s, although he wasn’t the one to name the phenomenon. The difference in temperature is normally bigger at night as opposed to during the day, and it most obvious when winds are weak. Seasonally, UHI is seen during the summer and the winter. The key cause of the urban heat...
Growing Degree Days are another huge part of our lives even though we may not deal with them directly. Growing degree days have to deal with the growing of fruits and vegetables along with other various crops that are grown throughout the United States for our personal use. As we examine the Baltimore Maryland area we can see how the impacts of a normal, El-Nino and La-Nina cycle have an impact on just the one month of March. These numbers are based on 50F which is the base number used for...
If you live in or around Bismarck North Dakota the graph shows you what you can roughly expect when it comes to heating and cooling your house during the ENSO Phases. Bismarck North Dakota, with its northern latitude, does have an impact on what type of heating and cooling it sees. During an Normal Phase the HDD for the region hits about 1348 on average. When the region enters into an El-Nino they can expect the amount of HDD’s to decrease to around 970 which really helps cut down on the...
The above graph highlights how the ENSO has an impact on water temps. Northern Gulf of Mexico during EL-Nino: The first part of March during this EL-Nino cycle saw water temps in the 56-60F range, while the 8-14th saw water temps warm to the 60-64F range. By the third week of March temps had maintained 60-64F. The last week of March the temps dropped back to around 56-60F. Northern Gulf of Mexico during LA-Nina: The first week of March saw water temps approach the 70-72F range, by the...
Honolulu is located in the Pacific Ocean and has a mostly marine time climate. Honolulu has a pretty consistent temperature average from month to month. This is a look at the La-Nina impacts on the local area. January 2010: For the month of January it is typical to see average high temps in the 80’s while overnight lows drop into the 70’s. During the El-Nino event January temps were 60% of the month at the normal, while 40% of the month was marked with above temps and 0% of the month...
