WEEKLY WEATHER & CLIMATE NEWS

WEEKLY WEATHER AND CLIMATE NEWS

18-22 August 2008

Eye on the tropics ---
- In the North Atlantic basin, Tropical Storm Fay, the sixth named tropicalcyclone of the 2008 North Atlantic hurricane season intensified near Haiti lateFriday from a tropical disturbance that had formed a day earlier over PuertoRico. As of late Sunday afternoon, this tropical storm was traveling to thewest-northwest across the Caribbean Sea offshore of the southern coast of Cuba.The projected track of this system would cause Fay to turn northward, crossCuba and the Florida Strait to pass near Key West, FL and enter the easternGulf of Mexico by early Tuesday. Intensification to a hurricane was possible.An image and additional discussion of the tropical depression that eventuallybecame Tropical Storm Fay can be found onNASA'sHurricane Page.
- In the eastern North Pacific basin, Hurricane Hernan, which had become amajor category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, weakened and dissipatedby midweek. Several images of Hurricane Hernan along with additionalinformation are onNASA'sHurricane Page.
  A weak tropical depression identified as Tropical Depression 10-E formed offthe Mexican coast at midweek, but quickly dissipated.
  Tropical Storm Iselle, the ninth named tropical cyclone of the 2008 hurricaneseason in that basin, formed at midweek off the west coast of Mexico. Thetropical storm traveled to the west-northwest, weakening to a tropicaldepression and then dissipating on Sunday. Several images and additionalinformation on Tropical Storm Iselle are onNASA'sHurricane Page.
- In the Western North Pacific, Tropical Depression 11W formed in the middleof last week over the waters of the East China Sea south of Korea. Thisdepression reached the coast of South Korea near the end of the week.
  Tropical Storm Vongfong formed late last week over the ocean south of theJapanese archipelago. Over this past weekend, Vongfong was traveling to theeast-northeast to the south of the islands. Additional information about and animage of Tropical Storm Vongfong can be found onNASA'sHurricane Page.
  Tropical Depression 13-W formed this past weekend over the western Pacific eastof the Philippines and it was moving on a projected path that would take itacross the Philippine Sea to the north of Luzon.
Hurricane forecasting funding quadruples in President's budget request-- The Bush Administration has submitted a budget request for the 2009fiscal year that includes $17 Million for NOAA's Hurricane Forecast ImprovementProject, which more than quadruples the Agency's original request. [NOAANews]
Weather and climate around the globe in July -- Scientists atNOAA’s National Climatic Data Center recently announced that based onpreliminary data, the globally averaged land and ocean surface temperature forJuly 2008 ties this month with the fifth warmest July since worldwide recordsbegan in 1880. Neutral El Niño-Southern Oscillation conditions returnedto the tropical Pacific Ocean following an extended La Niña event. Thesea ice across the Northern Hemisphere during the month of July was the fourthsmallest since 1979. [NOAANews]
Sulfur dioxide emanates from Alaskan volcano-- Three explosiveeruptions during the first week of August from the Kasatochi Volcano inAlaska's eastern Aleutian Island chain sent plume of ash to altitudes of 35,000feet along with a large cloud of sulfur dioxide, one of the largest in over 15years. An image of the sulfur dioxide emitted from this volcano across the Gulfof Alaska and the Alaska Panhandle was produced from data collected by theOzone Monitoring Instrument on NASA’s Aura satellite. [NASAEarth Observatory] A vertical view of the volcano can be seen from an imageproduced by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer(ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite approximately five years ago. [NASAEarth Observatory]
Drought in the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles -- An image of theNormalized Difference Vegetation Index for June and July 2008 obtainedfrom data collected by the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite shows howthe driest year across the Oklahoma Panhandle in more than 85 years hasresulted in extensive damage to the vegetation of the crop and pasture lands.[NASAEarth Observatory] An animation of drought status maps generated by theNational Drought Mitigation Center shows the evolution of the drought acrossthe region commencing in July 2007. [NASAEarth Observatory]
Evidence of desertification in Africa -- A comparison of the Landsatimages made of Mali's Lake Faguibine in the 1970s and in 2005 and 2006 showsthe decrease in the size of the lake due to the prolonged drought across thesection of Mali located between the Sahara Desert and the Sahel. [NASAEarth Observatory]
Locusts could hit West Africa -- A recent image of the VegetationAnomaly, an index that shows the health of vegetation derived from datacollected by a sensor on the French SPOT Vegetation satellite, reveals severalclusters of locusts across sections of West Africa. Environmental conditionsduring July and August 2008 suggest the possibility of another major locustthreat, resulting in potentially serious food shortages. [NASAEarth Observatory]
Studying possible effects of aerosols upon cloud cover --Scientistsfrom NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and colleagues from the University ofMaryland Baltimore County and Israel's Weizmann Institute are studyinganthropogenically generated aerosols and their effect upon cloud cover andclimate. They used aerosol and cloud observations from NASA's Terra satellite.[NASAGSFC]
Balloons used to study volcanoes -- Researchers from MichiganTechnological University and colleagues have been using remotely controlledmeteorological balloons to obtain measurements of the temperature, watercontent and chemical composition of volcanic gases emanating from Hawaii'sKilauea Volcano. [Michigan TechNews]
Mass extinctions in the oceans foreseen -- An oceanographer from theScripps Institution of Oceanography warns that the oceans could experience massextinctions and the "rise of slime" because of the threats to marineecosystems presented by a variety of factors including overfishing, pollutionand climate change. [Scripps News]
Rainfall in Middle East could increase due to climate change -- Aresearcher from Australia's University of New South Wales reports that hisresearch indicates that the projected changes in the global climate wouldresult in increased rainfall across sections of the Fertile Crescent in theMiddle East at certain times of the year. While much of the Middle East couldsee a longer dry season, changes in maximum rainfall locally could affect theregion's agriculture. [EurekAlert!]
Unusual molecule helps clean air of acid rain -- Researchers atPurdue University and the University of Pennsylvania have discovered a moleculethat they claim aids the atmospheric in breaking down those air pollutants suchas nitric acid that are responsible for acid rain. This molecule has a hydrogenbonding structure that is similar to the hydrogen bonding that imparts uniqueproperties to water. [PurdueUniversity News]
Not all green roofs are the same -- A recent study conducted at theUniversity of Texas at Austin warns that different types of green roofs willhave differences in the cooling the building and handling the rainwater fallingon it. [Universityof Texas at Austin]
Another view of hurricanes and climate change -- Recent researchconducted at the University of Miami using a new method for evaluating thefrequency of hurricane formation indicates that while projected increases insea surface temperature could cause hurricanes to form more easily and morerapidly, increased wind shear would serve to suppress hurricane formation. [EurekAlert!]
Seals dive for climate data -- An international team of French,Australian, US and British scientists have been analyzing ocean data acrossdata sparse sections of the Southern Ocean collected from oceanographic sensorsthat have been attached to deep diving elephant seals. [CSIRO]
Mass extinction of amphibians documented -- Researchers at SanFrancisco State University and the University of California claim that largenumbers of amphibians around the world have been lost and that human activityhas been a contributor to the extinction through changes in climate and throughdeadly infectious disease being transmitted between species. [EurekAlert!]
Changes in climate killing trees -- Scientists at the University ofCalifornia, Irvine report that higher temperatures and longer dry spells haveresulted in the deaths of thousands of trees and shrubs in the Santa RosaMountains of southern California as the habitat of the plants has moved upwardalong the mountain slopes by an average of 213 feet in the last three decades.[EurekAlert!]
US cities to report carbon emissions -- At least 30 cities acrossthe US have agreed to voluntarily report their greenhouse gas emissions andother relevant climate change data as part of the joint Carbon DisclosureProject (CDP) and ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability effort. [EurekAlert!]
Countdown begins for upcoming Earth Explorers satellite -- TheEuropean Space Agency is preparing for next month's launch from Russia of theGravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite, thefirst satellite in the Agency's Earth Explorers series that will be placed intolow earth-orbit to map the Earth's gravitation field with unprecedentedaccuracy. This satellite is expected to contribute to oceanography and toclimate change studies. [ESA]
Variations in Antarctic climate linked to tropical Pacific -- A newanalysis of Antarctic ice cores by scientists at the National Center forAtmospheric Research and the University of Washington indicates that theinterannual variations in temperature and the century-long temperature increaseacross West Antarctica appear to be linked with the conditions in the tropicalPacific Ocean, including periodic events such as El Niño episodes. [UCAR/NCAR]
An All-Hazards Monitor --This Web portal provides the userinformation from NOAA on current environmental events that may pose as hazardssuch as tropical weather, fire weather, marine weather, severe weather, droughtand floods. [NOAAWatch]
Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes -- A review and analysis ofthe global impacts of various weather-related events, including drought, floodsand storms during the current month. [NCDC]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] RequiresAdobe Acrobat Reader.

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