Climate science
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While most people think of wildfires as a Western phenomenon, events this year have pointed out that the Southeast is also an area that is ripe for wildfires. An recent article by Lyndsey Gilpin at https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-southeast-is-becoming-a-wildfire-hotspot/ describes the increases in wildfires in the Southeast over time. The article discusses whether wildfires are becoming more frequent and…
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Chris Mooney of the Washington Post discussed the latest observations of sea ice extent in the Arctic and Antarctic in a recent article which you can read here. Contrary to slowly increasing levels of sea ice in the Antarctic Ocean, this year the sea ice extent there dropped precipitously. Since ice extent in the Arctic…
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Here is a nice snapshot summary of how agriculture impacts climate and how farmers are working to improve agricultural management practices to lead the way towards an improved future from Environment Reports. This one should be viewable from a smartphone. You can view it at https://www.environmentreports.com/how-does-agriculture-change/.
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The rampant wildfires that have been affecting the Southeast over the last month have caused a lot of heartache. Certainly some of the blame for the wildfires can be put on the exceptional drought that is occurring over the region (which may in turn be partly linked to the weak La Niña occurring now), and…
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You might not think about it right away, but several of the planets in the solar system have atmospheres that are in some ways similar to what we have on Earth. After all, gases follow the same basic physical rules no matter what planet they are on. EOS.org posted an interesting story earlier this month…
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The Cloud Appreciation Society’s monthly cloud picture for November showed a mysterious ring in the cloud layer over Warwickshire, England. Where did it come from? You can read the detective story at EarthSky at https://earthsky.org/earth/mystery-cloud-appreciation-society-pretor-pinney-nov-2016. The Cloud Appreciation Society is a great place to look at other pictures of clouds too. You can visit them at https://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org.
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In place of Black Friday I am offering a White Friday instead. Here is a fantastic picture of a rare fogbow from Scotland which is making the rounds of my Facebook feed today. You can read about what makes a fogbow or white rainbow at Yahoo here. If that’s not enough of the white stuff,…