Climate science
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A USA Today story reported here by KARE11.com notes two recent records for lightning bolts were made by the World Meteorological Organization. In the story it states “Scientists identified all-time world records for both the longest lightning bolt — nearly 200 miles — and the world’s longest-duration lightning flash — over 7 seconds — according to a report released Thursday.…
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Tropical Storm Julia pulled together late last night over land on the northeast coast of Florida and has been tracking along the coast to the north today. Heavy rain has been observed to the north of the storm and mostly to the east of the circulation, although there has been a lot right along the…
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A lot of my climatologist and meteorologist friends have been posting links to a recent cartoon from XKCD.com showing a loooooong timeline of global temperature compared to the development of civilization that puts the recent increases in global temperature into context. IFLScience.com has posted the timeline along with a little explanation of what it shows.…
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High above the surface near the equator is a band of strong winds which alternate between westerly and easterly flow on a regular cycle. Surprisingly, the cycle is not tied to the calendar year but switches between phases in a 28-month period. I’ve put a graph of the oscillation, which is called the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation…
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Here is an excellent site I ran across today that explains the basics of how climate models work in clear language from a reputable scientific source. If you would like to know more about how they work, check out https://nas-sites.org/climate-change/climatemodeling/.
Posted in: Climate science -
Phenology is the study of natural systems and how they change over the course of the year and from one year to the next. Things that are marked by phenologists include the first robin of the year, the first leaf on a tree or shrub each spring, the first wave of geese traveling south for…
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The Minneapolis Times-Tribune published an Associated Press report this week on a 17-year study undertaken by Stanford University scientists to test the impact of more carbon dioxide, more heat, and more nitrogen on plant growth in test plots outside Los Angeles. Test plots (132 in all) were treated with different amounts of carbon dioxide or…