Climate science
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In the past, distributions of raindrop size were made mainly by flying airplanes with special equipment through rainstorms or catching drops on a surface that shows the drop size. Now NASA has come up with a method for measuring the 3-dimensional pattern of raindrop sizes in a storm that may help computer modelers improve forecasts…
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Nearly 2/3 of the land that NASA manages is within 16 feet of mean sea level, according to a news article published in the New York Times today. Because of this, and knowing the upward creeping sea levels around the world due to warmer waters and melting ice caps, they have been working for ten…
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This is the time of year when many birds are moving north for the summer. The flocks show up beautifully on Doppler radar. Cliff Mass shows radar images of bird movement in the Pacific Northwest in his blog at https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2016/03/bird-migration-on-radar-what-weather.html. Smithsonian magazine also has an article describing how the birds are detected at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-doppler-radar-can-track-bird-migrations-180952834/?no-ist.
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LiveScience posted an interesting story and video today on how changes in climate have affected past civilizations. The 3-minute video focuses on the impacts of the Little Ice Age, a time when the earth was about 1 degree F colder than present due to decreased solar radiation and higher volcanic activity. Some civilizations adapted easily…
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One of the issues with looking at the impacts of a warmer climate is that not all areas will be equally affected by the changes in temperature. Some areas are likely to be losers, with more negative impacts, while others might benefit from a longer growing season, less frost and warmer temperatures. But the warmer…
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A new scientific study of long-range statistical climate forecasts (published recently in Nature Geoscience) shows that temperature patterns in the central Pacific Ocean can predict the likelihood of droughts and heat waves on the East Coast by up to several weeks. You can read a story about the research at PBS at https://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/pacific-hot-water-predicts-heat-waves-drought/. The Christian Science…
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The Fruit Growers News republished a story this week from the University of Idaho discussing how trends in minimum temperature over time are likely to change where some crops grow. The annual coldest temperature is linked to some crops’ ability to thrive, and is the basis of the USDA plant hardiness zone map. These temperatures are expected…