Climate science
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After my post earlier this week about atmospheric rivers, I was pleased to see that the blog of EDEN (Extension Disaster Education Network) also posted a story on atmospheric rivers, also know as the “Pineapple Express”. You can read their blog posting and view a neat animation at https://blogs.extension.org/edenotes/2015/02/11/weather-wednesday-the-pineapple-express/
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Climate is a difficult thing to predict because of the number of different factors that have to be taken into account. The WhyFiles blog has a recent detailed article which describes some of the things that climate scientists have to think about when making projections of climate in the future. This posting includes several paragraphs discussing…
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In the last few years meteorologists have become increasingly aware that some of the most intense rainstorms on the West Coast are caused by concentrated bands of moisture that pour water vapor into the region. These bands are called “atmospheric rivers” because they act like a conduit to bring high volume rain events to California,…
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This week there have been a number of stories on attitudes about climate change and global warming in the news. Since many of you communicate about weather and climate impacts on agriculture to people with a broad variety of perspectives, I wanted to point out some stories that might be helpful in setting the debate…
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How do we know what the climate was before official measurements were taken? The historical instrumental records only go back to about the 1820s, when surgeons were the official observers at forts across the United States. To look at longer-term climate records, you have to use climate markers like tree rings to determine what the climate…
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On this rainy Friday, I want to highlight a recent study which was published in Nature Communications. From Wikipedia: Petrichor (/ˈpɛtrɨkɔər/) is the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil. The word is constructed from Greek, petra, meaning ‘stone’ + ichor, the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in Greek…
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NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory has put out a video which shows the change in carbon dioxide over time in the atmosphere on a variety of time scales. It is interesting to see the difference between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The Northern Hemisphere has more land and less ocean than the Southern Hemisphere…