Climate science
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The warming of the global atmosphere over time is well known, although individual areas of the globe vary in what they are experiencing. Humidity is another variable that is changing, but in harder to discern ways. We know that as air temperature increases, it has the potential to hold more water vapor. But according to…
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Here is an excellent description of climate models and how they work, for those of you who get asked this or just have wondered yourself. It was published in 2018 in Carbon Brief and provides a detailed look at how climate models work, how accurate they are, and what shortcomings they have. You can read…
Posted in: Climate science -
Here’s a really interesting story from Science magazine on a new way to date rocks. By looking at fossilized lightning strikes in rocks (called fulgurites) and measuring their amount of moisture, scientists can produce amazingly accurate dates of when the lightning hit. When lightning strikes the rock, it drives out all moisture, and the moisture…
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While this blog is devoted to the climate of the Southeast, we can’t help but look at what is happening in other parts of the world. All of the world’s weather and climate is linked together by the great fluid atmosphere (and the oceans, too) where what happens in one place can affect what happens…
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While temperatures trends over time show that we are slowly but surely getting warmer over time, we still get periods of cold and sometimes even record-setting low temperatures. How can this be? What you are seeing is the difference between short-term weather and long-term climate effects, which can provide differences in what you feel on…
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You may have read elsewhere that extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a good thing for plants because it encourages plant growth. It turns out that the science is a bit more complicated than that. Some extra carbon dioxide is beneficial, but only as long as the plant has sufficient water and nutrients to…
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Today marks the first day of climatological (or meteorological) winter. This year, parts of the Southeast even saw snow yesterday, which does not often happen so early in our winter season. Hope you are enjoying the colder weather! If you would like to know more about why climatological seasons are not the same as astronomical…