Climate science
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The persistent ridge of high pressure across the western US has helped to set up serious drought conditions in the north central part of the country. As a result, cattle producers are being forced to sell their cattle since it is difficult for them to find food. Familiar story? This summer’s weather pattern has been…
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Those of you who like weather pictures and knowing about unusual weather phenomena probably already know what a “green flash” is, but for those who don’t, a green flash is an optical phenomenon that occurs at sunset when the setting sun may momentarily look green due to the refraction of the sun’s disk by the…
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Eos had an interesting article this week about how turbulent pockets of air inside of thunderstorms can help set up the conditions necessarily for lightning, a new finding published recently in Journal of Geophysics: Atmospheres. The new study shows that the bumpy air not only caused your plane to jump up and down but can…
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After the 4th of July fireworks across the country were over, meteorologists turned to their observations to see what effects the smoke and particulates from the fireworks had on air quality in the areas downwind of the displays. What they showed were that the level of dangerous aerosols increased immediately after the fireworks started and…
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Late in June the New York Times reported that scientists measuring the carbon dioxide of the atmosphere have found a troubling trend–even though emissions of CO2 have leveled off globally, the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere is continuing to rise. This makes the scientists wonder where the rising CO2 is coming from. Is the…
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Do you know someone who thinks that summer is warm because it is when the earth is the closest to the sun in its orbit? You might be surprised at how many people have this misconception. In fact, today is the sun’s aphelion, the day on which the earth is at its farthest point from…
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An article published this week in The Conversation pointed out that tropical zones on Earth are currently expanding, and that could mean problems for Australia among other places. Here in the Southeast, most of us are not quite in the tropical zone now, but if that zone expands, it is likely to change the climate…