23 February 2012
Ice Loss, Snowfall and Blowing Dust- The view from Space.
From JPL: PASADENA, Calif. – In the first comprehensive satellite study of its kind, a University of Colorado at Boulder-led team used NASA data to calculate how much Earth’s melting land ice is adding to global sea level rise. Using satellite measurements from the NASA/German Aerospace Center Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), the researchers measured ice loss in all of Earth’s land ice between 2003 and 2010, with particular …
20 February 2012
A New Dark Era of Science?
An interesting piece in the Guardian Sunday, that is well worth a read. I know personally of scientists who have received death threats for their work in the field of climate physics, and teachers whose jobs were threatened for teaching basic biology. The National Center for Science Education has recently added defending climate science to its mission because of the many reports from teachers that they are having issues with …
18 February 2012
Significant Snow Event For Mid Atlantic- Delmarva??
Several inches of snow may fall over the next 48 hours in the Mid Atlantic. It looks now as if the heavier snows will be SW of the Washington/Baltimore area but an inch or two is possible even there and out onto the Delmarva. I’m moving to Salisbury on the Eastern Shore in a couple of weeks (will be forecasting WBOC TV). As a snow lover, all I …
17 February 2012
People Who Live in Glass Houses..
I tend to steer away from politics in this space, but this issue goes directly to science education in the classroom, and therefore it’s fair game. Update: Several of the top climate experts (Dr. Ben Santer, Michael Mann and others) who have been the target of Heartland’s smear campaigns have written an open letter in the UK Guardian here. I wrote a blog post about a pamphlet full of pseudo-science sent …
16 February 2012
Snowy Italia
The European Space Agencies Envisat has taken a beautiful picture of a snow covered Italy. The image was taken on 13 Feb. and shows a lot of frost on the Italian boot. If you want a really big full res image to make a poster out of then go here. The image is over 9 megabytes, so be warned!
15 February 2012
The Sagan Series
I just discovered the Sagan Series by Reid Gower. All of them are well worth watching. The first is below. The second is here: The very powerful third is below and you can find the rest. Reid is on twiter here. We Sagan lovers all share a special bond I think.
10 February 2012
Snow Drought A Major Concern – Cross post
My friend Jim Gandy is the Chief Meteorologist for WLTX in Columbia, SC, and the image below links to his most recent post. Compare the maps of snow cover over the last three years. Water problems are very likely by summer in the Western U.S. if the spring is not wet and snowy. Click the image to read his post:
6 February 2012
Fantastic Condo Wave Clouds
Panhandle Helicopter tours posted this pic on their Facebook page Sunday, and I sure wish I’d been on the ride! What is happening here is fairly easy to explain and it has to do with the wind, the condos, and the moisture in the air. Cool air offshore was very nearly at the saturation point, with a temperature near 20ºC and a dew point of about 19.5ºC. The air at …
5 February 2012
North America’s Missing Winter Turns Up In Europe!
While the U.S. and Canada continue to look for a winter that has yet to arrive, it seems that the cold and snow have shown up across the pond in Europe. The BBC is reporting that temps dropped to -38 ºC in the Ukraine overnight, and there are deaths from the cold being reported across Europe. Another BBC report says the famed canals in Venice are starting to freeze over, while heavy …
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.
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