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You are browsing the archive for May 2012 - Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal.

30 May 2012

Two Storms Already (and it’s not even open season on hurricanes yet!)

Climate Central produced some nice graphics showing just how warm the Atlantic and Gulf is right now. The intensity and number of hurricanes does not solely depend on ocean temperatures but it is a major factor. We’ve already had two tropical systems and the official season in the Atlantic does not start until Midnight Friday. Look at the ocean back in 1991 which produced a rather quiet tropical storm season and …

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29 May 2012

Clean Coal In The Skies Over India

This image from the new Suomi NPP satellite which has been sending back some amazing images… Somehow I do not think I will see this image in those “Clean Coal” commercials on cable TV.

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27 May 2012

Smoke From New Mexico Fire Reaches East Coast; Beryl Approaches Florida

Update 1930 GMT Sunday: Beryl is now a full fledged Tropical Storm. The huge wildfire fire in SW New Mexico Friday has produced smoke that covers much of Texas and Louisiana today, and the latest Terra satellite image from NASA shows the smoke over Western Maryland and much of Southern Pennsylvania. The image above was taken yesterday and if you look closely you can still see the smoke plume in SW New Mexico. …

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24 May 2012

Lake Breeze Around Lake Erie and Lake Ontario

NASA’s Aqua satellite captured a gorgeous view of the lake breeze around Lakes Erie & Ontario  Wednesday afternoon. The still, very chilly, waters of the lakes can produce a strong and pronounced lake breeze as the late spring sunshine warms up the land. Afternoon temps. near the lake were in the low 60’s while it was in the mid to upper 70’s just a few miles inland. Just to remind you that …

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23 May 2012

Teaching Students Environmental Science The Right Way

Back in March I was asked to be one of the speakers to several groups of Wicomico County, Maryland students at the Sarbanes Coastal Ecology Center on beautiful Assateague Island. National Park rangers and others involved in the environmental sciences gave these kids a head start on understanding the real science behind our changing planet. I was honored to have been a part of making science come alive. I shared …

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22 May 2012

Another Big Sky Show on June 5

About every 105 years Venus makes two passes in front of the sun as viewed from Earth. These passes are separated by about 8 years, and the first of this centuries pass was in 2004. Early June will bring the next pass, and we will have to wait for over a century to see it again. So, it’s not something you want to miss of you can avoid it! The NASA graphic …

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19 May 2012

Tropical Storm Alberto! In May??

(Update: Tropical Storm Alberto has now formed per NHC) Just looking at this image, it seems a tropical depression may be forming off the South Carolina coast. There is a circulation but that does not mean it is a “warm core” system. It is not that rare for a tropical system to form from a cold core surface low over the ocean, but to get one in the Atlantic in mid May is VERY …

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Some Fascinating Science Pics Of The Week Along with a Faked One

The Real One Visualizing how a one degree increase in temperature can have such a profound effect is not easy when you first think about it, but when you see graphs like this, it begins to make more sense. The atmosphere is now holding about 4% more water vapor than it did a century ago and this must have an effect. This is also a good example of why scientists use the term climate …

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16 May 2012

April 2012 Makes 427th Consecutive Months With Ocean Temps. Warmer Than 20th Century Average

  Ocean temperatures in April were the second warmest on record and this makes April the 427th month in a row with ocean temperatures above the average of the 20th century. Here are the exact numbers from NOAA:   The U.S. Climate Extremes Index was at a record high for the January April period as well:   and NOAA says for the U.S.: The contiguous United States mean temperature during …

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15 May 2012

Understanding The Coriolis Effect

  A great video here on the Coriolis effect by some grad students in Illinois. If you have never gotten on a playground merry-go -round and tossed or rolled a ball, you should. It’s the easiest way to see the Coriolis affect in action. Coriolis can be a concept that is a bit difficult to get your head around, but this video does a great job of explaining it.

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