You are browsing the archive for Atmospheric Science Archives - Page 6 of 12 - Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal.
14 July 2010
Ice Core at NEEM Approaching Greenland Bedrock
While the lower 48 bakes this summer, a group of 30 researchers are drilling a big hole in the ice at the top of the world. It’s all in the name of science. The North Greenland Eemian ice core project is not the first ice core to be drilled through the Greenland icecap. It may be the most important though. Rewriting Earth’s Climate History Earlier cores have rewritten the climate …
10 July 2010
A Story About Science – (How rising greenhouse gases are increasing the risk of the ISS hitting space junk.)
I saw an interesting press release about a paper this past week. The headline was along the lines of “Climate Change Increasing Space Junk”. Say what? I can predict the comments now that this will get. “You blame everything on global warming!” Well, let’s look at what the paper really says and why they reached the conclusions they did. I know one of the authors of this paper. Judith Lean is …
5 July 2010
Science in America 2010- From The Guardian in London
In the same week that Dr. Michael Mann was completely cleared of charges that he was conducting science outside of normal standards comes this: Mann was the last one- every other person accused by those who poured through the stolen emails have already been completely cleared. The Guardian story pretty much explains the type of people that made the charges. Nutters. Dan
3 July 2010
Drilling For Ancient Ice At The Top Of The World
On the 11th of January I was lucky enough to join a rather small club. Those who have stood at the very bottom of the world. WAIS DIVIDE While I saw a lot of the science underway in Antarctica, there was one site in Antarctica I didn’t get to see, WAIS Divide. The Western Antarctic Ice Shelf is the site of one of the most important science projects in the world …
30 June 2010
Alex Approaching the Coast
Hurricane Alex is already producing flooding along the South Texas Coast as it nears landfall. Winds are at 90 mph in the eye wall near the center. The amount of storm surge is VERY dependent on the shape of ocean bottom and the angle the storm comes into the coast. So don’t assume that a category one storm will not produce serious flooding. It can. Meteorologist Alan Raymond of our …
29 June 2010
Alex Nearing Hurricane Strength in Gulf (Updated with AMSU Image)
Tropical Storm Alex is looking quite healthy this afternoon and has finally started moving. There seems to be a growing consensus among the models that Alex will come ashore in Mexico, well south of Brownsville, Texas. The latest movement, along with the new guidance, is a bit left of the last NHC track. Look for a shift the forecast a little southward in the next advisory. It is not out …
27 May 2010
Possible HYPERACTIVE Hurricane Season- NOAA
In my last post I gave some of the reasons I thought we would see a very active hurricane season. Here is what the NOAA folks think. They released their forecast for the 2010 season today. As I expected it looks like it will be a mean year. Possibly one of the all time most active years. Here are NOAA’s numbers: An 85% chance of an above normal season. A …
6 May 2010
Returning To The Age of Galileo?
Meteorologist Sean Sublette works for the ABC affiliate in Lynchburg Va. We have something in common. We both have talked about importance of research into climate change, and why we should listen to the IPCC reports. Something that is frankly not a popular topic in our part of the country. At least among some people. What we do about climate change is a political question. The reality of it, is …
3 May 2010
Is The Ash Coming Back?? Maybe
Ireland is closing it’s airspace at 7am Tuesday morning because of ash. The ash is below 20,000 feet so it may not be too disruptive to transatlantic air traffic. The ash is expected to drift over the UK later Tuesday and this may impact Heathrow and Gatwick. If that happens, you will see major disruptions. Below is the latest forecast from the UK Met office: The eruption shows no sign …
1 May 2010
Arkansas Tornados, Nashville Floods and Oil Slick Growing
Tornadoes hit Arkansas last night and today and have also done damage in Miss. and Tennessee. Incredible rainfall totals of near or over 10 inches have ben reported across a wide swath of Tennessee. I just saw a recent report of a destroyed mobile home seen FLOATING down I-24 near Nashville. A pass by one of NASA’s MODIS satellites at 11:40am (1640GMT) shows the oil slick in the Gulf has …
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.