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4 March 2011
Glory Not To Be- It Crashes into the Pacific.
The failure of the Glory launch today is not just bad news. It’s a catastrophe for earth science; Especially American earth science. The failure of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, (OCO-on the same type of launch vehicle) and now this are going to set back critical research into the the Earth’s energy balance severely. I went over to REAL CLIMATE written by NASA Climate Scientist Gavin Schmidt and he has a …
3 March 2011
February Arctic Ice Ties 2005 for Lowest On Record
The decline in Arctic sea ice continues. Image from NOAA-NSIDC. The National Snow Ice Data Center released updated ice data today and the decline continues. The average ice cover in February was 14.36 million sq. km. This ties with February 2005 for lowest recorded in the month. The ice over the last year has continued to track at, or below, the all time record low year in 2007. The …
16 February 2011
Despite What You Saw on Twitter- January 2011 was 17th Warmest.
The National Climate Data Center released the January temp. anomalies today. In spite of the cold and snowy January in the Eastern USA, it was the 17th warmest on record. The global sea temps. were the 11th warmest on record. What is really eye catching is the intense cold in Central and East Asia. The weakening La Nina, in the Pacific, is also to be seen along with the intense …
15 February 2011
What is it about climate change that makes smart people say silly things?
I am constantly amazed at the number of smart people who make a right turn into a brick wall when it comes to climate change. There are plenty examples and they all have one thing in common. They usually come from well educated people, (with a science background) who repeat myths about climate change that they’ve read or heard. If they took the time to research the claim they are …
9 February 2011
Two weeks at The Top of The World
I was asked by the great folks at Earth Gauge (the National Environmental Education Foundation) to write about my trip to Greenland last summer, and it was published in their newsletter this week. I thought I’d share it here along with the pics. You can also see it on Earth Gauge here: http://www.earthgauge.net/2011/two-weeks-at-the-top-of-the-world-a-trip-to-the-greenland-ice-cap (Part 1 of 2) Within just a few months last year, I found myself standing both at …
3 February 2011
Arctic Ice Update-Another Record Low in January
Here is the release from the National Snow and Ice Data Center: Arctic sea ice extent averaged over January 2011 was 13.55 million square kilometers (5.23 million square miles). This was the lowest January ice extent recorded since satellite records began in 1979. It was 50,000 square kilometers (19,300 square miles) below the record low of 13.60 million square kilometers (5.25 million square miles), set in 2006, and 1.27 million …
28 January 2011
Far off Galaxies and Hockey Sticks of Arctic Plankton-Lots of wild science this week.
It’s Friday, and there has been some really fascinating science news this week. So here is a quick summary of what caught my eye (and links to find out more about it). In A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY First, is the announcement in NATURE that the most distant galaxy known has been detected. It’s 13.2 billion light years away, and since the Universe itself is 13.7 billion years old, we …
24 January 2011
Is This Why Many TV Weathercasters are Skeptical of Climate Change?
There is a common myth on climate change that goes along the lines of “How can they possibly know what the climate will do in a hundred years, when they can’t even get the forecast for tomorrow right”. This seems to be shared among a lot of TV weather people as well, and I think it is one of the main reasons that so many are skeptical of climate change. …
14 January 2011
Kudos to ABC News for Doing an Accurate Story On Climate
Many network news stories I’ve seen on climate change end with an interview of someone who has never published anything in the field repeating an often heard myth. The myth almost always has long ago been shown to totally wrong, so it gets a new life. ABC News (U.S. not ABC Australia) aired an excellent, and scientifically accurate piece last night on the flooding around the world over the past …
12 January 2011
NASA/NOAA: 2010 tied with 2005 as warmest year on record. (updated)
It’s now official. In spite of the moderately strong La Nina in the Pacific, 2010 was tied for the hottest year on record. If you just look at the Northern Hemisphere, it WAS the hottest on record. The temp. anomalies from NOAA are below. So, was it the hottest year in the last 1000 years? Answering that question is a bit more difficult, but the expert on that question is …
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.