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17 January 2016
No, The Planet Did Not Stop Getting Warmer. Here’s the Proof.
Depending on how you interpret the data, the warming of the air may have slowed somewhat (This is very unlikely though) for a few years in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, but the planet as a whole is still warming steadily. We know this, because the oceans hold almost all the heat, and they are continuing to warm. The graph below is proof, and you might want to study …
14 January 2016
January Tropical Cyclones in The Atlantic & Pacific. At The Same Time!
This hasn’t happened before. Alex is the earliest tropical cyclone on record in the Atlantic. Pali, in the Central Pacific, became the earliest hurricane there this week, only weakening to a tropical storm tonight. What’s going on you ask? Answer: The atmosphere and the oceans are on steroids. The world’s oceans are the warmest ever measured, and the strongest El Nino on record is underway in the Pacific. 2015 was …
19 December 2015
NASA Releases Stunning Image of our Fragile Blue Ball
It was just after Christmas in 1968, when the famous image of Earth-rise taken by Apollo 8 was seen for the first time. Many believe that single image changed the way we humans look at our planet in a profound way, and there is a lot of evidence to support the claim. We have had some incredible images from NASA since but the image above has to rank among the greatest. This was not …
23 October 2015
Severe Hurricane Patricia Approaching Mexico Coast
Hurricane Patricia continues to maintain category 5 level, and hurricane hunters have measured the lowest pressure ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere. The hot waters from El Nino are probably playing a role here, and it now looks nearly certain that Patricia will cause severe flooding and destruction, with a deadly storm surge as it makes landfall tonight. Astronaut Scott Kelly (on the ISS) sent back this view of Patricia from low Earth …
14 October 2015
The Hubble Telescope View of Jupiter is Amazing
From NASA: New imagery from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is revealing details never before seen on Jupiter. High-resolution maps and spinning globes (rendered in the 4k Ultra HD format) are the first products to come from a program to study the solar system’s outer planets each year using Hubble. The observations are designed to capture a broad range of features, including winds, clouds, storms and atmospheric chemistry. These annual studies …
28 September 2015
Why Running Water on Mars is a HUGE Discovery
On Earth, where you find water, you find life, so today’s announcement from NASA of flowing water on Mars is far more important than you might imagine. The photos from the Mar’s rovers look almost like the high desert of the American West, but remember that Mars has only 1/100th of our atmosphere, and the temperature is well below zero most of the time. However, and this is key- when we …
15 September 2015
Arctic Sea Ice Reaches 4th Lowest Extent on Record
The summer sea ice melt has ended in the High Arctic, and the ice pack melted back to the 4th lowest extent on the satellite record. From the Nat. Snow Ice Data Center: On September 11, 2015, sea ice extent dropped to 4.41 million square kilometers (1.70 million square miles), the fourth lowest minimum in the satellite record. This appears to be the lowest extent of the year. In response to …
20 July 2015
Deep Space Climate Observatory Snaps Earth from a Million Miles Out
Forty-six years ago today I set beside my Great Grandmother, who walked to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) behind a covered wagon, and listened to Armstrong and Aldrin land on the Moon. While the photos of the Moon from the Apollo astronauts were dramatic, it was the pictures they took looking back at Earth that changed the way we think about our planet. Today, we got another one of those photos …
16 July 2015
Neil deGrasse Tyson & Stephen Colbert Talk About Pluto
What happens when two of the best science communicators eat a Klondike Bar and talk about Pluto. Watch and see. Oh, and yes I called Colbert a great science communicator, and here is why.
15 July 2015
NASA: June 2015 ties with 1998 as Hottest On Record
As greenhouse gases rise, we get more record hot months, but they are even more likely during an El Nino. Just like 1998, we have a strong one developing now. So far, this year is the warmest ever (Last year is currently the record holder), and 2015 has already seen a the hottest ever March and May, with January and February coming in as second hottest ever. Below is a …
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.