Tag Archive: Atlantic Ocean


Atlantic Ocean Storm 2013: How One Weather System Affected Nearly Half The Earth

Filed under: Earth Watch Report, Extreme Weather, Global Disaster Watch, Storms — Leave a comment
April 1, 2013

Earth Watch Report  -  Storms

…

Incredible North Atlantic storm spans Atlantic Ocean, coast to coast

Posted by Jason Samenow on March 28, 2013 at 10:34 pm

 

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a storm this big before.

(NASA)

(NASA)

The storm shown here stretches west to east from Newfoundland to Portugal. Its southern tail (cold front) extends into the Caribbean and the north side of its comma head touches southern Greenland.

Not only is it big, but it’s also super intense – comparable to many category 3 hurricanes.  The storm’s central pressure, as analyzed by the Ocean Prediction Center, is 953 mb. Estimated peak wave heights are around 25-30 feet.

(Ocean Prediction Center)

(Ocean Prediction Center)

The storm is forecast to remain more or less stationary over the next few days before substantially weakening and then eventually drifting into western Europe in about a week as a rather ordinary weather system.

Note to Washingtonians: this is the same storm that blanketed the region with 1-4 inches of snow Monday. It’s grown into a monster from humble beginnings.  The storm’s giant circulation has drawn down the cold and windy conditions we’ve had since it passed.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Jason Samenow is the Capital Weather Gang’s chief meteorologist and serves as the Washington Post’s Weather Editor. He earned BA and MS degrees in atmospheric science from the University of Virginia and University of Wisconsin-Madison.
**********************************************************************************************

Atlantic Ocean Storm 2013: How One Weather System Affected Nearly Half The Earth

Huffington Post

Posted: 03/29/2013 5:12 pm EDT

Atlantic Ocean Storm 2013

An image of the storm taken by the MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite on March 27, 2013.

From Douglas Main, OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer:

There is currently a massive storm churning over the Atlantic that spans the entire ocean basin, stretching all the way from Canada to Europe, and from Greenland to the Caribbean.

It’s the same weather system that brought a massive spring blizzard to much of the United States and Canada earlier this week (on Tuesday (March 26), 44 of 50 states had some snow on the ground), and which has now ballooned in size, according to Jason Samenow, chief meteorologist with the Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang.

Robert Oszajca, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service’s Ocean Prediction Center, explained that the storm got this big by merging with several low-pressure systems that were hanging out over the Atlantic Ocean. The merging weather systems gave it more power, which was accentuated by a gradient between warm moisture from the southeast, delivered by the Gulf Stream, and frigid air from the north. This intensified the storm, causing it to spin, elongate and grow in size, Oszajca told OurAmazingPlanet.

Normally, the system would have drifted into Europe several days ago. However, a high-pressure system over Greenland blocked the low-pressure system’s advance, which allowed it to strengthen further, fed by cold air from the north. This created winds (which move from high pressure to low pressure) up to 75 mph (120 km/h), equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane, Oszajca said.

 

Read Full Article and  Watch Video Here

Related articles
About these ads
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comment

Salinity Levels In Atlantic Ocean Are Off The Chart, According To NASA Instrument

Filed under: Discoveries, Earth Watch Report, Global Disaster Watch, Research, Seas / Oceans — 14 Comments
March 2, 2013

February 28, 2013
Image Caption: Among the prominent salinity features visible in this view are the large area of highly saline water across the North Atlantic. This area, the saltiest anywhere in the open ocean, is analogous to deserts on land, where little rainfall and much evaporation occur. Red colors represent areas of high salinity, while blue shades represent areas of low salinity. Credit: NASA/GSFC/JPL-Caltech

WATCH VIDEOS: [Aquarius Measuring Salty Seas 1] – [Aquarius Measuring Salty Seas 2]

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

The salinity level of the world’s rivers, lakes and oceans has been a growing topic in response to global climate change. As NASA’s Aquarius instrument has shown previously, seasonal salinity has been on the rise in oceans all around the world. This year, the picture is no less striking, with deep shades of oranges and reds, at least in the image above, filling a large swath of the Atlantic Ocean both to the north and to the south of the equator.

Launched on June 10, 2011 aboard the Argentine spacecraft SAC-D, Aquarius was specifically developed to study the salt content of the oceans’ surface waters. Variations in ocean salinity, one of the main drivers of ocean circulation, are closely associated with the cycling of freshwater around the world. The data collected from these measurements provide scientists with valuable information on how global climate change is affecting rainfall patterns around the globe.

“With a bit more than a year of data, we are seeing some surprising patterns, especially in the tropics,” said Aquarius’ principal investigator Gary Lagerloef, of Earth & Space Research in Seattle, Washington. “We see features evolve rapidly over time.”

Aquarius was designed to cover the Earth from an orbit that takes it over all the world’s ice-free oceans, taking a complete measurement of salinity levels every seven days. The detector on the instrument measures the top 1 inch of ocean water in 240-mile-wide swaths as it sweeps across the world overhead.

NASA has now received its first full year worth of data from Aquarius showing the varying salinity patterns around the globe.

By studying the data, the research team has revealed some key findings. The Arabian Sea, which sits against the Middle East, is much saltier than the Bay of Bengal, which is diluted by intense monsoons and freshwater discharges from the Ganges River, as well as others.

The Amazon, which releases large amounts of freshwater into the southern Atlantic, will either send a plume of freshwater toward Africa or bend up toward the Caribbean, depending on the seasonal currents. Freshwater also builds up against Panama’s coast, carried down from the central Pacific.

 

Read Full Article Here

Related articles
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comment

Wild! Sperm whales adopt dolphin with deformed spine

Filed under: Wildlife, Beauty Of Nature, Crossroads News : Changes In The World Around Us And Our Place In It, Seas / Oceans, Coexistence — 1 Comment
January 24, 2013

Alexander D. M. Wilson / Aquatic Mammals

Researchers were astonished to observe sperm whales traveling and nuzzling with a single bottlenose dolphin in the North Atlantic Ocean. The dolphin calf has a rare spinal malformation.

By Laura T. Coffey, TODAY

If the ocean were a cocktail party, your average bottlenose dolphin would be hamming it up near the bar, fetching drinks for other marine mammals and regaling them with funny stories. Your average sperm whale would hover quietly near the pretzel bowl, keeping a low profile and avoiding eye contact with that obnoxious dolphin.

The usual aloofness between the two animals explains why researchers were astonished to stumble upon a most unusual sighting near the Azores in the North Atlantic Ocean: a pod of sperm whales that appeared to have accepted a lone bottlenose dolphin calf into their group.

Over a period of eight days in 2011, researchers saw the dolphin and the sperm whales traveling together, nuzzling and generally having a grand time. The dolphin calf had a rare spinal curvature — a deformity that may have made the animal unable to keep up with its own kind, ScienceNOW reported.

Alexander D. M. Wilson / Aquatic Mammals

Getting along swimmingly: Scientists said they find it puzzling that the sperm whales took in the dolphin calf the way they did. Dolphins typically chase and harass sperm whales and their calves.

 

Read Full Article Here

Related articles
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comment

Intense but small-scale polar storms could make a big difference to climate predictions, according to new research from the University of East Anglia and the University of Massachusetts.

Filed under: Climate Change, Earth Watch Report, Global Disaster Watch, Research, Science — Leave a comment
December 18, 2012

‘Missing’ Polar Weather Systems Could Impact Climate Predictions

 

Intense but small-scale polar storms could make a big difference to climate predictions according to new research. (Credit: NEODAAS / University of Dundee)

Difficult-to-forecast polar mesoscale storms occur frequently over the polar seas; however, they are missing in most climate models.

Research published Dec. 16 in Nature Geoscience shows that their inclusion could paint a different picture of climate change in years to come.

Polar mesoscale storms are capable of producing hurricane-strength winds which cool the ocean and lead to changes in its circulation.

Prof Ian Renfrew, from UEA’s School of Environmental Sciences, said: “These polar lows are typically under 500 km in diameter and over within 24-36 hours. They’re difficult to predict, but we have shown they play an important role in driving large-scale ocean circulation.

“There are hundreds of them a year in the North Atlantic, and dozens of strong ones. They create a lot of stormy weather, strong winds and snowfall — particularly over Norway, Iceland, and Canada, and occasionally over Britain, such as in 2003 when a massive dump of snow brought the M11 to a standstill for 24 hours.

“We have shown that adding polar storms into computer-generated models of the ocean results in significant changes in ocean circulation — including an increase in heat travelling north in the Atlantic Ocean and more overturning in the Sub-polar seas.

“At present, climate models don’t have a high enough resolution to account for these small-scale polar lows.

“As Arctic Sea ice continues to retreat, polar lows are likely to migrate further north, which could have consequences for the ‘thermohaline’ or northward ocean circulation — potentially leading to it weakening.”

Alan Condron from the University of Massachusetts said: “By simulating polar lows, we find that the area of the ocean that becomes denser and sinks each year increases and causes the amount of heat being transported towards Europe to intensify.

“The fact that climate models are not simulating these storms is a real problem because these models will incorrectly predict how much heat is being moved northward towards the poles. This will make it very difficult to reliably predict how the climate of Europe and North America will change in the near-future.”

Prof Renfrew added: “Climate models are always improving, and there is a trade-off between the resolution of the model, the complexity of the model, and the number of simulations you can carry out. Our work suggests we should put some more effort into resolving such storms.”

‘The impact of polar mesoscale storms on Northeast Atlantic ocean circulation’ by Alan Condron from the University of Massachusetts (US) and Ian Renfrew from UEA (UK), is published in Nature Geoscience on December 16, 2012.

 

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of East Anglia.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

  1. Alan Condron, Ian A. Renfrew. The impact of polar mesoscale storms on northeast Atlantic Ocean circulation. Nature Geoscience, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1661
Related articles
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comment

Tropical storms that make their way into the North Atlantic, and possibly strike the East Coast of the United States, likely will become more intense during the rest of this century.

Filed under: Earth Watch Report, Global Disaster Watch, Storms — 2 Comments
December 2, 2012

Earth Watch Report  -  Storms

More Intense North Atlantic Tropical Storms Likely in the Future

NOAA’s GOES-13 satellite captured this visible image of Hurricane Sandy battering the U.S. East coast on Monday, Oct. 29 at 9:10 a.m. EDT. Sandy’s center was about 310 miles south-southeast of New York City. Tropical Storm force winds are about 1,000 miles in diameter. (Credit: Image courtesy of NASA GOES Project.)

That’s the prediction of one University of Iowa researcher and his colleague as published in an early online release in the Journal of Climate, the official publication of the American Meteorological Society.

The study is a compilation of results from some of the best available computer models of climate, according to lead author Gabriele Villarini, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and assistant research engineer at IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering, and his colleague Gabriel Vecchi of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Princeton, N.J.

“We wanted to conduct the study because intense tropical cyclones can harm people and property,” Villarini says. “The adverse and long-lasting influence of such storms recently was demonstrated by the damage Hurricane Sandy created along the East Coast.”

The study itself examines projected changes in the North Atlantic Power Dissipation Index (PDI) using output from 17 state-of-the-art global climate models and three different potential scenarios. The PDI is an index that integrates storm intensity, duration, and frequency.

“We found that the PDI is projected to increase in the 21st century in response to both greenhouse gas increases and reductions in particulate pollution over the Atlantic over the current century. By relating these results to other findings in a paper we published May 13, 2012 in the journal Nature Climate Change, we found that, while the number of storms is not projected to increase, their intensity is,” he says.

“Moreover, our results indicate that as more carbon dioxide is emitted, the stronger the storms get, while scenarios with the most aggressive carbon dioxide mitigation show the smallest increase in intensity,” he says.

 

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Iowa. The original article was written by Gary Galluzzo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

  1. Gabriele Villarini, Gabriel A. Vecchi. Projected Increases in North Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Intensity from CMIP5 Models. Journal of Climate, 2012; : 121116142835009 DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00441.1
Related articles
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comment

Although the risk is small, tsunamis are possible on the East Coast of the United States from a variety of sources, according to new research.

Filed under: Earth Watch Report, Earthquakes, Tsunami — Leave a comment
November 18, 2012

 Earth Watch Report

 

 

East Coast faces variety of tsunami threats

The most likely source for an East Coast tsunami would be an underwater avalanche along the continental slope.

By Douglas Main, OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer
tsunami evacuation route sign
An offshore earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or above could cause submarine avalanches and create dangerous tsunamis with waves higher than 26 feet. (Photo: epugachev/flickr)
An offshore earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or above could cause submarine avalanches and create dangerous tsunamis with waves higher than 26 feet.

The most likely source for an East Coast tsunami would be an underwater avalanche along the continental slope.

Although the risk is small, tsunamis are possible on the East Coast of the United States from a variety of sources, according to new research.

And as Hurricane Sandy showed, the region is completely unprepared for a major influx of water, said U.S. Geological Survey researcher Uri ten Brink.

The most likely source for an East Coast tsunami would be an underwater avalanche along the continental slope, according to research presented by ten Brink and others earlier this month at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Charlotte, N.C. Ten Brink also outlined several other possible sources of tsunamis, including earthquakes and even collapsing volcanoes.

Underwater avalanches

An offshore earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or above could cause submarine avalanches and create dangerous tsunamis with waves higher than 26 feet (8 meters), ten Brink told OurAmazingPlanet. Underwater canyons and bays could focus these waves and make them even bigger.

A 7.2-magnitude earthquake off the southern coast of Newfoundland in 1929 caused a large underwater landslide, creating a large wave that rushed ashore and killed 28 people on the island, ten Brink said. The waves were up to 26 feet high until some reached narrow inlets, where they grew to 43 feet (13 m), he said.

While the tsunami was catastrophic for Newfoundland, it created only small waves for most of the U.S. coast and didn’t cause any fatalities there. That’s typical of tsunamis from submarine landslides: They tend to be large for nearby areas but quickly taper off, ten Brink said.

While this is the only example of a tsunami near the East Coast in recorded history, there are plenty of areas along the continental slope – where the North American continent ends and drops into the Atlantic Ocean basin – at risk for these landslides, ten Brink said.

Ten Brink and his colleagues are currently taking core samples of sediment from the submarine canyons along the continental slope, to find evidence of past landslides and how often landslides occur, he said. His team has been working for more than five years to map these submarine canyons with sonar to highlight areas most at risk of landslides, he added.

The Puerto Rico trench

The movement of tectonic plates beneath the ocean can create waves that travel much farther than those caused by submarine landslides, because they involve the movement of a much larger volume of water, with longer waves that don’t quickly dissipate, ten Brink said. The most dangerous earthquakes are those at subduction zones, where one plate dives beneath another.

While the most infamous subduction zones are found around the Pacific Ring of Fire – such as the one that set off the massive 2011 Japan tsunami – there is indeed a subduction zone capable of creating tsunamis near the East Coast. In the northeast Caribbean, the area called the Puerto Rico trench features a subduction zone.

When the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami hit, ten Brinks’ group received funding from the U.S. government to study the tsunami potential of the Puerto Rico trench. Although its work is still ongoing, his group has found that much of the fault doesn’t appear capable of creating an earthquake and tsunami large enough to cause big problems for the East Coast. But a tsunami originating there could cause significant destruction in the Caribbean.

University of Puerto Rico researcher Zamara Fuentes, who isn’t involved in ten Brinks’ research, said one quake in this region in 1918 created a tsunami that killed 116 people on Puerto Rico. Fuentes studies sediment cores around the Caribbean to look for evidence of past tsunamis. Based on historical records, the USGS says 27 tsunamis in the Caribbean have caused fatalities and extensive damage since the 16th century.

Risks across the Atlantic

Another possible source for East Coast tsunamis is the Azores-Gibraltar Transform Fault, off the coast of Portugal. One massive earthquake along this fault in 1755 destroyed most of Lisbon and created a tsunami recorded as far away as Brazil. It was barely noticed on the East Coast, however, ten Brink said. His group has created computer models that suggest underwater mountains west of Portugal helped reduce the impact of this tsunami by slowing the waves and disrupting their movement – and they could do the same thing in the future.

The nearby Canary Islands, off the coast of Morocco, also present a possible hazard. One large volcano on the island of La Palma, called Cumbre Vieja, could erupt, collapse and create a large tsunami capable of reaching the East Coast. A 2001 study suggested this series of events could send a 70-foot (21 m) wave crashing into the East Coast. But ten Brink said that study hasn’t held up to subsequent review, and that the wave would be unlikely to exceed several feet in height by the time it reached North America. “I don’t see it as a credible threat,” he said.

The last possible tsunami source is a slow-moving fault north of Cuba, which has caused earthquakes in the past and possibly could create a tsunami that affected Florida and the Gulf Coast. Due to the current political situation, neither Cuban nor American researchers can conduct research in the area, he said.

To get a good idea of how often tsunamis from this or any source are likely to strike the East Coast in the future, ten Brink and others are trying to peer back in time – but much remains to be discovered. “There are more questions than answers at this point,” ten Brink said.

Related articles
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Spain : The Department of Emergency situations urgently requested the Geological Survey of Murcia to assess the cause of the “huge cracks in ground”, which appeared after the recent heavy rains in the industrial park area

Filed under: Earth Watch Report, Earthquakes, Global Disaster Watch, Seismic Activity, Storms — Leave a comment
November 17, 2012

Earth Watch Report

Dangerous changes on earth: New huge land cracks. This time in Spain,

Above Top Secret

Remember the 2011 Lorca(Murcia) earthquake from 11 may 2011.
With a magnitude of 5.1 at only a depht of 1 km.
Lots of buildings and historical monuments were damaged, 10 deaths and over 400 people were injured.

Now in that same region the earth is cracking up.

The crack extends along the industrial park in the direction of the sport city “Valverde Reina”; It has a length of more than 300 meters and a depth of more than two metres in some places.

According to europapress.es at the beginning of November, cracks appeared on top of a cliff at Cotillo, located at the northern end of Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa.


link
If those are the same cracks that are showing on the mainland I would imagine more cracks will appear on that line. The distance between the island and the place where the cracks are reported in Murcia is over 2000km.

What the cause may be it still a mystery, as there hasn’t been any recent earthquakes in the region.
Unless it’s been caused by the 2011 earthquake and the volcano activity on the Canary Islands.
Could these be linked?

The Department of Emergency situations urgently requested the Geological Survey of Murcia to assess the cause of the “huge cracks in ground”, which appeared after the recent heavy rains in the industrial park area “El Saladar”, Totana, situated in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula.

 

Fractures in the ground often occur during earthquakes. They appear frequently and their origin is not a mystery.
However, fractures not associated with known earthquake movements, are relatively rare and usually remain – unexplained

1 month ago cracks were showing up after the floods of September which caused the life of 3 people. This crack is extending up to 1.5 km and at some places a depht of 5meters. There are no conclusions made of what the cause may be.

The month of October, in El Esparragal, a crack of 1.5 kilometres appeared, that came to light after disappearing water from the floods of September.
The crack affects both houses as farms. Technical Civil Protection and the Geological Survey of Spain moved a few days ago to the place to make a first assessment, but there are no conclusions. A “comprehensive study” is required to analyze the situation, according to the abc.es.

 

Today the cracks are still growing in some areas and are now up to 50 cm wide. They are closing of the area to avoid any accident by other geological hazards in that region.
Living in Spain, I will follow this and will add updates to this thread if conclusions are made or more cracks appear.
All information and opinions are welcome.

Article and video
Link

 

Dangerous Changes On Earth -
New Huge Land Cracks This Time In Spain

 

MessageToEagle.com – New dangerous cracks in ground appeared on our planet.

This time, they have been reported in Spain.

The Department of Emergency situations urgently requested the Geological Survey of Murcia to assess the cause of the “huge cracks in ground”, which appeared after the recent heavy rains in the industrial park area “El Saladar”, Totana, situated in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula.

 

 

 

 

The crack extends along the industrial park in the direction of the sport city “Valverde Reina”; It has a length of more than 300 meters and a depth of more than two metres in some places.

Crack appeared two days ago and opens gradually reaching a width of 40 to 50 cm.

 


According to europapress.es at the beginning of November, cracks appeared on top of a cliff at Cotillo, located at the northern end of Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa.

 Read Full Article Here

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comment

LISS – Live Internet Seismic Server November 12, 2012

Filed under: Earth Watch Report, Seismic Activity — Leave a comment
November 12, 2012

Earth Watch Report

 

GSN Stations

These data update automatically every 30 minutes. Last update: November 12, 2012 06:19:19 UTC

Seismograms may take several moments to load. Click on a plot to see larger image.

CU/ANWB, Willy Bob, Antigua and Barbuda

ANWB 24hr plot

CU/BBGH, Gun Hill, Barbados

BBGH 24hr plot

CU/BCIP, Isla Barro Colorado, Panama

BCIP 24hr plot

CU/GRGR, Grenville, Grenada

GRGR 24hr plot

CU/GRTK, Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands

GRTK 24hr plot

CU/GTBY, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

GTBY 24hr plot

CU/MTDJ, Mount Denham, Jamaica

MTDJ 24hr plot

CU/SDDR, Presa de Sabaneta, Dominican Republic

SDDR 24hr plot

CU/TGUH, Tegucigalpa, Honduras

TGUH 24hr plot

IC/BJT, Baijiatuan, Beijing, China

BJT 24hr plot

IC/ENH, Enshi, China

ENH 24hr plot

IC/HIA, Hailar, Neimenggu Province, China

HIA 24hr plot

IC/LSA, Lhasa, China

LSA 24hr plot

IC/MDJ, Mudanjiang, China

MDJ 24hr plot

IC/QIZ, Qiongzhong, Guangduong Province, China

QIZ 24hr plot

IU/ADK, Aleutian Islands, Alaska, USA

ADK 24hr plot

IU/AFI, Afiamalu, Samoa

AFI 24hr plot

IU/ANMO, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

ANMO 24hr plot

IU/ANTO, Ankara, Turkey

ANTO 24hr plot

IU/BBSR, Bermuda

BBSR 24hr plot

IU/BILL, Bilibino, Russia

BILL 24hr plot

IU/CASY, Casey, Antarctica

CASY 24hr plot

IU/CCM, Cathedral Cave, Missouri, USA

CCM 24hr plot

IU/CHTO, Chiang Mai, Thailand

CHTO 24hr plot

IU/COLA, College Outpost, Alaska, USA

COLA 24hr plot

IU/COR, Corvallis, Oregon, USA

COR 24hr plot

IU/CTAO, Charters Towers, Australia

CTAO 24hr plot

IU/DAV,Davao, Philippines

DAV 24hr plot

IU/DWPF,Disney Wilderness Preserve, Florida, USA

DWPF 24hr plot

IU/FUNA,Funafuti, Tuvalu

FUNA 24hr plot

IU/FURI, Mt. Furi, Ethiopia

FURI 24hr plot

IU/GNI, Garni, Armenia

GNI 24hr plot

IU/GRFO, Grafenberg, Germany

GRFO 24hr plot

IU/GUMO, Guam, Mariana Islands

GUMO 24hr plot

IU/HKT, Hockley, Texas, USA

HKT 24hr plot

IU/HNR, Honiara, Solomon Islands

HNR 24hr plot

IU/HRV, Adam Dziewonski Observatory (Oak Ridge), Massachusetts, USA

HRV 24hr plot

IU/INCN, Inchon, Republic of Korea

INCN 24hr plot

IU/JOHN, Johnston Island, Pacific Ocean

JOHN 24hr plot

IU/KBS, Ny-Alesund, Spitzbergen, Norway

KBS 24hr plot

IU/KEV, Kevo, Finland

KEV 24hr plot

IU/KIEV, Kiev, Ukraine

KIEV 24hr plot

IU/KIP, Kipapa, Hawaii, USA

KIP 24hr plot

IU/KMBO, Kilima Mbogo, Kenya

KMBO 24hr plot

IU/KNTN, Kanton Island, Kiribati

KNTN 24hr plot

IU/KONO, Kongsberg, Norway

KONO 24hr plot

IU/KOWA, Kowa, Mali

KOWA 24hr plot

IU/LCO, Las Campanas Astronomical Observatory, Chile

LCO 24hr plot

IU/LSZ, Lusaka, Zambia

LSZ 24hr plot

IU/LVC, Limon Verde, Chile

LVC 24hr plot

IU/MA2, Magadan, Russia

MA2 24hr plot

IU/MAJO, Matsushiro, Japan

MAJO 24hr plot

IU/MAKZ,Makanchi, Kazakhstan

MAKZ 24hr plot

IU/MBWA, Marble Bar, Western Australia

MBWA 24hr plot

IU/MIDW, Midway Island, Pacific Ocean, USA

MIDW 24hr plot

IU/MSKU, Masuku, Gabon

MSKU 24hr plot

IU/NWAO, Narrogin, Australia

NWAO 24hr plot

IU/OTAV, Otavalo, Ecuador

OTAV 24hr plot

IU/PAB, San Pablo, Spain

PAB 24hr plot

IU/PAYG Puerto Ayora, Galapagos Islands

PAYG 24hr plot

IU/PET, Petropavlovsk, Russia

PET 24hr plot

IU/PMG, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

PMG 24hr plot

IU/PMSA, Palmer Station, Antarctica

PMSA 24hr plot

IU/POHA, Pohakaloa, Hawaii

POHA 24hr plot

IU/PTCN, Pitcairn Island, South Pacific

PTCN 24hr plot

IU/PTGA, Pitinga, Brazil

PTGA 24hr plot

IU/QSPA, South Pole, Antarctica

QSPA 24hr plot

IU/RAO, Raoul, Kermadec Islands

RAO 24hr plot

IU/RAR, Rarotonga, Cook Islands

RAR 24hr plot

IU/RCBR, Riachuelo, Brazil

RCBR 24hr plot

IU/RSSD, Black Hills, South Dakota, USA

RSSD 24hr plot

IU/SAML, Samuel, Brazil

SAML 24hr plot

IU/SBA, Scott Base, Antarctica

SBA 24hr plot

IU/SDV, Santo Domingo, Venezuela

SDV 24hr plot

IU/SFJD, Sondre Stromfjord, Greenland

SFJD 24hr plot

IU/SJG, San Juan, Puerto Rico

SJG 24hr plot

IU/SLBS, Sierra la Laguna Baja California Sur, Mexico

SLBS 24hr plot

IU/SNZO, South Karori, New Zealand

SNZO 24hr plot

IU/SSPA, Standing Stone, Pennsylvania USA

SSPA 24hr plot

IU/TARA, Tarawa Island, Republic of Kiribati

TARA 24hr plot

IU/TATO, Taipei, Taiwan

TATO 24hr plot

IU/TEIG, Tepich, Yucatan, Mexico

TEIG 24hr plot

IU/TIXI, Tiksi, Russia

TIXI 24hr plot

IU/TRIS, Tristan da Cunha, Atlantic Ocean

TRIS 24hr plot

IU/TRQA, Tornquist, Argentina

TRQA 24hr plot

IU/TSUM, Tsumeb, Namibia

TSUM 24hr plot

IU/TUC, Tucson, Arizona

TUC 24hr plot

IU/ULN, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

ULN 24hr plot

IU/WAKE, Wake Island, Pacific Ocean

WAKE 24hr plot

IU/WCI, Wyandotte Cave, Indiana, USA

WCI 24hr plot

IU/WVT, Waverly, Tennessee, USA

WVT 24hr plot

IU/XMAS, Kiritimati Island, Republic of Kiribati

XMAS 24hr plot

IU/YAK, Yakutsk, Russia

YAK 24hr plot

IU/YSS, Yuzhno Sakhalinsk, Russia

YSS 24hr plot

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

New model shows in detail the trigger for Earth’s last big Freeze (Younger Dryas)

Filed under: Climate Change, Crossroads News : Changes In The World Around Us And Our Place In It, Environmental, Research, Seas / Oceans — 1 Comment
November 9, 2012

Environmental  -  Climate Change

ICE WORLD

UMass Amherst climate modeler identifies trigger for Earth’s last big freeze

by Staff Writers
Amherst MA (SPX)


A new model of flood waters from melting of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and large glacial lakes along its edge that covered much of North America from the Arctic south to New England over 13,000 years ago, shows the meltwater flowed northwest into the Arctic first. This weakened deep ocean circulation and led to Earth’s last major cold period. A new model of flood waters from melting of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and large glacial lakes along its edge that covered much of North America from the Arctic south to New England over 13,000 years ago, shows the meltwater flowed northwest into the Arctic first. This weakened deep ocean circulation and led to Earth’s last major cold period. Credit: Alan Condron, UMass Amherst.

For more than 30 years, climate scientists have debated whether flood waters from melting of the enormous Laurentide Ice Sheet, which ushered in the last major cold episode on Earth about 12,900 years ago, flowed northwest into the Arctic first, or east via the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to weaken ocean thermohaline circulation and have a frigid effect on global climate.

Now University of Massachusetts Amherst geoscientist Alan Condron, with Peter Winsor at the University of Alaska, using new, high-resolution global ocean circulation models, report the first conclusive evidence that this flood must have flowed north into the Arctic first down the Mackenzie River valley. They also show that if it had flowed east into the St. Lawrence River valley, Earth’s climate would have remained relatively unchanged.

“This episode was the last time the Earth underwent a major cooling, so understanding exactly what caused it is very important for understanding how our modern-day climate might change in the future,” says Condron of UMass Amherst’s Climate System Research Center. Findings appear in the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Events leading up to the sharp climate-cooling period known as the Younger Dryas, or more familiarly as the “Big Freeze,” unfolded after glacial Lake Agassiz, at the southern edge of the Laurentide ice sheet covering Hudson Bay and much of the Canadian Arctic, catastrophically broke through an ice dam and rapidly dumped thousands of cubic kilometers of fresh water into the ocean.

This massive influx of frigid fresh water injected over the surface of the ocean is assumed to have halted the sinking of very dense, saltier, colder water in the North Atlantic that drives the large-scale ocean circulation, the thermohaline circulation, that transports heat to Europe and North America. The weakening of this circulation caused by the flood resulted in the dramatic cooling of North America and Europe.

Using their high resolution, global, ocean-ice circulation model that is 10 to 20 times more powerful than previously attainable, Condron and Winsor compared how meltwater from the two different drainage outlets was delivered to the sinking regions in the North Atlantic.

They found the original hypothesis proposed in 1989 by Wally Broecker of Columbia University suggesting that Lake Aggasiz drained into the North Atlantic down the St. Lawrence River would have weakened the thermohaline circulation by less than 15 percent.

Condron and Winsor say this level of weakening is unlikely to have accounted for the 1,000-year cold climate event that followed the meltwater flood. Meltwater from the St. Lawrence River actually ends up almost 1,900 miles (3,000 km) south of the deep water formation regions, too far south to have any significant impact on the sinking of surface waters, which explains why the impact on the thermohaline circulation is so minor.

By contrast, Condron and Winsor’s model shows that when the meltwater first drains into the Arctic Ocean, narrow coastal boundary currents can efficiently deliver it to the deep water formation regions of the sub-polar north Atlantic, weakening the thermohaline circulation by more than 30 percent.

They conclude that this scenario, showing meltwater discharged first into the Arctic rather than down the St. Lawrence valley, is “more likely to have triggered the Younger Dryas cooling.”

Condron and Windor’s model runs on one of the world’s top supercomputers at the National Energy Research Science Computing Center in Berkeley, Calif. The authors say, “With this higher resolution modeling, our ability to capture narrow ocean currents dramatically improves our understanding of where the fresh water may be going.”

Condron adds, “The results we obtain are only possible by using a much higher computational power available with faster computers. Older models weren’t powerful enough to model the different pathways because they contained too few data points to capture smaller-scale, faster-moving coastal currents.”

“Our results are particularly relevant for how we model the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice sheets now and in the future. “It is apparent from our results that climate scientists are artificially introducing fresh water into their models over large parts of the ocean that freshwater would never have reached.

“In addition, our work points to the Arctic as a primary trigger for climate change. This is especially relevant considering the rapid changes that have been occurring in this region in the last 10 years.”

.

Related Links
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Beyond the Ice Age

Related articles
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comment

Sandy battered the nation’s eastern seaboard, swamping New York City streets with record levels of floodwater, blacking out power to millions of people and bringing transportation to a halt through much of the region.

Filed under: Disaster Management, Earth Watch Report, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Storms — 3 Comments
October 30, 2012

Earth Watch Report

New York paralyzed as Sandy slams into eastern US

The skyline of lower Manhattan sits in darkness after a preventive
power outage in New York October 29, 2012. (Reuters/Keith Bedford)
By Anna Louie Sussman and Michael Erman

NEW YORK (Reuters) — Sandy, one of the biggest storms ever to hit the United States, battered the nation’s eastern seaboard on Tuesday, swamping New York City streets with record levels of floodwater, blacking out power to millions of people and bringing transportation to a halt through much of the region.

At least 13 people were reported killed in the United States by Sandy, which dropped just below hurricane status before going ashore in New Jersey on Monday, according to officials and media reports. More than 1 million people across a dozen states were under orders to evacuate as the massive system continued to plow westward.

One disaster forecasting company predicted economic losses could ultimately reach $20 billion, only half insured.

The storm also slowed the presidential campaign at a key time ahead of next week’s vote and closed US markets for two days.

Sandy, which was especially imposing because of its wide-raging winds, brought a record surge of almost 14 feet to downtown Manhattan, well above the previous record of 10 feet during Hurricane Donna in 1960, the National Weather Service said.

Water poured into the subway system and tunnels that run under the rivers around Manhattan, raising concerns that the world’s financial capital could be hobbled for days to come.

“Hitting at high tide, the strongest surge and the strongest winds all hit at the worst possible time,” said Jeffrey Tongue, meteorologist for the weather service in Brookhaven, New York.

Hurricane-force winds as high as 90 miles per hour were recorded, he said.

“Hopefully it’s a once-in-a-lifetime storm,” Tongue said.

Large sections of New York City were in darkness without power and transportation in the metropolitan area was at a standstill.

“In 108 years our employees have never faced a challenge like the one that confronts us now,” Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Joseph Lhota said in a statement.

It could take anywhere from 14 hours to four days to get the water out of the flooded subway tunnels, the MTA said.

“The damage has been geographically very widespread throughout the entire subway, bus, LIRR (Long Island Railroad) and Metro North system, MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said.

50-plus homes burn

The unprecedented flooding was hampering efforts to fight a massive fire in one of the city’s barrier island neighborhoods, Breezy Point in the borough Queens, the New York Fire Department said. More than 170 firefighters battled a fire that destroyed more than 50 homes.

Two people were reported dead in New York City – a man in a house hit by a tree and a woman who stepped into an electrified puddle of water. Two other people were killed in suburban Westchester County, north of New York City, and a motor vehicle death in Massachusetts was blamed in part on the bad weather.

Two others were killed in Maryland in storm-related incidents, state authorities said, and deaths also were reported in Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, CNN said.

Toronto police also recorded one death – a woman hit by flying debris.

Some 6.8 million people in several states were left without electrical power by the storm, which crashed ashore late on Monday near the gambling resort of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

In New Jersey, Exelon Corp declared an alert around its Oyster Creek nuclear power plant because of rising waters, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. Officials said if waters rose further, they might be forced to use emergency water supplies to cool spent uranium fuel rods.

An alert-level incident, the second-lowest of four action levels, means there’s a “potential substantial degradation in the level of safety” at a reactor.

The storm’s wind field stretched from South Carolina north to the Canadian border and from West Virginia to a point in the Atlantic Ocean halfway to Bermuda, easily one of the largest ever seen, the National Hurricane Center said.

Heavy snow fell in higher elevations of the Appalachian Mountain inland, and the population centers of Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, were in the slow-moving storm’s path.

In New York, a crane partially collapsed and dangled from a 90-story luxury apartment building under construction in midtown Manhattan, and authorities evacuated residents in the area out of fear that high winds would bring the entire rig down.

Much of the city was deserted, as its subways, buses, commuter trains, bridges and airports were closed.

Neighborhoods along the East and Hudson rivers were underwater, as were low-lying streets near Ground Zero, where the World Trade Center once stood.

Power and back-up generators failed at New York University Hospital, forcing patients to be moved elsewhere for care.

In lower Manhattan, firefighters used inflatable orange boats to rescue utility workers stranded for three hours by rising floodwaters inside a power substation.

One of the Con Ed workers pulled from the floodwater, Angelo Amato, said he was part of a crew who had offered to work through the storm.

“This is what happens when you volunteer,” he said.

Markets, campaign impacted

Trees were downed across the region, falling debris closed a major bridge in Boston and floodwater and gusts of wind buffeted coastal towns such as Fairfield, Connecticut, home to many commuters into New York City.

With eight days to go before the election, President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney canceled scheduled campaign events and acted cautiously to avoid coming across as overtly political while millions of people are imperiled.

US stock markets were set to be closed on Tuesday. They closed on Monday for the first time since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The federal government in Washington was closed and schools were shut up and down the East Coast.

NYSE Euronext said there had been no damage to the New York Stock Exchange headquarters that could impair trading floor operations but it was making contingency plans in case of such damage.

Sandy killed 66 people in the Caribbean last week before pounding U.S. coastal areas.

Related articles
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comment
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 739 other followers