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Tag: global warming

NASA: Deep Solar Minimum — “the quietest sun we’ve seen in almost a century”

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On April 9, 2009

In Climate Change

From: NASA

April 1, 2009: The sunspot cycle is behaving a little like the stock market. Just when you think it has hit bottom, it goes even lower.

2008 was a bear. There were no sunspots observed on 266 of the year’s 366 days (73%). To find a year with more blank suns, you have to go all the way back to 1913, which had 311 spotless days: plot. Prompted by these numbers, some observers suggested that the solar cycle had hit bottom in 2008.

Maybe not. Sunspot counts for 2009 have dropped even lower. As of March 31st, there were no sunspots on 78 of the year’s 90 days (87%).

It adds up to one inescapable conclusion: “We’re experiencing a very deep solar minimum,” says solar physicist Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center.

“This is the quietest sun we’ve seen in almost a century,” agrees sunspot expert David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center.

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Sun’s Power Hits New Low, May Endanger Earth?

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On September 25, 2008

In Climate Change

From: National Geographic News

Even the sun appears headed for a recession.

The Ulysses space probe has detected fewer sunspots, decreased solar winds, and a weakening magnetic field—the lowest solar activity observed in 50 years, NASA scientists said yesterday.

That translates into a shrinking of the heliosphere, the invisible “bubble” of solar wind that extends beyond Pluto and guards the planets—ours included—from bombardment by cosmic rays. …

“Over the entire record of sun observations, this is the longest prolonged low pressure that we’ve observed.”

Some variance in solar activity is normal for the sun, which has a 22-year magnetic cycle and an 11-year sunspot cycle.

But McComas said in a statement that researchers have been “surprised to find that the solar wind is much less powerful than it had been in the previous solar minimum.”

Despite its name, solar wind is actually a stream of charged particles that expands out from the sun.

Ed Smith, a NASA Ulysses project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, also added that the drop in solar winds has lasted longer than predicted. …

The so-called Maunder Minimum, a time of low solar activity, lasted from about 1645 to 1715. During this time, access to Greenland was largely cut off by ice, and canals in Holland routinely froze solid, according to NASA.

Glaciers advanced in the Alps….

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Related:

Global Cooling: Alaskan Glaciers Grow For First Time In 250 Years

Anchorage’s ‘Summer’ of 2008 Record: Only 2 Days Above 69 Degrees

Global Cooling Due to Decreased Sunspot Activity?

Lack of Sunspots Causing a Global Cooling Phase

Contrails & Chemtrails? Reflect Sunlight by Day & Retain Heat by Night

By

On August 6, 2008

In Climate Change

From: PBS.org—Dimming the Sun

CONTRAIL HIATUS

At least that was the case until September 11, 2001. For the first time since the jet age began, virtually all aircraft were grounded over the United States for three days. Even as they tried like the rest of us to absorb the enormity of the terrorist attacks, climatologists realized they had an unprecedented opportunity to scrutinize individual contrails, and several studies were quickly launched. …

Another study that took advantage of the grounding gave striking evidence of what contrails can do. David Travis of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and two colleagues measured the difference, over those three contrail-free days, between the highest daytime temperature and the lowest nighttime temperature across the continental U.S. They compared those data with the average range in day-night temperatures for the period 1971-2000, again across the contiguous 48 states. Travis’s team discovered that from roughly midday September 11 to midday September 14, the days had become warmer and the nights cooler, with the overall range greater by about two degrees Fahrenheit.

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No kidding! Global Warming Spreads to Jupiter, Mars

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On May 24, 2008

In Climate Change

From: WorldNetDaily

According to Philip S. Marcus, a professor of fluid dynamics at UC Berkeley, analysis of the Hubble and Keck images may support his 2004 conjecture that Jupiter is in the midst of global climate change that will alter temperatures by as much as 10 degrees Celsius, getting warmer near the equator and cooler near the south pole. He predicted that large changes would start in the southern hemisphere around 2006, causing the jet streams to become unstable and spawn new vortices. …

Mars, too, is being hit by rapid climate change and it is happening so fast that the red planet could lose its southern ice cap, according to scientists.

Scientists from NASA say that Mars has warmed by about 0.5C since the 1970s. This is similar to the warming experienced on Earth over approximately the same period.

Since there is no known life on Mars it suggests rapid changes in planetary climates could be natural phenomena.

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Alaska: Latest Spring Thaw So Far at My Mom’s House

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On May 4, 2008

In Climate Change

Just for the record.

Each year, I look to see at about what day the last patch of snow thaws in my Mom’s yard in Anchorage, Alaska. It’s always in the same spot, and it usually thaws around April 15th.

This year, after having some earlier weather that gave us hope we could expect an early thaw, it got colder, and we got a record, late snowfall that delayed the thaw of this patch until Saturday, May 3rd!

Jeff Fenske

Alaska: Anchorage digs out after record snowfall | Confused ducks

By

On April 27, 2008

In Alaska, Climate Change

From: Anchorage Daily News, Saturday, 4/26/08

Anchorage continues to dig out from a snowfall that set a record for the day and the month.The National Weather Service says 17.2 inches fell at its office just south of Anchorage’s international airport and 22 inches fell in northeast Anchorage on Friday and Saturday.

The heaviest snow fell between 3 and 6 p.m. Friday at a rate of almost two inches per hour.

The monthly total at the weather service office is now 29.7 inches, breaking a record from 1963 when 27.6 inches fell during April.

The 15.5 inches that fell Friday is the third-most for any one day in Anchorage. The record is the 25.7 inches that fell six years ago on March 17, 2002.

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From: Anchorage Daily News, 4/27/08

Springtime in Alaska, and the livin’ is beastly

… I should have known the recent warmth wouldn’t last. You just have to notice the signs. On Thursday, I realized there were no buds on the trees and no green shoots of grass had shown. That seemed odd after several days of warm weather.

It was as if the plants knew something was up.

The birds sure didn’t. As the snow continued to fall on Friday, I noticed confused ducks flying around, seemingly looking for a place to land. One duck finally found a slim open lead of water between the slush piling up in a roadside mud puddle. It didn’t look too happy.

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Alaska: Palmer Golf Course Opens All 18 Holes for Business

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On March 24, 2008

In Alaska, Climate Change, Golf

From: Anchorage Daily News

Blessed by an early spring, Palmer Golf Course opened 18 holes with two temporary greens on Friday.

Word spread quickly. On Friday, about 50 players showed up, Palmer director of golf George Collum estimated. By Saturday, as many 80 were on the course — including one who buried an early-season eagle.

“It’s very early,” Collum said Saturday. “We opened in 2002 on the 28th of March. This is a week earlier, but we’re opening all 18 holes this time.” …

Collum said this is the course’s earliest opening.

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Alaska is Feeling the Heat: 3X the Lower-48’s Temperature Increase

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On January 10, 2008

In Alaska, Climate Change

“In the lower-48, the average temperature has increased 1 degree over the past 100 years. But in Alaska, the increase has been about three times that—nearly 3 degrees Fahrenheit. And winter temperatures are even hotter, rising by as much as 5-7 degrees Fahrenheit over the last 50 years.

Alaska is caught in a reinforcing cycle. When the sunlight hits snow and ice, it mostly gets reflected back into space. But as the ice and snow melt from warmer temperatures, they’re replaced by brown earth and open water which absorb about 80% of the sun’s energy.

Alaska is feeling the heat.”

Transcribed by Jeff Fenske from:
Extreme Alaska: Building/Wild, National Geographic Channel, 2007

Shape-Shifting into Reptillians Cartoon–”Dino Squad”

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On December 5, 2007

In Freedom

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOtE1Wtkjw]

From: Wikipedia
Dino Squad is an animated television series by DiC Entertainment about five teenagers, each with the power to turn into a respective dinosaur. They use this power to fight the villainous Victor Veloci, who is intent on returning the world to the age of dinosaurs by turning humans into new mutant dinosaurs and accelerating global warming. It will air on CBS’s KEWLopolis this November. The first season will have thirteen episodes, followed by another thirteen in fall of 2008. It is unknown whether the show will continue afterwards.

Show summary

Five quirky teenagers, Rodger, Caruso, Max, Fiona and Buzz, suddenly gain the power to turn into dinosaurs. …

Source

Arctic Oscillation Partly to Blame for Warmer North Pole

By

On November 30, 2007

In Alaska, Climate Change

From: TheRegister.co.uk

The more clement Arctic climate of recent years could have been triggered by shorter term circulation changes in the oceans and atmosphere.

According to a team of NASA scientists, decade-long variations in ocean circulation, known as the Arctic Oscillation, have an effect on the oceans’ salinity. A very salty sea is heavier and circulates differently than a less salty one, the team says. This can affect the temperature of the water in the region and thus the local climate.

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