In the News

Highlights in ocean acidification activities: July 2008 - July 2009

Activities & Highlights
Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry (OCB)
Joanie Kleypas

300 Billion Weather Forecasts Used by Americans Annually, Survey Finds

Scientific American
Jeffrey Lazo, Rebecca Morss, Julie Demuth, Cheryl Dybas (NSF)
24 June 2009

Mark Twain once said he counted 136 kinds of weather in a single New England day. If he were around today, he’d probably be tuning in to his local TV station and going online for help with the task.

Twain would have plenty of company. A nationwide survey just out from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) found that nearly nine in 10 American adults check weather reports regularly. That adds up to about 300 billion forecasts annually.

The study is the first to comprehensively assess the public’s perception, use and value of forecasts. It appears in the June issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. The work was funded by the National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration....more

Related Articles:

- 300 Billion Weather Forecasts Used by Americans Annually, Survey Finds - Press Release
- U.S. uses 300b weather forecasts annually - upi.com
- Americans check the weather 300 billion times a year - Daily Camera
- Americans check the weather 300 billion times a year - Colorado Daily
- What's your weather? Americans see 300 billion forecasts each year - Network World
- Can obnoxious cell phone towers help predict floods? - Network World
- 300 billion weather forecasts used by Americans annually, survey finds - Innovations Report
- US adults use over 300 billion weather forecasts annually: survey - Hamara Photos - Hollywood Bytes

Modeling Volcanic Eruptions Mimics a Stressed Climate

Julie Caron, John Truesdale & Francois Lamarque
National Center for Computational Sciences (nccs.gov)
19 May 2009

The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines spewed 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide gas into the atmosphere, the bulk of it in only 9 hours. The sulfur dioxide circulated around the globe in about 2 weeks, interacting with oxygen molecules along the way to become a sulfate aerosol that would remain in the atmosphere for several years.

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) are using the Cray XT5 supercomputer, Jaguar, at the National Center for Computational Sciences (NCCS) to simulate how the climate system reacts to the atmospheric increase in aerosols from volcanic eruptions...more

Climate change slowing global river flows

Aigo Dai, lead author
G Magazine Online
1 May 2009

Rivers in some of the world's most populated regions are losing water - many due to climate change - according to a new study of global stream flow.

The research, to be published next month in the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate, was led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in the US, and warns that the reduced flows could potentially threaten future supplies of food and water.

The scientists, who examined stream flow from 1948 to 2004, found significant changes in about one-third of the world's largest rivers. Of those, rivers with decreased flow outnumbered those with increased flow by about two-and-a-half times...more

Related Articles:

- Water levels dropping in some major rivers as global climate changes - India Environmental Portal
- Climate change: water levels dropping in some major rivers - WASH News International

Heads Up! Early Warning Systems for Climate, Water and Weather-Related Hazards

Michael Glantz (CU), Jennerifer Boehnert, Tom Bogdan (NOAA), Mary Hayden, Stefanie Herrmann, Joanie Kleypas, Margaret LeMone, Rebecca Morss
May 2009

The forces of nature can have deadly and damaging consequences for societies and ecosystems that stand in their path. Early warning systems offer one of the best defenses against the adverse effects of climate, water, weather and geologic hazards, although far too often this realization is made after disaster strikes...more

NCAR: World's Rivers Shrinking - Freshwater sources dwindle due to climate change

by Randloph E. Schmid, Associated Press, printed in the Daily Camera
Aiguo Dai & Kevin Trenberth
21 April 2009

The flow of water in the world's largest rivers has declined over the past half-century, with significant changes found in about a third of the big rivers and a 14 percent decrease in the Columbia in the Pacific Northwest, according to new research by Boulder scientists.

An analysis of 925 major rivers from 1948 to 2004 showed an overall decline in total discharge. The reduction in inflow to the Pacific Ocean alone was about equal to shutting off the Mississippi River, according to the new study appearing in the May 15 edition of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate.

The only area showing a significant increase in flow was the Arctic, where warming conditions are increasing the snow and ice melt, said researchers led by Aiguo Dai of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder.

"Freshwater resources will likely decline in the coming decades over many densely populated areas at mid- to low latitudes, largely due to climate changes, Dai said. "Rapid disappearing mountain glaciers in the Tibetan plateau and other places will make matters worse."

Added co-author Kevin Trenberth, "As climate change inevitably continues in coming decades, we are likely to see greater impacts on many rivers and water resources that society has come to rely on."...more

As World Warms, Water Levels Dropping in Major Rivers

NSF Press Release
Aiguo Dai & Kevin Trenberth
21 April 2009

Rivers in some of the world's most populous regions are losing water, according to a comprehensive study of global stream flows.

The research, led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., suggests that the reduced flows in many cases are associated with climate change, and could potentially threaten future supplies of food and water.

The results will be published May 15 in the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), NCAR's sponsor.

"The distribution of the world's fresh water, already an important topic," says Cliff Jacobs of NSF's Division of Atmospheric Sciences, "will occupy front and center stage for years to come in developing adaptation strategies to a changing climate."

The scientists, who examined stream flows from 1948 to 2004, found significant changes in about one-third of the world's largest rivers. Of those, rivers with decreased flow outnumbered those with increased flow by a ratio of about 2.5 to 1...more

Related Articles:

- Rivers losing water due to climate change: livescience (Yahoo! News), also reprinted in Climate Ark
- Water levels dropping in some major rivers as global climate changes: Insciences, also repinted in ScienceBlog
- River levels dropping as climate changes: Keng
- NCAR report shows world's rivers losing water: The Sustainability Ninja
- Earth's Precarious Future: armagdon online
- Lots of Ink: Earth Day tales of water & woe: Knight Science Journalism Tracker
- Climate Change: The Next Generation: Climate Change Psychology
- Water levels dropping in some of the world's major rivers: Green Car Congress
- Climate change threatens Ganges, Niger and other mighty rivers: Guardian (UK)
- Climate change drying up big rivers, study finds: PlanetArk (Reuters), reprinted in Wild Singapore

Saving the Oceans: 'Mission Possible'

by Daniel Glick, Daily Climate
Joanie Kleypas
25 February 2009

In science, “Aha” moments take many forms. For Joanie Kleypas, a flash of scientific revelation made her, literally, sick to her stomach.

An oceanographer and coral reef geologist, Kleypas was attending a conference in 1998 with an eclectic group of scientists, pondering the ecological consequences of climate change. Everybody knew that atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations were on the rise. So were global air and ocean temperatures.

Widespread coral bleaching during the 1997-98 El Nino event had turned vast coral forests white, a clear response to temporarily higher ocean temperatures. Kleypas also knew that oceans, which act as “sinks” that absorb atmospheric CO2, were changing in ways that any high school chemistry student could understand: As CO2 is added to water, it makes carbonic acid, lowering its pH....more

A Summary of the UCAR Google.org Weather & Meningitis Project

11 February 2009
Abudulai Adams‐Forgor, Mary Hayden, Abraham Hodgson, Thomas Hopson, Benjamin Lamptey, Jeff Lazo, Raj Pandya, Jennie Rice, Fred Semazzi, Madeleine Thomson, Sylwia Trazka, Tom Warner, Tom Yoksas
Slide Show

NCAR Forecasts Will Help Xcel Energy Harness Wind

William Mahoney, Ned Patton, Tom Warner...
6 Feburary 2009

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has reached an agreement with Xcel Energy to provide highly detailed, localized weather forecasts to enable the utility to better integrate electricity generated from wind into the power grid. The forecasts will help operators make critical decisions about powering down traditional coal- and natural gas-fired plants when sufficient winds are predicted, allowing the utility to increase reliance on alternative energy while still meeting the needs of its customers.The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will support the project by developing mathematical formulas to calculate the amount of energy that turbines generate when winds blow at various speeds...more

Related Article:

- Press Release Point: NCAR Forecasts Will Help Xcel Energy Harness Wind

Scientists Take off on Historic Mission to Measure Greenhouse Gases That Have an Impact on Climate

Britt Stephens & Steven Wofsy (Harvard) - NSF Press Release
January 2009

HIPPO Fact Sheet | HIPPO Global Field Project Page
Video Clip | HIPPO Multimedia Gallery

HIAPER, one of the nation's most advanced research aircraft, is scheduled to embark on an historic mission spanning the globe from the Arctic to the Antarctic.

Starting Jan. 7, 2009, the HIAPER Pole-to-Pole Observations (HIPPO) mission will cover more than 24,000 miles as an international team of scientists makes a series of five flights over the next three years sampling the atmosphere in some of the most inaccessible regions of the world.   

The goal of the mission is ambitious--the first-ever, global, real-time sampling of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses across a wide range of altitudes in the atmosphere, literally from pole-to-pole...more

Related Article:

- Pole-to-Pole Flights Provide First Global Picture of Greenhouse Gases - NCAR Press Release
- HIPPO Background - NSF
- Scientists Take off on Historic Mission to Measure Greenhouse Gases That Have an Impact on Climate - NSF Press Release 7 Janaury 2009
- HIAPER Returns - NSF Press Release 27 January 2009
- Researchers fly high and low to obtain a global snapshot of the greenhouse effect: Mpelembe Network
- Mission: Pole-to-Pole: 13.7 Billion Years
- Your Green Life: HIAPER Mission: Northland's News Center, 17 April 09
- Reduced Arctic Sea Ice Hinders Accurate Climate Monitoring - Impact of Depleted Arctic Drifting Buoy Network: Sourcews: 15 April 09