Weather Tracker Set for May Launch
April 30, 1999The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-L), an
advanced weather satellite to improve severe weather forecasts, will be
launched from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla, on May 23. According to a
NASA spokesperson, once in orbit, the satellite will be functioning in time
for the 1999 hurricane season. (CNN Interactive)
NASA Gives Kids Window on North Pole
April 27, 1999A new NASA World Wide Web site is tracking an expedition to the polar region where anyone with access to the Internet can watch scientists measure ozone levels, ice thickness, soil and water pH levels. According to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, what makes the North Pole Project truly interactive is that NASA is providing live pictures from the North Pole. Students from around the world will be able to ask questions and view data and new images from the project. (CNN Interactive)
La Niña is on It's Way Out
April 26, 1999La Niña is fading. The latest sea-surface height images from the U.S.-French TOPEX/Poseidon satellite reveal cooler temperatures and lower sea levels across the equatorial Pacific Ocean. This indicates that conditions are returning to normal, but the image still shows an imbalance in heat distribution in the Pacific Ocean. (CNN Interactive)
Clearer Skies: Future Weather Forecasts
April 26, 1999Scientists with IBM and the U.S. Forecast Systems Laboratory in
Colorado say that they have a computer that can make weather predictions on
the scale of a few miles. The computer, called " Deep Thunder, "
can calculate wind, precipitation, temperature, and other factors necessary
in forecasting. (Dallas Morning News)
Disappearing Ice Down South
April 24, 1999The glacial shelves that surround the Antarctic Peninsula are melting and have already lost enough ice to cover Rhode Island. Satellite images analyzed by Ted Scambos, at the University of Colorado's Snow and Ice Data Center reveal that ice shelves are shrinking, but glacial researchers say thata future collapse of the ice shelves because of the melting will not alter global sea level because the ice shelves are already floating in the ocean. (Science News)
Largest Lava Flow Ever Reported
April 23, 1999Scientists have discovered the most extensive lava flow covering some 2.7 million square miles by comparing newly found rock formations in Brazil with similar rocks on three other continents. According to Paul Renne of the University of California at Berkeley, the same lava flow formed these rocks. The eruption that formed these rocks occurred a few million years ago, split Pangea, and opened up the Atlantic Ocean. (Associated Press)
Earth Could Warm 3 Degrees Next Century
April 22, 1999Carbon dioxide emissions could increase global temperatures by an average of 3 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century. In a report by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, scientists predict melting ice caps, raising sea levels, disturbed weather patterns, droughts, severe storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and blizzards as a result of the 3 degree rise in global temperatures. (Reuters)
A Permanent El Niño?
April 21, 1999El Niño conditions may become permanent if global warming continues to make weather extremes the norm. Results of a modeling study by Mojib Latif of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, showed that if nothing is done to control emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, a permanent El Ni�o could settle in around the year 2050. (Associated Press)
Ozone-Depleting Chemicals Decline
April 21, 1999The level of ozone-depleting chemicals in the atmosphere is decreasing because of reductions in methyl chloroform, which was phased out between 1993-1996. Stephen A. Montzka, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, says that we have made progress but safe levels of ozone-depleting chemicals have not yet been reached. (Associated Press)
Researchers Predict Wet Future for Southwest, Great Plains
April 20, 1999Wintertime precipitation over the U.S. Southwest and Great Plains could increase by 40 percent if nothing is done to curb carbon dioxide emissions over the next century. Researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research said that results from a new climate system model revealed that precipitation changes are reduced when carbon dioxide emissions are limited. (CNN Interactive)
Parched Sunbelt Awaits Relief
April 19, 1999Parts of southern and midwestern United States are suffering through a growing drought that has spread over the past several months. Tom Swetnam, a University of Arizona tree ring expert, says that the drier than normal conditions could prevent burned forests from recovering. Climate experts blame the current conditions on La Niña. (Associated Press)
Air Travel a Major Source of Pollution
April 16, 1999One of the main sources of atmospheric pollution is the 16,000 aircraft that circle the globe everyday, says Ram Sundararam, secretary of the U. N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He also says that airplanes emit gases that change atmospheric composition and fuel the greenhouse effect. (Reuters)
NASA Launches New Earth-Imaging Satellite
April 15, 1999NASA's Landsat 7 satellite was launched today to monitor global conditions ranging from snowpacks and vegetation to the effects of floods, fires, earthquakes, and volcanoes. Darrel Williams, Landsat 7 project scientist, says that Landsat 7 will monitor the same area every 16 days. (Associated Press) more...
El Niño May Slow Global Warming
April 15, 1999Researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that during the 1991-1994 El Niño events, the ocean released between 30 and 80 percent less carbon dioxide than usual. Understanding the year-to year changes in CO2 levels is the key to understanding the relationship between the ocean and the atmosphere and the impact on global climate, say the researchers. (Associated Press)
Frog Decline Linked To Climate Shift
April 15, 1999A climate shift associated with global warming has caused 20 frog species to disappear from Costa Rica, researcher report. According to University of Miami researcher J. Alan Pounds, plants and animals respond to climate change more quickly than previously thought. (Washington Post)
Is Another Dust Bowl Likely?
April 12, 1999The potential for another "dust bowl" lies in more than 60,000 square miles of the central U.S. Alexander Goetz at the University of Colorado in Boulder says that doesn’t have to happen. Goetz will use satellite data from Landsat 7 to monitor land surface changes. (Denver Post)
A New Force in High-Latitude Climate
April 9, 1999An unpredictable atmospheric seesaw, called the Arctic Oscillation can turn minor atmospheric changes into major climatic shifts, according to John Wallace and David Thompson at the University of Washington. Wallace says that finding the triggers of the Arctic Oscillation will help in the understanding of high-latitude climate variability. (Science)
Link Between Sunspots, Stratosphere Buoyed
April 9, 1999Climate modelers report evidence that the effects of sunspots can be felt on the surface of the Earth. Drew Shindell and colleagues at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies reveal that solar activity causes a warming of stratospheric ozone, which can alter wind patterns on the Earth’s surface and result in climate shifts. (Science)
Global Warming Melting Major Ice Shelves
April 8, 1999Global Warming has increased the rate of melting of two Antarctic ice shelves, which have lost nearly 1,100 square miles of area in the last year, according to researchers at the University of Colorado and the British Atlantic Survey. The British researchers say that at this rate within a few years much of one of the ice shelves will be gone. (Associated Press)
Amazon Rain Forest Fading
April 8, 1999The Amazon rain forest is being destroyed twice as fast as previously believed, according to a study published in the ournal of Nature by scientists at the Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts. The satellite images traditionally used to gauge deforestation miss much of the damage from logging and fires. By using tips from landholders and wood mill operators, the researchers were then able to view the effect of fires by airplane. (Associated Press)
Carbon Dioxide Buildup Harms Coral Reefs
April 3, 1999Carbon dioxde issolved in seawater is a threat to coral reefs, says Joan Kleypas of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Col. The accumulation of carbon dioxide stunts the growth of the reef. This news is a surprise to many biologists who have ignored how coral reefs respond to carbon dioxide changes. (Science News)
NASA Set to Launch Earth-Watching Satellite
April 1, 1999High-resolution images of earth from space will be available when NASA launches the Landsat 7 Earth-observing satellite on April 15. The Landsat program is to monitor land surface changes using the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus, which measures radiation reflected or emitted by the Earth. (CNN Interactive)