An ambitious international project to study the climate of the Arctic from a research ship floating in polar ice for a year has reached an important milestone.
Researchers on board the RV Polarstern, which set sail from Tromso in Norway late last month, have selected the ice floe which will serve as their drifting base for the next 13 months.
Known as the Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC), the US$150m project is the largest shipborne polar expedition in history. Researchers hope that data gleaned from the expedition will mark a step-change in climate science.
As the reality of climate change sets in temperatures this summer reached the highest ever recorded on Earth.
These new temperature highs brought a spate of heat waves, which scientists say are likely to increase in frequency and intensity with global warming. What has been less studied until now is how climate change will affect the spatial size of heat waves in the future.
In a new study funded in part by NOAA and published in Environmental Research Letters, scientists examining this question came up with some startling results.
The scientists found that in a mid-range greenhouse emissions scenario the average spatial size of heat waves could increase by 50% by the middle of this century.
Jim Foerster, director of meteorology services for DTN, looks at how more sophisticated weather models and algorithms are helping to predict turbulence better
A 2016 study of fatal weather-related general aviation accidents in the US shows that weather, including turbulence, was a cause or contributing factor in 35% of cases. This is one reason why many aviation regulations around the world state that all passengers and crew must have their seatbelts fastened prior to aircraft moving, and can only be unfastened once the threat of turbulence, among other hazards, is lessened. Turbulence is a major concern for airlines and passengers, as evidenced by the recent news coverage of the subject.
Meteorological experts have been testifying before politicians in the US on the thorny question of why the public so often ignore evacuation orders.
Experts in the field appeared before a congressional hearing in Washington to answer lawmakers concerns about the issue.
The hearing of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee came after the US Congress ordered NOAA in 2017 to conduct a study of how the public responds to weather alerts with a view to devising more effective warnings.
Congress’s call for action was prompted in turn by findings in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, which devastated the US east coast in 2012.
The market for radars is expected to be worth more than US$38bn by 2025, helped in part by growing demand for weather radars for monitoring the climate.
This was the finding of a recent report published by the US-based market research firm Grand View Research Inc. The market valuation forecast represents a compound annual growth rate of nearly 4%, the report reveals.
The expected growth will be driven by increasing deployments of radars for security purposes and in the air travel and shipping industries. The report also highlighted the demand for weather radar systems for monitoring changes in climate patterns.
The American Meteorological Society (AMS) has honored the weather satellite manufacturer Ball Aerospace for its work for the US government and military.
The Colorado-based company will be presented with the 2020 Award for Outstanding Services by a Corporation at the AMS’s annual meeting in Boston in January. The event also marks the annual gathering’s 100th year.
“Ball Aerospace instrumentation and spacecraft has supported science and services in the atmospheric and related sciences, and many individuals at Ball have given generously of their time and talent through volunteer service in scientific organizations like AMS,” said AMS president Professor Jenni Evans, announcing the award.
A new study has shed light on the species most at risk of going extinct due to a rise in extreme weather events resulting from climate change.
The study published in the journal Ecology and Evolution challenges the idea that species historically exposed to more variable conditions are more likely to survive this new paradigm.
The study’s authors, Carlos Botero, assistant biology professor at Washington University in St. Louis, and Thomas Haaland, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Zurich, reached this conclusion after developing an evolutionary model of how populations respond to rare environmental extremes.
US meteorologists have developed a school outreach program that allows them to teach students about weather forecasting via video conferencing.
The program is the brainchild of Tim Brice, a meteorologist for the US National Weather Service (NWS) in El Paso, Texas. Brice was drawn to the idea of virtual classroom visits after seeing other organizations deploy it. He saw that he could eliminate the long journey times necessary for in-person school visits by setting them up online.
After launching the program in the El Paso area, schools around the US and internationally began taking an interest.
