PMEL in the News
VIMS professor's device to measure carbon dioxide levels under Antarctic ice
A Virginia-based scientist and her team ventured to the Antarctic Ocean last month on a mission to provide for the first time a fuller picture of rising carbon dioxide levels and ocean acidification related to climate change from below thick winter ice off the coast of Antarctica.
How rapid Arctic sea ice melt may alter global weather patterns
Significant melting of Arctic sea ice is linked to changing global weather patterns, but climate scientists still have a lot of unanswered questions. "The Arctic is changing fairly rapidly," NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Lab oceanographer Dr. James Overland said, citing the record low ice extent in November 2016.
When Washington freezes, so do invasive bugs
You can thank this cold weather for making Washington's forests healthier in the new year. Forests, and backyard gardens, rely on bouts of cold weather to kill off invasive pests. State climatologist Nick Bond has one particular bug in mind: the bark beetle. They take advantage of mild conditions, like Washington experienced the past two winters in a row.
Beneath the waves or underground, warming Alaska poses multiple threats
When you talk to climatologists about 2016, the phrase “mind-boggling” comes up a lot. “For crying out loud, yesterday it was 36 degrees in Barrow, Alaska, in the middle of winter,” said Rick Fritsch, a climate expert for the National Weather Service in Juneau. “If that doesn’t make the point, I don’t know what does. That’s not supposed to happen, at least not in the world I used to live in.”
The Polar Vortex Is Back, and a Warmer Arctic May Be to Blame
RESIDENTS OF ANCHORAGE, Alaska, found themselves enjoying a stretch of relatively balmy weather this past December, with temperatures at times climbing above freezing. More southerly cities near the Canada-U.S. border, meanwhile, sat in the grip of a deep freeze, with some double-digit temperature drops triggering extreme cold weather alerts.