What's New Archive
Regions of light blue color show the counter-clockwise path of the jet stream for January 6, 2014. The map in white near the bottom center shows the outline of the U.S.
PMEL’s Dr. James Overland explains why the eastern United States is experiencing frigid temperatures in early January 2014 on the Arctic web site's new Polar Vortex page. He describes how in the last five years we have seen the jet stream transform from its typical, nice oval pattern around the North Pole to more of a wavy formation, and this waviness is resulting in colder weather being carried into the eastern US and eastern Asia.
Visit the Arctic web site to read more about the polar vortex and how the connection between the Arctic warming trend and more severe weather in mid-latitudes is an active area of research.
PMEL’s Dr. James Overland is one of three editors of the 2013 Arctic Report Card, released December 12 at the American Geophysical Union's fall meeting. Authored by 147 scientists from 14 countries, this year's report concluded that while long-term warming and environmental change trends persist in the Arctic, 2013 was not as extreme as 2012. PMEL’s Dr. Patricia Quinn and JISAO’s Dr. Muyin Wang also contributed to the 2013 report.
Please visit the Arctic Report Card website for more updates on Arctic conditions for the atmosphere, sea ice, ocean temperature and salinity, marine ecosystems, terrestrial ecosystems, and terrestrial cryosphere.
PMEL successfully deployed the first carbon dioxide flux and ocean acidification mooring in the Northern Indian Ocean on November 23. The Bay of Bengal Ocean Acidification (BOBOA) mooring will help us understand the large intraseasonal, seasonal and interannual biogeochemical variations in the Bay of Bengal, and how the marine ecosystem in the Bay is changing over time.
This mooring is part of the Research Moored Array for African-Asian-Australian Monsoon Analysis and Prediction (RAMA) made possible through a close partnership with NOAA and Bay of Bengal partners. Read more and see live data on the BOBOA Carbon website.
A two-month long oceanographic expedition, led by PMEL’s Dr. John Bullister and AOML's Dr. Molly Baringer, along the A16N line in the Atlantic Ocean was recently completed on NOAA ship Ronald H. Brown. About 50 scientists, from 6 countries made a variety of physical, chemical and biological measurements in the water column and atmosphere.
The data will be compared with historical data collected 10 and 20 years earlier in this region to look for changes in ocean properties and as a reference data set for future studies. More information, including blogs by participating teachers and students can be found online here.
The tropical cyclone Pabuk passed NOAA’s Kuroshio Extension Observatory (KEO) mooring on September 26, 2013, followed by Wipha on October 15th, and Francisco on October 26th. Measurements collected during Typhoon Pabuk will be compared with observations made during Typhoon Choi-Wan, which passed KEO on September 19, 2009. Both Choi-Wan and Pabuk were transitioning to extratropical storms as they passed KEO, like Hurricane Sandy when it made landfall.
Wipha and Francisco passed north of KEO. Analysis of data from KEO during the passage of typhoons will contribute to better understanding and prediction of tropical cyclones worldwide.
The 2013 North Pole web cams were recovered on September 20, marking the end of another successful season monitoring Arctic conditions. The web cams are part of the North Pole Environmental Observatory, tracking snow cover, weather conditions, and formation/refreeze of melt ponds. The above YouTube video above is a time lapse of images for the period from April - September 2013.
For more information please visit the 2013 North Pole web cam website.
PMEL scientists Drs. Christopher Sabine and Gregory Johnson participated in the final government approval meeting for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group I Fifth Assessment Report's Summary for Policymakers (SPM) in Stockholm, Sweden during the week of September 23. Delegates and scientists from 110 countries agreed that warming of the climate system is unequivocal and that it is extremely likely (95% confidence) that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century.
The final draft of the full Physical Science Basis report to which PMEL’s Drs. James Overland and Richard Feely also contributed will be out soon.
PMEL engineers deployed a Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART®) 4th generation monitoring system off the coast of Oregon last week. This system is an enhanced version of the DART®-ETD (Easy to Deploy) technology developed at NOAA-PMEL that incorporates advancements in sensors, software and power management to detect and measure near-field tsunami with unprecedented resolution. An improved pressure sensor will be able to detect and measure a tsunami closer to the earthquake source providing valuable information to warning centers even faster.
Please visit the DART® website for more information on this technology.
On Monday, September 9, the launch of the Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPrize was announced. XPrize partnered with NOAA and PMEL to help design the XPrize, a $2M competition for the development of two pH sensors to improve our understanding of ocean acidification and the effects of CO2 emissions on ocean health.
PMEL scientists Drs. Christopher Sabine and Richard Feely will act as members of the Prize Council and as central advisors for the 2-year competition period. Visit the XPrize website for competition entry details and additional information.
Since it began maintaining a mooring station at the Papa site in the Gulf of Alaska in 2007, PMEL’s Ocean Climate Station program has been providing climate and weather observations. In July 2013, Papa became central to the National Science Foundation’s Ocean Observatories Initiative global node with the addition of two more moorings, a nearby profiling mooring, and three gliders at the site.
Visit the Ocean Climate Station Papa website for more information.