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Atmospheric NewsAl Gore and IPCC Share 2007 Nobel Peace PrizeFormer Vice President Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change. In the announcement the Norwegian Nobel Committee noted that through the scientific reports it has issued over the past two decades, the IPCC has created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming. Thousands of scientists and officials from over one hundred countries have collaborated to achieve greater certainty as to the scale of the warming. The committee honored Al Gore because he is one of the world's leading environmentalist politicians. According to a press release issued by the Committee, Gore “is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted.” http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2007/press.html NOAA Arctic ‘Report Card’ Shows Continued Climate ChangesAn Arctic “Report Card” issued by an international team of scientists on October 17 shows that some changes are larger and occurring faster than those previously predicted by climate models, while other indicators show some stabilizing. The team of research scientists created a peer-reviewed website, http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/, which tracks multiple changes in the Arctic environment. Compared to the 1980s, the region lost almost 40 percent of the summertime sea ice in the central Arctic in 2007. While the continued loss of summertime sea ice is the most dramatic example, changes are also seen in the atmosphere, on land, in the ocean, and in location and abundance of Arctic species. A lead author, James Overland, a scientist at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, Wash., has identified a wind circulation pattern blowing more warm air towards the North Pole, compared to the circulation patterns in the 20th century. Not all indicators show extreme events, and some signals are mixed. For instance, North Pole ocean temperatures are returning to 1990s values, but currents are relatively warm around the edges of the Arctic Ocean. The Report Card is organized by NOAA and will be updated annually. It is a contribution to the international Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) and the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) Programme. September 2007 was Eighth Warmest on Record for Contiguous United StatesTemperatures in September 2007 were the eighth warmest on record, hot enough to break 1,000 daily high records across the United States, according to scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. WMO Publishes Antarctic Ozone BulletinThe first WMO Antarctic Ozone Bulletin of 2007 was published on 28 August. This Bulletin combines data from many sources: Meteorological data, satellite data as well as data from balloons and from the ground. These data are produced by various WMO partners and gives an overview of the situation in the Antarctic ozone layer. The first 2007 WMO Antarctic Ozone Bulletin can be found here: http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/arep/gawozobull07_en.html NOAA Hourly Air Quality Ozone Forecasts Now Available Coast to CoastNOAA is now producing ground-level ozone forecasts, a key predictor of air quality in major cities throughout the contiguous United States. NOAA’s National Weather Service, in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has extended its operational ozone forecast guidance to 11 western states and expanded the service in six other states, ensuring that the most populous cities throughout the country will have daily access to the information s. Hour-by-hour ozone forecasts, through midnight of the following day, are available online and provide information for the onset, severity and duration of poor air quality for more than 290 million people from coast to coast. States added to the expanded ozone forecast area are Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, and the western portions of Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas. AccuWeather.com Launches New Astronomy SectionAccuWeather.com recently announced the launch of the redesigned and expanded Astronomy Center. This interest area features a wealth of astronomy-related content for beginners, experts, and everyone in-between. Visitors to the site are provided with up-to-date information, advice, and news they need to observe phenomena in the night skies. The Astronomy Center is online at http://www.accuweather.com/astronomy.asp NOAA Awards $115 Million Contract to Support Operational Space, Ground SystemsNOAA officials recently awarded a $115 million contract to Riverside Technology, Inc., of Fort Collins, Colo., to provide technical support, systems engineering and engineering services for NOAA’s Satellite and Information Services. The contract will support NOAA’s operational space systems, including the current and next-generation polar and geostationary environmental satellites that supply data for the weather and climate forecasts, and the ground systems, which comprise the command, control and communications segment, along with the product generation, distribution and archiving. The contract has a 12-month base period, with four additional 12-month option periods. The total value of the contract, including the option years, is $115 million. The contract will support the program offices for the future National Polar-Orbiting Environmental Operational Satellite System, or NPOESS, and the next-generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R). The contractor will provide strategic planning to resolve space and ground system issues, and design requirement analysis, systems engineering, data management, contract administration and acquisition support. Scientists Estimate Mercury Emissions from U.S. Fires; West Coast and Southeastern States are Major EmittersForest fires and other blazes in the United States likely release about 30 percent as much mercury as the nation's industrial sources, according to initial estimates in a new study by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Fires in Alaska, California, Oregon, Louisiana, and Florida emit particularly large quantities of the toxic metal, and the Southeast emits more than any other region, according to the research. The mercury released by forest fires originally comes from industrial and natural sources. The study, "Mercury Emission Estimates from Fires: An Initial Inventory for the United States," was published online by the journal Environmental Science and Technology. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, NCAR's principal sponsor, as well as by the Electric Power Research Institute and the Environmental Protection Agency. The paper estimates that fires in the continental United States and Alaska release about 44 metric tons of mercury into the atmosphere every year. It is the first study to estimate mercury emissions for each state, based on a new computer model developed at NCAR. The authors caution that their estimates for the nation and for each state are preliminary and are subject to a 50 percent or greater margin of error. A metric ton is about 10% larger than a U.S. ton. Mercury does not originate in fires. Instead, it comes from industrial and natural sources, often settling into soil and plant matter. Intense fires then release the mercury back into the atmosphere, where it poses a new danger because it can reach sensitive waterways and other areas. To estimate the emissions, Wiedinmyer and NCAR scientist Hans Friedli, who co-authored the article, used satellite observations of fires, aircraft and ground-based measurements of mercury, and a new computer model of fire emissions that Wiedinmyer created. They focused on a five-year period from 2002 to 2006 and examined every state except Hawaii, for which they lacked detailed data. The paper warns that its estimates are subject to at least a 50 percent margin of error due to imprecise information about both the exact size of fires and the amount of mercury emitted by each fire. The estimates for the nation and each state are midpoints; Alaska's emissions, for example, are likely to be from 6.3 to 18.8 tons, but 12.5 is the midpoint. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Selects Susan Avery as President and DirectorThe Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has named AMS Past President Dr. Susan K. Avery as president and director of the institution. Avery will be the ninth director in WHOI's 77-year history, and the first woman to hold the position. Avery is an atmospheric physicist with extensive experience as a leader within scientific institutions. She comes to WHOI from the University of Colorado at Boulder (UCB), where she most recently served as interim dean of the graduate school and vice chancellor for research. From 1994-2004, Avery served as director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), a 550-member collaborative institute between UCB and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Avery was the first woman and first engineer to lead CIRES. Avery will officially assume the office early in 2008, succeeding James R. Luyten, who has served as acting president and director since June 2006, and Robert B. Gagosian, who served from 1993-2006. Avery is a fellow of both the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and of the American Meteorological Society, for which she also served as president. She is a past chair of the board of trustees of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. AccuWeather Names Barry Lee Myers, Chief Executive OfficerAccuWeather, Inc. recently announced that Barry Lee Myers has been named Chief Executive Officer. |
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