By Penny Paugh One form of environmental data, tree rings, has provided evidence of a climate shift that, perhaps not coincidentally, occurred from 250 to 550 A.D., a period that coincides with the fall of the Roman Empire. From ancient wood found in medieval castles and Roman ruins, the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, […]
Forecasting Extreme Weather
African Drought and Data Rescue
March 23, 2012
Drought in Africa has been a destructive force to life and property since the beginning of recorded time. Most recently, East Africa suffered a severe drought in 2010 that persisted nearly the entire year. However, one good thing that came out of this catastrophic drought was that it revealed several important hints for predicting future […]
Are Tornadoes Becoming More Common?
March 8, 2012
We are only about two months into 2012, but already the United States has had 183 confirmed tornadoes and 49 associated fatalities as of March 7. With the debate about global warming and its consequences at the forefront of the nation’s attention, the public likely has many weather-related questions. What is to blame for the […]
New Englanders Adapt to Winter Climate Change
March 1, 2012
Many politicians in the nation’s capital are still in denial that human activity is contributing significantly to global climate change. Meanwhile, climate will continue to change regardless of the current state of the debate, and New Englanders are finding ways of adapting to later autumns, earlier springs, and milder winters. Dr. Alan Betts, one of […]
Google’s Role in Public Hurricane Preparedness
February 17, 2012
A recent study by researchers at Mississippi State University and the University of Alabama sought to identify the behavior of the general public in advance of landfalling hurricanes by examining Google search data. Using publically accessible data from Google Trends, Google Insights, and Google Hot Trends, patterns in keyword searches shed light on how the […]
The Cost of Natural Disasters
December 24, 2011
By Gavin Roy The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released their annual December report on the past year’s natural disasters in the United States. The sum of the damage in 2011 cost American taxpayers $52 billion. Disasters listed ranged from the Groundhog’s Day blizzard in the Northeast ($1.8 billion; 38 deaths) to Hurricane Irene […]
Climate-Observing Satellite Launched
October 29, 2011
To refresh NASA’s aging satellite fleet a satellite was launched on October 28, 2011, that will make observations about the atmosphere, earth and oceans to help understand climate change. NASA is developing a new fleet of research satellites for NOAA. One of the satellite’s main jobs is to test key technologies for the planned fleet. […]
Mississippi River Flooding Trends
September 16, 2011
by Dale Elizabeth Corey In early May 2011, Memphis, TN, faced massive flooding from America’s largest river, the Mississippi. Melting from winter snows and April rainfalls contributed to the river cresting at 47.78 feet at Memphis on May 14, 2011 (the second highest level on record). Since 1993, this is the second “500-year flood” the […]
Lightning Concerns before the Last Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour
May 28, 2011
by Dale Elizabeth Corey “8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 … and liftoff for the final launch of Endeavour, expanding our knowledge and expanding our lives in space.” On Monday, May 16, 2011, Space Shuttle Endeavour (Shuttle Transportation System: STS-134) was launched at 8:56am on its last and final mission from Kennedy […]