There are a few sprinkles around the northeastern U.S. right now. It'll rain later tonight. That's nothing compared to the crazy weather other parts of the country. Parts of Mississippi were hit with severe weather, including tornados that levels houses and injured a couple of dozen people. Parts of Colorado and the Plains states are seeing blizzard like conditions, dumping a foot of snow on areas that haven't had snow on the ground for a while.
To top it off, there's what's happening in North Dakota. The Red River looks like it'll crest on Sunday at record levels (the old record is 40.1 feet back in 1897). Residents are sandbagging like crazy. The goal is have the main dykes up to 43 feet to try to keep back the water. Should the dykes fail, a secondary system is in place. The snow they got up there yesterday really isn't helping these efforts.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Cross-country skiing for science
Three British explorers are going on a skiing trip. Sounds like a lot of fun. You know, being out in nature, hitting the slopes. Except these three people have something else in mind than just good ol' fun. They're out there measuring polar ice melting. These kinds of measurements can certainly be done with satellite and everything, but there is something invaluable about having the human element in this as well. For instance, they talk about one morning when they had to hurry up and move their tent because the ice was breaking up beneath them. If you're a slow waker in the morning, just imagine that wake up call.
Experiments and measurements like these are very important for the further understanding of the way our climate works. I've mentioned this before, but climate is not the same thing as weather. As it been cold in the northeastern U.S. this winter. My heating bills say "yes." But one chilly season does not mean that global climate change is over and done. The key words in that phrase of "global" and "climate." Snow in March in NYC does not mean the Earth is getting colder. Climate scientists are concerned that the years ahead will see no ice at all in the Arctic Ocean in the summer. That's kind of a big deal because the Arctic ice acts as a sort of climate regulator for the entire globe. Sunlight is reflected back to space, meaning that less radiation is absorbed by the Earth. Less radiation means less climate change. Everything is stabilized. Take away the Arctic ice, the stability is thrown out the window.
Important stuff, and worth keeping an eye on, no matter if you think climate change is real or a bunch of hooey.
Experiments and measurements like these are very important for the further understanding of the way our climate works. I've mentioned this before, but climate is not the same thing as weather. As it been cold in the northeastern U.S. this winter. My heating bills say "yes." But one chilly season does not mean that global climate change is over and done. The key words in that phrase of "global" and "climate." Snow in March in NYC does not mean the Earth is getting colder. Climate scientists are concerned that the years ahead will see no ice at all in the Arctic Ocean in the summer. That's kind of a big deal because the Arctic ice acts as a sort of climate regulator for the entire globe. Sunlight is reflected back to space, meaning that less radiation is absorbed by the Earth. Less radiation means less climate change. Everything is stabilized. Take away the Arctic ice, the stability is thrown out the window.
Important stuff, and worth keeping an eye on, no matter if you think climate change is real or a bunch of hooey.
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