During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm repeatedly. Daily levels of CO2 can vary due to weather, and there are seasonal trends as well. The level of atmospheric greenhouse gases continues to increase, now over 120 ppm since the Industrial Revolution began. For more on the Keeling Curve, see http://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/. Find out more about greenhouse gases and warming.
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The week of May 19 brings dozens of tornadoes to Tornado Alley in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. On May 20th, a massive tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, devastating communities - destroying over 100 homes and hitting two elementary schools and a hospital - with many casualties and deaths. Our thoughts are with our friends and colleagues suffering from these storms. For more on the May 20th storms, see the NOAA Storm Prediction Center Storm Report.
On May 9, the daily mean concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Mauna Loa, Hawaii, surpassed 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time since measurements began in 1958. To read the rest of this story click here.
A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of sustainability.
Here is a link to the one-page bill:
http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2013_14/measures/documents/hb2366_00_0000.pdf.
See report on Bloomberg News.
Scientists have determined the temperature near the Earth’s center to be 6000 degrees Celsius, 1000 degrees hotter than in a previous experiment run 20 years ago. These measurements confirm geophysical models that the temperature difference between the solid core and the mantle above, must be at least 1500 degrees to explain why the Earth has a magnetic field.
For more information about this study, see the press release from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility.
Scientists have long believed that lava erupted from certain oceanic volcanoes contains materials from the early Earth’s crust. But decisive evidence for this phenomenon has proven elusive. New research from a team including Carnegie’s Erik Hauri demonstrates that oceanic volcanic rocks contain samples of recycled crust dating back to the Archean era 2.5 billion years ago. Their work is published in Nature.
Sea surface temperatures in the Northeast Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem during 2012 were the highest recorded in 150 years, according to the latest Ecosystem Advisory issued by NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC). These high sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are the latest in a trend of above average temperature seen during the spring and summer seasons, and part of a pattern of elevated temperatures occurring in the Northwest Atlantic, but not seen elsewhere in the ocean basin over the past century.
Scientists have discovered a layer of liquified molten rock in Earth's mantle that may be responsible for the sliding motions of the planet's massive tectonic plates.
The finding may carry far-reaching implications, from understanding basic geologic functions of the planet to new insights into volcanism and earthquakes.
Comet Pan-STARRS, recently discovered by the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System, should be visible in early March 2013 as it approaches the Sun. Key dates are March 5th, when the comet comes closest to Earth (about 100 million miles away), March 10th, when the comet comes closest to the sun, and March 12th and 13th when Pan-STARRS emerges in the western sunset sky not far from the crescent Moon.
On February 28, 2013, a sinkhole suddenly developed under the bedroom of a house outside of Tampa, Florida, swallowing the bed and it's occupant, Jeff Bush, who is now presumed dead. Sinkholes are a common natural hazard, formed when water dissolves underlying limestone. For more information, see http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/03/us/florida-sinkhole/index.html.
