Tag Archives: ncar

Littlest Continent Had Biggest Role in Sea Level Drop

A unique and complex set of circumstances came together over Australia from 2010 to 2011 to cause Earth’s smallest continent to be the biggest contributor to the observed drop in global sea level rise during that time, finds a new study co-authored and co-funded by NASA.

In 2011, scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and the University of Colorado at Boulder reported that between early 2010 and summer 2011, global sea level fell sharply, by about a quarter of an inch, or half a centimeter. Using data from the NASA/German Aerospace Center’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) spacecraft, they showed that the drop was caused by the very strong La Nina that began in late 2010. That La Nina changed rainfall patterns all over our planet, moving huge amounts of Earth’s water from the ocean to the continents. The phenomenon was short-lived, however. (more…)

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Cutting Specific Atmospheric Pollutants Would Slow Sea Level Rise

Decreasing emissions of black carbon, methane and other pollutants makes a difference

With coastal areas bracing for rising sea levels, new research indicates that cutting emissions of certain pollutants can greatly slow sea level rise this century.

Scientists found that reductions in four pollutants that cycle comparatively quickly through the atmosphere could temporarily forestall the rate of sea level rise by roughly 25 to 50 percent.

The researchers focused on emissions of four heat-trapping pollutants: methane, tropospheric ozone, hydrofluorocarbons and black carbon. (more…)

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Tiny Cloud Droplets

UD’s Wang contributes invited paper on cloud microphysics

Lian-Ping Wang, professor of mechanical engineering and joint professor of physical ocean science and engineering at the University of Delaware, recently published an invited critical review paper in the 2013 volume of the Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, a high impact journal for the fluid mechanics community.

Co-authored with Wojciech Grabowski, a senior scientist from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the paper, titled “Growth of Cloud Droplets in a Turbulent Environment,” addresses a classic cloud physics problem of how cloud turbulence affects the growth of tiny cloud droplets. (more…)

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China Olympics Traffic Measures Cut Carbon Emissions

A new NASA-funded study of the impacts of China’s traffic restrictions for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing shows how widespread changes in transportation patterns could greatly reduce the threat of climate change.

New research by an international team of scientists led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, Colo., indicates that China’s restrictions on motor vehicles designed to improve air quality during the games had the side benefit of dramatically cutting emissions of carbon dioxide by between 26,500 and 106,000 U.S. tons (24,000 and 96,000 metric tons) during the event. (more…)

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The Depths of Winter: How Much Snow Is In Fact On the Ground?

*Will lasers and GPS technology finally enable accurate measurement of snowfall?*

Equipped with specialized lasers and GPS technology, scientists are working to address a critical wintertime weather challenge: how to accurately measure the amount of snow on the ground.

Transportation crews, water managers and others who make vital safety decisions need precise measurements of how snow depth varies across wide areas. (more…)

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Deep Oceans May Mask Global Warming for Years at a Time

*Computer simulations of global climate lead to new conclusions*

Earth’s deep oceans may absorb enough heat at times to flatten the rate of global warming for periods of as long as a decade–even in the midst of longer-term warming. This according to a new analysis led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

The study, based on computer simulations of global climate, points to ocean layers deeper than 1,000 feet as the main location of the “missing heat” during periods such as the past decade when global air temperatures showed little trend. (more…)

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Arctic Ice Melt Could Pause in Coming Decades

*Researchers find unexpected results in study of ice cover in the Arctic*

Despite the rapid retreat of Arctic sea ice in recent years, the ice may temporarily stabilize or somewhat expand at times over the next few decades, new research indicates.

Results of a study by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) appear this week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), published by the American Geophysical Union.

The National Science Foundation (NSF), NCAR’s sponsor, funded the work. (more…)

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Economic Cost of Weather May Total $485 Billion in U.S.

*Routine weather events can add up to huge annual economic impact*

Everything has its price, even the weather.

New research indicates that routine weather events such as rain and cooler-than-average days can add up to an annual economic impact of as much as $485 billon in the United States.

The study, led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), found that finance, manufacturing, agriculture and every other sector of the economy is sensitive to changes in the weather. The impacts can be felt in every state. (more…)

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