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Could a Hurricane Ever Strike Southern California?

By Guest PostOctober 19, 2012Environmentalaska current, america, annual, atlantic, bill patzert, california, california current, californians, climatologist, current flow, drought, earthquake, eastern pacific, el niño, fire, flood, four seasons, fuel, gale force, godzilla, goes 9, golden state, gulf coaster, hurricane, hurricane capital, hurricane john, hurricane linda, Japan, kathleen, maximum temperature, mother nature, noaa, nora, north pacific, northern baja california, northern hemisphere, old adage, pacific decadal oscillation, pacific hurricanes, pacific ocean, pdo, quakes, rain, rainfall, rancho cucamonga, ropical storm, santa ana, satellite, southern california, southern californians, summer, thunderstorm, tropical cyclone, united states, us east, water budget, wind

There’s an old adage (with several variations) that California has four seasons: earthquake, fire, flood and drought. While Californians happily cede the title of Hurricane Capital of America to U.S. East and Gulf coasters, every once in a while, Mother Nature sends a reminder to Southern Californians that they are not completely immune to the whims of tropical cyclones. Typically, this takes the form of rainfall from the remnants of a tropical cyclone in the eastern Pacific, as happened recently when the remnants of Hurricane John brought rain and thunderstorms to parts of Southern California. But could a hurricane ever make landfall in Southern California?

The answer, as it turns out, is yes, and no. While there has never been a documented case of a hurricane making landfall in California, the Golden State has had its share of run-ins and close calls with tropical cyclones. In fact, California has been affected by at least a few tropical cyclones in every decade since 1900. Over that timeframe, three of those storms brought gale-force winds to California: an unnamed California tropical storm in 1939, Kathleen in 1976 and Nora in 1997. But the primary threat from California tropical cyclones isn’t winds or storm surge. It’s rainfall — sometimes torrential — which has led to flooding, damage and, occasionally, casualties. (more…)

Experiment Would Test Cloud Geoengineering as Way to Slow Warming

By Guest PostAugust 20, 2012Environment, Scienceairplane, burning fuel, climate science, climatological impact, cloud geoengineering, Environment, global warming, john latham, long lived clouds, marine cloud brightening, particle, phenomenon, pollutant, rob wood, salt water, satellite, science fiction, sea salt, sensor, ship trails, sky, sunlight, warming

Even though it sounds like science fiction, researchers are taking a second look at a controversial idea that uses futuristic ships to shoot salt water high into the sky over the oceans, creating clouds that reflect sunlight and thus counter global warming.

University of Washington atmospheric physicist Rob Wood describes a possible way to run an experiment to test the concept on a small scale in a comprehensive paper published this month in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

The point of the paper — which includes updates on the latest study into what kind of ship would be best to spray the salt water into the sky, how large the water droplets should be and the potential climatological impacts — is to encourage more scientists to consider the idea of marine cloud brightening and even poke holes in it. In the paper, he and a colleague detail an experiment to test the concept. (more…)

NASA Sees Repeating La Niña Hitting its Peak

By Guest PostJanuary 20, 2012Environmentamerican southwest, bill patzert, climate, cnes, colorado river, diva of drought, dry years, el niño, equatorial pacific, factors, jason 1, jason 2, jason altimetric satellites, la niña, NASA, near normal, ocean temperature, pacific northwest, pacific ocean, pacific sea surface, satellite, sea surface height, south america, southern california, stormy weather, united states, watershed

La Niña, “the diva of drought,” is peaking, increasing the odds that the Pacific Northwest will have more stormy weather this winter and spring, while the southwestern and southern United States will be dry.

Sea surface height data from NASA’s Jason-1 and -2 satellites show that the milder repeat of last year’s strong La Niña has recently intensified, as seen in the latest Jason-2 image of the Pacific Ocean, available at: https://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/images/ostm/20120108P1.jpg. (more…)

NASA Finds Japan Tsunami Waves Merged, Doubling Power

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2011Environmentc k shum, chilean tsunami, coastal regions, double high wave, european radar satellites, hawaii, Japan, march 2011, merging tsunami, merging tsunamis, NASA, northeastern japan, ocean ridges, ohio state university, san francisco, satellite, sea, sea floor topography, tohoku oki quake, tsunami, tsunami hazard, undersea quake, undersea topography, y tony song

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA and Ohio State University researchers have discovered the major tsunami generated by the March 2011 Tohoku-Oki quake centered off northeastern Japan was a long-hypothesized “merging tsunami.” The tsunami doubled in intensity over rugged ocean ridges, amplifying its destructive power at landfall.

Data from NASA and European radar satellites captured at least two wave fronts that day. The fronts merged to form a single, double-high wave far out at sea. This wave was capable of traveling long distances without losing power. Ocean ridges and undersea mountain chains pushed the waves together along certain directions from the tsunami’s origin. (more…)

CU Student-Built Dust Counter Breaks Distance Record As It Heads for Pluto

By Guest PostOctober 13, 20101 commentSciencealan stern, andrew poppe, boulder, dust grains, johns hopkins university, jupiter, kuiper belt, mihaly horanyi, NASA, neptune, new horizons mission, orbit, pluto, satellite, sdc, sme, solar mesosphere explorer, solar system, space dust, student dust counter, university of colorado, uranus, venetia burney

A University of Colorado at Boulder space dust counter designed, tested and operated by students that is flying aboard NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto now holds the record for the most distant working dust detector ever to travel through space. (more…)

Tag Archives: satellite

Could a Hurricane Ever Strike Southern California?

Experiment Would Test Cloud Geoengineering as Way to Slow Warming

NASA Sees Repeating La Niña Hitting its Peak

NASA Finds Japan Tsunami Waves Merged, Doubling Power

CU Student-Built Dust Counter Breaks Distance Record As It Heads for Pluto