Report eyes Pacific Northwest climate change threats

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

Marine sanctuaries try to prepare for rising sea level, ocean acidification and more extreme weather

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A new report identifies anticipated climate change impacts to the Olympic Peninsula. Photo courtesy NASA Earth Observatory.

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Managers of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary say they’ll use a new report to try and prepare the resources they steward for the coming impacts of climate change, including increases in sea level; extreme weather events such as winds, waves, and storms; and coastal erosion from those events.

The report also says the region may experience an increase in ocean acidity, rising water temperature, as well as more extreme weather patterns, including Pacific Northwest regional rainfall increases triggering 100-year magnitude floods.

“Climate change poses an increasingly grave threat to the health of the ocean, and its impacts will be felt in marine protected areas like the Olympic Coast sanctuary,” said  sanctuary superintendent Carol Bernthal. “This report begins our work to develop management strategies that will help us anticipate potential challenges and adapt to the changing marine environment through sound science, public outreach, and partnerships.” (more…)

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Climate: March global temps 10th-warmest on record

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

Central Asia and western Arctic are hot spots for the month

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Much of the globe recorded above-average temperatures in March, 2013, with the month ending up as tied with 2006 as the 10th-warmest on record. Graphic courtesy NASA.

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Despite well below-average temperatures across some parts of the U.S. and Europe, global temperatures in March 2013 averaged out to equal March 2006 as 10th-warmest on record, at 1.04 degrees above the 20th century average.

Warmer-than-average temperatures were recorded across big stretches of the Atlantic Ocean, almost all of Africa, northern South America, Australia, the Middle East and Southern Asia, according to the National Climatic Data Center’s monthly update.

For the year-to-date (January to March), the globally averaged temperature was the 8th-warmest on record, also at 1.04 degrees above the 20th century average. Land-surface temperatures were the seventh-warmest and global ocean temperatures were the eighth-warmest on record, with record warmth over a large area of the Indian Ocean south of Australia. (more…)

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Climate: Do fungi drive the forest carbon cycle?

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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A mushroom and spruce seedling grow intertwined in a Colorado forest. Bob Berwyn photo.

In some forests, up to 70 percent of carbon sequestration happens deep underground

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Humble mushrooms may play a much greater role in regulating forest carbon cycles than previously understood, according to new research from Sweden.

Most scientific literature suggests that the plant matter in northern forests is responsible for sequestering atmospheric carbon, but after carefully analyzing numerous soil samples, the Swedish scientists concluded that mycorrhizal fungi, which live in association with plant roots, are trapping the carbon deep in the ground as part of the process of nutrient exchange between the fungi and plant species. (more…)

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Climate: U.S. temps below average in March

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

Coolest March readings since 1966, but drought eases in some areas

Maps compiled by NOAA show the contrast between temperatures in March 2012 and March 2013.

Maps compiled by NOAA show the contrast between temperatures in March 2012 and March 2013.

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — With an average temperature that was .9 degrees below the 20th century average, the contiguous 48 U.S. states recorded the coldest March readings since 2002, when the monthly average was a whopping 2.2 degrees below average.

The monthly readings mark a huge contrast from one year ago, when the U.S. recorded its warmest-ever March, according to the National Climatic Data Center, which released the monthly State of the Climate report today (April 15). (more…)

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Utah researchers photograph free-falling Alta snowflakes

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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This is a collection of snowflakes photographed automatically as they fell at Alta, Utah, by the new Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera developed at the University of Utah. Photo courtesy
Tim Garrett, University of Utah.

New info on shapes, mass of flakes to help boost winter weather forecasts

By Bob Berwyn

FRISCO — Snow enthusiasts have a long tradition of photographing snowflakes, going back nearly 100 years, when Wilson A. “Snowflake” Bentley spent hundreds of hours in a chilly barn in Jericho, Vermont compiling about 5,000 photomicrographs.

But until a couple of years ago, there was no way to take 3-D pictures of free-falling snowflakes before they hit the ground. That’s when University of Utah researchers developed a digital camera system and installed it on the slopes of Alta, one of the snowiest ski areas in the country. The high-speed setup has enabled the scientists to significantly expand existing catalogs of snowflake images in a completely new way.

“We are photographing these snowflakes completely untouched by any device, as they exist naturally in the air,” said Tim Garrett, an associate professor of atmospheric sciences, adding that the unique camera device has captured about a half-million images so far. A gallery of flakes is online here, and you can watch flakes falling live at this Alta Ski Area web page. (more…)

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Global warming: Forest timberline impacts not so clear

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

Local factors, including geology and topography, play a critical role

Will global warming push forests up into this alpine tundra around Guanella Pass, in Clear Creek County, Colorado?

Will global warming push forests up into this alpine tundra around Guanella Pass, in Clear Creek County, Colorado?

Colorado recorded the greatest increase in average maximum temperatures — between .7 and .9 degrees — from the old normals, compiled between 1971 and 2000, and the new normals, which are based on temperature readings between 1981 and 2010. On average across the U.S., the new average temperatures are about .5 degrees warmer.

Colorado recorded the greatest increase in average maximum temperatures — between .7 and .9 degrees — from the old normals, compiled between 1971 and 2000, and the new normals, which are based on temperature readings between 1981 and 2010. On average across the U.S., the new average temperatures are about .5 degrees warmer.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — For residents of high-elevation regions, including Colorado — the impacts of global warming include a potentially radical change in the composition of plant communities. In mountainous areas, the distribution of many species is limited by factors related to elevation, including temperature.

With warmer and drier conditions potentially limiting growth at lower elevations, scientists have already documented the treeline creeping upward in some areas, but there are additional factors to consider, according to a new study from the University of Calgary.

Even in a warmer world, local conditions, including slope steepness, exposure and soil depth – will limit trees being established and growing on mountainsides, the research found. (more…)

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Climate: Are ice-free Arctic summers coming soon?

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

Study compares models to estimate a range of dates

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Scientists explore the melting ice of the Arctic. Photo courtesy NOAA.

By Summit Voice

FRISCO— No matter which you slice it, the Arctic Ocean is likely to almost free of summer ice by mid-century, and possibly within the next couple of decades. according to a new study by federal scientists.

By comparing three different predictive models, the researchers came up with a range of dates when most of the Arctic Ocean ice will melt away for at least a couple of months during the northern hemisphere summer.

The most aggressive models, which weigh recent trends more heavily, suggest ice-free conditions could come as soon as 2020. Under a second group of models that rely on weighing the future probability of “extreme” but random ice-melt events, the ice-free date is pushed back to 2030. The most conservative predictions are based on global climate models that use global climate models to forecast atmosphere, ocean, land, and sea ice conditions over time. (more…)

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Environment: What’s the outlook for Colorado forests?

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
Colorado aspen forests and global warming

It’s not just lodgepoles — many of Colorado’s forest types are going to feel the heat of global warming. Bob Berwyn photo.

Global warming not playing favorites, as all of the state’s forests are struggling with dry conditions and increasing temperatures

By Bob Berwyn

FRISCO — I’ve been working my way through a series of stories about Colorado’s forests the past few weeks — after all, lodgepole pines are only one part of the state’s forest landscapes, and in looking at the overall picture, it’s clear that global warming and drought are probably going to have a big effect.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Even though the pine beetle outbreak was scary big and scary fast, it looks like those lodgepole groves will grow back just fine, at least in the short-term (the jury is still out on the impacts of global warming). In some areas, the young trees that remained after the beetle outbreak are growing twice as fast as before, and in many areas, the forests are growing back with more diversity. Read the Summit Voice story here. (more…)

Filed under: climate and weather, Colorado, Drought, Environment, forests, global warming | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Climate: Thin, first-year ice now dominates Arctic Ocean

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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The map at top shows the ages of ice in the Arctic at the end of March 2013; the bottom graph shows how the percentage of ice in each age group has changed from 1983 to 2013. Credit: NSIDC courtesy J. Maslanik and M. Tschudi, University of Colorado.

Seasonal shift begins in northern latitudes

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — It’s just the very start of the melt season in the Arctic, but sea ice has already dropped below last year’s level, which ended with a record low extent in September.

In the early April update, the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that levels of multiyear ice remain extremely low. Satellite data suggests that first-year ice may now cover the North Pole area for the first time since the winter of 2008.

For March, the average extend was about 5.81 million square miles, which is about 274,000 square miles below the 1979 to 2000 average extent, and about 236,000 square miles above the record low for the month, set in 2006. March sea ice extent is declining at a rate of about 2.5 percent each decade, losing about 15,300 square miles per year, (about the size of Maryland and Delaware combined). (more…)

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Cloud cover a factor in last summer’s Greenland meltdown

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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Researchers are gaining new insights into the role of clouds in the climate of the Arctic.

New study highlights need to get a better handle on the role of clouds in changing climate

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Widespread melting of the Greenland ice sheet last summer were triggered by an influx of unusually warm air from North America, but the melting was intensified by a layer of clouds that were “just right” for driving surface temperatures there above the melting point.

 

The thin, low-lying clouds allowed the sun’s energy to pass through and warm the surface of the ice, while at the same time trapping heat near the surface of the ice cap, according to a new study published this week in Nature that took a close look at Greenland’s summer heat wave.

“Thicker cloud conditions would not have led to the same amount of surface warming,” said Matthew Shupe, research meteorologist with NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado and the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory. “To understand the region’s future, you’ll need to understand its clouds. Our finding has implications for the fate of ice throughout the Arctic.” said Shupe, part of a team that included scientists from NOAA and the Universities of Wisconsin, Idaho and Colorado. (more…)

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