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| TABLE OF CONTENTS | CLICK ON THE RED LINKS BELOW TO VIEW ARTICLES |
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Ares I-X & Shuttle Atlantis |
NASA Photos Reveal Rare Views of New Rocket, Space Shuttle |
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Government News |
Federal Grants Aim To Boost STEM Equity |
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Ed Murashie |
Enthusiasm Abounds at the SEA Conference |
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Commercial Space |
Earth imaging satellite launched from California |
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The Debate Heats Up Again |
What happened to global warming? And Et tu BBC? |
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News From NOAA |
September Temperatures Above-Average for the U.S. And Follow Jane Lubchenco on Facebook! And El Niño to Help Steer U.S. Winter Weather |
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News From NASA |
NASA to begin massive climate survey of Antarctica And NASA Celebrates Earth Science Week And NASA Selects 18 University Proposals for Steckler Space Grants |
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Education News |
Science Students Benefit from Teachers' Research Experience |
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From Nina Jackson |
Attend an NSTA Web Seminar |
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Go to SEA's Home Page |
Visit the Satellite Educators Association home page |
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Click on the pictures for larger images New NASA photographs have revealed a rare, and ultimately fleeting, glimpse at a pair of rocket ships — an old space shuttle and a gleaming rocket prototype — on two different launch pads in Florida. In
the new photographs, taken Oct. 23 from a helicopter, the two launch
vehicles stand
poised for blast off on seaside pads at The other rocket is the unmanned Ares I-X — a suborbital prototype of the new Ares I booster NASA plans to use to launch astronauts to low-Earth orbit after the shuttle fleet retires in the next year or so. It is poised to launch Tuesday at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT) from the Pad 39B, but only if the weather allows. A 60 percent chance of bad weather is predicted, NASA officials said.
"People are very excited," Beutel said. "Not only is that view unique, but it does represent one of the fundamental roles of NASA. It's doing space exploration and pushing those experimental craft forward." Atlantis is a mere 1.6 miles (2.5 km) away from Ares I-X. Though the new rocket is an untried vehicle, and so presents some risk of failure, NASA officials said they are comfortable with the arrangement, which they calculated to be about a 1-in-10,000 chance of catastrophic injury to the shuttle if something goes wrong.
Tale of two rockets The Ares I-X rocket towers 327 feet (100 meters) over Pad 39B, which until recently hosted NASA shuttles but was originally built to host the mighty Saturn V rockets that sent astronauts to the moon in the late 1960s and 1970s. The rocket is 14 stories taller than Atlantis and is the world's tallest rocket currently in service or ready to fly. In the photos, Ares I-X is completely visible, a tall, slender booster that is skinnier on the bottom than at the top because its second stage — a dummy segment for this test — is thicker than the first stage solid rocket motor. By contrast, Atlantis appears short and squat. It stands at 184 feet (56 meters) tall, but only the back of its 15-story external tank is visible. The shuttle itself is shrouded by the protective Rotating Service Structure to guard it against rain and provide access to key areas. The last time NASA had two vehicles at the launch pad simultaneously was actually earlier this year in May, when the shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour sat atop Pad 39A and Pad 39B just before Atlantis launched to overhaul the Hubble Space Telescope. But it has been 34 years since a rocket other than a space shuttle has sat atop a NASA launch pad.
Beutel said the helicopter photo shoot caught a piece of history with the rocket snapshots. In addition to the one-of-a-kind Ares I-X rocket, two other unmanned boosters — an Atlas 5 and a Delta 4 — sit atop their launch pads at the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, he said. The suborbital Ares I-X mission is the first of three test flights, each more ambitious than the last, envisioned to lead to a fully operationally Ares I rocket and Orion spacecraft — NASA's shuttle successor. But the next test flight, an Ares I-Y launch that would include a full second stage instead of the mock-ups aboard Ares I-X, is not slated for any earlier than 2014. Whether or not Ares I will actually be the shuttle replacement remains to be seen. President Barack Obama is currently reviewing the results of an independent panel that surveyed NASA's future plans. He is set to make a decision soon about whether to proceed with Ares I and the rest of the Constellation program that plans to take humans back to the moon and beyond, or whether to steer NASA in a new direction that may or may not include the rocket. That uncertainty, however, has not curtailed the enthusiasm around NASA's Kennedy Space Center for the upcoming Ares I-X launch. Beutel said NASA doesn't expect the same number of spectators as a shuttle mission, but the agency is expecting a large public turn out. "Thousands will be on-site here watching and other people will be turning out from neighboring cities," Beutel said. "More than for a typical expendable launch vehicle for sure."
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Federal Grants Aim To Boost STEM Equity The United States Department of Education is looking to give STEM equity a boost. The department this week announced about $6.3 million in grants to programs aimed at bringing underrepresented groups into STEM careers and pursuing advanced degrees. A total of 32 universities and colleges have been awarded the grants through two individual STEM equity programs. ("STEM equity" is a phrase used to describe efforts to improve minority and female representation in science, technology, engineering, and math education and careers.) About $2.82 million of these funds are being distributed through the Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program. The MSEIP is focused on K-12 programs aimed at preparing underrepresented groups (especially girls, but also ethnic minorities) for STEM careers or post-secondary education. Ad ED described it, "MSEIP supports K-12 programs, tutoring for K-12 and college students, faculty and curriculum development, renovation of labs and classrooms, stipends for program participants, and a wide range of activities designed to increase minority graduates in science, technology, engineering and math fields." Awardees of the MSEIP three-year grants included Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science in California; Florida A&M University; Miami-Dade College-North Campus; East-West University in Illinois; Jackson State University in Mississippi; Fort Belknap College in Montana; Stone Child College in Montana; North Carolina A&T; Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina; Inter American University of Puerto Rico Bayaman Campus; Universidad del Turabo in Puerto Rico; Allen University in South Carolina; Laredo Community College in Texas; Prairie View A&M University in Texas; the University of Texas at San Antonio; and Northwest Indian College in Washington. Grants ranged from about $97,000 to $200,000. Another $3.5 million in grants will be awarded through the Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program. Unlike MSEIP, the McNair program focuses on preparing students for doctoral work, with a particular emphasis on students from disadvantaged backgrounds who show particular academic promise. "Institutions work closely with them as they complete their undergraduate requirements," according to ED, "and encourage them to enroll in graduate programs and then track their progress through to the successful completion of advanced degrees." The McNair program will assist some 400 individual students with counseling, mentoring, financial aid, internships, and other activities, according to ED. Awardees of the four-year McNair grants included Bloomfield College in Texas; Texas A&M University; University of Hawaii; University of Wisconsin, Stout; Winthrop University in South Carolina; Earlham College in Indiana; Heritage University in Washington; University of Wisconsin, La Crosse; California State University, Northridge; Murray State University in Kentucky; Arkansas State University; Montana State University; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Fayetteville State University in North Carolina; College of Charleston in South Carolina; and Northern Michigan University. Grants ranged from about $215,000 to $220,000. "These grants support higher level math and science instruction and prepare minority students for careers where their skills will be in high demand," said Arne Duncan, secretary of education, in a prepared statement. Further information about the Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program can be found here. Further information about the Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program can be found here. Dave Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's educational technology online publications and electronic newsletters. He can be reached at dnagel@1105media.com ______________________________________________________________ Enthusiasm Abounds at the SEA ConferenceBy: Ed Murashie, Principal Engineer, Beckman Coulter Enthusiasm! If I just had one word to describe the Satellite Educator’s Association’s Satellite & Education Conference XXII, it would be enthusiasm. Everyone from the organizers, to the presenters and participants, were excited to be there and share their work or take back what they learned to the classrooms. But I am ahead of myself, let me backup and explain who the Satellite Educators Association is and what the conference was all about. In 1983, Helen Martin, a forward thinking math science teacher at Unionville High School, in Unionville, Pennsylvania USA, set out to engage her students by bringing cutting edge space technology to her classroom. She was one of the first to set up a classroom weather satellite tracking and receiving station. In 1986, Helen received a grant to support her work and expand it to share with other teachers. She started the first Satellites & Education Conference in 1988, hosted by West Chester University in Pennsylvania and sponsored by NOAA, GE, Ball and other companies. Her friend and fellow teacher, Nancy McIntyre, became the first Conference Coordinator in 1989. Together they started The School of Education’s Educational Center for Earth Observation Systems in 1989 to support the conference and other grant work, such as GLOBE training (http://www.globe.gov/). Helen and others incorporated the Satellite Educators Association (SEA) in 1989 as a means of sharing their satellite experiences in the days before the Internet. The conference was and still is the premier conference bringing teachers, students, government agencies and industry together to promote satellite technology. The valuable work Helen and Nancy started did not go unnoticed by the state legislators. In 1992 Pennsylvania House Resolution No 260 was passed proclaiming the week of March 16 through March 20, 1992, as “Space Exploration and Technology Week” in Pennsylvania because of Helen’s and Nancy’s “Exemplary programs..” In 2001, after Nancy passed away, Dr. Paula Arvedson SEA member since 1991 and on faculty in the Charter College of Education at CSULA, took over Nancy’s work. She became a Conference Coordinator and held Satellites and Education Conference XV at CSULA, where it has been held ever since. Dr. Arvedson was also elected President of the Satellite Educators Association (http://www.sated.org/) from 2002 to 2006 and now serves as Corporate Secretary.
Friday started at 8:00 AM just outside of CSULA’s Golden Eagle Ballroom, where everyone picked up their registration badge and conference packet. Inside the ballroom around the walls were exhibitors including NOAA, SEA, JPL, Northrop Grumman, NASA/NOAA SciJinks, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Interorbital Systems, NASA Education and Public Outreach at Sonoma State University, the Los Angeles County Office of Education and author Robert A. Black with his book “Lunar Pioneers”. The exhibitors were on hand throughout the conference which allowed plenty of time to meet and talk with them and pickup handouts, posters, decals and books. SciJinks (http://scijinks.jpl.nasa.gov/weather/)
is an educational website for kids of all ages that introduces them to
weather-related science through games and activities and provides teachers
with the resources to make the excitement happen. The AIAA, with their
flying UFO, caught everybody’s attention and drew them in
With everybody motivated, Concurrent
Session 1 started with three simultaneous talks in different classrooms:
‘International Year of Astronomy’ by Robert Sparks of the National Optical
Astronomy Observatory in Tucson Arizona, ‘Climate Change Info for Classroom
and Home’ by Ron Gird of the National Weather Service and ‘Receive Weather
Satellites Images in Class’ by yours truly, Ed Murashie. Since I was
lecturing, unfortunately I was not able to attend the other outstanding
lectures but more information can be found in the conference program on this
site. I talked about the fascinating history of the U.S. weather satellite
programs and how to receive the Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) images
directly from the satellites (http://www.geo-web.org.uk/apt.html)
as they pass over the classroom. I ended my talk by mentioning where to get
satellite data on the Internet, what classroom activities can be
carried out with it and handed out a CDROM with educational
literature, Internet links, and satellite images. After Concurrent Session
1, everyone reassembled in the ballroom for a Mexican buffet lunch and a
chance to get to know the teachers and students.
Concurrent Session 2 started at 1:45PM with three fine presentations: ‘NPOESS – New National Weather Satellite’ by Thomas Lee of the Naval Research Laboratory, ‘Middle School and Microsatellites’ by Gladys Munoz, Earth Science Teacher at NASA Explorer School, Puerto Rico and ‘Cleaning Up Our Oceans’ by Duane Larsen of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. I attended the NPOESS (National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System) session which is the next generation weather satellites that combines the NOAA TIROS and Department of Defense DMSP satellite programs. Thomas Lee showed simulated NPOESS images and microwave sounder data containing interesting weather phenomena using MODIS data. NPOESS improves on TIROS and DMSP image quality by offering more wavelength channels, higher resolution and more shades of intensity. He also showed what can be accomplished by mathematically combining channels such as distinguishing smoke from blowing dust. He also introduced the Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and Training (http://www.comet.ucar.edu/) where you can learn more about atmospheric and related science through the ever-growing library of training modules. During his talk, Thomas used volunteers to introduce two weather satellite concepts, image scanning and geostationary orbits. The first volunteer clasped her hands leaving a small opening she looked through and moved her hands from right to left as she stepped forward scanning each floor tile. Thomas cleverly equated the floor tiles with pixels displayed in a satellite image. The second volunteer circled around Thomas while Thomas moved his body to always face the volunteer, simulating a geostationary satellite orbit where the satellite “sees” the same earth scene all the time. Excellent use of volunteers to demonstrate complex concepts. Concurrent Session 3 started at 3:00PM with three more fine presentations: ‘Using Remote Telescopes’ by Robert Sparks, ‘TubeSats’ by Randa Milliron, CEO of InterOrbital Systems and ‘NOAA-19 and GOES-O’ by Tom Wrublewski of NOAA/NESDIS. I attended Tom’s presentation because of my interest in weather satellites. Tom started his session by playing ‘GOES N Stands Ready” video which can be seen at http://video.boeing.com:8080/asx_external/events/GOES-NStandsReady300k.asx. He then talked about NOAA’s polar and geostationary satellites, explained their mission differences, the instruments on board and their new improvements and how the data is used. Tom was proud to talk about the latest geostationary satellite, GOES-14’s, first visible image, the first solar x-ray image taken the day before his talk and the anticipated first infrared image. The most interesting fact presented was that hurricanes have a thermal infrared eye in addition to the visible eye and scientists are finding that infrared eye is a better predictor of the hurricane direction. More about the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS) and their satellites can be found at http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/ .
greenhouse gases to the atmosphere which traps more energy and therefore warms the earth. How do we know this? Scientists measure greenhouse gases contained in ice core samples and measure the ocean’s temperatures and height. One of Dr. Willis most interesting slides was a plot of the population growth versus the build up of carbon dioxide and how the two correlated very well. Since the earth is mostly covered by water and water has a higher heat capacity, meaning it takes more energy to raise its temperature compared to air and land, most of the heat absorbed by the earth goes into the oceans. The increasing ocean temperatures have caused the artic sea ice to melt. However, Josh explained how sea ice melting is less of a contributing factor to increasing sea level than land glaciers melting into the sea, because sea ice already displaces sea water. It is surprising to know that the oceans have risen approximately 8” over the past 150 years. So is increased sea level a big deal? Well it is a big deal especially in certain locales, for example Southern California, where the officials have recently changed the 100 year flood plots to include major portions of low lying cities (http://www.pacinst.org/reports/sea_level_rise/report.pdf). Also the contamination of water wells with salt water is a major concern. Throughout Josh’s talk with all of the bad news, I kept waiting for a glimmer of hope, but that never came. So whether you believe in global warming or not, Dr. Willis’ talk made you stop and think; you can listen to more of his concerns at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88520025 .
The final sessions, Concurrent Sessions
6, included ‘NASA Swift Mission Brings You Newton’s Laws’ by Lynn Cominsky
and Kevin John from Sonoma State University California, ‘Endangered
Glaciers: Response to Climate Change’ by Angelique Hamane, Geology
Professor and Shelly Shaul graduate student both from CSULA and ‘POES-GOES
Outreach’ by Tom Wrublewski of the NOAA/NESDIS (http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/outreach_edu.html).
Again my interest in weather satellites drove me to attend Tom’s session.
Tom started by showing several NOAA videos and handing out a checklist of
NOAA/NASA GOES and POES Outreach Education Materials. As Tom went down the
list, he showed an example of the educational materials and encouraged the
audience to check off the items they would like and fill out the checklist.
Lunch was a formal sit-down affair with a tasty Chinese Chicken Salad followed by the third keynote speaker, Dr. Richard Shope, of NASA’s JPL Office of Science Research and Analysis and also NASA’s ArctiQuest Expeditions (http://urbansciencecorps.org/home.html). Richard was the most flamboyant speaker and had everyone out of their chairs, in a pretend airplane flying to Antarctica to run some experiments.
When we ‘landed’ we put on our
protective clothing and walked around the room investigating several tables
with experiments and displays highlighting the many properties of water, ice
and dry ice. For example, there was a tank of water with a block of dry ice
bubbling showing the sublimation property of dry ice next to a table with a
large block of clear ice that was being cut with a simple
piece of string. Dr. Shope pointed out many kids have never seen such a
large block of ice and are just full of many questions. Our experiments were
directed by many of Dr. Shope’s eager, entertaining and knowledgeable
student Science Coaches. Dr Shope’s teaching skills masterfully combine
learning with fun.
Following Dr. Shope’s talk at 2:30PM, Dr. Paula Arvedson thanked everyone for coming and announced that next year’s Satellite & Education Conference XXIII will take place on August 12th -14th in 2010 at CSULA. She then raffled off many nice prizes using the tickets that were given out in each session. The conference was well organized, had many enthusiastic speakers and participants and was a huge success, thanks to Dr. Paula Arvedson and many others. I look forward to attending next year and highly encourage others to do the same. I also want to thank the sponsors and exhibitors for their support, time and excellent handouts. ______________________________________________________________ Earth imaging satellite launched from California
A Delta 2 rocket carrying DigitalGlobe Inc.'s WorldView-2 satellite lifted off at 11:51 a.m. PDT and arced south over the Pacific Ocean. The satellite separated from the rocket and entered an orbit 477 miles high. The spacecraft is DigitalGlobe's third remote-sensing satellite. It was designed to provide images with higher levels of feature identification and to more accurately show the world's natural colors. Company spokeswoman KC Higgins said the launch was a success and WorldView-2's first commercial imagery is expected to be available in 90 days. WorldView-2 effectively doubles the company's imaging capacity to 500 million square kilometers — or 193 square miles — a day, DigitalGlobe CEO Jill Smith said. "We can update or refresh our mapping of the globe at least on an annual basis," she said. The new satellite will have eight spectral bands, allowing it to capture and transmit more accurate and subtle color than traditional four-band orbiters, she said. WorldView-2 will also allow DigitalGlobe to launch a new business line, offering foreign defense agencies to direct the satellite's cameras for images they want. Smith said all the company's customers have to be approved by the U.S. government, and no hostile nations would be allowed to use the service. Longmont, Colo.-based DigitalGlobe provides world images for defense and intelligence, civil governments and commercial clients. It will report its third-quarter financial results on Nov. 9. WorldView-2 was built by Ball Aerospace of Boulder, Colo. The Delta 2 was provide by the United Launch Alliance and launch services were administered by Boeing. Chief Financial Officer Yancey Spruill said the satellite cost $450 million, including launch fees. He declined to give a breakdown. The new satellite gives the company enough capacity to meet its targets for several years, Spruill said. On the Net:
______________________________________________________________ NOAA: September Temperature Above-Average for the U.S. The September 2009 average temperature for the contiguous United States was above the long-term average, according to NOAA’s monthly State of the Climate report issued today. Based on records going back to 1895, the monthly National Climatic Data Center analysis is part of the suite of climate services NOAA provides. The average September temperature of 66.4 degrees F was 1.0 degree F above the 20th Century average. Precipitation across the contiguous United States in September averaged 2.48 inches, exactly the 1901-2000 average.
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 | Below-normal
temperatures across parts of the south and Northeast were offset by record high values in the West and above normal temperatures in the Northwest and northern tier states resulting in a higher average temperature for the contiguous United States. |
| Both California and
Nevada experienced their warmest September of the 115-year record. Additionally Montana and North Dakota posted their third warmest, Idaho its fourth warmest, Utah fifth warmest, Minnesota sixth warmest, and Oregon registered its eighth warmest. |
| On a regional level,
the West experienced its warmest September on record. The Northwest and West North Central experienced their sixth and eleventh warmest such periods. Below-normal temperatures were recorded in the South and Northeast. |
U.S.
Precipitation Highlights | While precipitation
equaled the long-term average for the contiguous U.S., regional amounts varied widely. The South experienced its sixth-wettest September, which was countered by the sixth-driest period around the Great Lakes and upper Midwest region. |
| Arkansas registered
its second wettest September, Tennessee its fifth, with Mississippi and Alabama posting their sixth wettest on record. Despite notable and flood-producing rains in northern Georgia, drier conditions near the coast kept the state’s overall average out of the top ten. |
| Maine and Wisconsin
each experienced their fourth driest September and both New Hampshire and Michigan had their seventh driest such periods. |
| By the end of
September, moderate-to-exceptional drought covered 15 percent of the contiguous United States, based on the U.S. Drought Monitor. Drought intensified in the Upper Midwest and eastern Carolinas, while remaining entrenched in much of the West. Drought conditions remain severe in south Texas, despite some improvement. |
| During September, 5,535 fires burned approximately 378,523 acres -- both were below the 2000-2009 average for the month. The acreage burned by wildfires was roughly half of the 2000-2009 average. For the January-September period, 70,217 fires were reported, which is slightly above the 10-year average, while acreage burned is slightly less than average. |
NCDC’s preliminary reports, which assess the current state of the climate, are released soon after the end of each month. These analyses are based on preliminary data, which are subject to revision. Additional quality control is applied to the data when late reports are received several weeks after the end of the month and as increased scientific methods improve NCDC’s processing algorithms.
Scientists, researchers, and leaders in government and industry use NCDC’s monthly reports to help track trends and other changes in the world's climate. The data have a wide range of practical uses, from helping farmers know what to plant, to guiding resource managers with critical decisions about water, energy and other vital assets.
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Et tu BBC? Most observers of climate change media coverage long ago stopped wringing their hands every time Fox News reported that global warming has stopped and that humans are responsible anyway, mostly to avoid calluses. A while back it seemed like Fox might be ready to embrace the actual science, but old habits die hard. For example, Fox took a Sky News story back in August that suggested we may be on the verge of returning to record warm years and gave it the headline of "Natural Factors Could Cause Global Warming." Yes, the story was about solar activity, but here's the nub of the science that was being reported:
Same old disingenuous treatment. Again, nothing new under the Fox News sun. So to speak. But when the once-venerable BBC does something similar, it's time to worry.
Here's the headline to a BBC story posted Oct. 9: "What
happened to global warming?" Nothing wrong there. It's almost exactly the
same as a talk on the subject I delivered the previous evening at the
Saluda Community Library here western North Carolina.
But here's the opening paragraphs:
The story, by BBC climate correspondent Paul Hudson, who, as a climate correspondent, might be expected to have at least a passing familiarity with the science associated with his beat, goes on to present "both sides" of the debate. He found two skeptics who have long argued against the mountains of evidence on which the case for anthropogenic global warming is built, and gives them yet another platform. Key to the skeptic's point of view is the notion that the hottest year on record is now more than a decade in the wrong direction. But as Hudson should know, there is no widespread agreement among climatologists that 1998 was the hottest year. It's the sort of thing that Fox News likes to quote, and British audiences do tend to hear it more than those of us on the other side the Atlantic because it's what the UK's Hadley Center data show. But the Hadley data constitute just one set. Another set, this one from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at NASA, says 2005 was warmer. If you want to know why there's a difference and, more importantly, whether it matters, you can read this excellent, but a little technical, explanation at Real Climate. I will summarize for those who have come to my blog in hopes of not having to go somewhere else to sort it all out. The Hadley data set does not include the extreme northern reaches of the Arctic because we don't have any monitoring stations there. The GISS data does include the Arctic, and the GISS climatologists supply that information by extrapolating from the northernmost stations. The Hadley teams essentially assumes the Arctic is warming at the same rate at the rest of the planet while the GISS folks assume that it's warming as fast as those northernmost stations. The result is NASA reports the warmest year on record is 2005, while Hadley says it's 1998. Both are probably off by some factor, and it can even be argued that as all the good climate models say the High Arctic should be warming faster that stations a little further south, the real gap between the GISS and the Hadley graphs would be even wider than presented. But the important thing is, the difference between the two teams' stated temperatures of 2005 and 1998 is tiny. It might as well be considered a statistical tie because both teams are including assumptions about what's going on in the Arctic to produce their final, annual global averages. Furthermore, if one considers temperature records by decade, rather than by year, we're still in the warmest decade on record. The longer your yardstick, the more obvious it becomes that the warming is continuing. And we haven't even mentioned the fact that the oceans are warmer than ever, regardless of the atmospheric trends. Or the fact that 1998 was an extreme El Niño year. Indeed, let's look at what happens if you take the El Niño phenomenon, which just moves heat back and forth between the oceans and the air, out of the record:
(Source: Real Climate) Anyone who insists upon arguing that the climate has cooled since 1998 is misrepresenting, either deliberately or through ignorance, what the temperature records say about the subject. That the BBC should descend to that level is most surprising, and disappointing.
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What happened to global warming? Climate correspondent, BBC News
This headline may come as a bit of a surprise, so too might
that fact that the warmest year recorded globally was not in 2008 or 2007,
but in 1998. But it is true. For the last 11 years we have not observed any increase in global temperatures. And our climate models did not forecast it, even though man-made carbon dioxide, the gas thought to be responsible for warming our planet, has continued to rise. So what on Earth is going on? Climate change sceptics, who passionately and consistently argue that man's influence on our climate is overstated, say they saw it coming. They argue that there are natural cycles, over which we have no control, that dictate how warm the planet is. But what is the evidence for this? During the last few decades of the 20th Century, our planet did warm quickly. Sceptics argue that the warming we observed was down to the energy from the Sun increasing. After all 98% of the Earth's warmth comes from the Sun.
The scientists' main approach was simple: to look at solar output and cosmic ray intensity over the last 30-40 years, and compare those trends with the graph for global average surface temperature. And the results were clear. "Warming in the last 20 to 40 years can't have been caused by solar activity," said Dr Piers Forster from Leeds University, a leading contributor to this year's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). But one solar scientist Piers Corbyn from Weatheraction, a company specialising in long range weather forecasting, disagrees. He claims that solar charged particles impact us far more than is currently accepted, so much so he says that they are almost entirely responsible for what happens to global temperatures. He is so excited by what he has discovered that he plans to tell the international scientific community at a conference in London at the end of the month. If proved correct, this could revolutionise the whole subject. Ocean cycles What is really interesting at the moment is what is happening to our oceans. They are the Earth's great heat stores. According to research conducted by Professor Don Easterbrook from Western Washington University last November, the oceans and global temperatures are correlated. The oceans, he says, have a cycle in which they warm and cool cyclically. The most important one is the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO). For much of the 1980s and 1990s, it was in a positive cycle, that means warmer than average. And observations have revealed that global temperatures were warm too. But in the last few years it has been losing its warmth and has recently started to cool down. These cycles in the past have lasted for nearly 30 years. So could global temperatures follow? The global cooling from 1945 to 1977 coincided with one of these cold Pacific cycles. Professor Easterbrook says: "The PDO cool mode has replaced the warm mode in the Pacific Ocean, virtually assuring us of about 30 years of global cooling." So what does it all mean? Climate change sceptics argue
that this is evidence that they have been right all along.
They say there are so many other natural causes for warming and cooling, that even if man is warming the planet, it is a small part compared with nature. But those scientists who are equally passionate about man's influence on global warming argue that their science is solid. The UK Met Office's Hadley Centre, responsible for future climate predictions, says it incorporates solar variation and ocean cycles into its climate models, and that they are nothing new. In fact, the centre says they are just two of the whole host of known factors that influence global temperatures - all of which are accounted for by its models. In addition, say Met Office scientists, temperatures have never increased in a straight line, and there will always be periods of slower warming, or even temporary cooling. What is crucial, they say, is the long-term trend in global temperatures. And that, according to the Met office data, is clearly up. To confuse the issue even further, last month Mojib Latif, a member of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) says that we may indeed be in a period of cooling worldwide temperatures that could last another 10-20 years. Professor Latif is based at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences at Kiel University in Germany and is one of the world's top climate modellers. But he makes it clear that he has not become a sceptic; he believes that this cooling will be temporary, before the overwhelming force of man-made global warming reasserts itself. So what can we expect in the next few years? Both sides have very different forecasts. The Met Office says that warming is set to resume quickly and strongly. It predicts that from 2010 to 2015 at least half the years will be hotter than the current hottest year on record (1998). Sceptics disagree. They insist it is unlikely that temperatures will reach the dizzy heights of 1998 until 2030 at the earliest. It is possible, they say, that because of ocean and solar cycles a period of global cooling is more likely. One thing is for sure. It seems the debate about what is causing global warming is far from over. Indeed some would say it is hotting up. Update - 1300, Tuesday 13 October 2009: Paul Hudson has written a blog entry about his article here: Paul Hudson's blog
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NASA Celebrates Earth Science Week
Every day at NASA scientists study changes on our home
planet, and a significant portion of that study focuses on changes in our
oceans. To showcase some of that research, NASA is releasing
six short videos in commemoration of Earth
Science Week 2009. The videos highlight the connection between climate
change and our oceans.
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Follow Jane Lubchenco on Facebook!
Our NOAA Administrator has a new Facebook page. Become a fan to follow the
happenings at NOAA.
Click here to
Follow Jane Lubchenco on Facebook!
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NASA to begin massive climate survey of Antarctica NASA began the most extensive aerial survey of Earth's surface to chart
the impact of global warming, with six years of flights over Antarctica to
understand the frozen continent's glaciers and ice sheets. The US space agency said the massive aerial survey, part of a program
dubbed Operation Ice Bridge, got underway on October 15. Data gathered during the mission will help scientists predict how changes
to the massive Antarctic ice sheet will contribute to a rise in sea levels
around the world. Researchers will work from NASA's DC-8, an airborne laboratory equipped
with laser mapping instruments, ice-penetrating radar and gravity
instruments. "A remarkable change is happening on Earth, truly one of the biggest
changes in environmental conditions since the end of the ice age," said Tom
Wagner, cryosphere program manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "It's not an easy thing to observe, let alone predict what might happen
next. Studies like Ice Bridge are key," he said. Space officials said the plane, crew and scientists departed October 12
from NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, California, and
flew to Punta Arenas, Chile, where they will be based through mid-November. Some 50 scientists and support personnel are part of the mission, which
will involve 17 flights over the southern polar region. NASA Ice Campaign Takes Flight in Antarctica Early in the 20th century, a succession of adventurers and scientists
pioneered the exploration of Antarctica. A century later, they're still at
it, albeit with a different set of tools. This fall, a team of modern
explorers will fly over Earth's southern ice-covered regions to study
changes to its sea ice, ice sheets, and glaciers as part of NASA's Operation
Ice Bridge. _________________________________________________________________
M.Y. S.P.A.C.E. Photos from the conference posted.
Be a M.Y.
S.P.A.C.E. Teacher _________________________________________________________________
NASA Selects 18
University Proposals for Steckler Space Grants
NASA has chosen 18 proposals from universities
around the country to receive up to $70,000 for Phase One of the
NASA Ralph Steckler Space Grant Colonization Research and
Technology Development Opportunity.
Grant money will support university research and technology development activities that support a sustained human presence in space, increase understanding of the moon's environment and develop basic infrastructure for future space colonies. "I'm excited that many of the awards will provide a dual benefit to exploration and to Earth conservation by focusing on important issues such as water recycling, food production and power storage," said Frank Prochaska, manager of the Steckler Space Grant Project at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA selected two proposals from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and the University of Arizona in Tucson and one proposal from each of the following academic institutions:
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Science Students Benefit from Teachers' Research Experience When high school and middle school science teachers engage in extracurricular research work, their students benefit. That's the result of a new study published in Science last week by researchers at Columbia University. In addition, they found that such extracurricular research work can also bring economic benefits to schools and communities. The research, funded in part by the National Science Foundation, focused on middle school and high school teachers in New York, who engaged in a program called the Columbia University Summer Research Program for Secondary School Science Teachers (CUSRP). The research team, led by Samuel C. Silverstein, evaluated the performance of their students over the course of several years following the completion of the program. They found a definite, statistically significant benefit for the students of the teachers who participated in the program, but only after a delay of a couple years. This delay, Silverstein said, may explain why similar benefits have not been reported from other science teacher summer research programs: Evaluations of the results were too short-term. As Silverstein explained in an interview with the NSF: "Science work experience programs for teachers or research experience programs for teachers are rarely funded for a significant period of time.... Secondly, the funders rarely provide the kind of support that is necessary in order for these programs to do the kind of evaluation--in depth evaluation--that's necessary to find out what's going on. And third, it takes several years for a teacher who learns new teaching techniques and who learns to use new equipment and new devices in the classroom to actually implement that in the classroom and implement it successfully." (This interview can be viewed on NSF's press site here.) He said many such programs may have been more successful than previously thought; there just wasn't the proper evaluation to determine the actual, longer-term success of the programs. "You'll notice in the Science paper," he said, "that the data only become statistically significant in the third and fourth years after teachers complete the program. Now we see incremental differences in the first and second year after entering the program, and the third and fourth years after entering the program are where the statistically significant outcome data are found." In the case of the CUSRP (a two-year program), the researchers looked at New York State Science Regents Examination results for students of teachers who participated in the program and compared them with the results for students whose teachers did not participate. Prior to entry in the program, students of CUSRP teachers performed lower than students of non-CUSRP teachers. But three years after the program, there was a greater than 10-point difference in pass rates between the two groups--61 percent for students of CUSRP teachers versus 50.2 percent for students of non-CUSRP teachers. (Data included 7,259 students of CSURP students and 36,101 students of non-CUSRP students from 1994 to 2005.) Silverstein pointed out that the benefits did not arise from specific knowledge gained by participating teachers but rather by the "generic things about dong science" that the teachers picked up in their experiences, "about the importance of doing hands-on science, about the importance of understanding the technologies of science so that you can actually ask yourself, 'Gee, if I had to solve that question or problem, what technologies would I use? How would I prove that?' It has to be that they learned a new way of responding to students." The researchers also explored the economic benefits of the program and estimated that for every dollar spent on the program by sponsors, the New York Department of Education receives back $1.14 within four years through a combination of "increased teacher retention and decreased need for students to repeat coursework," according to NSF. Further, economic benefits may also be realized through increased graduation rates. The full paper, "Teachers' Participation in Research Programs Improves Their Students' Achievement in Science," can be accessed by Science subscribers and AAAS members here. ______________________________________________________________
El Niño to Help Steer U.S. Winter
Weather El Niño in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean is expected to be a dominant climate factor that will influence the December through February winter weather in the United States, according to the 2009 Winter Outlook released today by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. Such seasonal outlooks are part of NOAA’s suite of climate services. “We expect El Niño to strengthen and persist through the winter months, providing clues as to what the weather will be like during the period,” says Mike Halpert, deputy director of the Climate Prediction Center – a division of the National Weather Service. “Warmer ocean water in the equatorial Pacific shifts the patterns of tropical rainfall that in turn change the strength and position of the jetstream and storms over the Pacific Ocean and the U.S.” “Other climate factors are also likely to play a role in the winter weather at times across the country,” added Halpert. “Some of these factors, such as the North Atlantic Oscillation are difficult to predict more than one to two weeks in advance. The NAO adds uncertainty to the forecast in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic portions of the country.” |
| Warmer-than-average temperatures are favored across much of the western and central U.S., especially in the north-central states from Montana to Wisconsin. Though temperatures may average warmer than usual, periodic outbreaks of cold air are still possible. |
| Below-average temperatures are expected across the Southeast and mid-Atlantic from southern and eastern Texas to southern Pennsylvania and south through Florida. |
| Above-average precipitation is expected in the southern border states, especially Texas and Florida. Recent rainfall and the prospects of more should improve current drought conditions in central and southern Texas. However, tornado records suggest that there will also be an increased chance of organized tornado activity for the Gulf Coast region this winter. |
| Drier-than-average conditions are expected in the Pacific Northwest and the Ohio and Tennessee River Valleys. |
| Northeast: Equal chances for above-, near-, or below-normal temperatures and precipitation. Winter weather in this region is often driven not by El Niño but by weather patterns over the northern Atlantic Ocean and Arctic, such as the North Atlantic Oscillation. These patterns are often more short-term, and are generally predictable only a week or so in advance. |
| California: A slight tilt in the odds toward wetter-than-average conditions over the entire state. |
| Alaska: Milder-than-average temperatures except along the western coast. Equal chances for above-, near-, or below-median precipitation for most areas except above median for the northwest. |
| Hawaii: Below-average temperatures and precipitation are favored for the entire state.. |
This seasonal outlook does not predict where and when snowstorms may hit or total seasonal snowfall accumulations. Snow forecasts are dependent upon winter storms, which are generally not predictable more than several days in advance.
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Attend an NSTA Web Seminar on "Global Climate Change Impacts in the Western United States" on November 5
Climate Change is one of the most difficult
concepts taught in the nations classrooms. Students often struggle to
understand the factors that contribute to human-induced climate change and
the impacts of continued heat-trapping gas emissions. This seminar will
highlight premier online resources to help educators understand and
incorporate the latest information about climate change and the impacts our
world is already facing. The seminar will explore videos, current Western
regional impacts from the recently released /Global Climate Change Impacts
in the United States/ /Report/,
and online educational resources to help you teach these concepts. We will
also focus on current research in the climate change science and how you
could bring this current climate research, science and its impacts into your
classroom. Register today!
<http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/SeminarRegistration.aspx>
Learn how our changing climate is impacting ocean chemistry, coasts, and
wildlife in a free Web Seminar series focusing on:
Western Regional Climate Impacts • Eastern Regional Climate Impacts •
Monitoring the Impact of Climate Change on Corals • Monitoring Climate
Change from Space • Impacts of Ocean Acidification • Impacts of Sea Level
Rise • Impacts of Climate Change on Marine Mammals • Impacts of Climate
Change on Marine Fisheries
The Web Seminar series will start on November 5th and run into September of
2010. For more information, visit
http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/webseminars.aspx.
Throughout
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This
year’s Satellite and Education Conference XXII was held August 13-15 and was
hosted by the Satellite Educators Association and California State
University Los Angeles (CSULA). Thursday began with a tour of the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), registration, tours of CSULA’s facilities and
the annual Satellite Educators Association Meeting. The evening was capped
off by a catered, but casual, buffet dinner at Paula’s home nestled up
against the San Gabriel Mountains. The guest speakers co-mingled and got to
know each other before the following busy day of workshops.
while Dean Davis, a Senior Principal Scientist/Engineer for Boeing
Corporation, explained the charter and fun in joining the AIAA. Dean truly
is a highly energized rocket scientist and an outstanding speaker who
presented at the NOAA N-Prime Educator’s Conference. Interorbital Systems (
Opening
remarks started at 9:00AM, followed by the first keynote speaker, Dr.
Barbara Shannon, Vice Chair of the California Teacher Advisory Council. I
wish we could clone this lady. Imagine a teacher who taught in the Los
Angeles schools for over 30 years and then switched into an administrator
role, not to retire in office, but to get fired up and make a difference in
the schools, and you have Dr. Shannon. She is one enthusiastic educator!
Being that a large percentage of 120-150 people in attendance were students
in teacher preparation courses on their way to becoming teachers, Dr.
Shannon stirred them up and got them excited about teaching. One of the fun
exercises was for everyone to write a question on a card that they had when
attending school but never asked. Some of us having been out of school
almost as long as we were in school wrote questions like “Why do I need this
class?” Next we discussed this question with the person next to us and then
finally a few discussed it with the entire group. Of course Dr. Shannon’s
follow-up question was, “Would it have made a difference to your life if
your question had been answered?” It was this kind of thinking that Dr.
Shannon wanted the teachers to always be asking themselves so that they keep
the kids engaged. Another trick she taught was to have other students
assist teachers in the classroom so that more kids are involved. A sure fire
way to have a classroom full of kids lose interest and mentally wander off
is to have a single teacher to single student conversation. 
The
evening was topped off by the conference banquet in the Golden Eagle
Ballroom. It was a sit-down formal affair and the dinner was delicious.
Again it was a chance to catch our breath and converse with other
participants. Following dinner was the second keynote speaker Dr. Josh
Willis, an Oceanographer with NASA at JPL. Dr. Willis has two distinctions,
a run-in with Rush Limbaugh (
Saturday
morning started with a cup of coffee and assorted pastries and then off to
Concurrent Sessions 4. The choices were: ‘How to Teach Space Exploration’ by
Robert Trout, a NASA Solar System Ambassador, ‘Astronishing Astronomy’ by
Pamela Whiffen, a NASA Educator Ambassador and ‘Teaching Climate Change
Using Problem-Based Learning’ by Steve LaDochy and Pedro Ramirez, CSULA
Geography Professors and Josh Willis from JPL. I attended Robert Trout’s
session. Mr. Trout is a former chemistry teacher who donates part of his
time as a JPL Solar Ambassador going around teaching K-12 kids about space
exploration. His admitted claim to fame is attending a Save Star Trek rally
in 1967 and it’s this enthusiasm which probably leads him to this worthy
cause. He started his talk by covering space exploration from the late
1800’s with George Orwell’s War of the Worlds through the present
time with the Space Shuttle and the exploration of the stars. He finds
getting kids into the history and narrative and asking lots of questions
gets the kids to put down the mp3 players and other distractions and become
involved.
Concurrent
Sessions 5 started at 10:15AM and included ‘After IRAS’ by Jillian Tromp, a
Physics and Astronomy graduate student from CSULA, ‘Magical Mars’ by Nel
Graham, Eagle Rock High School Los Angeles Earth Science and Science Teacher
and ‘Eyes on the Earth 3-D’ by Kevin Hussey, Technical Group Supervisor of
JPL’s Visualization Technology Applications & Development Group. Being
fascinated by 3-D technology, I attended Mr. Hussey’s session. After working
for JPL for seventeen years in the Image Processing Lab processing Landsat
images and then animation for IMAX movie Blue Planet and others, Mr. Hussey
decided to give the commercial industry a try and worked for Disney in the
feature animation department working on their software. Eight years later he
found himself back at JPL as manager in the visualization lab. The one thing
he learned along the way was that if you want to get through to kids, the
use of video games is an ideal way. In creating a visualization tool for
scientists to understand NASA satellite data, Eyes on the Earth program, (
A high-resolution commercial Earth-imaging satellite was launched
into polar orbit Thursday, October 8.
U.S.
Temperature Highlights
But
research conducted two years ago, and published by the Royal Society, seemed
to rule out solar influences. 
Another highlight
of NASA's Earth Science Week contributions was a live educational webcast on
October 14. Classrooms around the country participated in this live event
that focuses on Earth science discoveries and careers. Two oceanographers
discussed their careers, illustrated NASA’s unique, space-based view of the
oceans and answered participant questions. Watch the webcast
