2010: tied with 2005 for warmest year in history
The year 2010 was tied with 2005 as Earth's warmest year in history, according to separate calculations performed by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Temperatures during 2010 were 1.12°F (0.62°C) above the 20th century average. Reliable global temperature records go back to 1880. NOAA reported that the Northern Hemisphere had its warmest year on record in 2010, the Southern Hemisphere its 6th warmest, land areas their 2nd warmest, and the oceans their 3rd warmest. Global satellite-measured temperatures of the lowest 8 km of the atmosphere during 2010 were virtually tied with 1998 for warmest on record, according to the University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH). The 1998 temperatures were 0.01°C warmer than 2010, but the difference is so small that the two years should be considered tied for first place. These measurements are very sensitive to the effect of major El Niño events that warm the waters and atmosphere over the Eastern Pacific. Thus the 1998 El Niño--the strongest such event ever recorded--set a global lower atmospheric temperature record that had been impossible to match until 2010.
Figure 1. Departure of temperature from average for 2010. Image credit: NOAA's National Climatic Data Center.
Earth's warmest temperatures in 2010, relative to average, occurred in western Greenland and eastern Canada, where record-duration sea ice loss contributed to temperatures that were 9°F (5°C) above average for the year (Figure 1.) The coolest temperatures, relative to average, were in central Siberia, 5.4°F (3°C) below average. In addition to being the warmest year on record globally, it was also the wettest (Figure 4.)
Figure 2. The latest rankings by NOAA of the hottest years globally since 1880. Earth's ten hottest years have all come since 1998, and the decade of the 2000s was by far the warmest decade in the historical record. Image credit: NOAA's National Climatic Data Center.
Figure 3. Global departure of temperature from average for 1880-2010, as computed by NASA.
Figure 4. Global departure of precipitation from average for 1900 - 2010. The year 2010 set a new record for wettest year in Earth's history. The difference in precipitation from average in 2010 was about 13% higher than that of the previous record wettest year, 1956. Image credit: NOAA's National Climatic Data Center.
A record warm year during a deep solar minimum: an unusual occurrence
The 2010 record warmth was unusual in that it occurred during a period when energy from the sun was at its lowest levels since satellite measurements began in the 1970s. The 11-year sunspot cycle causes a 0.1% variation in the amount of energy reaching the Earth. White et al. (1997) found that sea surface temperatures varied by about 0.04 - 0.07°C on time scales of 11 - 22 years due to this change in solar energy, with temperatures lagging the sunspot cycle by 1.5 - 3 years (because the ocean is slow to heat up and cool down in response.) So, although solar activity began to pick up somewhat in 2010, the 1.5 - 3 year lag in ocean temperature response meant that the record low solar activity of 2008 - 2009 was what affected global temperatures in 2010. Given that the departure of Earth's temperature from average during 2010 was 0.62°C, this difference would have been perhaps 10% greater had we been 2 - 3 years past the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle. The previous global temperature record, set in 2005, occurred 3 - 5 years after the twin-peaked previous solar cycle. It is very difficult to get a record warm year during a deep solar minimum, making the 2010 record one likely to be broken later this decade as the sun begins to exert a greater warming influence on the planet.
Figure 5. During 2008 - 2009, the energy from the sun arriving at the top of Earth's atmosphere (Total Solar Irradiance, or TSI) as measured by satellites fell to its lowest value since satellite measurements began in 1978. Image credit: Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos World Radiation Center.
References
Skepticalscience.com has an in-depth discussion of Solar activity & climate: is the sun causing global warming?
Wunderground climate change blogger Dr. Ricky Rood has a comprehensive 5-part series on how the sun affects climate.
Gray, L.J., J. Beer, M. Geller, J.D. Haigh, M. Lockwood, 2010, "Solar Influences on Climate", Accepted in Rev. Geophys, 2010.
White, W.B., J. Lean, D.R. Cayan and M.D. Dettinger (1997), Response of global upper ocean temperature to changing solar irradiance, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 3255-3266.
Thunderstorms hurl antimatter into space
NASA announced this week that mature thunderstorms can produce antimatter when exceptionally powerful lightning bolts occur. The antimattter beams were detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The amount of antimatter produced is tiny, though, and probably not enough to help power a starship.
"Cap'n, we're running low on antimatter to power the warp engines. Can you fly in low over those thunderstorms to replenish our reserves? We'll use the transporters to gather the antimatter and funnel it into the antimatter containment vessel."
"OK, Scotty!"
I'll have a new post on Tuesday.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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ok
If this is the storm that will hit tomorrow it will be mostly rain. The interior will get snow, but the winds will not be string enough for a blizzaard.
Greetings,
It would appear that more winter weather is on the way…See Winter Weather Advisory posted below for most of the northeast:
Statement as of 3:14 PM EST on January 17, 2011
... Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect from 8 PM this evening to 9 am EST Tuesday...
* Precipitation type: snow... sleet and freezing rain.
* Accumulations: 1 to 3 inches of snow... followed by a period of sleet and freezing rain. Between one-tenth and two-tenths of an inch of glaze is possible.
* Timing: snow begins 800 PM and 1100 PM... changes to sleet and freezing rain after midnight... then changes to plain rain after 900 am Tuesday.
* Temperatures: below freezing when the snow begins but rising to 32 or a bit higher by 900 am Tuesday.
* Impacts: all untreated surfaces will be hazardous later tonight and conditions may not improve until shortly after sunrise Tuesday. Be prepared for some travel delays overnight and Tuesday morning.
Precautionary/preparedness actions... A Winter Weather Advisory means that periods of snow... sleet... or freezing rain will cause travel difficulties. Be prepared for slippery roads and limited visibilities... and use caution while driving.
v/r
Jon
I heard you guys had some stormy weather earlier.
I agree.
"After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in a society where the only people allowed to own guns are the police and the military" - William S. Burroughs
Tucson, King and Kennedy
Yet this warming isn't being caused by what AGW theorists insisted would be the root of arctic ice melt and temperature rise. Namely, lower atmospheric pressures in the arctic and a more positive AO. Instead, the last two years have seen some of the lowest values of the AO ever recorded since 1950, and massive gains in air mass over the north pole. Somebody's model projections aren't turning out as planned for the last 20 years or so.
Well, I am not sure why an average citizen would need a machine gun that can shoot 30 rounds in a few seconds.
And the cause is?
There are theories, but the polar annular modes are not yet fully understood, and the force that causes atmospheric mass to shift between the poles and the lower latitudes has yet to be discovered. It is likely that stratospheric processes have something to do with it, but it is still being studied. All we know is that it does appear to be cyclic, and has specific consequences on the world's climate. For example, the big snowstorms on the northern hemisphere continents can be directly tied to increased air pressure over the arctic.
You don't hear them trying to take pillows away after somebody gets smothered by one. Just saying... Hopefully that doesn't happen but the analogy works.
Interestingly enough, here in Quebec we usually have about 2 m of snow by mid January and a meter on the ground. This winter, as last, we can admire our lawn.
How is that a good analogy? We had a machine gun ban in this country until 2004 when the Bush admin let it expire. Did you feel like your rights were being hindered because you could not by a machine gun prior to 2004?
This really isn't the blog and I don't want to hinder the debate going on in here right now. So if you do want to continue this then I can talk to you about this in my blog if you'd like or we can just drop it your choice see you over there ;)
Eastern Canada and Greenland are the areas that tend to warm up significantly when the AO is negative.
do you like it here
Link
A story of a dog’s dedication to its family, following their deaths last week in Brazil. Translated from Fohla.com:
The former street-dog Caramelo helped rescue the bodies of its owners, whose were killed during last week’s rains, then did not want to leave the makeshift grave of his owner.
It lived with its owner, Cristina Cesário Maria Santana, and three other people in a house of the Caleme quarter, one of the most devastated in Teresópolis. The house was destroyed and the family died. The dog escaped, but dug for them until finding them.
When the rescue teams arrived, Caramelo guided them to the bodies. Caramelo was rescued, but did not want to leave the grave of its owner and now he is very depressed and needy.
I have no need or desire to redirect your words - I think your post (#502) speaks for itself. I don't mean to single you out - I'm a semi-regular reader of this blog and I've seen many, many folks resort to name-calling and insults rather than making a substantive point.
Look, if your goal is to change minds, you might consider a different approach. That's all I'm saying. I think you know exactly what I mean.
************************
Consider it done.
Thank you for taking the time to express your concerns.
;)
Have you ever priced the cost of a single round? Over a dollar per round.
Thirty rounds...five seconds...thirty dollars...now thats a real deal...NOT.
My idea of fun is pinwheeling a quarter at fifty yards.
Last time I tried to shoot at a living animal, I missed every time. At less than fifty feet to boot.
However, it certainly didn't happen in the last 40 years
Snowfall has gone down continuously. Average 1950-1980 349 cm/a 1860-1990 336cm/a 1970-2000 316cm/a 1980-2010 301 cm/a
These are 30 year averages
Last year we had 249 cm
Dr. Richard Lindzen (MIT): A Case Against Precipitous Climate Action
Saturday, 15 January 2011 10:37 Richard S Lindzen
That is likely because the ocean cycles, PDO and AMO, have not both been aligned in their warm phases during the last 40 years at any time before 1995. The last time they were aligned that way was way back in the 1920s and 1930s. When they are both in their warm phase they surround Canada with much warmer than normal water, which floods the continent with warmer air than if only one of those cycles was in its warm phase. The AMO has the strongest effect by far on eastern Canada and Greenland. A negative AO will result in much warmer conditions when it occurs in tandem with a positive AMO.
Also, the AO has steadily fallen since its peak in the early 1990s, so it's no surprise that snowfall in eastern Canada has also fallen in that time, as a negative AO naturally reduces snowfall in that area.
I can't help wondering what other cycles have not been recognized.
Indeed, there are likely many forces at work that have yet to be discovered.
Indeed. That is so profound.
Thanks. I thought so.
I thought so.
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