Earth Weather / Space Weather

Geomag storm in progress

Posted by: Susie77, 07:23 PM GMT del 24 Gennaio 2012

CME from solar eruption yesterday hit our geomagnetic field today at 1304 UT. Moderate geomag storm is in progress.
For links to see the aurora borealis "live" via web cam, see:

http://www.auroraskystation.com/live-camera/9/
http://se.jokkmokk.jp/detail_nr4.shtml

Sorry about you having to cut and paste. I can't seem to post live links anymore. :(

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Are there still any global warming deniers out there?

Posted by: Susie77, 06:27 PM GMT del 19 Gennaio 2012

Jan. 19, 2012

Steve Cole

Headquarters, Washington

202-358-0918

stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov

Leslie McCarthy

Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York

212-678-5507

leslie.m.mccarthy@nasa.gov

RELEASE: 12-020

NASA FINDS 2011 NINTH WARMEST YEAR ON RECORD

WASHINGTON -- The global average surface temperature in 2011 was the

ninth warmest since 1880, according to NASA scientists. The finding

continues a trend in which nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern

meteorological record have occurred since the year 2000.

NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, which

monitors global surface temperatures on an ongoing basis, released an

updated analysis that shows temperatures around the globe in 2011

compared to the average global temperature from the mid-20th century.

The comparison shows how Earth continues to experience warmer

temperatures than several decades ago. The average temperature around

the globe in 2011 was 0.92 degrees F (0.51 C) warmer than the

mid-20th century baseline.

"We know the planet is absorbing more energy than it is emitting,"

said GISS director James E. Hansen. "So we are continuing to see a

trend toward higher temperatures. Even with the cooling effects of a

strong La Nina influence and low solar activity for the past several

years, 2011 was one of the 10 warmest years on record."

The difference between 2011 and the warmest year in the GISS record

(2010) is 0.22 degrees F (0.12 C). This underscores the emphasis

scientists put on the long-term trend of global temperature rise.

Because of the large natural variability of climate, scientists do

not expect temperatures to rise consistently year after year.

However, they do expect a continuing temperature rise over decades.

The first 11 years of the 21st century experienced notably higher

temperatures compared to the middle and late 20th century, Hansen

said. The only year from the 20th century in the top 10 warmest years

on record is 1998.

Higher temperatures today are largely sustained by increased

atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, especially carbon

dioxide. These gases absorb infrared radiation emitted by Earth and

release that energy into the atmosphere rather than allowing it to

escape to space. As their atmospheric concentration has increased,

the amount of energy "trapped" by these gases has led to higher

temperatures.

The carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere was about 285 parts per

million in 1880, when the GISS global temperature record begins. By

1960, the average concentration had risen to about 315 parts per

million. Today it exceeds 390 parts per million and continues to rise

at an accelerating pace.

The temperature analysis produced at GISS is compiled from weather

data from more than 1,000 meteorological stations around the world,

satellite observations of sea surface temperature and Antarctic

research station measurements. A publicly available computer program

is used to calculate the difference between surface temperature in a

given month and the average temperature for the same place during

1951 to 1980. This three-decade period functions as a baseline for

the analysis.

The resulting temperature record is very close to analyses by the Met

Office Hadley Centre in the United Kingdom and the National Oceanic

and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center in

Asheville, N.C.

Hansen said he expects record-breaking global average temperature in

the next two to three years because solar activity is on the upswing

and the next El Nino will increase tropical Pacific temperatures. The

warmest years on record were 2005 and 2010, in a virtual tie.

"It's always dangerous to make predictions about El Nino, but it's

safe to say we'll see one in the next three years," Hansen said. "It

won't take a very strong El Nino to push temperatures above 2010."

For more information on the GISS temperature analysis, visit:

http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp

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The Winter That Wasn't

Posted by: Susie77, 01:13 AM GMT del 19 Gennaio 2012

We still have cabbages all green and perky, and lettuce too. It's January 18th and the hyacinths, croci, and daffodils are showing their little green heads. Less than 2 inches of snow has fallen here near STL MO. Yes, I am complaining! I love winter. As a gardener, I love it even more. A good cold winter keeps plants dormant until wake-up time. A properly frigid winter kills off many insects that chomp plants, and gives the plants a fighting chance. Oh, it also kills off mosquito larvae. Snow gives the soil some slow-release moisture, and it also offers a protective layer to seeds and bulbs and roots that lie close to the surface.

I want our winter, and I want it NOW!!

Updated: 01:14 AM GMT del 19 Gennaio 2012

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We Found Munchkin Land!

Posted by: Susie77, 03:25 AM GMT del 12 Gennaio 2012

Kepler Discovers a Tiny Solar System

Jan. 11, 2012: Astronomers using data from
NASA's Kepler mission have discovered the three smallest planets yet
detected orbiting a star beyond our sun. The planets orbit a single
star, called KOI-961, and are 0.78, 0.73 and 0.57 times the radius of
Earth. The smallest is about the size of Mars.

"This is the tiniest solar system found so far," said John
Johnson, the principal investigator of the research from NASA's
Exoplanet Science Institute at the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena. "It's actually more similar to Jupiter and its moons in scale
than any other planetary system. The discovery is further proof of the
diversity of planetary systems in our galaxy."

This artist's concept depicts an itsy bitsy planetary system --
so compact, in fact, that it's more like Jupiter and its moons than a
star and its planets. Astronomers using data from NASA's Kepler mission
and ground-based telescopes recently confirmed that the system, called
KOI-961, hosts the three smallest exoplanets known so far to orbit a
star other than our sun. [more]

All three planets are thought to be rocky like Earth, but orbit
close to their star. That makes them too hot to be in the habitable
zone, which is the region where liquid water could exist. Of the more
than 700 planets confirmed to orbit other stars -- called exoplanets --
only a handful are known to be rocky.

"Astronomers are just beginning to confirm thousands of planet
candidates uncovered by Kepler so far," said Doug Hudgins, Kepler
program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington." Finding one as
small as Mars is amazing, and hints that there may be a bounty of rocky
planets all around us."

Kepler searches for planets by continuously monitoring more than
150,000 stars, looking for telltale dips in their brightness caused by
crossing, or transiting, planets. At least three transits are required
to verify a signal as a planet. Follow-up observations from ground-based
telescopes also are needed to confirm the discoveries.

The latest discovery comes from a team led by astronomers at the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The team used data
publicly released by the Kepler mission, along with follow-up
observations from the Palomar Observatory, near San Diego, and the W.M.
Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Their measurements
dramatically revised the sizes of the planets from what originally was
estimated.

The three planets are very close to their star, taking less than
two days to orbit around it. The KOI-961 star is a red dwarf with a
diameter one-sixth that of our sun, making it just 70 percent bigger
than Jupiter.

Smallest Exoplanets (Jupiter comparison, 558px)

'Honey I Shrunk the Planetary System': This artist's concept
compares the KOI-961 planetary system to Jupiter and the largest four of
its many moons. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech [more]

Red dwarfs are the most common kind of star in our Milky Way
galaxy. The discovery of three rocky planets around one red dwarf
suggests that the galaxy could be teeming with similar rocky planets.

"These types of systems could be ubiquitous in the universe," said
Phil Muirhead, lead author of the new study from Caltech. "This is a
really exciting time for planet hunters."

For more information about the Kepler mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/kepler

Production Editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA

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First Meteor Shower of 2012

Posted by: Susie77, 08:00 PM GMT del 03 Gennaio 2012

QUADRANTID
METEOR SHOWER: Earth is about to
pass through a stream of debris from 2003 EH1, a
comet fragment that produces the annual Quadrantid
meteor shower. Forecasters expect the shower
to peak around 07:20 UT (02:20 am EST) on Wednesday
morning, January 4th. At maximum, as many as 100
meteors/hour could emerge from a radiant near Polaris,
the north star.
Brian Emfinger of Ozark, Arkansas,
photographed this one on Jan. 2nd:

"Wow! What a really nice fireball,"
says Emfinger. "It emerged very very close
to the Quadrantid radiant, but I'm not 100% sure
it is indeed an early Quadrantid."
Even among professional researchers
there is a lot of uncertainty about the Quadrantids.
Because the shower occurs during the deep cold of
northern winter, and because its peak is brief (often
no longer than a couple of hours), this strong shower
is seldom observed. Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid
Environment Office hopes 2012 will be different.
"We encourage sky watchers to be alert for
Quadrantids and send their observations to NASA
using the Meteor
Counter app," he says. "With a little
help, we just might learn something new about this
intriguing shower."

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