The world temperature ‘plateau graph’ that the 2014-2015 El Niño will break

This is the graph of the world’s best-established temperature dataset, of NASA GISS. It shows another good representation of the 1997-1998 El Niño world average temperature peak. Recent years have been net influenced by La Niña state, as shown in … Continue reading

Two hottest years ever: 2014 will set new world temperature record – and 2015 will break it

El Niño Southern Oscillation index: duration and intensity of La Niña and El Niño years. El Niño is usually defined as a positive temperature anomaly in the east and central tropical Pacific. Another way to express the climate phenomenon is … Continue reading

New source of methane discovered: the Arctic Ocean

It has been know for some time that large quantitites of methane lie hidden in reservoirs under the permafrost layers on the tundra and in clathrates on the continental shelve. It is neither a secret that those large quantities of … Continue reading

Animated NOAA GOES-13 satellite data shows space view of Great Plains tornado outbreak

Satellite data gives forecasters a leg up on severe weather. NASA has just released an animation of visible and infrared satellite data showing the development and movement of the Great Plains tornado outbreak, using data from NOAA’s GOES-13 satellite. There were more than 135 reports of tornadoes and 124 different warnings over April 14-15, 2012.

Continue reading

Tiny air samplers new tool in improving climate models

Miniscule air samplersAn air sampler the size of an ear plug is expected to cheaply and easily collect atmospheric samples to improve computer climate models.

“We now have an inexpensive tool for collecting pristine vapor samples in the field,” said Sandia National Laboratories researcher Ron Manginell, lead author of the cover story for the Review of Scientific Instruments, the often-cited journal of the American Institute of Physics.

Continue reading

Meteorites Reveal Another Way to Make Life’s Components

Meteorite

A meteorite analyzed in the study at its collection site in Antarctica. Credit:Antarctic Search for Meteorites program, Case Western Reserve University

Creating some of life’s building blocks in space may be a bit like making a sandwich – you can make them cold or hot, according to new NASA research. This evidence that there is more than one way to make crucial components of life increases the likelihood that life emerged elsewhere in the Universe, according to the research team, and gives support to the theory that a “kit” of ready-made parts created in space and delivered to Earth by impacts from meteorites and comets assisted the origin of life.

Continue reading