Global warming is a loaded word, using the word 'warm' makes it sound like it will be warmer all the time, but in reality it's the global average we are talking about, hence the word 'global'. But we are getting more days that's warmer than before, so even if you think one day is cold it doesn't mean we doesn't have any global warming.
I've read lot of articles from Climate Progress and I like how they are using the word 'on steroids' because that's really true. When the atmosphere is heating up, it's possible for it to take up more water and with warmer oceans they will release more water through vapor than before. This will make it possible for storms and rainfall to be more intense than before, which is how steroids works they are making easier to be stronger.
With warmer climate many places on earth will get less rain and some places will get more rain. Usually the places that already get rain will get more and the places where rain is rare will get even lesser rain. Which is happening because of the warmer climate, the places where it's already scarce with water will get more vaporization and as I already said storm systems will carry more water that later will rain down on the already rainy places.
Something that we in Europe and US is affected by is the so called storm tracks, where most of our storms develops. Because of global warming they will change, and this will effect us all. In northern hemisphere we have our storm track that starts in the Rocky Mountain and then travels over the Atlantic to reach Europe. The pattern varies depending on the so called 'Subtropical High', a high pressure system that often can be found around the Azores. Because of melting ice sheet, the usual straight storm track will get wavy and slower. Thus creating times when the weather stand still, either we will get heat waves or rain.
If you want to read more about climate and what's happening with climate progress you should check out Climate progress.
//Osced
11/20/12
Hurricane, Tropical Cyclone or Typhones
After Hurricane Sandy, people has been more aware of Hurricanes again. But what's actually a hurricane? You might think it's about the strength of the wind, you're partially correct. It's more complex than that.
A Hurricane is a tropical revolving storm with a warm core. That's driven by heat from the warm water, which is partially why it has a warm core. This warm core are also partially the reason why they can be so strong. Everyone has heard about the eye, which are the calm and clear center of the storm. To explain this a little further, think about and engine. Instead of gasoline, warm water is the fuel and it's a bit more effective. The calm and dry center is the heat sink, where air that been used land up in, through a slow sinking motion.
The reason behind all the different name is pretty simple, it all depends on where the tropical cyclone can be found. We have hurricane around America, around Japan, China, Indonesia and Northern Australia it's called Typhoons and Tropical Cyclones in the rest of the areas where they can be found.
We have mainly six birth grounds for hurricanes (North Atlantic and Caribbean, Northwest Pacific, Northeast Pacific, Southwest, Southern Indian Ocean and Northern Indian Ocean). Pacific those places are active during a couple of months per year. Most of the Americans know that hurricanes are active during June/August to October. But depending on the water temperature hurricanes can be developed later or earlier.
Here is the time of year when and where hurricanes usually are active:
Northern Tropical Atlantic and Caribbean: June to October
Northwest Tropical Pacific: Mars to December
Northeast Tropical Pacific: June to October
Southwest Tropical Pacific: December to April
South Indian Ocean: November to April
North Indian Ocean: April to May
Those months are when the ocean temperature are most favorable for hurricanes. Which usually means water temperature above 27 degrees Celsius. And these places are where the environment are the most favorable for hurricane development.
Back to Sandy, I think most of you that reads this already know why it get to be that devastating. But it was mainly because it was really large and that the atmospheric situations forced Sandy to take the track it took.
Hope you liked this post, please comment or Tweet if you have a question about this post.
//Osced
A Hurricane is a tropical revolving storm with a warm core. That's driven by heat from the warm water, which is partially why it has a warm core. This warm core are also partially the reason why they can be so strong. Everyone has heard about the eye, which are the calm and clear center of the storm. To explain this a little further, think about and engine. Instead of gasoline, warm water is the fuel and it's a bit more effective. The calm and dry center is the heat sink, where air that been used land up in, through a slow sinking motion.
The reason behind all the different name is pretty simple, it all depends on where the tropical cyclone can be found. We have hurricane around America, around Japan, China, Indonesia and Northern Australia it's called Typhoons and Tropical Cyclones in the rest of the areas where they can be found.
We have mainly six birth grounds for hurricanes (North Atlantic and Caribbean, Northwest Pacific, Northeast Pacific, Southwest, Southern Indian Ocean and Northern Indian Ocean). Pacific those places are active during a couple of months per year. Most of the Americans know that hurricanes are active during June/August to October. But depending on the water temperature hurricanes can be developed later or earlier.
Here is the time of year when and where hurricanes usually are active:
Northern Tropical Atlantic and Caribbean: June to October
Northwest Tropical Pacific: Mars to December
Northeast Tropical Pacific: June to October
Southwest Tropical Pacific: December to April
South Indian Ocean: November to April
North Indian Ocean: April to May
Those months are when the ocean temperature are most favorable for hurricanes. Which usually means water temperature above 27 degrees Celsius. And these places are where the environment are the most favorable for hurricane development.
Back to Sandy, I think most of you that reads this already know why it get to be that devastating. But it was mainly because it was really large and that the atmospheric situations forced Sandy to take the track it took.
Hope you liked this post, please comment or Tweet if you have a question about this post.
//Osced
7/18/12
Why does it rain?
Probably everyone have sometime looked up at the clouds. But what is a cloud ? Clouds is a cluster of cloud droplet mainly consisting of condensed water. A cloud often consists of billions of small cloud droplets, that has been developed because that the air can't take care of more water vapor. When the air is over saturated, water vapor will condense on small particles called aerosol like salt or dust particles.
Because of physical laws that I won't talk about water vapor generally needs those aerosols to condense from vapor to droplets. Depending on the temperature and the amount of excess water vapor in the cloud and the type of particle the droplet will grow differently.
The amount of water vapor the air can hold depends the temperature of the air. For warmer temperature the air can hold more water vapor. With temperature decreasing with altitude, the air will hold less water higher up in the atmosphere. This means it less likely that a cloud spontaneous appears in the sky. Usually clouds develop because of sudden upward movements in atmosphere.
During the cloud droplets life it will travel upwards until gravity gets to strong, upwards winds is generally not the same in the whole cloud. In some cases the droplet will reach the top of the cloud and start falling down collection smaller cloud droplets. Depending on the upward wind the droplet might stop its fall and either travel upwards or hang still in the cloud.
Sudden upward movement can be caused by several things, usually it is convection or frontal clouds you see in the sky.
We have know learned how a cloud is born, but what happens when it's raining?
In a cloud we have certain upward winds that is working against gravity that wants to push the droplets against the grown. When our droplets reach a certain size they are too big and the gravity wins and our cloud starts to rain.
If you liked this entry or have question, please leave a review.
//Osced
2/9/12
Weather School: A climate discussion.
It's easy to think that the global warming isn't happening when it gets colder where you live, but we need to remember it's global so even if it gets colder at your place the global temperature can still increase.
Global warming can be divided in two categories; man made and naturally global warming. Many global warming skeptics are using the fact that the sun has different kind of cycles and that for example they say its due to solar spots. Of course solar variability are affecting the climate, but the changes of the temperature can't be fully correlated with the warming. We also has volcano eruptions, but none of the latest volcano did affect the global temperature.
Some of the skeptics even doesn't fully understand the greenhouse effect, and mostly of the scientist that doesn't believe in that the anthropogenic emissions is the cause of the global warming is in a minority. This article (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/06/22/1003187107.abstract) found out that most of the scientist that isn't a 'believer' doesn't actively publishing in this field. I think that's interesting, wonder why? I won't answer that and instead let my readers think about that.
In spirit of the climate discussion I will try to explain the greenhouse effect in several simple ways. I start with the easy and probably the most used way:
I hope you think this was an interesting reading, please comment and tell me what you thought about it or if you have a question.
//Osced
Global warming can be divided in two categories; man made and naturally global warming. Many global warming skeptics are using the fact that the sun has different kind of cycles and that for example they say its due to solar spots. Of course solar variability are affecting the climate, but the changes of the temperature can't be fully correlated with the warming. We also has volcano eruptions, but none of the latest volcano did affect the global temperature.
Some of the skeptics even doesn't fully understand the greenhouse effect, and mostly of the scientist that doesn't believe in that the anthropogenic emissions is the cause of the global warming is in a minority. This article (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/06/22/1003187107.abstract) found out that most of the scientist that isn't a 'believer' doesn't actively publishing in this field. I think that's interesting, wonder why? I won't answer that and instead let my readers think about that.
In spirit of the climate discussion I will try to explain the greenhouse effect in several simple ways. I start with the easy and probably the most used way:
We can compare the greenhouse gases with a coat, it works the same way holding the heat inside, making the temperature increasing. This might easily explain the effect, but it can be harder to explain why increased anthropogenic gases would make the temperature increase. The easiest way is to think about it like you another coat on earth. More greenhouse gases means more 'coats'. Pretty simple and explains the essence of the greenhouse effect.
But my favourite explanation is one I learned from one of my teachers. It is still very easy to understand but you can explain a lot more than with the 'coat' explanation. We start with imagining a pub and a little cabin, between the cabin and the pub is a thick forest. If we imagine the forest as the greenhouse gases and the cabin as the open space. The heat or infra-red radiation can then be a drunk person leaving the pub, heading for the cabin. What happens when he walks through the forest? He will have trouble walking in a straight line and 'bounce' between the trees, if the forest is thicker he will have a lot harder to walk through the forest. This is how the greenhouse effect works, with more gases the heat will stay inside the atmosphere longer and heating up it more.
A more scientific explanation talks about 'windows' of radiation that depends on the structure of a molecule. A greenhouse gases has a specific structure that makes it absorb long-wave radiation (heat).
I hope you think this was an interesting reading, please comment and tell me what you thought about it or if you have a question.
//Osced
10/15/10
Kelvin Waves
Hi
I'm back again, as you are seeing I'm not really a blogger. But today I decided to write in my blog about a phenomena I'm working with: Kelvin Waves. You have probably not heard about them before, but they are important in the oceans. The Tide is actually linked through Kelvin waves.
To describe these waves, I will use the tide as en example. When tides is getting high, it will disturb the sea-surface, that itself creates this Kelvin Waves. These waves will travel along the coast at the right side in the Northern hemisphere and at the left side in the Southern hemisphere. These waves will also travel along the coast and creates a perturbation we could also call a tide. Because of that ocean basins are big, we rarely are seeing this Kelvin Wave propagating a whole revolution before the tide is turning, if that happened you will getting the both stages of the tide . But you can actually see that at some island that has the right length to do so.
Hope you liked it and please comment about what you are thinking about it.
//Osced
I'm back again, as you are seeing I'm not really a blogger. But today I decided to write in my blog about a phenomena I'm working with: Kelvin Waves. You have probably not heard about them before, but they are important in the oceans. The Tide is actually linked through Kelvin waves.
To describe these waves, I will use the tide as en example. When tides is getting high, it will disturb the sea-surface, that itself creates this Kelvin Waves. These waves will travel along the coast at the right side in the Northern hemisphere and at the left side in the Southern hemisphere. These waves will also travel along the coast and creates a perturbation we could also call a tide. Because of that ocean basins are big, we rarely are seeing this Kelvin Wave propagating a whole revolution before the tide is turning, if that happened you will getting the both stages of the tide . But you can actually see that at some island that has the right length to do so.
Hope you liked it and please comment about what you are thinking about it.
//Osced
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