.
.
ENVIRONMENT: GLOBAL WARMING AND CLIMATE CHANGE :
PACIFIC OCEAN :
WATER :
TEMPERATURES :
UNITED STATES: STATES: CALIFORNIA:
California's Drought and the Weird Warm 'Blob' in
the Pacific That May Be Fueling It
.
.
California's Drought and the Weird Warm 'Blob' in
the Pacific That May Be Fueling It
By Sarah Kaplan
April 10, 2015
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/
2015/04/10/californias-drought-and-the-weird-warm-
blob-in-the-pacific-that-may-be-fueling-it/
.
A shorter URL for the above link:
.
http://tinyurl.com/mag84vj
.
.
Its a persistent patch of unusually warm water lurking along the West
Coast of the United States and it may be responsible for all sorts of
recent weather weirdness, from the drought in California to the brutal
cold out East, according to two studies published this week in the journal
Geophysical Research Letters.
.
First noticed in the fall of 2013, the blob is about 1,000 miles in
diameter and 300 feet deep. Technically called a warm anomaly, it got its
nickname from Nick Bond, Washingtons state climatologist and the lead
author of one of the new studies. Viewed on a map showing surface water
temperatures off the coast, the great circular mass does indeed look like
a blob.
.
In a newsletter published last summer, Bond noted that the blob was about
3 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than is typical for the
area and may have contributed to the states abnormally warm and dry
winter.
.
The past winter and several more months of research confirmed Bonds
suspicion.
.
Bond and his colleagues found that the warm waters are caused by a ridge
of high-pressure air lingering above them, rather than the standard
low-pressure system that the Pacific Northwest usually sees in the winter.
In normal winters, the low-pressure system helps the ocean water cool off
and causes storms all along the West Coast. But the high pressure system
made the ocean calmer and warmer and as air moved landward from the warm
waters, it carried heat rather than rain and snow. The West Coasts high
temperatures and dire drought, which has led to mandatory water
restrictions in California, are likely attributable to this phenomenon,
the researchers said.
.
The blob is also wreaking havoc on Pacific wildlife, the study found. Fish
are appearing where they normally dont belong, and the warmer, less
nutrient-rich water is disrupting the food web. These findings coincide
with a March report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, which said that West Coast waters are becoming less
biologically productive as they become warmer.
.
.
Warm blob' in Pacific Ocean linked to weird weather across the US
Date: April 9, 2015
Source: University of Washington
Summary:
An unusually warm patch of surface water, nicknamed 'the blob' when it
emerged in early 2014, is part of a Pacific Ocean pattern that may be
affecting everything from West Coast fisheries and water supplies to East
Coast snowstorms. The blob is just one element of a broader pattern in the
Pacific Ocean whose influence reaches much further -- possibly to include
two bone-chilling winters in the Eastern U.S.
Science Dailyhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150409143041.htm
Citation:
University of Washington. "'Warm blob' in Pacific Ocean linked to weird
weather across the US." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 9 April 2015.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150409143041.htm
.
.
The authors look at how the blob is affecting West Coast marine life. They
find fish sightings in unusual places, supporting recent reports that West
Coast marine ecosystems are suffering and the food web is being disrupted
by warm, less nutrient-rich Pacific Ocean water.
.
The blob's influence also extends inland. As air passes over warmer water
and reaches the coast it brings more heat and less snow, which the paper
shows helped cause current drought conditions in California, Oregon and
Washington.
.
The blob is just one element of a broader pattern in the Pacific Ocean
whose influence reaches much further -- possibly to include two
bone-chilling winters in the Eastern U.S.
.
A study in the same journal by Dennis Hartmann, a UW professor of
atmospheric sciences, looks at the Pacific Ocean's relationship to the
cold 2013-14 winter in the central and eastern United States.
.
Despite all the talk about the "polar vortex," Hartmann argues we need to
look south to understand why so much cold air went shooting down into
Chicago and Boston.
.
His study shows a decadal-scale pattern in the tropical Pacific Ocean
linked with changes in the North Pacific, called the North Pacific mode,
that sent atmospheric waves snaking along the globe to bring warm and dry
air to the West Coast and very cold, wet air to the central and eastern
states.
.
"Lately this mode seems to have emerged as second to the El Ni Southern
Oscillation in terms of driving the long-term variability, especially over
North America," Hartmann said.
.
In a blog post last month, Hartmann focused on the more recent winter of
2014-15 and argues that, once again, the root cause was surface
temperatures in the tropical Pacific.
.
That pattern, which also causes the blob, seems to have become stronger
since about 1980 and lately has elbowed out the Pacific Decadal
Oscillation to become second only to El Ni in its influence on global
weather patterns.
.
.
The complete articles may be read at the URLs provided for each.
.
.
Journal Reference:
.
Nicholas A. Bond, Meghan F. Cronin, Howard Freeland, Nathan Mantua.
Causes and Impacts of the 2014 Warm Anomaly in the NE Pacific. Geophysical
Research Letters, 2015; DOI: 10.1002/2015GL063306
.
.
Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@xxxxxxxxxx
http://workface.com/e/daviddillard
Net-Gold
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/net-gold
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/net-gold.html
https://groups.io/org/groupsio/Net-Gold/archives
http://net-gold.3172864.n2.nabble.com/
Research Guides
https://sites.google.com/site/researchguidesonsites/
RESEARCH PAPER WRITING
http://guides.temple.edu/research-papers
EMPLOYMENT
http://guides.temple.edu/employment-guide
INTERNSHIPS
http://guides.temple.edu/employment-internships
HOSPITALITY
http://guides.temple.edu/hospitality-guide
DISABILITIES AND EMPLOYMENT
http://guides.temple.edu/c.php?g=134557
INDOOR GARDENING
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/IndoorGardeningUrban/info
Educator-Gold
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Educator-Gold/
K12ADMINLIFE
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K12AdminLIFE/
PUBLIC HEALTH RESOURCES INCLUDING EBOLA
http://guides.temple.edu/public-health-guide
Blog
https://educatorgold.wordpress.com/
Articles by David Dillard
https://sites.google.com/site/daviddillardsarticles/
Information Literacy (Russell Conwell Center Guide)
http://tinyurl.com/78a4shn
Nina Dillard's Photographs on Net-Gold
http://www.flickr.com/photos/neemers/
Twitter: davidpdillard
Temple University Site Map
https://sites.google.com/site/templeunivsitemap/home
Bushell, R. & Sheldon, P. (eds),
Wellness and Tourism: Mind, Body, Spirit,
Place, New York: Cognizant Communication Books.
Wellness Tourism: Bibliographic and Webliographic Essay
David P. Dillard
http://tinyurl.com/p63whl
RailTram Discussion Group
From the Union Pacific to BritRail and Beyond
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/railtram/info
INDOOR GARDENING
Improve Your Chances for Indoor Gardening Success
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/IndoorGardeningUrban/
SPORT-MED
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/sport-med.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sports-med/
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/sport-med.html
HEALTH DIET FITNESS RECREATION SPORTS TOURISM
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/healthrecsport/info
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/health-recreation-sports-tourism.html
.
.
Please Ignore All Links to JIGLU
in search results for Net-Gold and related lists.
The Net-Gold relationship with JIGLU has
been terminated by JIGLU and these are dead links.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/30664
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/healthrecsport/message/145
Temple University Listserv Alert :
Years 2009 and 2010 Eliminated from Archives
https://sites.google.com/site/templeuniversitylistservalert/
.
.
