Climate

The climate.gov article 2020 Arctic sea ice minimum second lowest on record by Michon Scott (9/21/2020) reports: On September 15, 2020, the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) announced, Arctic sea ice appeared to have reached its annual minimum extent. At 1.44 million square miles (3.74 million square kilometers), this …

From the NOAA Global Climate Report – August 2020: Averaged as a whole, the August 2020 global land and ocean surface temperature was 0.94°C (1.69°F) above average and the second highest August temperature since global records began in 1880. Only August 2016 was warmer with a temperature departure from average of +0.98°C …

The NASA feature article on Vital Sings on the Planet, NASA-led Study Reveals the Causes of Sea Level Rise Since 19900 (8/21/2020) summarizes results from the paper in Nature, The causes of sea-level rise since 1900 (behind a paywall). What you might not have known: In addition, the new study …

From NOAA’s Global Climate Report – July 2020: The July 2020 global land and ocean surface temperature of 0.92°C (1.66°F) above the 20th century average tied with 2016 as the second highest July global temperature since records began in 1880. This value was only 0.01°C (0.02°F) shy of tying the record warm …

NASA’s earth observatory post Grand Plateau Glacier provides a pair of aerial images of the glacier, copied here, from 1984 and 2019, both from Sept of the given year. In the images, a moraine near the coastline acts like a dam, trapping meltwater and forming a proglacial lake. Also note the …

NASA’s Vital Signs of the Planet Sea Level Sea Level page provides data on sea level. For example, since 1993 sea level has increased  by about 94mm, but this is an average. In their Sea Level 101, Part Two: All Sea Level is `Local’ by Alan Buis (7/14/2020) they provide …

The article in Quanta Magazine How Earth’s Climate Changes Naturally (and Why Things are Different Now)  by Howard Lee (7/21/2020) provides a summary of 10 different causes that impact earth’s climate and how they compare with modern climate change. On example is plate tectonics as see in the graphic copied …

From NOAA’s Global Climate Report – June 2020: Averaged as a whole, the global land and ocean surface temperature for June 2020 was 0.92°C (1.66°F) above the 20th century average of 15.5°C (59.9°F), tying with 2015 as the third highest June temperature departure from average in the 141-year record. Nine of the …

If you aren’t sure how sea level is calculated then read NASA’s Sea Level 101: What determines the Level of the Sea? by Alan Buis (6/3/2020) . Here is one factor: If our ocean had no tides or currents, the sea surface would assume the shape of the geoid. These …

From the NOAA Global Climate Report – May 2020: The global land and ocean surface temperature for May 2020 tied with 2016 as the highest in the 141-year record at 0.95°C (1.71°F) above the 20th century average of 14.8°C (58.6°F). The 10 warmest Mays have all occurred since 1998; however, the 2014–2020 …