ESSIC/CISESS Scientist C. Max Stevens is co-author on a new paper in Nature that reveals summer and winter temperature changes through the last 11,000 years, a period known as the Holocene.
In findings published on Nov. 9, a team of NASA scientists led by ESSIC research scientist Chelsea Parker project spring Arctic cyclones will intensify by the end of this century because of sea ice loss and rapidly warming temperatures. Those conditions will lead to stronger storms that carry warmer air and more moisture into the Arctic.
Coastal Alaska was devastated by flooding due to the remnants of Typhoon Merbok (Figure 1a) on September 17, 2022. Storm surge flooded communities along 1,000 miles (1,609 km) of Alaska’s west coast, damaging homes, submerging roads and triggering evacuations. Satellite measurements recorded 17 observations of significant wave height exceeding 14 m (46 feet) on September 16-17 2022 (Figure 1b, dark red dots). Such a sea state is defined as “phenomenal” by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). During the 48-hour period, 5% of all satellite radar altimeter observations in the Bering Sea exceeded 9m (30 ft), defined as “very high” seas by the WMO (Figure 1c) and 19% of observations exceeded 6m (20 ft), WMO “high” seas.
Several ESSIC/CISESS scientists have contributed to State of the Climate, the annual peer-reviewed summary of the global climate published by the American Meteorological Society. The recently-released State of the Climate in 2021 is the 32nd issue and features six chapters authored by dozens of international scientists. ESSIC/CISESS scientists Bob Adler, Jeannette Wild, Alexey Mishonov, Chelsea Parker, and Sinead Farrell contributed to the chapters “Global Climate”, “Global Ocean”, and “The Arctic”.
Two NASA Glaciologists, Kelly Brunt and Alex Gardner, recently sat down to discuss the history, challenges, and evolution of mapping the Antarctic continent and what it means for science and society.
The American Meteorological Society (AMS) Annual Meeting was held virtually this year from January 23 to 27. Simultaneously, AMS held a number of specialized conferences and symposiums, focusing on topics including hydrology, climate variability and change, and atmospheric chemistry. ESSIC/CISESS scientists contributed a large number of talks and posters at the event. Talks included:
ESSIC/CISESS had several talks, e-lightning sessions, posters, virtual town halls, and tutorials at this year’s American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, held in New Orleans and online from December 13 to 17.
Some western and central states experienced a strong winter storm on March 13-15. The experimental satellite-radar merged snowfall rate product (mSFR) previously covered in ESSIC News demonstrated how satellites could fill in radar gaps in regions with limited or no radar coverage.
A group of NOAA scientists, including several from ESSIC/CISESS, are producing a satellite snowfall rate product operationally at near real-time using measurements from passive microwave radiometers aboard ten satellites.
A new NASA Goddard feature highlights how the Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite 2 (ICESat-2), originally intended to precisely measure the height of the ice sheets at Earth’s poles, of sea ice floes above the ocean waters, and of forest canopies, has gone beyond its original purposes to map the Earth’s surface. In the article, ESSIC/CISESS scientists Sinéad Farrell and Nathan Thomas are quoted discussing these unintended benefits.
