History
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The earth has been around for about four and a half billion years, according to the best estimates of climate scientists. But in its early life, the planet was much different than is it now. This week an article in Nature discussed how it has changed and estimated when conditions were first right for snow…
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The latest issue of NOAA’s “Beyond the Data” blog has an interesting story about the history of the cooperative observer network, the backbone of long-term climate observations across the US. Did you ever wonder how the US has a climate record going back at least 125 years? How do we know what happened before that?…
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Here is a story that links events in World War 2 to impacts on tree rings in Norway. According to the story, a German dendrochronologist noted that many trees along the Norwegian coast near Kåfjord. In 1945, the Germans were hiding their battleship the Tirpitz there using chlorosulphuric acid as a sort of “chemical fog” to try…
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Live Science has an interesting story this week about how scientists are using artwork from past years to study the atmospheric content of particles put out by erupting volcanoes. According to the story, by looking at the color of the sky in the paintings, they can determine the scattering properties of the aerosols, such as…
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Unlike older physical sciences like physics and chemistry, atmospheric sciences developed most of its theories in the 20th century, especially after the start of the aviation industry, when a three-dimensional picture of the atmosphere was needed to navigate safely. One of the puzzles in early weather forecasting was why it took longer to fly from…
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As a kid I remember reading a book about the refilling of the Mediterranean Sea after the strait at Gilbraltar was closed up for millions of years, keeping Atlantic Ocean water from entering the basin. Today I saw two separate stories about the Mediterranean Sea and paleoclimate, one based on the story I mentioned above…
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For those of you interested in severe weather and tornadoes, you will enjoy reading this journal article about the first known tornado forecast that was ever made. J. P. Finley was a military meteorologist who was fascinated by severe weather, especially tornadoes, and spent a lot of time studying how they formed. He made his…