Map showing the 11 March 2011 magnitude 9.0 off Tohoku mainshock and 166 aftershocks of magnitude 5.5 and greater until May 20. Warmer color indicates more recent events. Larger symbol indicates greater quake magnitude.
CREDIT: USGS
One year ago on March 11, the intense shaking and massive tsunami set off by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Japan wrought noticeable effects on our planet.
Not only did the twin events cause widespread damage along Japan’s coast — thequake was the largest in the country’s history — but they also triggered effects across the globe, from the surface to high up in the atmosphere. They even slightly altered the Earth’s gravity.
Here, OurAmazingPlanet reviews the strangest effects the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami had on our planet.
7 – Cracks in the seafloor
The earthquake ruptured below the seafloor off the coast of the Tohoku region, ripping open cracks along the ocean bottom. Submersibles spied these cracks, which measured around 3 to 6 feet (around 1 to 3meters) across, in the months after the earthquake.
The many large earthquakes that have shaken our planet lately are the result of random events, not a pattern suggesting an uptick in such quakes. Shown here, one of the fissures that opened up on the seafloor after the March 2011 earthquake struck off Japan’s coast.
CREDIT: Norio Miyamoto, JAMSTEC
6 – Smaller quakes triggered worldwide
The massive 9.0 temblor shook large sections of Japan and is still setting off aftershocks in the area. But the shaking wasn’t limited to the immediate region, some scientists think. There is evidence that the quake set off microquakes and tremors around the globe, mostly in places already known for their seismic activity such as Taiwan, Alaska and central California. These events likely didn’t exceed a magnitude of 3.0.
However, some of the quakes occurred in low-activity areas, such as central Nebraska, central Arkansas and near Beijing. Tremors were even detected in Cuba. Scientists hope that linking these seismic events can help them better understand the inner workings of earthquakes. [Pictures: Japan Earthquake & Tsunami]
5 – Antarctic ice stream sped up
Thousands of miles away from Japan, the seismic waves of the Tohoku earthquake appeared to temporarily speed up the flow of the Whillans glacier. Glaciers are essentially rivers of ice that slowly flow, in the case of Antarctica, from the interior of the continent out to sea. The increased pace of the ice stream was detected by GPS stations located on the ice.
CREDIT: NASA.
4 – Antarctic iceberg broken
The earthquake and its resulting tsunami were so powerful and far-reaching that they also broke off huge icebergs from Antarctica’s Sulzberger Ice Shelf. (An ice shelf is the part of a glacier that floats atop the sea.) Satellite images detected thetsunami waves breaking off chunks of ice some 18 hours after the earthquake.
3 – Atmosphere was rattled
The massive earthquake not only shook the earth, but also rattled the atmosphere.
Research had indicated that the surface motions and tsunamis that earthquakes generate can also trigger waves in the atmosphere, and the Japan earthquake generated the largest such disturbances seen yet, creating ripples in electrically charged particles reaching nearly 220 miles (350 kilometers) above the Earth.
2 –Gravity altered
The earthquake was so powerful that it altered the pull of gravity under the area affected by the quake, as detected by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites. The quake slightly thinned the crust, causes a slight reduction in the local gravity field.
1 – Earth’s day shortened
An analysis conducted just days after the earthquake struck found that the temblor accelerated Earth’s spin, shortening the length of the 24-hour day by 1.8 microseconds. A microsecond is a millionth of a second.
The planet’s rotation sped up because the earthquake shifted the distribution of Earth’s mass, said geophysicist Richard Gross at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., who made the calculation.
Strong Geomagnetic storm hits late, earthquake prone areas should keep alert
Published on March 9, 2012 – 16:00 UT
– By TWS Staff Reporter
– Edited by Staff Editor
Another piece of the earthquake trigger puzzle is the work done by TheWeatherSpace.com Senior Meteorologist Kevin Martin. Martin has been bashed at by others in the weather field, media outlets, and even Tony Phillips at SpaceWeather. Martin has been working on his theory of how solar storms may be a trigger to earthquakes since before the year 2000. According to online records, Martin was once known as “Geomagnetic Man”, in-which he was predicting quake windows like fellow predictor Berkland.(TheWeatherSpace.com) – Two theories floating around have come together to question what is next. As the Full Moon goes and the Solar Storm remains or fades, two people are wondering what will happen next.
Geologist Jim Berkland is the founder and developer of the theory involving earthquakes and the moon positions. According to Berkland, his Earthquake window this month was March 8th through the 15th, issued on March 8th. His theory is based on Syzygy, which is a twice-monthly alignment of the Sun and the Moon, from new to full.
No records before-hand show the work being done. Martin is the founder and developer of the theory that solar storms and geomagnetic storms may trigger earthquakes. Dr. Tony Phillips last year finally was starting to agree on what Martin has been saying for over 12 years now and more people should be aware of the trigger.
“Oh I get laughed at a lot but down the line the joke is always on them,” said Martin. “I think outside of the box, something not many want to do today. The generation of today’s youth and world is laziness and Xbox. Back in 1998 is when I started working on my theory, which I still believe in today to be a trigger.”
At the current time only a magnitude 7.1 was registered in the Southern Pacific, northeast of Australia. Coincidentally it happened when the geomagnetic storm arrived. The area of the quake is prone to large quakes, but last year a solar storm hit the planet and Japan had the devastating earthquake right as it hit.
Right now the geomagnetic levels are dropping after a peak of 7 on the 1 through 9 scale. This went well with what Martin had said on TWS’ official Facebook page on Thursday morning when Dr. Tony Phillips had declared the storm “a dud”.
“What matters is how much energy is being trapped up there in the geomagnetic field of the Earth, and when the Bz goes south, these particles will find a “Crack” so to speak and filter downwards,” said Martin. ” This can happen either right after impact or within 6-18 hours after the initial impact. Also the impact could come in waves throughout the day.”
Geomagnetic and solar radiation storms hitting Earth after Tuesday’s solar flares may not be as big as advertised, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday.
Together, such storms can affect GPS systems, other satellite systems and power grids, but none of these problems has been reported, even as the leading edge of the sun’s coronal mass ejections from Tuesday hit Earth on Thursday morning, scientists said.
The geomagnetic storm has reached only G1 intensity on a scale from G1 (weak) to G5 (extreme), and the solar radiation storm is an S3 (strong) on a similar 1-to-5 scale, NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center said. Earlier, NOAA had predicted a G3/S4 event.
Still, the solar radiation storm has prompted some airlines to divert planes from routes near the north pole, where radio communications may be affected and passengers at high altitudes may be at a higher than normal radiation risk.
“Today we are using alternate routes for seven westbound flights to Asia. We will monitor possible solar impact to the operation in making decisions for tomorrow and future dates,” Delta Air Lines spokesman Anthony Black said.
American Airlines put three high-polar flights – from the U.S. to Japan and China– on lower-altitude routes on Thursday, spokesman Ed Martelle said. And United Airlines rerouted four flights to Asia, according to United spokesman Mike Trevino.
The geomagnetic storm still could give earthlings quite a show Thursday night. The storm is expected to produce auroras, or northern lights, that may be visible as far south as the northern United States, said Physicist Joseph Kunches with the Space Weather Prediction Center.
Tuesday’s solar eruptions included two solar flares – intense bursts of radiation from the sun – and two coronal mass ejections, which are releases of gas and magnetic fields from the outer sun. The coronal mass ejections reached Earth on Thursday.
Kunches likened the challenge of forecasting the strength of the storms to hitting a major league pitcher’s fastball.
“Like a hitter, we try (to) figure out if the pitch is coming down the middle of the plate or is low and outside,” Kunches said. “The problem is, the pitch comes from the sun from 93 million miles away.”
Forecasters also try to figure out which way the particles ejected from the sun are oriented, which has major implications on how strong the event will be.
“Like a curveball, the orientation can change. We didn’t see the spin with this event,” Kunches said.
He added that the event is not over, and the effect of the solar radiation could increase if it becomes better aligned later Thursday. By Friday morning, the solar storm should be diminishing.
The sunspot that produced the storms, however, still will be facing Earth through the weekend, and further emissions could bring new storms to the planet.
Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : 5.8
UTC Time : Thursday, March 08, 2012 at 22:50:08 UTC
Local time at epicenter : Friday, March 09, 2012 at 06:50:08 AM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 35.5 km
Geo-location(s) :
approx. 120 km from Aral (closest bigger city)
214 km (132 miles) SSE of Aksu, Xinjiang, China 282 km (175 miles) NNE of Hotan, Xinjiang, China
–
China Xinjiang earthquake March 9, 2012
Update 23:54 UTC :
– Xinjiang is the Chinese province which is also called the “Uyghur Autonomous Region“. Xinjiang is often hit bu strong, very strong to even massive earthquakes.
– Aral, the closest city to the epicenter (approx. 120 km) has a population of 200,000.
Update 23:54 UTC :
– Chinese authorities are very skilled in managing earthquake response and special teams will be dispatched to the greater epicenter area. Every crack in a house is recorded and logged, which makes the Chinese statistics among the most detailed in the world.
Update 23:47 UTC :
– The greater epicenter area is Taklamakan Desert (see image below). Peak ground acceleration is the direct epicenter area is limited.
Update 23:34 UTC :
– The Chinese Seismological Agency (to be trusted) reports a Magnitude of 6.0 at a depth of 30 km, a little stronger than USGS.
Update 23:30 UTC :
– WAPMERR, the theoretical damage engine has calculated that this earthquake will normally not make victims. The max. injured is 0 to 10.
Update 23:28 UTC :
– USGS has calculated (theoretical engines) that 4,000 people will experience a strong shaking, 3,000 a moderate shaking and 508,000 people a light shaking.
– Chinese houses are mostly build in brick and adobe and are very vulnerable for earthquake damage.
Update 23:22 UTC :
-Luckily the epicenter of this earthquake is located in an unpopulated area. GDACS gas calculated that only 3,523 people are living within a radius of 50 km. 7,224 people in a radius of 100 km and 581,583 people within a radius of 200 km.
– Earthquake-Report.com estimates that only the people living within a radius of 50 km have a potential danger of damage.
Update 23:18 UTC :
– Earthquakes with this magnitude can be very dangerous in China.
Update 23:14 UTC :
– (Preliminary) data from other seismological agencies :
EMSC : M 5.9 at 40 km
GEOFON : M 6.0 at 10 km
Desert landscape in the epicenter area – image courtesy lean88888
EnlargeObserved and expected exclusion limits for a Standard Model Higgs boson at the 95-percent confidence level for the combined CDF and DZero analyses. The limits are expressed as multiples of the SM prediction for test masses chosen every 5 GeV/c2 in the range of 100 to 200 GeV/c2. The points are joined by straight lines for better readability. The yellow and green bands indicate the 68- and 95-percent probability regions, in the absence of a signal.The difference between the observed and expected limits around 124 GeV could be explained by the presense of a Higgs boson whose mass would lie between 115 to 135 GeV. The CDF and DZero data exclude a Higgs boson between 147 and 179 GeV/c2 at the 95-percent confidence level.
(PhysOrg.com) — New measurements announced today by scientists from the CDF and DZero collaborations at the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory indicate that the elusive Higgs boson may nearly be cornered. After analyzing the full data set from the Tevatron accelerator, which completed its last run in September 2011, the two independent experiments see hints of a Higgs boson.
Physicists from the CDF and DZero collaborations found excesses in their data that might be interpreted as coming from a Higgs boson with a mass in the region of 115 to 135 GeV. In this range, the new result has a probability of being due to a statistical fluctuation at level of significance known among scientists as 2.2 sigma. This new result also excludes the possibility of the Higgs having a mass in the range from 147 to 179 GeV.
Physicists claim evidence of a new particle only if the probability that the data could be due to a statistical fluctuation is less than 1 in 740, or three sigmas. A discovery is claimed only if that probability is less than 1 in 3.5 million, or five sigmas.
This result sits well within the stringent constraints established by earlier direct and indirect measurements made by CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, the Tevatron, and other accelerators, which place the mass of the Higgs boson within the range of 115 to 127 GeV. These findings are also consistent with the December 2011 announcement of excesses seen in that range by LHC experiments, which searched for the Higgs in different decay patterns. None of the hints announced so far from the Tevatron or LHC experiments, however, are strong enough to claim evidence for the Higgs boson.
“The end game is approaching in the hunt for the Higgs boson,” said Jim Siegrist, DOE Associate Director of Science for High Energy Physics. “This is an important milestone for the Tevatron experiments, and demonstrates the continuing importance of independent measurements in the quest to understand the building blocks of nature.”
Physicists from the CDF and DZero experiments made the announcement at the annual conference on Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories known as Rencontres de Moriond in Italy. This is the latest result in a decade-long search by teams of physicists at the Tevatron.
“I am thrilled with the pace of progress in the hunt for the Higgs boson. CDF and DZero scientists from around the world have pulled out all the stops to reach this very nice and important contribution to the Higgs boson search,” said Fermilab Director Pier Oddone. “The two collaborations independently combed through hundreds of trillions of proton-antiproton collisions recorded by their experiments to arrive at this exciting result.”
Higgs bosons, if they exist, are short-lived and can decay in many different ways. Just as a vending machine might return the same amount of change using different combinations of coins, the Higgs can decay into different combinations of particles. Discovering the Higgs boson relies on observing a statistically significant excess of the particles into which the Higgs decays and those particles must have corresponding kinematic properties that allow for the mass of the Higgs to be reconstructed.
“There is still much work ahead before the scientific community can say for sure whether the Higgs boson exists,” said Dmitri Denisov, DZero co-spokesperson and physicist at Fermilab. “Based on these exciting hints, we are working as quickly as possible to further improve our analysis methods and squeeze the last ounce out of Tevatron data.”
Only high-energy particle colliders such as the Tevatron and LHC can recreate the energy conditions found in the universe shortly after the Big Bang. According to the Standard Model, the theory that explains and predicts how nature’s building blocks behave and interact with each other, the Higgs boson gives mass to other particles.
“Without something like the Higgs boson giving fundamental particles mass, the whole world around us would be very different from what we see today,” said Giovanni Punzi, CDF co-spokesperson and physicist at the National Institute of Nuclear Physics, or INFN, in Pisa, Italy. “Physicists have known for a long time that the Higgs or something like it must exist, and we are eager to finally pin this phenomenon down and start learning more about it.”
If a Higgs boson is created in a high-energy particle collision, it immediately decays into lighter more stable particles before even the world’s best detectors and fastest computers can snap a picture of it. To find the Higgs boson, physicists retraced the path of these secondary particles and ruled out processes that mimic its signal.
The experiments at the Tevatron and the LHC offer a complementary search strategy for the Higgs boson. The Tevatron was a proton/anti-proton collider, with a maximum center of mass energy of 2 TeV, whereas the LHC is a proton/proton collider that will ultimately reach 14 TeV. Because the two accelerators collide different pairs of particles at different energies and produce different types of backgrounds, the search strategies are different. At the Tevatron, for example, the most powerful method is to search the CDF and DZero datasets to look for a Higgs boson that decays into a pair of bottom quarks if the Higgs boson mass is approximately 115-130 GeV. It is crucial to observe the Higgs boson in several types of decay modes because the Standard Model predicts different branching ratios for different decay modes. If these ratios are observed, then this is experimental confirmation of both the Standard Model and the Higgs.
“The search for the Higgs boson by the Tevatron and LHC experiments is like two people taking a picture of a park from different vantage points,” said Gregorio Bernardi, DZero co-spokesperson at the Nuclear Physics Laboratory of the High Energies, or LPNHE, in Paris . “One picture may show a child that is blocked from the other’s view by a tree. Both pictures may show the child but only one can resolve the child’s features. You need to combine both viewpoints to get a true picture of who is in the park. At this point both pictures are fuzzy and we think maybe they show someone in the park. Eventually the LHC with future data samples will be able to give us a sharp picture of what is there. The Tevatron by further improving its analyses will also sharpen the picture which is emerging today.”
This new updated analysis uses 10 inverse femtobarns of data from both CDF and DZero, the full data set collected from 10 years of the Tevatron’s collider program. Ten inverse femtobarns of data represents about 500 trillion proton-antiproton collisions. Data analysis will continue at both experiments.
“This result represents years of work from hundreds of scientists around the world,” said Rob Roser, CDF co-spokesperson and physicist at Fermilab. “But we are not done yet – together with our LHC colleagues, we expect 2012 to be the year we know whether the Higgs exists or not, and assuming it is discovered, we will have first indications that it behaves as predicted by the Standard Model.”
Quantum Consciousness, the Way to Reconcile Science & Spirituality
by KINGSLEY DENNIS on JULY 12, 2010
Human thought in the 21st century needs to work towards a new model that immerses the human being within a vibrant energetic universe. However, this need not demand that we throw away what we already have; rather, we can expand upon the tools that have brought us to our present position. There is an eastern proverb that roughly translates as: ‘You may ride your donkey up to your front door, but would you ride it into your house?’ In other words, when we have arrived at a particular destination we are often required to make a transition in order to continue the journey. In this sense we can be grateful to a vast knowledge base of scientific and religious thought for helping us to arrive at where we presently stand. Yet it is now imperative that we move forward. As Deepak Chopra suggested in his opening contribution to this Forum, how we move forward is likely to be centered in our understanding of consciousness.
Our physical apparatus is spectacular; consider that each of us carries around a 100 billion-cell bioelectric quantum computer that creates our realities, with almost all of its neurons established the day we were born. Still, this phenomenal ‘reality shaper’ has undergone monumental perceptual change over our evolutionary history. What is required, at this significant juncture, is again another catalyst of consciousness change. This may come about through discoveries in the field of quantum biology, and the idea, emphasized by Ervin Laszlo in his previous blogs, that the form of consciousness we possess is likely to be the result ofquantum coherence.
The human body is a constant flux of thousands of inter-reactions and processes connecting molecules, cells, organs, fluids, throughout the brain, body and nervous system. Up until recently it was thought that all these countless interactions operated in a linear sequence, passing on information much like a runner passing the baton to the next runner. However, the latest findings in quantum biology and biophysics have discovered that there is in fact a tremendous degree of coherence within all living systems. It has been found through extensive scientific investigation that a form of quantum coherence operates within living biological systems through what is known as biological excitations and biophoton emission. What this means is that metabolic energy is stored as a form of electromechanical and electromagnetic excitations. It is these coherent excitations that are considered responsible for generating and maintaining long-range order via the transformation of energy and very weak electromagnetic signals.
After nearly twenty years of experimental research, Fritz-Albert Popp put forward the hypothesis that biophotons are emitted from a coherent electrodynamic field within the living system. What this effectively means is that each living cell is giving off, and resonating with, a biophoton field of coherent energy. If each cell is emitting this field then the whole living system is, in effect, a resonating field—a ubiquitous non-local field. And since it is by the means of biophotons that the living system communicates, then there is near instantaneous intercommunication throughout. And this, claims Popp, is the basis for coherent biological organization—referred to as quantum coherence.
Biophysicist Mae Wan Ho has described how the living organism, including the human body, is “coherent beyond our wildest dreams” in that our bodies are constituted by a form of liquid crystal, which is an ideal transmitter of communication, resonance, and coherence. All living biological organisms continuously emit radiations of light that form a field of coherence and communication.
Moreover, biophysicists have discovered that living organisms are permeated by quantum wave forms. Ho informs us that,
…the visible body just happens to be where the wave function of the organism is most dense. Invisible quantum waves are spreading out from each of us and permeating into all other organisms. At the same time, each of us has the waves of every other organism entangled within our own make-up… (Ho, Mae-Wan, (1998) The Rainbow and the Worm: The Physics of Organisms. Singapore: World Scientific)
This incredible new discovery actually positions each living being within a non-local quantum field consisting of wave interferences (where bodies meet). Each person is thus not only in an emphatic relationship with each other but is also entangled with one another.
Neuroscience, quantum biology, and quantum physics are now beginning to converge to reveal that our bodies are not only biochemical systems but also sophisticated resonating quantum systems. These new discoveries show that a form of nonlocal connected consciousness has a physical-scientific basis. Further, it demonstrates that certain spiritual or transcendental states of collective Oneness have a valid basis within the new scientific paradigm.
If we are willing to step down from the donkey we will find that our new path ahead has a place for reconciling science and spirituality. We should focus on the best of both worlds: engage in cooperation, not in conflict and competition.
Why ‘Slut’ Stings: Etymology of a Limbaugh Controversy
Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
Date: 06 March 2012 Time: 01:59 PM ET
Reclaiming ‘slut’? Women march in London in 2011, protesting the idea that women invite assault and harassment by dressing ‘slutty.’
CREDIT: Padmayogini / Shutterstock.com
(NOTE: I do believe that Al Franken’s description of Rush Limbaugh as “A Big Fat Idiot” is correct, and Limbaugh’s most recent gaffe seems finally to have brought that realization to others, including radio stations and sponsors. Hopefully it can shake up some of those right wing, self-satisfied, do-(not so)gooders who left their brains where they could be scooped up and collected and controlled.)
The media stir and public outrage over conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh’s “slut statement” may have the conservative radio host eating his words — ancient words, that is. According to linguists, the word “slut” has quite a history.
Last week, Limbaugh triggered widespread outrage by calling a Georgetown law student who spoke out for contraceptive coverage in insurance a “slut” and a “prostitute.”
Limbaugh has since apologized for his “choice of words,” but his critics, including Fluke, do not see that apology as sincere. Meanwhile, at least a dozen advertisers have yanked their ads from Limbaugh’s show, and a Hawaii-based radio station has announced it will no longer air his show.
Limbaugh’s brand of intentionally inflammatory radio rhetoric has won him decades on air and millions of listeners. He’s said that Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson’s disease, exaggerated his symptoms in a 2006 commercial, and he once joked that then-13-year-old Chelsea Clinton was the “White House dog.” But with his “slut” comments, Limbaugh seems to have stepped into a controversy with a long linguistic history.
The origins of the word slut are lost to time, but English poet Geoffrey Chaucer gets credit for being one of the first to put it in print, calling a sloppy male character “sluttish” in the late 1300s.
But if slut ever widely referred to men, it didn’t last long. By the 1400s, the word was being used to described kitchen maids and sloppy, dirty women. The sexual connotations followed not long behind.
The Oxford English dictionary serves up a variety of cringe-inducing examples, from the 1621 work “The Anatomy of Melancholy,” which refers to “a peevish drunken flurt, a waspish cholerick slut,” to a character in Charles Dickens’ “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby” calling another a “slut, a hussy, an impudent artful hussy!”
The word’s associations with dirt and filth continue in phrases like “slut’s wool,” more genially known as “dust bunnies,” and “slut’s-hole,” a word once used to refer to garbage receptacles.
Beyond the sting of slut, Limbaugh’s comments have also drawn controversy because of the message behind the words. Limbaugh’s target, Fluke, was speaking on the hot-button topic of businesses run by religious institutions providing contraception coverage.
This issue came bundled with other big news about reproductive health, including a bill in Virginia mandating ultrasounds for women seeking abortions and the failed Blunt Amendment, an attempt in the U.S. Senate to ensure that employers can opt out of covering health care, especially birth control, that goes against their religious or moral beliefs. With these efforts at the forefront, Limbaugh’s remarks provided a spark for outrage.
But the word slut has also had its day in the sun. Last year, Canadian women started a protest called “SlutWalk,” in response to a policeman saying that women should “avoid dressing like sluts” in order to avoid sexual assault.
“Historically, the term ‘slut’ has carried a predominantly negative connotation. Aimed at those who are sexually promiscuous, be it for work or pleasure, it has primarily been women who have suffered under the burden of this label,” protest organizers wrote on their website, SlutWalk Toronto. “And whether dished out as a serious indictment of one’s character or merely as a flippant insult, the intent behind the word is always to wound, so we’re taking it back. ‘Slut’ is being re-appropriated.”
The protests, which quickly went international, sparked a conversation about whether the word is beyond redemption. But if Limbaugh’s continued hemorrhage of advertisers, even after an apology, is any indication, the word slut is far from redeemed.
Cherry blossoms on March 4, a sign of early spring in Brooklyn.
CREDIT: Wynne Parry
For parts of North America, this winter was the winter that nearly wasn’t.
January ranked as the fourth-warmest for the 48 U.S. states on record since 1895. December, too, was above average, although not as significantly. The final analysis for February is not yet in, but weather watchers expect last month to rank above average temperature-wise as well.
Of course, this year hasn’t brought early beach weather for everyone; just ask residents of Alaska and Europe, where a frigid cold snap is blamed for hundreds of deaths. And the warmth has been blamed for contributing to the slew of devastating tornadoes that hit the Midwest and southern U.S. on Friday (March 2).
While scientists have said that global warming willcause an uptick in extreme weather, they are hesitant to link any one event or even an unusual season to climate change. Even so, they say, global warming may play a role in the weird winter weather.
The jet stream
The key to understanding the unusually warm winter lies in the jet stream. It is made up of high-altitude, westerly winds. Its polar branch, the one important for determining winter weather, travels over the mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere in winter, according to Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at the weather service and news site Weather Underground.
The polar jet stream divides cold Arctic air to the north from warmer air to the south. This year, meteorologists say, the jet stream has kept the cold air bottled up farther north than usual.
As a result, warmer-than-usual temperatures this year have graced much of the United States, particularly in New England, the Great Lakes and the Upper Plains, according to Mark Paquette, a meteorologist with AccuWeather.com. Southern Canada, too, has gotten its share of mild winter weather
The polar jet stream is influenced by natural patterns, the most prominent being fluctuations in the Northern Annular Mode, also called the Arctic Oscillation. When the mode is in its so-called positive phase, air pressure over the far north remains low, leading to a stronger jet stream. This keeps the cold Arctic air bottled up to the north. The negative phase, meanwhile, is associated with a weaker, meandering jet that allows cold air to spill south.
Reversals
Until late January, the mode was in its positive phase, resulting in warmer temperatures farther north.
But a reversal of phase allowed the jet stream to meander some, and let Arctic cold air move down into Eastern Europe. The result was a cold snap that is blamed for killing hundreds.
The mode has shifted again since then. In fact, a strong jet stream contributed to the tornados that hit the south and the Midwest last week, as did the arrival of warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, according to Masters, who discusses the tornados on his blog.
La Niña and the future
Another large-scale atmospheric pattern, one related to temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, is also at play. This winter La Niña, associated with cooler water temperatures in the Pacific, has been in effect. La Niña is typically associated with drier-than-normal conditions for the southern and eastern U.S. — largely consistent with precipitation this winter, according to Deke Arndt, chief of the climate monitoring branch at the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Boulder, Colo.
“The dryness looks like what we would expect with La Niña, the warmth we saw is consistent with the positive Arctic Oscillation,” Arndt said. “The two of them tougher, all else being equal, would tend to produce a warmer and drier winter, especially east of the Rockies.”
Paquette predicts an end to this trend. “Mother Nature or weather patterns have a way of evening themselves out. I think it only matter of time before this mild dry pattern flips and we get into a much different weather pattern.”
MAJOR SOLAR FLARE: Big sunspot AR1429 has unleashed another major flare. This one is the strongest yet, an X5-class eruption on March 7th at 00:28 UT. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the extreme UV flash:
This eruption hurled a bright CME into space, shown here in a movie from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. Although the CME is not squarely Earth-directed, it appears direct enough to deliver a glancing blow to our planet’s magnetic field on March 8-9. This would add to the magnetic unrest already underway at high latitudes.
The flare also accelerated energetic protons toward Earth, triggering an S3-class solar radiation storm, in progress. Such a storm is mainly a nuisance to satellites, causing occasional reboots of onboard computers and adding noise to imaging systems.
