Massive duststorms suffocate China
Massive duststorms swept through China over the weekend, bringing record air pollution and near-zero visibility to large regions of eastern China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The dust will reach South Korea on Tuesday. The dust was kicked up by the strong winds of a cold front that crossed China on Saturday. The winds passed over regions of Mongolia and northwest China that have been suffering from an extended drought. Overgrazing, deforestation, and urban sprawl have combined with the drought to create large regions of new desert with loose soil that was the source of dust for this weekend's duststorm. Heavy duststorms have brought increasing amounts of dangerous particulate matter to Beijing and much of eastern China in recent years, due to the worsening desertification. Beijing issued its highest level of air pollution alert, Level 5, on Saturday.During the height of the duststorm, winds were sustained at 34 mph, gusting to 45 mph, with visibility 1 - 2 miles in heavy dust. Conditions have improved slightly to Level 4 pollution today.
Figure 1. This natural-color image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite shows the dust storm on Saturday, March 20, 2010. Few landmarks or topographic features are recognizable beneath the dust, which covers the lower half of the image and wraps around the right-hand side in a comma shape that terminates in a large ball of dust near image center. The head of the comma marks a center of low pressure of a mid-latitude cyclone crossing the country. Image credit: NASA.
Figure 2. Drought conditions based on a 2-year deficit of precipitation, using the Standard Precipitation Index (SPI). Image credit: UK Global Drought Monitor.
Record air pollution in Hong Kong
The dust storms have brought extremely hazardous air quality to Hong Kong, which has recorded is worst air pollution levels since monitoring began in 1995. Pollution levels Monday were 12 to 14 times the amount recommended by the World Health Organization, and topped out at 400 points. An index of 100 points is considered "very high", 200 is "severe", and can lead to coughing, phlegm and sore throats. The previous record highest pollution level was 202, set in July 2008.
I'll have a new post Wednesday or Thursday.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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What's hair???
Whoomp der it is.... :)
Hummm, ya did not say anything about the landing part. LoL
Discarded paper table 'linen' and rayon underwear are bought by chemical companies to be converted into candy.
Oh, Dear God.... Gross!
Lol, no, a tropical forest Sahel means a smaller Saharan Desert, if there even was a desert at all in such conditions. This would take away the strong African Easterly Jet that results from the severe contrast in temperature and moisture between the Saharan Desert and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. That would result in either very weak tropical waves or no tropical waves at all, leaving the Atlantic on its own to generate its own tropical disturbances, like the NW Pacific. It is a funny irony, but without the desert, we probably wouldn't have tropical waves, the primary source of Atlantic hurricanes.
Lindzen on negative climate feedback
30 03 2009
NEW 4/10/09: There is an update to this post, see below the %u201Cread the rest of this entry%u201D %u2013 Anthony
From 1985 until 1989 the models and observations are more or less the same %u2013 they have, in fact, been tuned to be so. However, with the warming after 1989, the observations characteristically exceed 7 times the model values. Recall that if the observations were only 2-3 times what the models produce, it would correspond to no feedback. What we see is much more than this implying strong negative feedback. Note that the ups and downs of both the observations and the model (forced by observed sea surface temperature) follow the ups and downs of temperature (not shown).
Note that these results were sufficiently surprising that they were confirmed by at least 4 other groups:
Chen, J., B.E. Carlson, and A.D. Del Genio, 2002: Evidence for strengthening of the tropical general circulation in the 1990s. Science, 295, 838-841.
Cess, R.D. and P.M. Udelhofen, 2003: Climate change during 1985 1999: Cloud interactions determined from satellite measurements. Geophys. Res. Ltrs., 30, No. 1, 1019, doi:10.1029/2002GL016128.
Hatzidimitriou, D., I. Vardavas, K. G. Pavlakis, N. Hatzianastassiou, C. Matsoukas, and E. Drakakis (2004) On the decadal increase in the tropical mean outgoing longwave radiation for the period 1984%u20132000. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 4, 1419 1425.
Clement, A.C. and B. Soden (2005) The sensitivity of the tropical-mean radiation budget. J. Clim., 18, 3189-3203.
The preceding authors did not dwell on the profound implications of these results they had not intended a test of model feedbacks! Rather, they mostly emphasized that the differences had to arise from cloud behavior (a well acknowledged weakness of current models). However, as noted by Chou and Lindzen (2005, Comments on Examination of the Decadal Tropical Mean ERBS Nonscanner Radiation Data for the Iris Hypothesis, J. Climate, 18, 2123-2127), the results imply a strong negative feedback regardless of what one attributes this to.
The Bottom Line
The earths climate (in contrast to the climate in current climate GCMs) is dominated by a strong net negative feedback. Climate sensitivity is on the order of 0.3C, and such warming as may arise from increasing greenhouse gases will be indistinguishable from the fluctuations in climate that occur naturally from processes internal to the climate system itself.
An aside on Feedbacks
Here is an easily appreciated example of positive and negative feedback. In your car, the gas and brake pedals act as negative feedbacks to reduce speed when you are going too fast and increase it when you are going too slow. If someone were to reverse the position of the pedals without informing you, then they would act as positive feedbacks: increasing your speed when you are going too fast, and slowing you down when you are going too slow.
The Perturbed Greenhouse
If one adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, one is adding to the blanket that is inhibiting the emission of heat radiation (also commonly referred to as infrared radiation or long wave radiation). This causes the temperature of the earth to increase until equilibrium with the sun is reestablished.
For example, if one simply doubles the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, the temperature increase is about 1C.
If, however, water vapor and clouds respond to the increase in temperature in such a manner as to further enhance the blanketing, then we have what is called a positive feedback, and the temperature needed to reestablish equilibrium will be increased. In the climate GCMs (General Circulation Models) referred to by the IPCC (the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), this new temperature ranges from roughly 1.5C to 5C.
The equilibrium response to a doubling of CO2 (including the effects of feedbacks) is commonly referred to as the climate sensitivity.
Two Important Points
1. Equilibration takes time.
2. The feedbacks are responses to temperature not to CO2 increases per se.
Good!
But, the MDR dust effects are very short-lived...
So, given this "up to one C" how long do you think the dust has to stay there for a PDO phase change lasting 30 years?
Got that right. I read a book in grade school that families would be taking vacations to space stations by 1979. What gives?
From that article:
Discarded paper table 'linen' and rayon underwear are bought by chemical companies to be converted into candy.
I've got a response....but...it would get me banned fo sho...
I think we all just dated ourselves ...lol
remember the Mission to Mars ride at Disneyland?
:)
Politics.
O yeah,..and dat Knots Berry Farm Train too.
In the Orwell Helicopter Corporation's plant, only a few troubleshooters are visible, and these respond to the lights that flare whenever a vacuum tube burns out or there is a short circuit. By holes punched in a roll of paper, every operation necessary to produce a helicopter is indicated.
YES! 1950's writers calling for vacuum tubes in 2000... freakin' awesome!
Sometimes, I think we would be better off with the 1950's option, rather than whats in some of our foods now as-is.
Also, it gives a new meaning to the term "GIGO". (Garbage In, Garbage Out)
But garbage is so good, is that mercury I taste, nope its arsenic, yum.
It's expected to trend back towards neutral and then negative during the next 5-10 days. Thereafter it becomes unclear, but we will be monitoring it as the hurricane season approaches.
Pops for Central Florida have been raised to 60% for Thursday Night and Friday.
Now there saying Thunderstorms Likely.
Looks like things have changed...
Orlando Forecast
lmbo at you..... and yes I know what that is LOL
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE FOR WS 34
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
320 PM CDT WED MAR 24 2010
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 34 IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CDT
FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
TXC035-049-059-081-083-085-093-095-097-099-113-121-133-139-143-
147-181-193-217-221-231-251-257-267-281-307-319-327-333-363-367-
397-399-411-413-425-429-435-439-441-451-497-250300-
/O.NEW.KWNS.SV.A.0034.100324T2020Z-100325T0300Z/
TX
. TEXAS COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE
BOSQUE BROWN CALLAHAN
COKE COLEMAN COLLIN
COMANCHE CONCHO COOKE
CORYELL DALLAS DENTON
EASTLAND ELLIS ERATH
FANNIN GRAYSON HAMILTON
HILL HOOD HUNT
JOHNSON KAUFMAN KIMBLE
LAMPASAS MASON MCCULLOCH
MENARD MILLS PALO PINTO
PARKER ROCKWALL RUNNELS
SAN SABA SCHLEICHER SOMERVELL
STEPHENS SUTTON TARRANT
TAYLOR TOM GREEN WISE
ATTN...WFO...FWD...SJT...
SEL4
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 34
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
320 PM CDT WED MAR 24 2010
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
PART OF WEST CENTRAL AND NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS
EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 320 PM UNTIL
1000 PM CDT.
HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 70
MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.
THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 60
STATUTE MILES NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 30 MILES SOUTH
SOUTHWEST OF SAN ANGELO TEXAS TO 65 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF
DALLAS TEXAS. FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE
ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU4).
REMEMBER...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE
FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH
AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS
AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY
DO PRODUCE TORNADOES.
DISCUSSION...STORMS ARE DEVELOPING ALONG AND AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT
MOVING EWD ACROSS NWRN TX. AIR MASS HAS SUFFICIENTLY DESTABILIZED
WITH HEATING TO SUPPORT STRONG UPDRAFTS. WITH THE 40-50KT OF DEEP
LAYER SHEAR AND STEEP MID LEVEL LAPSE RATES A FEW OF THE STORMS ARE
EXPECTED TO BECOME SEVERE AS THEY CONTINUE E/NE INTO THE EVENING
HOURS. PRIMARY THREAT WILL BE LARGE HAIL...HOWEVER THERE IS THE
POSSIBILITY OF A COUPLE OF SUPERCELLS GIVEN THE IMPROVING LOW LEVEL
SHEAR LATER THIS AFTERNOON...ACCOMPANIED BY A DAMAGING WIND THREAT
AS WELL AS LARGE HAIL.
AVIATION...A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL SURFACE AND ALOFT
TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND GUSTS TO 60
KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500. MEAN STORM
MOTION VECTOR 24030.
...HALES
excerpt;
Following the suggestions of Zworykin and Von Neumann storms are more or less under control. It is easy enough to spot a budding hurricane in the doldrums off Africa. Before it has a chance to gather much strength and speed as it travels westward towards Florida, oil is spread out over the sea and ignited. There is an updraft. Air from the surrounding region, which includes the developing hurricane rushes in to full the void. The rising air condenses so that some of the water in the whirling mass falls as rain.
hahahaha
Skies-Pt Cloudy
Temp-75F
Rel Hum-63%
Dew Point-62F
Winds-SE at 6 MPH G 9 MPH
Bar Press-29.79" and falling
A broken line of thunderstorms is about 130 miles west of Arlington, TX. Atmosphere is primed for scattered heavy/severe thunderstorms within the next 3-5hrs!!
It is a bucolic day here in Nassau, the kind u wish for all year round. I'm enjoying it while I can....
First warning:
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
344 PM CDT WED MAR 24 2010
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A
* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
WISE COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS...
* UNTIL 445 PM CDT
* AT 344 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS DETECTED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING QUARTER SIZE HAIL...AND
DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH. THIS STORM WAS LOCATED NEAR
BRIDGEPORT...AND MOVING NORTHEAST AT 10 MPH.
* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
BRIDGEPORT AND CHICO BY 350 PM
BOYD BY 420 PM
ALVORD BY 425 PM
DECATUR BY 435 PM
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO A STURDY SHELTER UNTIL THE STORM HAS
PASSED.
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A STRONG BUILDING AND
STAY INSIDE...AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM WEDNESDAY
EVENING FOR NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS.
&&
LAT...LON 3343 9738 3313 9739 3301 9776 3300 9790
3301 9791 3324 9792 3344 9760
TIME...MOT...LOC 2044Z 244DEG 10KT 3318 9776
$$
That's a nice ride Storm :)
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