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  • Irish Chronicles Document Links Between Volcanoes and Weather
    A study of over 40,000 written entries in Irish Annals and ice core measurements shows a strong corr...Read more

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    Irish Chronicles Document Links Between Volcanoes and Weather

    A study of over 40,000 written entries in Irish Annals and ice core measurements shows a strong correlation between the occurrence of volcanic eruptions and extreme cold weather in Ireland over a 1200 year period. Data analyzed in this study cover the period from 431 to 1649, during which time up to 48 volcanic eruptions are identified in Greenland ice core records through deposition of volcanic sulfate in annual layers of ice. You can find the study (open access), published on 6 June 2013 in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters, at http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/2/024035/article. Find out more about how volcanoes can influence climate.
  • EF-5 Tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma Widest Ever Recorded in US
    The EF-5 tornado that hit El Reno, Oklahoma on May 31st was the widest ever recorded in the US, acco...Read more

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    EF-5 Tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma Widest Ever Recorded in US

    The EF-5 tornado that hit El Reno, Oklahoma on May 31st was the widest ever recorded in the US, according to the National Weather Service in Norman Oklahoma. The tornado, which remained on the ground for 40 minutes and reached 2.6 miles across (4.2 km), took the lives of 18 people including storm chasers Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras and Carl Young. For more information on the tornado, visit http://ow.ly/i/2hfDG.
  • Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm
    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm rep...Read more

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    Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm

    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm repeatedly. Daily levels of CO2 can vary due to weather, and there are seasonal trends as well. The level of atmospheric greenhouse gases continues to increase, now over 120 ppm since the Industrial Revolution began. For more on the Keeling Curve, see http://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/. Find out more about greenhouse gases and warming.

    Courtesy of Judy Lloyd

From: Judy Lloyd
Tecamac University, March 10, 2006

Greetings from the Tecamac Technical University Site

It’s been two weeks since we arrived in Mexico and it’s been a real challenge to recreate our laboratory in a trailer in the field in this desert-like location – Tecamac – north of the Federal District of Mexico City. There are mountains all around - when you can see them through the haze. I am planning to measure hydrogen peroxide in the air if my instruments will cooperate. More on that subject in another postcard.

There are hundreds of different experiments going on here. I am sharing a trailer with Angela Baker, a graduate student working with Don Blake at U.C. Irvine. She collects trace gases in steel canisters and ships them back to her lab, where later she will analyze their contents using chromatography. One class of compounds she is interested in is the halocarbons, many of which cause depletion of the ozone layer, are greenhouse gases or are harmful to breathe. Another important group is the hydrocarbons, which play an important role in the formation of photochemical smog. Angela can detect these compounds and many others at the part-per-trillion level. By the time she is through, she will have investigated over 100 different gases in each canister.

Hydrocarbons
MILAGRO Instruments
Gallery

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