Current Events

  • 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.
  • Massive Tornado Outbreak on Tornado Alley
    The week of May 19 brings dozens of tornadoes to Tornado Alley in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Io...Read more

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    Massive Tornado Outbreak on Tornado Alley

    The week of May 19 brings dozens of tornadoes to Tornado Alley in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. On May 20th, a massive tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, devastating communities - destroying over 100 homes and hitting two elementary schools and a hospital - with many casualties and deaths. Our thoughts are with our friends and colleagues suffering from these storms. For more on the May 20th storms, see the NOAA Storm Prediction Center Storm Report.
  • Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education
    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of ...Read more

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    Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education

    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of sustainability. Here is a link to the one-page bill: http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2013_14/measures/documents/hb2366_00_0000.pdf. See report on Bloomberg News.

   Image courtesy of Janine Goldstein

From: Janine Goldstein
Pfaffenbach, Germany, August 10, 2007

Mist

It has been raining steadily for 4 days. There is so much moisture that clouds form down in the trees. I had heard of that in fairytales, but I've never seen it for real. It is really pretty!

When the sky is solid clouds and it is raining steadily, they call it "stratiform". Since the scientists are not very interested in that kind of weather for this project, we stopped taking DOW measurements once the stratiform rain set in, which was around noon on Tuesday. The forecasters were hoping that there would be "enhancements", places where the storms get stronger, imbedded in the stratiform clouds. It turns out the conditions weren't quite right. We had left the DOW's at the site in France, where I wrote my last postcard, thinking we would be back in the morning, so we had to drive down and get them and bring them back to Gengenbach. Just driving to get them and coming back took about 4 hours!

Go to the next postcard

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