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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.
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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.

    Image Courtesy of Kelly Carroll

From: Kelly Carroll
McMurdo Station, Antarctica, November 18, 2008

It Takes a Lot to Get Here

Greetings. This is my first official day at McMurdo Station, the main US research base in Antarctica. I am very excited to start bringing you the stories of POLENET science and what life is like as we do our work from one of the most remote places on the face of the Earth.

This season a small contingent of researchers from multiple universities will be working to install and maintain very high precision global positioning systems and seismometers. It is our goal within POLENET to cover a large portion of Antarctica with these sensors to begin to understand the science of interaction between the great ice sheets and the earth below. This understanding is vital to understand the relationship of the ice and the rock in the past as a window of what to expect in the future.

This season we will be working mainly out of McMurdo Station using helicopters and Twin Otter aircraft to go install new equipment as well as service and upgrade equipment that we installed last year. One very exciting portion of this season will be working out of a remote tent camp far south in the Trans-Antarctic Mountains.

The title of this story is “It takes a lot to get here”, in a sense that can be said about the many commercial flights I took to get here - from Ohio to Christchurch, New Zealand, the ingress point for all personnel going to Antarctica, to the US Air Force C-17 jet that flew me down to the ice, and all of the support running the facilities here at McMurdo Station. But I guess I meant for the title to reflect a much larger statement.

The amount of planning for a project this size has taken years to get us even to this point in the story. Of course, it first began with the idea that Antarctica has so many unknowns that it would take observations on a massive scale to begin to break the secret of the earth that lies beneath miles of ice. This project, from concept, to funding, to implementation of each field season, has taken the dedication and ingenuity of many scientists and engineers all across the world.

I will look forward to bringing you this .

Antarctica

Postcards from the Field: Polenet

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