15th August - Today's News

Interior Alaska gets the chills with early frost - but nonetheless, Arctic ice experiencing severe summer retreat.

Still no big Atlantic storms to report but as Tropical Depression 2 weakens, tropical wave gets stronger - I guess we'll get one eventually, but it has been a remarkably quiet season so far and I don't think it's just because of El Nino, though I'm sure it's a contributory factor. Be interesting to know if there's any correlation between solar activity and Atlantic hurricanes though. Just a thought .....

Of course, for most, no hurricanes can only be good news.

Meanwhile, in the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot, Taiwan flood death toll could top 500


In India, it's official now: this is a drought year - whether that's AGW, El Nino or just weather, there is indication that the situation has been compounded by humans: Satellites unlock secret to Northern India's vanishing water.

Antarctic glacier 'thinning fast'

One of the authors, Professor Andrew Shepherd of Leeds University, said that the melting from the centre of the glacier would add about 3cm to global sea level.

"But the ice trapped behind it is about 20-30cm of sea level rise and as soon as we destabilise or remove the middle of the glacier we don't know really know what's going to happen to the ice behind it," he told BBC News.

Though that does assume the melting continues unabated - and even then we're talking at least 100 years for it to disappear if it continues to melt at current rates.

Tokyo quakes raises residents' fears over 'big one'

Baltic Sea: rapid changes in winter climate

the winter climate in the Baltic Sea region is characterised by long periods of either mild or cold winters, and that the transitions between these different climate types have been rather rapid. The fact that several independent Baltic Sea data series point in the same direction reinforces the researchers' conclusion that the area's winter climate tends to change surprisingly fast.

And finally the news I was expecting from NOAA: Ocean temperatures are highest on record.

• The combined global land and ocean surface temperature for July 2009 was the fifth warmest on record, at 1.03 degrees F (0.57 degree C) above the 20th century average of 60.4 degrees F (15.8 degrees C).
• The global ocean surface temperature for July 2009 was the warmest on record, 1.06 degrees F (0.59 degree C) above the 20th century average of 61.5 degrees F (16.4 degrees C). This broke the previous July record set in 1998. The July ocean surface temperature departure of 1.06 degrees F from the long-term average equals last month’s value, which was also a record.
• The global land surface temperature for July 2009 was 0.92 degree F (0.51 degree C) above the 20th century average of 57.8 degrees F (14.3 degree C), and tied with 2003 as the ninth-warmest July on record.