Climate Change Study by NASA

I was just on NASA's Twitter Feed, and it mentioned something about a study on climate change that is being put together for launch in the near future. It is basically a study on the big picture in terms of climate change. Instead of simply studying the varying levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, this mission will focus on the intervals in which energy enters and escapes earth's atmosphere. With this knowledge, we will be able to understand how the earth actually reacts and regulates when these smaller aspects of climate change (such as an increase in CO2 levels) occur. NASA will take very precise and accurate energy measurements from space with the hopes to spell out a few decades worth of information and evidence to further help climate forecasts and predictions in the future.

The article that I accessed through Twitter to receive this information is actually very interesting and goes into much more detail. If you're interested.. go to http://climate.nasa.gov/news/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=280

2010 Northeastern Storm Conference

So I've mainly been updating you all on severe weather events... But I also said in my first post that I would try to update everyone on my day to day life as a Meteorology Major. Well now's the time to do that because this past weekend I attended a conference with all other Meteorology Majors around the Northeast from an assortment of schools that offer Science and Meteorology.

The conference was in Saratoga Springs, New York this year (last year it was in Springfield, MA). It was a really nice location, there was a lot of activity going on during the day.. and you got the benefits of "New York Bagels" and "New York Pizza" without dealing with the hustle and bustle of the people living in the City. But anyways, The Northeastern Storm Conference is put on every year by Lyndon State College in Vermont. It takes place one weekend every year in March and gives Met. Majors such as myself the opportunity to either present or just observe various presentations in terms of research, projects, etc. concerning Meteorology. Lyndon State also invited various professionals from all over that have applies Meteorology to their life in their jobs. And then of course on the Saturday night of the Conference, there is a banquet for everyone that attends the conference. The banquet consists of a 3-course meal and a guest speaker during dessert.

This year the guest speaker was Roger M. Wakimoto who is an expert in Tornadoes. In fact, he was a student of the famous Ted Fujita (the man who created the Fujita Scale to measure Tornado damage). Roger Wakimoto was honestly one of the best speakers I've ever seen. He talked a lot about how he got to where he is today in terms of his college studies, graduate school, how Ted Fujita became his mentor, etc. He showed all of us a powerpoint presentation about the different time periods in his life. One of the most interesting slides that he presented was an acutal video of a plane flying around a tornado to study and survey it. What made it so cool was the fact that he was actually in that plane at the time! So clearly this is a daring man dedicated to his work and research with tornadoes. He also gave sort of a tribute to Ted Fujita which was really nice, and he had explained how his life goal was to follow in his footsteps and mentor others as Ted had for him. Roger Wakimoto was a very inspirational speaker there was a standing ovation given to him by every single person that attended that banquet. And after listening to him, I knew that Meteorology is truly what I want to continue to study for the rest of my career.



The Northeastern Storm Conference was both interedting and a great getaway weekend. I learned a lot and met many people from other schools that are in the same boat as me.. taking (and struggling with) the same classes as I am. Overall one of the best experiences I could possibly have at this point in my college career.

Off the Richter!!

Chile.. 8.8 in magnitude earthquake! Unheard of right?? ..Wrong! The area around Chile is extremely active and has been for years. According to the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), Coastal Chile has experienced 13 events of earthquakes at magnitudes 7.0 and higher since 1973. This isn't exactly a long period of time, so you can clearly understand how active this area really is. In fact, the tectonic plates around Chile move at 80 millimeters per year.

Even though a few millimeters doesn't exactly seem like a lot in terms of movement, towards the inner core of the Earth, it really is. When tectonic plates move, there is a series of compression and shearing that takes place between the plates. This activity then causes waves to generate and move towards the surface of the earth, therefore resulting in an earthquake.

The Image above is a graph of seismic activity. You can clearly see where the recent "hot spots" are in red, as well as any locations of activity over the past five years in pink. Contrary to what most understand, there has been a lot of activity going on over the years!