Unraveling El Niño Mysteries

The following entry is adopted from a NOAA site. They say their researchers have found clues in stratosphere, troposphere and Arctic Vortex that help them unravel El Niño’s ‘mysteries.’

Unraveling El Niño’s Mysteries: New Clues Found in Stratosphere, Troposphere and Arctic Vortex

El Niño’s emergence in the Pacific Ocean creates ripple effects that extend around the globe.

El Niño (Spanish for “the little boy”) is a natural phenomenon that refers to irregular periods of sea surface temperature warming in the tropical Pacific that impacts global weather patterns.

Supercell. Source NOAA. Click image to enlarge.

El Niño influences our weather:  Ocean temperature, air temperature, ocean currents, winds at various altitudes, air pressure … , and its effects are even more complicated  by human-caused climate change.

El Niño causes weather chaos across the globe:

• More intense storms in the West Coast of  United States,  but  fewer hurricanes in the Atlantic and Gulf Coast.
• India, southeastern Africa, northern Brazil, and Australia usually experience dramatically drier conditions. Shifts in patterns are even stronger in other parts of the world.

Layers of the atmosphere. Source: NOAA. Click image to enlarge.

El Niño creates  highly complex “ripples” that alter atmospheric features from the ocean surface right up to the stratosphere, high above the Earth.

The stratosphere,  a layer of the atmosphere beginning about five miles above sea level, influences weather at ground level. The stratospheric layer of the atmosphere is located above the troposphere.

The troposphere begins at the Earth’s surface and extends up to 6-20 km (4-12 miles) high. We occupy this layer.  The stratosphere begins above the troposphere and extends up to 50 km above the Earth’s surface. This layer holds 19 percent of the atmosphere’s gases but very little water vapor.

Researchers say they have recently found a connection between another atmospheric feature, swirling upper-level winds called the Arctic vortex, and colder than average winters in Europe. They have found links between three factors that also influence the Arctic vortex:

• El Niño
• Cooling of the tropical stratosphere
• Warming of the Arctic stratosphere

More information on El Niño :

• El Niño Update [15 March 2010]
• El Niño [Main Page, Links to Weekly Updates Archive]

Hawaii’s Kilauea Billows 2,500 MT of SO2

Kilauea’s Halemaumau crater billows up to 2,500 metric tons of sulfur dioxide each day

The vog (volcanic fog) billowed out from Kilauea contains large quantities of sulfur dioxide which is killing crops in the Big Island.

With stagnant winds present, Halema`uma`u plume stands straight up, showing off the distant, but bright, full moon [Photo Date: November 13, 2008 ]. Photo Credit: M. Poland; Source: USGS

The U.S. Department of Agriculture declared Hawaii County a natural disaster area, which means the farmers there could apply for low interest loans from the federal government,  a report said.

However, it’s not known what the farmers are meant to do with the money, or how they would pay it back, since there’s no agreement with Kilauea concerning the  SO2 emissions!

In reality these loans should be “relocation grants” to allow the farmers leave the Big Island (in a hurry). As of December 2009, the only indication is that there would more SO2 billowing out of Kilauea in the coming weeks, month and possibly years. That situation could change, of course, but the farmers shouldn’t put too much hope in that.

“We can wash our trucks in the morning and in the afternoon you rub your hand across the top of the truck and it feels like sand paper,” said Phil Becker who, together with his wife, own  Aikane Plantation Coffee Company on the southern part of Big Island.

The Beckers previously grew and sold protea, however, vog has destroyed their plants.

“We’ve only got about three plants left after about 181 is what we started with and we’ve only got three that are trying to survive. It’s also impacted our cattle as far as the grass not recovering the way it usually does,” Phil Becker was reported as saying.

These days the Beckers are focusing their efforts on growing coffee … and even that is suffering. This year’s crop is about a third the size of a normal crop.

Not only So2 reacts with moisture in the air to give extremely corrosive sulfurous acid, which covers the leaves and stalks of plants, killing them, the deadly gas molecules also block the sun as they permeate the stratosphere and prevent needed sunshine from reaching the crops.

Kilauea Status Reports, Updates, and Information Releases

Aerial view of Pu`u `Ō `ō and vicinity

July 21 Eruption Near-view Map: November 25, 2009

Map showing the July 21, 2007 eruption flow field. The Thanksgiving Eve Breakout (TEB) flow is currently active and is that portion of the July 21, 2007 eruption flow field that extends south from the TEB vent to the ocean. Light red is the area of the flow as of November 7, 2009, while the bright red shows the flow field expansion that occurred between November 7 and November 25. Source of Image and Caption: HVO

HVO DAILY UPDATE Tuesday, December 1, 2009 7:47 AM HST (Tuesday, December 1, 2009 17:47 UTC)

KILAUEA VOLCANO (CAVW #1302-01-)
Coordinates: 19°25’16” N 155°17’13” W
Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m)
Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE
Current Volcano Alert Level: WATCH

Activity Summary for past 24 hours: Kilauea continued to erupt from two vents. At the summit, a lava pond was visible for several hours before draining and crusting over. Sulfur dioxide emission rates from the Halema`uma`u and east rift zone vents remain elevated. From the east rift zone vent, lava flows through tubes to the coast and is entering the ocean at several locations west of Kalapana.

Related Links:

• A New Era of Intense Volcanic Unrest May Have Begun
• Nature’s ‘Deselection’ Engine Revving Up!
• Murphy’s law has no time vector!
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• State of the World
• Earth’s Human Induced Antiphase Nears Completion
• The Death of Homo Sapiens Sapiens (Part 1)

• Volcanic Explosions Could Split More Than Africa
• Arabia Shakes
• Messages From Earth’s Powerhouse
• FEWW Volcano Links
• Volcanoes
• FEWW Earthquake Links

• Volcanoes affect life on earth
• Volcanoes Killed Off Dinosaurs
• Rhyolitic volcanoes pack a much bigger punch

Other Related Links:

• U.S. Volcano Status Map
• Elevated Activity Page
• U.S. Volcano Webcams

VolcanoWatch Weekly [18 June 2009]

Sarychev Peak Erupts

A fortuitous orbit of the International Space Station allowed the astronauts this striking view of Sarychev Volcano (Kuril Islands, northeast of Japan) in an early stage of eruption on June 12, 2009.

Astronaut photograph ISS020-E-9048 was acquired on June 12, 2009, with a Nikon D2XS digital camera fitted with a 400 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by the Expedition 20 crew. The image in this article has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. Lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by M. Justin Wilkinson, NASA-JSC. Instrument: ISS – Digital Camera

In mid-June 2009, Sarychev Peak Volcano on Matua Island in the northwest Pacific began a series of eruptions of large amounts of ash. According to atmospheric scientist Simon Carn, who is part of the science team for the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA’s Aura satellite, it was also almost certainly the largest sulfur dioxide event so far this year. This image shows average column sulfur dioxide concentrations between June 10 and 17, 2009, based on data from OMI. High concentrations of sulfur dioxide stretched westward from the volcano as far as Sakhalin Island and mainland Russia and eastward as far as Alaska.

Powerful volcanic eruptions can inject sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere. At these altitudes, the sulfates can linger for months or years, cooling the climate by reflecting incoming sunlight. Data from other satellites (such as CALIPSO) suggest that the volcanic plume reached altitudes of 10–15 kilometers, and perhaps as high as 21 km. NASA image courtesy Simon Carn, Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences, Michigan Technological University. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey. Instrument: Aura – OMI [Edited by FEWW.]

[If you thought that looks like a lot, imagine what 38,058,000,000,000.00 kg of CO2 looks like. more than 38,058 MMT of Co2 are released to the environment as a result of human activity: World Anthropogenic CO2 Emissions from Fossil Fuel Consumption Including Flaring, Cement Production, and Tropical Deforestation.

FEWW estimates that human activity emitted about 222 times more CO2 in 2008 than the total sum of  all carbon dioxide spewed from volcanic eruptions that year. ]

FEWW Comments:

FEWW cannot rule out the possibility that Sarychev Peak activity may continue unabated, with a pattern of eruptions not dissimilar to the Chaitén scenario.

Previous Comments by FEWW

• Sarychev Peak Spews Two Plumes of Ash, Helping to Balance Earth’s Energy Budget
• Pacific Plate subduction beneath the Okhotsk Plate

FEWW Volcanic Activity Forecast

• Sumatra’s Mt Kerinci Erupts

• Sumatra’s Mt Kerinci Erupts
• Volcano Watch Weekly: 23 April 2009

• Weekly Volcano Watch: 16 April 2009
• Weekly Volcano Watch: 2 April 2009

• FEWW Volcano Links
• Volcanoes
• FEWW Earthquake Links

Volcanic Activity Report:  10 June – 16 June 2009

Source: Global Volcanism program (GVP) – SI/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report

New activity/unrest:

• Rinjani, Lombok Island (Indonesia)
• Sangay, Ecuador
• Sarychev Peak, Matua Island

Ongoing Activity:

• Batu Tara, Komba Island (Indonesia)
• Chaitén, Southern Chile
• Dukono, Halmahera
• Ebeko, Paramushir Island
• Galeras, Colombia
• Kilauea, Hawaii (USA)
• Kliuchevskoi, Central Kamchatka (Russia)
• Popocatépetl, México
• Rabaul, New Britain
• Redoubt, Southwestern Alaska
• Sakura-jima, Kyushu | Shiveluch, Central Kamchatka (Russia)
• Suwanose-jima, Ryukyu Islands (Japan)
• Tungurahua, Ecuador
• Turrialba, Costa Rica
• Ubinas, Perú

Latest U.S. Volcano Alerts and Updates for Saturday, Jun 20, 2009 at 06:06:23 PDT

• Redoubt Activity – Color Code ORANGE : Alert Level WATCH

• Kilauea Activity  –  Color Code ORANGE : Alert Level WATCH

• Veniaminof Activity – Color Code GREEN : Alert Level NORMAL

• Mauna Loa Activity – Color Code YELLOW : Alert Level ADVISORY

Redoubt Volcano Latest Observations [2009-06-20 02:34:17]

The eruption of Redoubt continues. Seismic activity remains low but above background levels.  Webcam images of the summit are currently obscured by clouds and darkness. AVO continues to monitor Redoubt’s activity 24/7.

Related Links:

• U.S. Volcano Status Map
• Elevated Activity Page
• U.S. Volcano Webcams

• Volcanoes [FEWW Links]
• Earthquakes

• More flights to Asia cancelled as volcano erupts