Alaska bucks the global temperature trend
Fairbanks, seen here at minus 40 during January 2012, is one of many Alaska places that — unlike most of the world — leaned to the cold side during the first decade of the 2000s.
Photo by Ned Rozell.
This just in: 2012 was the coldest year of the new century in Fairbanks, and the second coldest here in the last 40 years.
Fairbanks isn’t the only chilly place in Alaska. Average temperatures at 19 of 20 long-term National Weather Service stations displayed a cooling trend from 2000 to 2010, according a recent study written up by Gerd Wendler, Blake Moore and Lian Chen of the Alaska Climate Research Center.
Fairbanks 2012 Review: A look back
The mean temperature for Fairbanks in 2012 was 24.1 degrees Fahrenheit, 3.5 degrees below the long-term average of 27.6 degrees. This makes 2012 the coldest year of the new century and continues the cooling trend observed over the last decade.
White River ash made its way accross the globe
Duane Froese of the University of Alberta in forest of stumps smothered by the White River Ash around the year 843 AD. Froese is pictured in the Yukon Territory close to the Alaska border and Natazhat Glacier in an area downwind of the great White River eruptions, which spewed from somewhere near Alaska’s Mount Churchill.
Photo courtesy Duane Froese.
The White River Ash, blasted from giant eruptions somewhere in today’s Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains, drifted as far away as Ireland and Germany, said experts who attended the December 2012 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, held in San Francisco.
Alaska Weather Summary - December 2012
For December, temperatures were markedly colder than normal. All nine stations discussed in this summary reported below normal average temperatures. The greatest negative deviation was observed in Fairbanks at an astonishing minus 13.2 degrees Fahrenheit, followed by Delta Junction (minus 10 degrees), Juneau (minus 6.4 degrees), then King Salmon and Nome (minus 6.2 degrees).
Alaska temperature changes analyzed for first decade of 21st century
When the rest of the nation grapples with the results of a scorching hot 2012, scientists at the Alaska Climate Research Center found that Alaska got colder from 2000 to 2010. The cooling trend was identified after examining the 21st century's first decade of data on annual and seasonal values from Alaska's first order meteorlogical stations.
Science for Alaska 2013
Mark your calendars for Science for Alaska 2013! Our 21st year of the popular lecture series will experience some changes. Lectures will take place in Schaible Auditorium on the UAF campus and occur on Saturdays throughout January. We're hoping the smaller space and the coffee to follow each of the lectures will lead to a more intimate exchange between our line-up of lecturers and the community.
Temperature
URSA lecture to be held on Wednesday, December 5 at 5:30 p.m. in Schaible Auditorium
What's in the air? Pollution research at UAF
Presented by Cathy Cahill, Associate Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry
When: Wed, December 5, 5:30pm – 6:30pm
Where: Schaible Auditorium
Doubling our daylight savings
Carl Benson, crosser of Greenland, longtime studier of Mount Wrangell, world expert on ice fog and devotee to the metric system.
Photo by Christine Simko, Design Services, Geophysical Institute.
Last week, Carl Benson, 85, accepted a lifetime achievement award from the place he has worked since Dwight Eisenhower was president. As the snow and ice scientist and professor emeritus at University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute rose to applause from his friends and coworkers, memories rushed back to me.
