Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere hit new record highs in 2022, with no end in sight to the rising trend, according to this new report by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). This Bulletin represents the latest analysis of observations from the WMO GAW Programme. It shows globally averaged surface …
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory (TAHMO) in The Netherlands, to develop a network of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) across the country. NiMet's Director-General, Professor Sani Mashi, said this in a statement by Mrs Tessy Ushie, the agency's Assistant General …
Anthropogenic climate change is expected to strengthen the vertical wind shears at aircraft cruising altitudes within the atmospheric jet streams. Such a strengthening would increase the prevalence of the shear instabilities that generate clear-air turbulence. Climate modelling studies have indicated that the amount of moderate-or-greater clear-air turbulence on transatlantic flight …
The electric field and Maxwell current density measured below 32 small isolated thunderstorms over Pune (India) have been analyzed here. These data clearly show the presence of 10 out of 32 thunderstorms with inverted polarity charge structure. Values of Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) on thunderstorm days taken from MODIS show …
A significant reduction in summer monsoon rainfall has been observed in northern central India during the second half of the twentieth century, threatening water security and causing widespread socio-economic impacts. Here, using various observational data sets, we show that monsoon rainfall has increased in India at 1.34 mm d−1 decade−1 …
Kenyans on Tuesday evening took to social media to celebrate a rare case of snow falling in the East African country. Photos and videos shared on social media showed whitish substance on the streets of the town of Nyahururu located in the country’s Laikipia County. The Kenyan Meteorological Agency, however, …
Tanzania is set to establish a well-equipped snow and ice data centre on Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak, a senior official said Tuesday. Agnes Kijazi, the Director-General of Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA), said having the data centre will help provide answers as to why the ice cap at the peak …
Satellite data show concentrations highest over Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and lower over South India The first-ever picture of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration over India shows that it is way above the safety mark and in line with what has been observed in other parts of the world. Since …
Varun Sheel, scientist at Isro’s Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad specialises in the study of the atmosphere, the rapidly changing environment and the resultant climate change. An ex-student of Wynberg Allen School, Mussoorie, Sheel was recently in Mussoorie to interact with students of Woodstock school. He spoke to Prachi Raturi Misra …
Total atmospheric moisture content present in the atmosphere is less than 1% of total atmospheric composition. The atmospheric moisture variability accounts for nearly 10% variation in global hydrological cycle. The atmospheric moisture variability occurs in the form of cloud cover and hence in to the precipitation. A prior knowledge of …
Annual and seasonal variability and trends in low cloud cover over India were analyzed for the period 1961-2010. Taking all period into account, there is a general decrease in mean low cloud cover over most regions of India, but an increase in the Indo-Gangetic plains and northeast India. Long term …
As the water vapor content in the atmosphere scales with temperature, a warmer world is expected to feature an intensification of the hydrological cycle. Work to date has mainly focused on mean precipitation changes, whose connection to climatic modes is elusive at a global scale. Here we show that continental …
Both plants and animals make decisions in response to the environment to maximize their fitness. Plants use dormancy in seeds to move through time and space, and timing of the transition to germination is influenced by external cues, including temperature. Here, we report the presence of a decision-making center within …
U.S. weather forecasters on Thursday predicted more tropical storms in 2017 than normal for the Atlantic hurricane season, which last year brought one of the deadliest recorded storm systems that killed several hundred people. Meteorologists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center said there was a 70 …
Emissions of aerosols and their precursors are declining due to policies enacted to protect human health, yet we currently lack a full understanding of the magnitude, spatiotemporal pattern, statistical significance, and physical mechanisms of precipitation responses to aerosol reductions. We quantify the global and regional precipitation responses to U.S. SO2 …
Fungal spores are ubiquitous in the Earth's atmosphere, especially in the environment of tropical rainforests with intense biological activities. To assess the impact of fungi on chemical components of atmospheric aerosols at a Chinese tropical rainforest site, size-segregated fungal spore tracers (i.e. arabitol and mannitol) were measured along with major …
The World Meteorological Organization has issued its first annual Airborne Dust Bulletin, giving an overview of atmospheric dust levels and geographical distribution in 2016. The report is part of efforts to improve observations and warnings of sand and dust storms, which pose serious risks to the environment, human health and …
This study provides evidence of substantial increases in atmospheric ammonia (NH3) concentrations (14 year) over several of the worlds major agricultural regions, using recently available retrievals from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite. The main sources of atmospheric NH3 are farming and animal husbandry involving reactive nitrogen …
Growth in terrestrial gross primary production (GPP)—the amount of carbon dioxide that is ‘fixed’ into organic material through the photosynthesis of land plants—may provide a negative feedback for climate change. It remains uncertain, however, to what extent biogeochemical processes can suppress global GPP growth. As a consequence, modelling estimates of …
The East China Plains (ECP) region experienced the worst haze pollution on record for January in 2013. We show that the unprecedented haze event is due to the extremely poor ventilation conditions, which had not been seen in the preceding three decades. Statistical analysis suggests that the extremely poor ventilation …
Drought conditions associated with an El Nino weather pattern are likely to reoccur in a few months time, the South African government said on Thursday. "Recurrence of El Niño drought conditions likely ... The next summer season has increased the likelihood for the development of El Nino conditions which are …
