oceanlove

  September 2023 was remarkably warm and quite dry across the contiguous United States.   The month also brought record heat and flooding rains to parts of the nation, according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.   Below are highlights from NOAA’s September U.S. climate report:   Climate by the numbers   September 2023   The average September temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 67.8 degrees F — 2.9 degrees above the 20th-century average — making it the seventh-warmest September in NOAA’s 129-year climate record.   New Mexico and Texas both saw their warmest Septembers on record, while Minnesota had its second warmest. An additional 10 states saw their top-10 warmest Septembers on record.   The average precipitation last month was 2.10 inches (0.39 of an inch below average), ranking the month in the driest third of all Septembers in the historical record.   Ohio had its fifth-drie...

  Antarctic sea-ice at 'mind-blowing' low alarms experts By Georgina Rannard, Becky Dale and Erwan Rivault BBC News Climate & Science and Data Journalism Team   The sea-ice surrounding Antarctica is well below any previous recorded winter level, satellite data shows, a worrying new benchmark for a region that once seemed resistant to global warming.   "It's so far outside anything we've seen, it's almost mind-blowing," says Walter Meier, who monitors sea-ice with the National Snow and Ice Data Center.   An unstable Antarctica could have far-reaching consequences, polar experts warn.   Antarctica's huge ice expanse regulates the planet's temperature, as the white surface reflects the Sun's energy back into the atmosphere and also cools the water beneath and near it.   Without its ice cooling the planet, Antarctica could transform from Earth's refrigerator to a radiator, experts say.   The ice that floats on the An...

  A crucial system of ocean currents is heading for a collapse that ‘would affect every person on the planet’ By  Laura Paddison , CNN Updated 5:27 AM EDT, Wed July 26, 2023 A crucial system of ocean currents is heading for a collapse A  vital system of ocean currents  could collapse within a few decades if the world continues to pump out planet-heating pollution, scientists are warning – an event that would be catastrophic for global weather and “affect every person on the planet.” A new study published Tuesday  in the journal Nature , found that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current – of which the Gulf Stream is a part –   could collapse around the middle of the century, or even as early as 2025. Scientists uninvolved with this study told CNN the exact tipping point for the critical system is uncertain, and that measurements of the currents have so far showed little trend or change. But they agreed these results are alarming and provide new evidence...