Watts Up With That?

August 7-08 press release on work done from MV Polarstern in the northern Greenland Sea (between Svalbard and NE Greenland):

from Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI): http://idw-online.de/pages/de/news273425

a few excerpts, my abbreviated translation:

“this year, there was an exceptional amount of ice – according to expedition leader Prof. Gerhard Kattner. The extent reached from the high North southward to 74 degrees latitude. The main objective of the research cruise was to check 17 moorings with instruments that monitor temperature, salinity and currents of the water masses. AWI has been carrying out these unique high-latitude investigations since 1999. Observed 2008 temperatures are slightly lower than 2006 measurements, and there are preliminary indications of a return of the pacific water mass signature, which has been absent since 2004″

h/t to: Ulrich Lobsiger for the link and translation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: John Leslie 301-713-2087, ext. 174

Aug. 8, 2008

NOAA: U.S. Temperature Above Normal in July  

July 2008 was the 30^th warmest July for the contiguous United States, based on records dating back to 1895, according to an analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The average July temperature—74.9 degrees F—was 0.7 degrees above the 20^th century mean, based on preliminary data.

U.S. Temperature Highlights

• July temperatures were generally higher than average across the West and Northeast and below average in the Midwest.

• Five states (Conn., Mass., N.J., R.I. and Utah) were much warmer than average. Rhode Island had its sixth warmest July, and Massachusetts and Utah both had their eighth warmest July, based on statewide data going back to 1895. Six states (Ill., Ind., Ky., Mo., N.M. and W.Va.) were cooler than average.

• Based on NOAA’s Residential Energy Demand Temperature Index, contiguous U.S. temperature-related energy demand was approximately three percent above average in July.

U.S. Precipitation Highlights Read the rest of this entry »

UAH (University of Alabama, Huntsville) Microwave Sounder Unit (MSU) lower troposphere global temperature anomaly data for July 2008 was published today and has moved a bit above the zero anomaly line, with a value of 0.048, up from -0.114 in June 2008

The global UAH ∆T from June to July 2008 was .162°C

UAH
2008 1 -0.046
2008 2 0.020
2008 3 0.094
2008 4 0.015
2008 5 -0.180
2008 6 -0.114
2008 7  0.048  

Click for a larger image
Reference: UAH lower troposphere data

Just like with the RSS global temperature anomaly data, I rather expected it to go up a bit, given that La Nina has diminished, plus the NH has a greater landmass than the SH, and we are in summer.

Click for a large image

Steve McIntyre of Climate Audit did an interesting graph that shows the difference between the NH and SH using the RSS data: Read the rest of this entry »