Sea Level Graphs from UC and some perspectives

6 04 2009

I got a couple of emails today saying that I should take a look at the most recently posted sea level graph from the University of Colorado shown below:

uc_seallevel_2009r2

The reason for the interest is that it dropped the rate of change from 3.3 mm/yr to 3.2 mm/yr. as shown in the next graph. That’s hardly news, since it is well within the error band of +/- 0.4 mm/yr.

uc_seallevel_2009r1

But I thought it might be interesting to go back and see what I could find in the UC sea level archive of graphs. I’ve presented all of the ones I’ve found below. I should note that in some years, UC may only release 2 graphs (as indicated by the release #) or up to 5 in one year like they did in 2005. For the sake of presentation simplicity, I’m only presenting the last graph to be released in any year.

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Categories : oceans, sea level

Mt. Redoubt Eruptions – What Effect If Any on the Summer? Winter?

6 04 2009
By Joe D’Aleo CCM ICECAP
Monday, April 6, 2009

Starting on March 22, a series of major eruptions have taken place from Mt. Redoubt in Alaska. The biggest exceeded 65,000 feet in height. More than a dozen eruptions as high as 60,000 have followed the first week alone. Activity may continue for weeks or months based on the volcano’s history.

Mt. Redoubt March 26, 2009

Climatologists may disagree on how much the recent global warming is natural or manmade but there is general agreement that volcanism constitutes a wildcard in climate, producing significant global scale cooling for at least a few years following a major eruption. However, there are some interesting seasonal and regional variations of the effects.

Oman et al (2005) and others have shown that though major volcanic eruptions seem to have their greatest cooling effect in the summer months, the location of the volcano determines whether the winters are colder or warmer over large parts of North America and Eurasia. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : aerosols, vulcanism