http://tech-know.eu/uploads/SUN_heats_EARTH.pdf

Mike D. (00:17:37) :

Speaking of Doppler and radar: http://tinyurl.com/p9ryrb

From The Times, May 25, 2009

Action on wind farm radar threat to aircraft

The body that monitors UK airspace is seeking a solution to the potentially disastrous problem of commercial and military aircraft disappearing in radar blackout zones caused by wind farms. …

Mike D., I can believe this becomes a problem if only Primary RADAR is in use (useful for non-coopertive targets e.g. as those with their transponders turned off) –

- but not in this day and age (again for for cooperative ‘targets’) given Secondary RADAR (aircraft equipped with transponders and the ground-based component here in the US known once upon a time as “ATCRBS” – AIr Traffic Control Radar Beason System).
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WorldNetDaily
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=99290

Steven Chu, who directed the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and was professor of physics and molecular and cell biology at the University of California before being appointed by President Obama to be the U.S. Energy Secretary, says white paint is what’s needed to fix global warming.

Chu, who according to the federal agency’s website, successfully applied the techniques he developed in atomic physics to molecular biology and recently led the lab in pursuit of new alternative and renewable energies, has told the London Times that by making paved surfaces and roofs lighter in color, the world would reduce carbon emissions by as much as parking all the cars in the world for 11 years.

The DOE says Chu’s areas of expertise are in atomic physics, quantum electronics, polymer and biophysics. According to the Times, he was speaking at the St. James’ Palace Nobel Laureate Symposium, in which the Times partners for media events, when he described his simple and “completely benign” … “geo-engineering” plan.

He said building codes should require that flat roofed-buildings have their tops painted white. Visible sloped roofs could be painted “cool” colors. And roads could be made a lighter color.

Chu, a co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1997, was sworn in as energy secretary Jan. 21.

Obama said when he appointed Chu, “The future of our economy and national security is inextricably linked to one challenge: energy… Steven has blazed new trails as a scientist, teacher, and administrator.”

“I think with flat-type roofs you can’t even see, yes, I think you should regulate quite frankly,” Chu said in the Times report.

And asked if governments should promote white paint as the global warming “solution,” he said, “Yes, absolutely … White roofs everywhere, yes.”

Light surfaces reflect more of the sunlight that falls on them, hardly a surprise in warmer parts of the world where walls and roofs have been whitewashed for generations.

Chu told the Times his dogma on the issue was prompted by Art Rosenfeld of the California Energy Commission, who prompted a change in that state that now requires all flat roofs on commercial buildings to be painted white.

The Times report said a year ago, Rosenfeld and several colleagues estimated changing the color of roofs in 100 of the largest cities around the world would save 44 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

“Now, you smile, but [Rosenfeld has] done a calculation, made a paper on this, and if you take all the buildings and make their roofs white and if you make the pavement more of a concrete type of color rather than a black type of color, and you do this uniformly… it’s the equivalent of reducing the carbon emissions due to all the cars on the road for 11 years, you just take them off the road for 11 years,” Chu told the Times.

“Get a bucket of paint and a brush and save the planet!” wrote a participant in the news page’s forums page.

—————-
How will this stop the greenhouse effect? Isn’t the UHI effect minimal? Is white paint a carbon sink?

CLIMATOLOGICAL REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
345 PM EST THU JAN 6 2000

…THE 20TH CENTURY IN PORT CITY WEATHER…

NOW THAT 1999 HAS COME TO A CLOSE AND THE YEAR 2000 HAS BEEN USHERED
IN… IT IS TIME TO TAKE A LOOK BACK AT THE 20TH CENTURY FROM A
CLIMATOLOGICAL STANDPOINT FOR WILMINGTON. INFORMATION WAS COMPILED
ON A YEAR-BY-YEAR BASIS FOR EACH YEAR IN THE 1900S AND AVERAGES…
MAXIMUMS AND MINIMUMS WERE TABULATED.

THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE IN WILMINGTON IN THE 20TH CENTURY WAS
63.5 DEGREES… WITH THE AVERAGE HIGH BEING 73.0 DEGREES AND THE
AVERAGE LOW BEING 54.1 DEGREES. THE WARMEST YEAR OF THE CENTURY WAS
1990 WITH AN AVERAGE TEMP OF 66.5 DEGREES. THE COOLEST YEAR WAS 1981
AT 60.9 DEGREES. 1990 ALSO HAD THE HIGHEST AVERAGE MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE
(77.4 DEGREES) WHILE 1901 HAD THE LOWEST (70.0 DEGREES). LIKEWISE…
1981 HAD THE LOWEST AVERAGE MINIMUM TEMP (50.1 DEGREES) WHILE 1949 SAW
THE HIGHEST (57.3 DEGREES).

THE AVERAGE ANNUAL HIGHEST EXTREME TEMPERATURE WAS 97.5 DEGREES.
THE HOTTEST TEMP RECORDED DURING THE 1900S (AND EVER) WAS 104 DEGREES
ON JUNE 27TH 1952. THE COOLEST READING FOR A YEARLY EXTREME HIGH WAS
91 DEGREES ON A PAIR OF DAYS IN 1909. THE AVERAGE COOLEST HIGH FOR A
YEAR WAS 32.6 DEGREES. THE EXTREMES FOR COOLEST HIGHS WERE 16 DEGREES
ON DECEMBER 30TH 1917 AND 47 DEGREES ON 3 DAYS IN 1990.

THE AVERAGE ANNUAL LOWEST EXTREME TEMPERATURE WAS 17.3 DEGREES.
ON CHRISTMAS MORNING IN 1989 THE MERCURY DROPPED TO ZERO… WHICH
WAS THE COLDEST TEMP EVER RECORDED IN THE PORT CITY. THE WARMEST
READING FOR A YEARLY EXTREME LOW WAS 29 DEGREES ON 5 DAYS IN
1949. IN CONTRAST… THE AVERAGE WARMEST LOW FOR A YEAR WAS
78.2 DEGREES. THE WARMEST LOW TEMPERATURE RECORDED WAS THIS PAST YEAR
ON AUGUST 1ST WHEN THE TEMP ONLY DROPPED TO 83 DEGREES. THE LOWEST
WARM LOW WAS 74 DEGREES ON 7 DAYS IN 1944.

DURING THE AVERAGE YEAR IN THE 1900S… THERE WERE 33.4 DAYS WHEN
HIGH TEMPERATURES OF 90 DEGREES OR WARMER WERE RECORDED. THE MOST IN
ONE YEAR WAS 71 IN 1980 WHILE THE LEAST WAS 5 IN 1938. THE LONGEST
STREAK OF DAYS WITH SUCH HEAT WAS 23 DAYS BETWEEN JULY 7TH AND 29TH
IN 1900. IN ADDITION… THERE WERE 16 DAYS DURING THE CENTURY WITH
HEAT IN EXCESS OF 100 DEGREES.

THE NUMBERS WERE FAIRLY SIMILAR FOR FREEZING DAYS. THE AVERAGE YEAR
SAW 33.9 DAYS WITH LOW TEMPS OF 32 DEGREES OR COOLER. THE MOST IN ONE
YEAR WAS 72 IN 1968 WHILE THE LEAST WAS 8 IN 1921. THE LONGEST STREAK
FOR FREEZING TEMPS WAS 19 DAYS BETWEEN JANUARY 26TH AND FEBRUARY 13TH
1978. THE PORT CITY SAW HIGH TEMPERATURES STAYING AT OR BELOW FREEZING
ABOUT THREE TIMES EVERY FOUR YEARS (77 TIMES DURING THE CENTURY). 1917
HAD THE MOST OF THESE DAYS WITH 5. THERE WERE 9 DAYS WHERE LOW TEMPS
REMAINED IN SINGLE DIGITS.

RELATED TO TEMPERATURES… THE AVERAGE GROWING SEASON WAS 246.8 DAYS
LONG. THE LONGEST SUCH SEASON OCCURRED IN 1946 WHEN THERE WERE
302 DAYS BETWEEN FREEZES. THE SHORTEST GROWING SEASON WAS 191 DAYS IN
1926.

DURING THE 20TH CENTURY… WILMINGTON RECEIVED 5137.58 INCHES OF RAIN
(IN EXCESS OF 428 FEET) FOR AN AVERAGE OF 51.38 INCHES PER YEAR. THE
MOST IN A SINGLE YEAR WAS 72.06 INCHES… THE TOTAL IN 1999. THE LEAST
WAS 27.68 INCHES IN 1909. THE AVERAGE YEAR SAW A 24-HOUR MAXIMUM
RAINFALL OF 4.43 INCHES. HURRICANE FLOYD BROUGHT A RECORD 24-HOUR MAX
OF 14.84 INCHES ON SEPTEMBER 15-16 1999. THE SMALLEST 24-HOUR MAXIMUM
IN ANY YEAR WAS 1.70 INCHES ON DECEMBER 4TH 1902.

THE AVERAGE YEAR HAD 117.8 DAYS WITH MEASURABLE PRECIP. 1989 WAS THE
YEAR WITH THE MOST (148) WHILE 1941 SAW THE FEWEST (92). ON AVERAGE
THERE WERE 14.7 DAYS A YEAR WITH AT LEAST AN INCH OF RAIN. 1992 HAD
THE MOST (25) WHILE 1931 WAS THE YEAR WITH THE LEAST (6). THUNDER
WAS REPORTED ON AN AVERAGE OF 51.2 DAYS PER YEAR. 1947 HAD THE MOST
THUNDER DAYS (81) WHILE 1968 HAD THE FEWEST (32).

FROM THUNDERSTORMS… HAIL WAS OFFICIALLY REPORTED 71 TIMES DURING THE
100 YEARS. THE YEARS OF 1925… 1949 AND 1998 EACH HAD 4 EVENTS – THE
MOST FOR ANY YEAR.

IN THE 100 YEARS THAT JUST PASSED… A TOTAL OF 177.2 INCHES (NEARLY
15 FEET) OF SNOW FELL ON WILMINGTON (1.8 INCHES PER YEAR). THE
GREATEST AMOUNT OF SNOW IN ONE YEAR WAS 19.4 INCHES IN 1912. THERE
WERE 106 DAYS WITH AT LEAST ONE-TENTH OF AN INCH OF SNOW (1.1 DAYS
PER YEAR) – 1912 AND 1973 TIED FOR MOST WITH 5 EACH. THE YEARLY
AVERAGE FOR MOST SNOW IN A 24-HOUR PERIOD WAS 1.3 INCHES. 11.7 INCHES
WAS THE MOST MEASURED IN A SINGLE 24-HOUR PERIOD DURING THE 20TH
CENTURY (FEBRUARY 9TH-10TH 1973).

THE PORT CITY AVERAGED 64.6 PERCENT OF POSSIBLE SUNSHINE DURING THE
1900S. THE SUNNIEST YEAR WAS 1941 WHEN 74 PERCENT OF POSSIBLE SUN WAS
RECORDED. THE LEAST SUNNY YEAR WAS 1951 WHEN ONLY 53 PERCENT WAS
RECEIVED. THERE WAS AN AVERAGE OF 20.2 DAYS PER YEAR WHEN DENSE FOG
/VISIBILITY OF ONE-QUARTER MILE OR LESS/ WAS REPORTED. 1998 HAD THE
MOST DENSE FOG DAYS (42) WHILE 1902 HAD THE FEWEST (5).

THE WIND SPEED WAS 8.4 MPH. 1958 WAS THE BREEZIEST YEAR WITH AN
AVERAGE OF 12.1 MPH. 1981 WAS THE CALMEST YEAR WITH AN AVERAGE OF
5.8 MPH. THE AVERAGE ANNUAL HIGHEST SUSTAINED WIND WAS 43.9 MPH.
HURRICANE HELENE BROUGHT THE FASTEST SUSTAINED WIND… 88 MPH ON
SEPTEMBER 27TH 1958. 1931 AND 1992 EACH THE SLOWEST WIND FOR A YEARLY
MAXIMUM… 28 MPH.

FINALLY… THE AVERAGE HIGH SEA-LEVEL PRESSURE FOR ANY SINGLE YEAR WAS
30.66 INCHES WHILE THE AVERAGE LOW PRESSURE WAS 29.27 INCHES. THE
HIGHEST SEA-LEVEL PRESSURE OF THE CENTURY WAS 30.85 INCHES IN 1934 AND
1991. THE LOWEST PRESSURE WHICH QUALIFIED AS THE HIGHEST OF ITS YEAR
WAS 30.46 INCHES IN 1985. WHEN HURRICANE FLOYD STRUCK IN SEPTEMBER
1999… THE PRESSURE PLUMMETED TO 28.33 INCHES TO SET A NEW RECORD
LOW. THE HIGHEST YEARLY LOWEST PRESSURE WAS 29.53 INCHES IN 1939.

Thank you, makes perfect sense, except the bit about “unwanted observers” ;-)

peace

abraxas (01:41:55) :

Slightly OT:

That ball on top has become common across the world. What is inside? What is its purpose?
How does it differ from more conventional appearing weather stations?

Thanks!!

The ‘ball’ on top houses a 28 foot diameter parabolic ‘dish’ that rotates at a maximum rate of approximately 5 RPM to generate 14 elevation scans* (from 0.5° to 19.5°) in about a 5 min time period; these are termed ‘volume scans’ and do a reasonable job of ascertaining precipitation (and other meteorologocal phenomonon) in 3-D about the area in view by the RADAR.

The ball serves several purposes (touched by a couple of other posters) including but not limited to: reduces wear on gibmals and drive gearing, increases pointing accuracy by eliminating wind-flexure effects, reduces weathering effects (corrosion) in the mechanicals and the electricals, keeps questions (and ‘concerms’) by the public to a minimum (MANY fewer questions about a ‘passive white ball’ compared to an actively rotating 28 foot parabolic S-band antenna!)
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* for VCP-11. A number of other Volume (scanning) Control Programs (rates, elevation sample intervals, etc) are available depending on the current controlling weather service office mode selection and future software development.

Sandy (21:59:41) :

That ‘weather radar’ seems to be an enormous technology transfer. Surely their military technicians will have taken a copy and been all over
it?

You should see what we are preparing to ‘send them’ in the way of commercial product (auto-calibrating, adaptive beam-forming, phased-array RF-based gear) for manufacture (contract manufacturing in China) … this (the WSR-98D) looks tame by comparison …

So now you know! My next question is: how good is the F17 sensor?

At the rate the sensors are failing, I’m more concerned about when the F17+ sensor will be in orbit.

From NSIDC.ORG

Update: May 26 2009 The daily image update has been temporarily suspended because of large areas of missing data in the past week. NSIDC currently gets its data from the SSM/I sensor on the DMSP F13 satellite, which is nearing the end of its operational life and experiencing intermittent problems. NSIDC has been working on a transition to a newer sensor on the F17 satellite for several months. At this time, we have more than a year of data from F17, which we are using to intercalibrate with F13 data. The F17 data are not yet available for near-real-time updates. We will resume posting daily updates as soon as possible, either from F13, if the present problem is resolved, or from F17, when the transition is complete.

So now you know! My next question is: how good is the F17 sensor?

Suspect it was inspired by the monster in the 1950s horror flick “Kronos”

While you’re in China, it would help all who follow temperatures throughout the globe if you could get at least the yearly series of several well-situated rural stations updated from 1990 onward. That’s when GHCN decided to rely exclusively on urban records in that country. With China booming, all of the latter show strong UHI, biasing the results for the entire region.

Who said Dubai? There aren’t any trees in Dubai; there is no old stonework in Dubai; and there is no humidity in Dubai. The photograph is virtually dripping!