#Variability of rainfall

[townpostin]

Seraikela Kharsawan Faces Lowest June Rainfall In 22 Years

36.1 mm Recorded, Far Below Normal Levels, Impacting Agriculture Farmers concerned as lack of rain disrupts paddy cultivation cycle. SERAIKELA – The Seraikela Kharsawan district has had its lowest June rainfall in 22 years, with only 36.1 mm recorded, which is significantly below the usual levels. "The amount of rainfall we’re receiving is not enough to meet our farming needs," expressed a local…

[fernsproutxx]

GR96

@fusionspruntcityjournal

So how do you produce electricity with living plants? Simply by using the natural processes that already occur. In short: the plant produces organic matter via photosynthesis. Only part of this organic matter is then used for its own growth. The rest is excreted via the roots. Around the roots, bacteria feed on the organic matter and they release electrons. If you’re able to harvest the electrons into an electrode, you can couple the first electrode to a counter-electrode and build an electrical circuit, like in a battery. The electrons flow back into the natural system via the counter-electrode, so it’s completely circular. Because we use the natural processes around the plant, nature is not harmed. It works day and night, summer and winter. It only stops when the plant and its surroundings completely dry up or freeze over.

Sedum Oviferum

Sedum pachyphyllum is a ground-hugging succulent that spreads by rooting fallen stems and leaves. The succulent also goes by the names “Cerise Moonstones” or “Mauve Pebbles”. The short and stumpy round leaves have a light silvery-purple color; positioned at a right angles to the stem and curve upward, which in the wintertime, the tips of said leaves will turn into a notorious red.

Sedum Oviferum is a succulent that is very easy to grow and maintain. It is a resilient plant that can tolerate drought, moist and dry soils, and when given adequate exposure to sunlight and sufficient water, Cerise Moonstones will thrive outdoors. The Sedum Oviferum succulent grows at its best with regular exposure to sunlight. If Mauve Pebbles are planted in an area in a garden that gets plenty of sunlight per day, you will be rewarded with bright coloured leaves and flowers. In winter and early spring, Cerise Moonstones actively grow and produce blooms featuring red-orange petals and sepals that have the same pigmentation as the leaves. The flowers produced by Cerise Moonstones have a bell shape and a sugary fragrance.

Subterranean Clover

Trifolium subterraneum is also known as the subterranean clover (often shortened to sub clover), or subterranean trefoil. The plant's name comes from its underground seed development, a characteristic not possessed by other clovers. It can thrive in poor-quality soil where other clovers cannot survive.

This species is self-fertilizing, unlike most legume forage crops such as alfalfa and other clovers, which are pollinated by insects, especially honeybees. It is also grown in places where the extreme ranges of soil type and quality, rainfall, and temperature make the variable tolerances of sub clover especially useful.

Functionality

GR96 are powered by any plant of choosing on their back pod (the one we are going to discuss has a giant Sedum Oviferum and multiple sub clovers to operate) which is held in place by five strong suction cups. They’re manufactured for community gardens (strictly only one per garden), but they can also be bought by high class citizens for private properties, though at a way bigger cost since they’re financed by the city.

They can use their hands as scissors, shovels, and for watering (hence the big forearms, for storing the water), the latter which they do by dipping their hands in a bucket, opening the valve on their forearms so they can fill them up and releasing the water from the pinholes on their palms. Their “eyes” are actually a screen that can show plenty expressions, but the two circles above that peripheral screen are the real environmental sensors. They also have the same sensors on their ankles for inspecting the lower plants and ground without the need of kneeling, and their feet are shaped in a way so that weight is evenly distributed, lowering the chances of damaging a plant if they were to step on it. The ear like protrusions are small solar panels, used as backup energy (they don’t have any communication properties). Their speaker aka their “voice” is the mohawk-like structure on the top (which also has their series barcode 128 on the lower back), but when they speak there are these strips at the sides of the face mask that light up with the volume. The mask (non removable) has a set of pipes that are used for analyzing the air quality and humidity of the area surrounding them.

[argumate]

Australia’s biggest carbon credit scheme is barely removing any greenhouse gas from the atmosphere, according to a new study, despite hundreds of millions of dollars being pumped into it by businesses and the government.

“The areas are likely to be at or near their carrying capacity for woody vegetation, meaning any changes in tree cover are most likely to be attributable to seasonal variability in rainfall,” the report said. “Projects are being credited for regenerating forests in areas that contained forest cover when the projects started.

The scientists said the real problem with this was that emitters would not alter their behaviour because they could buy offsets, then if those offsets did not produce real cuts in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, Australia would not genuinely reduce its emissions.

I love the way that when faced with the need to reduce emissions or scale up carbon capture projects we not only didn't, but we used it as an excuse to create fictitious "carbon credits" that allowed us to funnel money to friends under the guise of doing something, it's almost as good as the myth of "plastic recycling".

[stagkingswife]

Take Notes Like Stag Part 3: Spell Lab Notes

Part 1: Spirit Encounters Part 2: Unrecorded Entity Note Taking Exercise Part 4: Signs & Omens I think I’ve said this somewhere before, I don’t know if it was here, or on Discord, I’m a huge believer in applying the scientific method to spell work.  I don’t believe that magic can be explained by science, or that it’s an extension of science.  But I do believe that an approach of  empirical observation, incremental variable adjustment, and repeat experimentation is a great way to develop a solid spell work practice.  This is how I figured out a lot of my own methods and personal magical paradigms - by testing something, making notes, changing a variable, and then  testing again - rinse and repeat.  There’s a lot to keep track of in that process though, particularly if you’re rinse and repeat step keeps repeating, so over the years I’ve developed a template of “lab notes” to keep track of my experiments.  Spell Friendly Name - A brief concise, yet descriptive title. • The idea of a “friendly name” is something I stole from my IT day job.  A lot of hardware devices come with their network name set as their serial number, or model number, or something like that.  Those sorts of names can be fine for a sys or network admin, but it’s not super helpful for a normal person - so it’s an important step up setting up that device to give it a name that is immediately recognizable and descriptive of its role on the network: Like HR Printer, or [Company Name] File Server. When you’re testing and workshopping spells it’s important to be able to distinguish them from one another in your notes. You don’t want a dozen pages in a row all titled “Prosperity Spell” but they’re all different spells.  Make sure your Friendly Names are descriptive, catchy, and above all stay consistent across your notes for subsequent re-casts. 

Date Cast - The day (and time if it matters to you) that you cast the spell • I’m not one for celestial or planetary magic, so I don’t care much about when I cast the spell for magical correspondence reasons.  I care mostly in relation to the next field - 

Time Frame/ ”Due Date” - When you expect the spell manifest result by. • I’m a big believer in setting yourself time frames for your spells - it’s much easier to tell if a spell has succeeded or failed if you have a due date for it.  So I mark my time frame as part of my notes, however I built it into my spell: two weeks, by the next rainfall, before the turn of the season, by an exact date.  Keeping this due date next to the date of casting helps me keep track of how long is left for the spell to work. Parameters for Success - What an ideal successful result looks like to you.  • We all know that sometimes spells manifest in funny ways that can still technically be called “successful”. You phrased the inscription of your prosperity spell as “looking for a windfall” only to get a bunch of free apples at the farm stand because they had a windstorm and have to get rid of all of the apples that fell?  Technically you got a windfall, but it wasn’t what you wanted.  So you recast the spell and this time phrase the inscription as, “you want to come into money.” Well this time a great aunt dies and leaves you an inheritance.  We all know these examples, I’m not saying anything new.  But I find that keeping track of exactly what I quantify as “success” helps me troubleshoot my spells.  Is my parameter of success for this theoretical prosperity spell specifically that I get a raise at work? Then I say it here.  Am I open to alternatives?  List them here.  Materials: Function - Your ingredients list: what role of each ingredient is in the spell • I vastly prefer to create my own spells, I find I can tinker and troubleshoot better with something I have written myself because I understand how everything is meant to work, and how it all works together.  I list out every single ingredient and what its job is in the spell, not just ingredients being used for magical correspondences.  I include lines like, “paper & pen (mundane): for the writing of inscription” or “mortar & pestle: for grinding herb blend.” But then I’ll also have lines like “Nettle: used here for personal association with emotion, a la Aunt Betty and her nettle tea,” referencing a personal magical association I have within my own paradigm.  This may be overkill for some people, but it keeps my spell work neat and organized and I never have to wonder what an ingredient is supposed to be doing when I want to recast a spell. 

Method: Function - Steps of the spell, written in order, with some form of annotation or commentary on what each step is supposed to achieve magically.  • This step of my note taking I get a little messy, to be honest.  It works best when I have different colored pens and have had time to pre-plan.  When these conditions have been met my notes look like code.  There will be a step written out, then on the next line ## and a color change to indicate the beginning of my comments.  If I didn’t pre-plan, I usually still have two different colored pens - even if it’s just black and blue, so I’ll write out my steps in order and rely on marginalia for my comments.  It’s not as organized, and my handwriting gets cramped and hard to read sometimes, but just like the ingredients lists I like to know not just what every step is doing, but why. 

Adjusted Variable(s)* - If you’re recasting a spell what have you changed from the last time and how do you expect that to affect your result. 

• If I cast a spell and am not happy with the results (maybe those parameters for success I noted earlier weren’t met to my satisfaction) I don’t go looking for a new spell, I troubleshoot.  I start making changes to spell and keeping track of the change in this field of my notes.  I note what exactly the change is:  Am I adding something, removing something, trying a different method, etc. Then I write down a hypothesis (remember that word from science class?) for how I think this adjustment will change how the spell manifests. *I leave this field blank or out of my note entirely if I’m taking notes for the first casting of a spell, or re-casting a “known good” spell (one that I know works exactly as is - usually because I’ve cast it before and already gone through the troubleshooting and refining process). Observed Manifestation - The counterpart to Parameters for Success, what actually happened as a result of the spell - to be left blank and filled out on or after the Time Frame/”Due Date” is up. • If these notes were a science class lab notebook, which they were 100% inspired by, this would be the results section.  What actually happened!?! Maybe nothing happened!  Write that here.  Maybe your prosperity a week and a half after you cast your prosperity spell your boss said you were killing it at work and that you were going to get a promotion! Maybe the spell totally backfired!  Be honest with yourself about your results, these notes are for you to build on.  I have pages and pages of notes where either nothing happened, or the results were just off from what I really wanted.  But I kept troubleshooting, and now I have a roster of spells that I am really confident in.  Adjustments for Next Cast:  If you have an idea for what you want to change next time, write it down now.  You won’t remember when you come back to it.   • I usually like to write up my results and then do some brainstorming for next time.  I try to only change one thing at a time, isolate the variable and all that, but I will often have several ideas for things that could improve the results, so I’ll brainstorm in this field and then highlight the one I want to try next somehow, either by underlining or marking with a star.  Then that option goes into the “Adjusted Variable” field for the next time. 

[ruthbancroftgarden]

Erica mammosa

South Africa is home to many species of Erica, commonly known as heather, with lots of them found in the winter-rainfall area in the western part of the country, as is the case with Erica mammosa. The flower color of this species is variable, and the pale yellow (almost white) flowers seen here are said to be found only on the Cape Peninsula, south of Cape Town. The very narrow leaves of this species give the impression of spruce sprigs.

-Brian

[soup-mother]

affirmation: motherly older woman tells you you're "such a smart girl~" for pointing at how the El Niño Southern Oscillation matches up to this chart of rainfall by year since 1978.

"what a good girl, you're so well behaved. I'm so proud of you for describing the drivers and impacts of climate change and climate variability at different time scales using key climate science concepts❤️❤️❤️"

[luonnon-varainen]

How many types/species of Titan have you made? I also have a Titan au with lots of species and I’m always happy to see another Titan enjoyer 👀

Halko~

Well, have only a few types. Exactly 4 types and 2 subspecies. The subspecies are from the poles southern(the one I made a post about) and northen( eternal day land). They belong to that category because the body structure, function and metabolism (including magic) differs more than in any other group slowly creating first elements of the barriers of hybridisation. Rest 4 types are closely related to each other and have less significant differences, especially in the metabolism section, which most defines what is a titan and what’s not. I didn’t fully finished their general characteristics(especially the fur colour, surely need some redesign ) but they looks something like that(numbers represent how much light they have access to in their climate, 1 has the most)

Obviously the cause of these body modifications is different environment and climate. The planet is a water world in quite small distance from its star keeping the ocean warm sometimes even boiling. Generally climate all over the planet is warm, pretty humid and has quite quickly changing weather with a decent amount of rainfall. However the most important factor is the access to the light and consequently the avarage temperature. This variable has the greatest impact on on the evolution of titan types. Other reasons include salinity, currents, land formation and composition , distance from the closest big water body and fight for survival( 3 species fitting in very similar niche is quite uncomfortable situation especially since all are on very similar level of development). The modifications usually are connected with type of fur, teeth, size, digestive enzymes and sotorage and distribution of fatty tissue

But I would be me if I didn’t match biology with anthropology so some extras. The 6 ecological types of titans are well the core, the base of 16 culturally diverse groups, which existed in the prewar era and during conflict itself, creating 16 clans. Each with own sets of beliefs, traditions, cuisines, social structures etc. And there is quite some of very specific societies which are founded more by profession, religion, politics, trade. Also there’re some individuals so far from any conventional classification that made themselves an own category like the Prophet, who follows the social conveyances like no one in the whole planet or the Fallen Judge

[aspiramy]

UNIVERSAL LAW OF GRAVITATION OR NEWTON'S SECOND LAW OF GRAVITATION

According to the law, every object in the universe attracts every other object in the universe with the force which is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

The force is directly proportional to the product of their masses, i.e, F ≈ m1 x m2.

F = (G x m1 x m2) / d²

where F is the force, G is the universal constant for gravity, m1 and m2 are the masses, and d is the distance.

IMPORTANCE OF THE LAW

It successfully explained several phenomena which were believed to be unconnected

The force that binds us to the Earth

The motion of moon around the sun

The tides due to moon and sun

The motion of planets around the sun

Rainfall and Snowfall due to this force

Atmosphere of earth is possible due to this.

The prediction of solar and lunar eclipse.

Galileo concluded that the bodies having different masses dropped simultaneously hit the ground at the same time if air resistance is neglected.

g

acceleration due to gravity

acceleration produced in a body freely falling under the actions of gravitational pull of the earth

the value of g is different at diff points of the earth

it decreases as we go higher from surface

G

universal gravitational constant

G is the gravitational force between 2 objects of unit masses seperated by unit distance

the value of G is 6.7 x 10¹¹ Nm² / km²

The value of G does not change with jeight or depth

MASS AND WEIGHT

Mass is the quantity of matter contained in an object. The mass of an object is constant an dir is the measure of its inertia. It can never be zero.

Weight is the force with which the earth attracts an object. It is measured in Newton and it can be zero at the centre of earth. It is a variable and vector quantity.

Sorry for typos !!

[mariacallous]

Record temperatures last year pushed the global water cycle to “new climatic extremes,” according to the Global Water Monitor 2024 report. The document, produced by an international consortium led by researchers at Australian National University, states that these climatic anomalies caused devastating floods and droughts that resulted in more than 8,700 deaths, the displacement of 40 million people, and economic losses exceeding $550 billion.

The report was conducted by an international team and was led by ANU professor Albert van Dijk. It reveals that 2024 was the warmest year so far for nearly 4 billion people in 111 countries, and that air temperatures over the Earth’s surface were 1.2 degrees Celsius higher than documented at the beginning of the century and 2.2 degrees Celsius higher than at the start of the Industrial Revolution.

Van Dijk asserts that water systems around the globe were affected. “From historic droughts to catastrophic floods, these severe climate variations affect lives, livelihoods, and entire ecosystems. Water is our most important resource, and its extreme conditions are among the greatest threats we face,” he says.

The report authors analyzed data from thousands of ground and satellite stations that collect near real-time information on critical water variables, including rainfall intensity and frequency, soil moisture, and flooding.

“We found rainfall records are being broken with increasing regularity. For example, record-high monthly rainfall totals were achieved 27 percent more frequently in 2024 than at the start of this century, whereas daily rainfall records were achieved 52 percent more frequently. Record lows were 38 percent more frequent, so we are seeing worse extremes on both sides,” says Van Dijk.

The research states that, as a consequence, sea-surface temperatures rose, intensifying tropical cyclones and droughts in the Amazon basin and southern Africa. Global warming favored the formation of slower-moving storms in Europe, Asia, and Brazil, subjecting some regions—such as Valencia in Spain—to extremely high levels of rain. Widespread flash floods occurred in Afghanistan and Pakistan, while rising levels in the Yangtze and Pearl rivers in southern China damaged rice crops.

“In Bangladesh, heavy monsoon rains and the release of water from dams affected more than 5.8 million people, and at least 1 million tons of rice were wiped out. In the Amazon basin, forest fires triggered by the hot, dry weather devastated more than 52,000 square kilometers in September alone, releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gases,” Van Dijk says.

The study adds that changes in the water cycle intensified food shortages, impaired shipping routes, and disrupted hydropower generation in some regions. “We need to prepare for and adapt to inevitably more severe extreme events. That may mean adopting stronger flood defenses, developing new food production systems and more drought-resistant water supply networks,” suggests Van Dijk.

World leaders have pledged to implement measures and policies to prevent global warming from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by the end of the century, but the World Meteorological Organization has pointed out that current efforts are insufficient. The WMO estimates that there is an 80 percent chance that the average global temperature will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels again in at least one of the next five years. The projection suggests that humanity is far from meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement and raises new concerns about the progress of climate change.

Securing financial resources is another challenge. The United Nations Environment Program estimates that the funding gap for climate change adaptation is between $194 billion and $366 billion annually.

António Guterres, secretary general of the United Nations, has said that “we are teetering on a planetary tightrope. Either leaders close the emissions gap or we are hurtling towards climate disaster, with the poorest and most vulnerable suffering the most. The countdown to action has begun.”

[botanyone]

Wet Gets Wetter Dry Gets Drier in the Amazon Rainforest

Wet Gets Wetter, Dry Gets Drier in the Amazon Rainforest https://ift.tt/Q6NKGof Cintra and colleagues have found that changes in climate aren’t making the Amazon wetter or drier, but both, according to whether it’s the wet or dry season. Their study is based on 30 years of natural climate records locked in tree rings of Cedrela odorata and Macrolobium acaciifolium. The findings have relevance beyond weather patterns across South America. In a press release the authors state: “The Amazon rainforest plays a critical role in global climate regulation… Observed changes in the rainfall cycle could have far-reaching effects on global climate stability.” The research was based on studying oxygen isotope ratios in cores extracted from trees. The rings grow with oxygen from that year’s rainwater locked in the ring. From the tree’s point of view, the isotopes in the water don’t matter, but these isotopes reveal how the rain travelled there. Oxygen-16 and Oxygen-18 get picked up as water evaporates from the ocean to make clouds. Rain falls, gets processed through trees and rises again, to form new clouds to rain further inland. But each time water passes through the process, it’s the lighter Oxygen-16 that’s favoured. So if there are more rainfall events on the way inland, meaning wetter weather, the ratio of Oxygen-16 to Oxygen-18 increases. If there are fewer rainfall events, then the rain is richer in Oxygen-18. Changes in this ratio told Cintra and colleagues how climate had changed since 1980. Extreme river flood levels reach several meters depth, as indicated by the darker shade on the bark of this tree from seasonally flooded forests. Photo: Bruno B L Cintra, University of Birmingham But Cintra and colleagues were able to see beyond yearly averages by comparing two trees. Cedrela odorata grows in the wet season, while Macrolobium acaciifolium, in the floodplains, grows in the dry season. So their isotopes in their tree rings will relate to rainfall in different seasons. The authors write that, in the wet season, the ratio of Oxygen-18 fell by 0.90‰, almost one part in a thousand, indicating an increase in rainfall of 15%-22%. But in the dry season Oxygen-18 ratio increased by 1.14‰, meaning the dry season was 8%-13% drier. The botanists believe that a warming Atlantic is changing how and when rainfall arrives in the Amazon basin. This increasing variability will lead to increased flooding and droughts for for the Amazon and beyond, as far south as Buenos Aires. Preparations for the future appear urgent. Cintra, B.B.L., Gloor, E., Baker, J.C.A., Boom, A., Schöngart, J., Clerici, S., Pattnayak, K. and Brienen, R.J.W. (2025) “Tree ring isotopes reveal an intensification of the hydrological cycle in the Amazon,” Communications Earth & Environment, 6(1), pp. 1–12. https://doi.org/pr26 Cross-posted to Bluesky & Mastodon. Image: Serene Amazon rainforest with lush greenery reflected in river Jean Gc / Pexels. The post Wet Gets Wetter, Dry Gets Drier in the Amazon Rainforest appeared first on Botany One. via Botany One https://botany.one/ June 17, 2025 at 08:28PM

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Ocean Heat for Hurricane Helene

When tropical weather watchers in the U.S. began tracking a disturbance brewing near the Yucatan Peninsula in mid-September, there were already worrisome signs in ocean temperature data for the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

Sea surface temperature and ocean heat content data—both derived from satellite observations—showed a tongue of unusually warm water extending north from the Caribbean Sea into the Gulf of Mexico toward the Florida Panhandle. It was a sign that the Loop Current—a variable current that shunts water from the Caribbean Sea into the Gulf of Mexico, around Florida, and up the eastern coast of the U.S.—had shed an eddy of warm water that was lingering uncomfortably close to U.S. shores.

Such features can make storms more dangerous because they provide a store of energy for passing hurricanes to draw from as they approach land, explained Scott Braun, a research meteorologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “These warm core eddies are a fairly persistent feature in the gulf and represent a deep layer of warm water that is much less likely to be disrupted by strong surface forcing by the hurricane winds,” he said.

The map above shows sea surface temperatures on September 23, based on data from the Multiscale Ultrahigh Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (MUR SST) project, a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory effort that blends measurements of sea surface temperatures from multiple NASA, NOAA, and international satellites, as well as ship and buoy observations. Surface waters above 27.8 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit)—the temperature generally required to sustain and intensify hurricanes—are represented in red on the map. The tongue of warm water is also visible in maps of sea surface temperature anomalies on NASA’s State of the Ocean data viewer.

“A warm ocean isn’t everything when it comes to hurricanes, but it’s a lot,” noted University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy as the storm intensified near the Yucatan Peninsula. Not only were much of the seas along the storm’s path up to a “toasty” 31°C, but the warm water ran deep, fueling the storm with what McNoldy described as “a source of high-octane fuel.”

But ocean heat is just one among several factors that together control whether a hurricane intensifies rapidly or fizzles. In Helene’s case, the presence of high vertical wind shear, a patch of dry air on one side of the storm, and that only part of the storm hit the warmest part of the eddy likely helped constrain Helene’s intensity somewhat as it approached Florida. “If the track had gone right along the axis of the eddy, intensification would likely have been even greater,” Braun added. The image above, acquired by the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) sensor on the NOAA-20 satellite, shows Helene in the afternoon of September 25 as wind shear prevented the storm from developing a clear eye and becoming symmetrical.

Nevertheless, Helene underwent bouts of strengthening that met the official threshold for rapid intensification—an increase in the maximum sustained winds of a tropical cyclone of at least 30 knots (35 miles per hour) over a 24-hour period—as it neared Florida on September 25 and 26, fueling a major hurricane.

As Helene neared land on September 26, National Hurricane Center forecasters expected the storm to strike Florida’s Big Bend region as an unusually expansive, Category 3 or 4 storm that could deliver “catastrophic” storm surge and “life-threatening” flash and urban flooding. They warned that storm surges of 10 to 20 feet could swamp some areas, that hurricane-force winds could extend outward for up to 60 miles, and that total rainfall accumulations between 6 and 18 inches were possible. Since the storm was moving rapidly (more than 15 miles per hour), they cautioned that gusts could cause significant damage far inland, including portions of northern Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, after it made landfall.

On September 25 and 26, bands of rain influenced by the storm had started to hit the Southeast, well before the center of the storm got near the coast. “This rain is likely due to moisture moving over a frontal zone to the north of the storm,” Braun said. “This means that significant flooding may occur. All of this precursor rain is saturating the ground, so when the storm does make landfall, there will be little absorption of rain into the ground.”

NASA’s Disasters program has activated to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other agencies responding to the storm. The team will be posting maps and data products on its open-access mapping portal as new information becomes available about flooding, power outages, precipitation totals, and other topics.

People tracking sea surface temperatures or other aspects of the storm can do so using NASA’s State of the Ocean data browser, the near real-time data viewer from the Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) project at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s Tropical Cyclone Web. Daily sea surface temperature data from the SPoRT team is also used in NOAA’s nowCoast mapping platform, a tool designed for coastal communities and maritime users. It also powers part of McNoldy’s Tropical Atlantic Headquarters website, a data hub for meteorologists.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Wanmei Liang, using data from the Multiscale Ultrahigh Resolution (MUR) project, VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), and storm track data from NOAA's National Hurricane Center. Story by Adam Voiland.

[ruthbancroftgarden]

Cotyledon orbiculata var. oblonga (C. undulata)

Cotyledon is a genus in the Crassulaceae, or Stonecrop Family, with most of the species found in South Africa. The most widely grown is the very variable Cotyledon orbiculata, with many varieties and forms. The variety oblonga is found in the eastern part of South Africa, in the region where the rainfall is mostly in summer, but it is not difficult to grow in winter-rainfall areas such as our part of California. The plant shown was described as Cotyledon undulata, but it is considered to be just a form of C. orbiculata var. oblonga (but a form notable for its attractively wavy leaf tips). The bell-like coral flowers are much like those of other forms of the species.

-Brian

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Inside Climate News:

New research suggests that tornadic activity may be shifting east and north, away from Tornado Alley, which traditionally runs through Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. A 2018 study Gensini co-authored found there was an upward trend in tornado frequency across parts of the Northeast, the Southeast and the Midwest, and a decrease in tornadoes in some parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado. Activity is becoming more concentrated, with more tornadoes occurring on fewer days, and there are also changes in the seasonality of tornadoes: less frequent in the spring and summer and more frequent in the fall and winter.

Pinpointing what might be causing these changes, and how much of a change is actually happening for any given metric, is extremely complicated. Harold Brooks, a senior scientist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory, said the effects of climate change are like a chain with many links. Rising temperatures, for example, are an early and direct link on the chain. Increasing rainfall is another. But the formation of tornadoes isn’t impacted by climate change in straightforward ways. 

As the planet warms, “some of the variables we expect will become more favorable [for tornadoes]. Some will become less favorable,” Brooks said. “We don’t even know exactly how many links there are on the chain, let alone what the chain is.”

Gensini hopes that in the future, it will be possible to connect tornadic activity to climate change with a rapid attribution system similar to modeling that scientists currently use to analyze heat waves, but more research is needed to reach that point.

One of the obstacles to analyzing tornadoes’ long-term behavior is their relative rarity. Because they are unusual, datasets concerning their appearance are small. Consistent records for tornadoes in the U.S. only go back to the 1950s, making the record even smaller.

“That’s a very short record compared to other climate records we have. There are no proxy data for tornadoes, and because of that, it’s hard to establish trends. There’s a lot of year-to-year variability in tornadoes, and that’s essentially noise that is masking any trend,” Markowski said. “I’m not saying there aren’t trends there. It’s just harder to see them.”

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil Leads The Way: A Beacon For Global Clean Energy Transition With 90% Renewable Energy

Brazil stands out among the world’s largest economies for its clean energy transition, boasting the lowest share of fossil fuels in its energy mix. As the G20 president in 2024, Brazil is poised to lead the global energy transition agenda, leveraging its renewables-based power system and substantial biofuel sector. The upcoming COP30 climate change conference in Belém, near the Amazon, will highlight Brazil’s clean energy efforts on the world stage.

Brazil’s journey to becoming a clean energy leader has not been easy. Over several decades, the country faced numerous challenges, including delays in major projects, blackouts, and economic setbacks driven by both domestic and international factors. These experiences offer valuable lessons for global energy transitions and suggest ways to accelerate progress.

Hydropower, supported by Brazil’s abundant water resources and landmark projects like the Itaipu Dam, initially provided a robust foundation for the country’s electricity generation. However, reliance on hydropower left Brazil vulnerable to climate change. In 2001, low rainfall, coupled with limited investment in generation and transmission, led to blackouts and the need for electricity rationing and policy interventions to reduce demand.

In response, Brazil diversified its electricity sources, investing in wind, solar, and biomass energy. The country also expanded and modernized its grid to enhance reliability, reduce losses, and better integrate variable power sources. Regulatory measures encouraged independent power producers, and various policy instruments, including tax incentives and renewable energy auctions, spurred investments in clean energy. Between 2000 and 2022, the share of hydroelectric power in Brazil’s energy mix decreased by a third, while the overall share of renewables remained around 90%.

Continue reading.