“This is a very important distinction between weather and climate models: for climate forecasts, the initial conditions in the atmosphere are not as important as the external forcings that have the ability to alter the character and types of weather… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“In other words, the brightness of the Pleiades in late June indeed correlates with rainfall during the growing season for potatoes the following October through March.8 This climate forecast is one of many that have come to the attention of… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“Bjerknes had come up with equations capable of describing the behavior of the atmosphere. The state of the atmosphere at any point could be… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“Sahel’s rainfall, thanks to El Niño. During an El Niño event, the Sahel is typically expected to experience a drought, whereas during a La… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“mechanisms of weather predictions are very similar to those of climate predictions. So if we’re comfortable trusting local forecasters’ predictions about weather, we should… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“The instrument Keeling built, the gas chromatograph, works by passing infrared (IR) light through a sample of air and measuring the amount of IR… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“But the latest climate models paint a very bleak picture. According to their predictions, by the 2040s such summers will be happening every other… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesized the results from eighteen climate models used by groups around the… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“In the past 100 years alone, the region experienced three devastating droughts. The first stretched from 1910 to 1916; the second stretched from 1941… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“The climate models showed that greenhouse gas emissions had contributed to an increase in such summers, from one in 1,000 years to at least… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“ozone and particulate matter contribute to 8,800 deaths and $71 billion in health care costs every year. The connection with global warming is nothing… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“The goal was to build a model that represented the climate system. This was no small task. Weather models are concerned only about what’s… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“Giannini discovered that ocean temperatures helped regulate the strength of the African monsoon. What was even more fascinating was how each ocean played a… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“Using satellites capable of measuring cloud cover from space, Chiang showed that there was an increase in high clouds during El Niño years. Specifically,… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
