WASHINGTON—On Aug. 6, the major findings from a peer-reviewed State of the Climate study that examines temperature, precipitation and extreme events experienced around the world in 2012 were announced in coordination with the study’s online publication in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
The State of the Climate in 2012 report, compiled by 384 scientists from 52 countries around the world, provides a detailed update on global climate indicators, notable weather events and other data collected by environmental monitoring station and instruments on land, sea, ice and sky.
The media teleconference, hosted by NOAA, opened with remarks by Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Acting NOAA Administrator Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, and was followed by editors and contributors from the study to include Dr. Thomas Karl, director, NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center and chair of the Subcommittee on Global Change Research; Dr. Jessica Blunden, climatologist and lead editor, ERT Inc., NOAA’s National Climate Data Center; Dr. Kate Willett, climate scientist, United Kingdom MetOffice; and CRREL Research Civil Engineer Jackie Richter-Menge.
Richter-Menge is co-editor of the report’s Arctic chapter. On the call, she discussed the numerous record melt events observed in the Arctic in 2012, highlighting topics such as permafrost temperatures, spring snow cover extent, summer sea ice cover, Greenland ice sheet, lake ice breakup, and the Canadian Arctic glaciers and ice caps. “Many of these events were related to a strong and persistent southerly airflow into the Arctic in spring and summer,” she said.
The full report can be viewed by visiting http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/bams-state-of-the-climate/2012.php.
The media call generated numerous articles –click on the following hyperlink for an article by the Associated Press, http://bigstory.ap.org/article/noaa-report-card-2012s-climate-more-warming.
In early September, a separate paper titled,“Explaining Extreme Events of 2012 from a Climate Perspective,” will be published as a special edition of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. A separate media call will be held to announce the findings of that paper.