Starship Asterisk*

neufer wrote:

geckzilla wrote:
Days like that you just wanna dig a little rut under a bush and cover your forearms in special saliva.

• Not that it would save you.

In 2001 a German tourist was fined $12,000 for attempting to smuggle Northland green geckos out of the country in his underwear.

Ms Bunkle said that native New Zealand geckos sell for around US$5000 for a breeding pair on the international market. Ms Lee said the geckos found on Kreutz were a male and pregnant female taken from Mautauri Bay in the far North, and the female has subsequently died.

Nitpicker wrote:I just saw a kookaburra catch and eat a lizard (either a gecko or a big skink) next to our pool!

Nitpicker wrote:Glad we have no snow to shovel here. Today, we're expecting a rare heatwave of 41°C or 106°F, which is simply too hot to do anything, especially with humidity.

owlice wrote:I woke up to find I had a frozen pipe; want to trade? Please??

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=82770 wrote:

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New Snow for the New Year
January 5, 2014

<<The first winter storm of 2014 swept across the northeastern United States on January 1–3, bringing as much as 24 inches (61 centimeters) of snow to the hardest hit areas. The center of the storm was over the North Atlantic Ocean when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this image at 10:55 a.m. Eastern Time on January 3. Lines of clouds over the ocean indicate that strong winds were blowing from the north toward the center of the low-pressure system. The winds pushed the clouds away, leaving a clear view of fresh snow across most of the Northeast.

By the afternoon of January 3, snowfall totals ranged between 0.2 inches along the southern edge of the storm to nearly 24 inches in northern Massachusetts, according to the National Weather Service. The storm closed schools, roads, and airports, and more than 2,000 flights were cancelled on both January 2 and 3, according to news reports.

While the clear skies provided a view of the fresh snow from space, they were accompanied by extremely cold temperatures. Clouds radiate heat back to the ground, while clear skies allow heat to escape into space. An Arctic blast is forecast to move across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with temperatures 20 to 30 degrees below normal, warned the National Weather Service.>>

Nitpicker wrote:

Nitpicker wrote:
Glad we have no snow to shovel here.

Today, we're expecting a rare heatwave of 41&deg;C or 106&deg;F, which is simply too hot to do anything, especially with humidity.

It actually made it to 44&deg;C or 111&deg;F in my part of town. Must have been the perihelion.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=82790 wrote:

[img]http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/82000/82790/australialsta_tmo_2013361_palette.jpg[/img] [b][color=#FF0000]Temperatures that were significantly higher than average between December 27 & January 3, especially in Queensland & New South Wales[/color][/b]

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Heat Wave Stifles Australia
January 12, 2014

<<2013 turned out to be Australia’s hottest year on record. Fittingly, the calendar year both started and ended with intense heat waves. The most recent heat wave peaked between December 27, 2013, and January 4, 2014. It was much shorter than the one that began 2013, though it was more intense. Nearly 9 percent of Australia’s cities and towns experienced record-breaking temperatures between January 1–4, 2014.

The heat baked the earth, raising land surface temperatures (LSTs) that are monitored by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. Dark red dominates this image, indicating temperatures that were significantly higher than average between December 27 and January 3, especially in Queensland and New South Wales. LSTs reflect how warm the ground would be to the touch, a measurement related to but not the same as air temperatures.

The final day included in the image, January 3, was the hottest day of the heatwave for most places, with about 10 percent of Queensland and 15 percent of New South Wales setting new heat records. The highest air temperature during the week was in Moomba, Queensland, which reached 49.3°Celsius (120.7°Fahrenheit) on January 2. Temperatures reached 48°C (118°F) or higher at 12 locations throughout Australia during the heatwave.

Australia was not the only Southern Hemisphere country dealing with unusually intense temperatures. Late December brought a two-week long heatwave to Argentina that led to power outages and water shortages. In the Northern Hemisphere, Europe and Asia enjoyed a stretch of warm winter temperatures, while North America went through a severe cold snap.>>

False colours represent B-V values;

Ann wrote:Those of you who know Danish can read more here.

geckzilla wrote:Alternatively, there seems to be something about it in English a short search away.
http://arxiv.org/abs/1401.1994

Nitpicker wrote:
The article seems to be about an interesting technique to measure the albedo of Earth from Earth. It has drawn no conclusions on Earth's albedo, nor on how it affects the climate. It has drawn conclusions about the viability of the technique. Very astronomical, and ultimately, probably useful to climate scientists, too. It briefly discusses the weather they experienced on the night of observation.

neufer wrote: Of course the main expected albedo change is localized in the Arctic Ocean
and the moon isn't positioned to have a very good view of that.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/22/22403197-super-swell-triggers-massive-waves-dangerous-currents-in-hawaii wrote:

[b][color=#0000FF]Giant ozone cold troughs over Northeast Pacific, Eastern Canada & Europe.[/color][/b]

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'Super swell' triggers massive waves,
dangerous currents in Hawaii
By Jeff Black, Staff Writer, NBC News

<<Hawaiian authorities closed beaches and crews canvassed the island of Oahu’s famous North Shore as forecasters warned of dangerous surf that could reach 50 feet on Wednesday. The area's big waves — for decades a lure to surfers worldwide — are considered much too hazardous for ocean activities through the end of the week as a storm and cold front moves across the Pacific island chain.

On Tuesday, a Hawaii big wave surfing competition has been called off because of the expected 40 to 50-foot waves. “Nobody has any business in the ocean,” Lt. John Hoogsteden told the Honolulu Star Advertiser. The National Weather Service said an intense storm out of the northwest bringing high winds and relative cold triggered the so-called "super swell," which is also expected to hit parts of other islands though not as intensely.

NBC station KHNL in Honolulu reported it had received photos that showed a local boat harbor under water and another impassible because of breaking waves. The high surf warnings, in effect until Friday, prompted ocean lifeguards to hang yellow hazard tape, and to warn people to stay out of the water. The National Weather Service’s high surf advisory said "giant breaking surf" as well as accompanying dangerous currents make it extremely hazardous to approach the shoreline. "Expect to encounter rip currents in or near any surf zone," the advisory said. The gates to several beach parking lots were closed in anticipation of the rough surf. That didn't stop some residents from stopping to take a look, however. "This is awesome to watch. We haven’t had big surf like this in a long time," resident Dora Doroha, 55, told the paper.>>

owlice wrote:Sooooo, we've reached our high for the day (22°F/-6°C). Tonight we'll be a balmy 14°F/-10°C. Not crazy about cold with no snow; seems a waste to me. Sure, we got snow earlier in the week -- about 5" where I live -- but we didn't even I didn't even need to get the kid to shovel the driveway; the sun took care of it. (He did have to clear my car, though.)

Now it's just cold. Cold cold cold. No real snow in the forecast, either... just cold. Pipe-freezing cold. Bah. Humbug.