Oct 5 2010
From The Space Library
RELEASE: 10-017
NASA RESEARCH FINDS LAST DECADE WAS WARMEST ON RECORD, 2009 ONE OF WARMEST YEARS
WASHINGTON -- A new analysis of global surface temperatures by NASA scientists finds the past year was tied for the second warmest since 1880. In the Southern Hemisphere, 2009 was the warmest year on record. Although 2008 was the coolest year of the decade because of a strong La Nina that cooled the tropical Pacific Ocean, 2009 saw a return to a near-record global temperatures as the La Nina diminished, according to the new analysis by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. The past year was a small fraction of a degree cooler than 2005, the warmest on record, putting 2009 in a virtual tie with a cluster of other years --1998, 2002, 2003, 2006, and 2007 -- for the second warmest on record. "There's always interest in the annual temperature numbers and a given year's ranking, but the ranking often misses the point, said James Hansen, GISS director. There's substantial year-to-year variability of global temperature caused by the tropical El Nino-La Nina cycle. When we average temperature over five or ten years to minimize that variability, we find global warming is continuing unabated. January 2000 to December 2009 was the warmest decade on record. Looking back to 1880, when modern scientific instrumentation became available to monitor temperatures precisely, a clear warming trend is present, although there was a leveling off between the 1940s and 1970s. In the past three decades, the GISS surface temperature record shows an upward trend of about 0.36 degrees F (0.2 degrees C) per decade. In total, average global temperatures have increased by about 1.5 degrees F (0.8 degrees C) since 1880. "That's the important number to keep in mind, said GISS climatologist Gavin Schmidt. The difference between the second and sixth warmest years is trivial because the known uncertainty in the temperature measurement is larger than some of the differences between the warmest years. The near-record global temperatures of 2009 occurred despite an unseasonably cool December in much of North America. High air pressures from the Arctic decreased the east-west flow of the jet stream, while increasing its tendency to blow from north to south. The result was an unusual effect that caused frigid air from the Arctic to rush into North America and warmer mid-latitude air to shift toward the north. This left North America cooler than normal, while the Arctic was warmer than normal. "The contiguous 48 states cover only 1.5 percent of the world area, so the United States' temperature does not affect the global temperature much, Hansen said. GISS uses publicly available data from three sources to conduct its temperature analysis. The sources are weather data from more than a thousand meteorological stations around the world, satellite observations of sea surface temperatures, and Antarctic research station measurements. Other research groups also track global temperature trends but use different analysis techniques. The Met Office Hadley Centre in the United Kingdom uses similar input measurements as GISS, for example, but it omits large areas of the Arctic and Antarctic where monitoring stations are sparse. Although the two methods produce slightly differing results in the annual rankings, the decadal trends in the two records are essentially identical. "There's a contradiction between the results shown here and popular perceptions about climate trends, Hansen said. In the last decade, global warming has not stopped.
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MEDIA ADVISORY: M10-164A
NASA TELEVISION WILL AIR NEXT SOYUZ LANDING AND LAUNCH (UPDATED COPY)
HOUSTON -- NASA Television will air the Thanksgiving Day return to Earth of three crew members from the International Space Station and the preparation, launch and docking of the newest trio of station residents three weeks later. Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, NASA Expedition 25 Commander Doug Wheelock and NASA Flight Engineer Shannon Walker are scheduled to land in the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft on the northern steppe of Kazakhstan on Nov. 25 (Nov. 26 local time). On Dec. 15, Soyuz Commander Dmitry Kondratyev, NASA Flight Engineer Cady Coleman and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Paolo Nespoli will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft (Dec. 16 Baikonur time). They will join NASA Expedition 26 Commander Scott Kelly and Russian Flight Engineers Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka, who have been aboard the station since early October. Wheelock will hand over command of the station to Kelly at 3 p.m. CST on Nov. 24. NASA TV will air a video file on Nov. 26 that will include a prelaunch news conference by Kondratyev, Coleman and Nespoli at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, and their tour of Red Square in Moscow. The scheduled landing, launch and docking coverage and events include (all times CST): Thursday, November 25 3:30 p.m. -- Soyuz TMA-19 farewells and hatch closure (hatch closure at 3:50 p.m.) 7 p.m. -- Soyuz TMA-19 undocking (undocking at 7:22 p.m.) 9:30 p.m. -- Soyuz TMA-19 deorbit burn and landing (deorbit burn at 9:54 p.m., landing at 10:46 p.m.) Friday, November 26 11 a.m. -- Video file of Soyuz TMA-19 landing in Kazakhstan, post-landing activities and interviews with NASA astronauts Doug Wheelock and Shannon Walker Noon -- Video file of Soyuz TMA-20 crew news conference at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, Star City, Russia, and tour of Red Square in Moscow, Russia Friday, December 3 11 a.m. -- Video file of the Soyuz TMA-20 crew departure ceremonies at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, Star City, Russia Friday, December 10 11 a.m. -- Video file of the Soyuz TMA-20 crew activities in Baikonur, Kazakhstan Monday, December 13 11 a.m. -- Video file of the Soyuz TMA-20 crew activities in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and Soyuz TMA-20 vehicle mating and rollout to the launch pad Tuesday, December 14 4 p.m. -- Video file of the Soyuz TMA-20 State Commission and final pre-launch news conference in Baikonur, Kazakhstan Wednesday, December 15 11:30 a.m. -- Soyuz TMA-20 crew pre-launch activities in Baikonur, Kazakhstan 12:15 p.m. -- Soyuz TMA-20 launch (launch at 1:09 p.m.) 3 p.m. - Video file of Soyuz TMA-20 pre-launch activities and launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan Friday, December 17 1:30 p.m. -- Soyuz TMA-20 docking to ISS (docking at 2:09 p.m., followed by post-docking news conference) 4:30 p.m. -- Soyuz TMA-20 hatch opening and welcoming ceremony (hatch opening at approximately 5 p.m.) 6:30 p.m. -- Video file of Soyuz TMA-20 docking, hatch opening and welcoming ceremony For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and schedule information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
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RELEASE: 10-201
NASA RECEIVES SPIRIT OF HOUSTON AWARD
HOUSTON -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden accepted the Spirit of Houston Award from the city's Mayor Annise Parker on Thursday. The award was established in 2004 to honor Houstonians who motivated their fellow citizens with their everyday acts of leadership. "It is an honor to accept the 2010 Spirit of Houston Award on behalf of all of the men and women of NASA, Bolden said. Every one of us is absolutely committed to a vibrant future for exploration and improving life on Earth. Parker recommended the NASA workforce receive the city's annual award for the iconic contributions they have made throughout the agency's history. It was presented at Houston's 174th Birthday Celebration at the George R. Brown Convention Center. The theme for this year's birthday event was Houston, We Have the Moon and the Stars! Former astronaut Bernard A. Harris Jr. was inducted into the 2010 Houston Hall of Fame at the event. Earlier Thursday, Parker proclaimed Aug. 26, 2010, as The NASA Family Spirit of Houston Day. The proclamation stated the dedicated workforce reaches beyond the boundaries of the Johnson Space Center campus and makes Houston a better community at large. For more than 50 years, NASA and its workforce have powered Houston and the nation into the 21st century through accomplishments that are enduring milestones of human achievement. Among those accomplishments are technological innovations and scientific discoveries that have improved lives on Earth.
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