Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Wednesday:
Lihue, Kauai – 82
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 85
Kaneohe, Oahu – 80
Molokai airport – 83
Kahului airport, Maui – 85
Kona airport – 83
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 80
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Wednesday evening:
Honolulu, Oahu – 82F
Hilo, Hawaii – 76
Haleakala Crater – missing (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 37 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)
Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals Wednesday evening:
1.12 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.27 Luluku, Oahu
0.01 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.28 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.86 Glenwood, Big Island
Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a large 1036 millibar high pressure system to the northeast of Hawaii. Our trade winds will be active through Friday.
Satellite and Radar Images: To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with this Infrared Satellite Image of the islands to see all the clouds around during the day and night. This next image is one that gives close images of the islands only during the daytime hours, and is referred to as a Close-up visible image. This next image shows a larger view of the Pacific…giving perspective to the wider ranging cloud patterns in the Pacific Ocean. Finally, here's a Looping IR satellite image, making viewable the clouds around the islands 24 hours a day. To help you keep track of where any showers may be around the islands, here’s the latest animated radar image.
Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live web cam on the summit of near 13,500 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. The tallest peak on the island of Maui is the Haleakala Crater, which is near 10,000 feet in elevation. These two web cams are available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon rising just after sunset for an hour or two! Plus, during the nights and early mornings you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise too…depending upon weather conditions.
Tropical Cyclone activity in the eastern and central Pacific – Here’s the latest weather information coming out of the National Hurricane Center, covering the eastern north Pacific. You can find the latest tropical cyclone information for the central north Pacific (where Hawaii is located) by clicking on this link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Here’s a tracking map covering both the eastern and central Pacific Ocean. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here. Of course, as we know, our hurricane season ended November 30th here in the central Pacific…and begins again June 1st.
Aloha Paragraphs
Trade winds…large surf north and west shores
Photo Credit: Vince Cavataio
The trade winds will remain active through the end of this work week. According to this weather map, we find a large 1036 millibar high pressure system to the northeast of the islands Wednesday night. The small craft wind advisory remains active over the entire state…due to the locally breezy trade winds and large northwest swell. The NWS office in Honolulu also has a high surf advisory up for this large open ocean swell into Thursday. Our winds are expected to remain from the trade wind direction through Friday. As we move into the weekend, an approaching cold front will swing the winds around to the southeast…which always suggests that volcanic haze could move over the smaller islands, from the Big Island vents.
Trade winds will continue…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts, along with directions early Wednesday evening:
21 mph Port Allen, Kauai – ESE
22 Waianae, Oahu – WNW
20 Molokai – NNE
31 Kahoolawe
30 Kapalua, Maui – NE
16 Lanai Airport – WNW
28 South Point, Big Island – NE
We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean Wednesday night. This large University of Washington satellite image shows a fading thin line of high cirrus clouds to the south of the islands. Looking northward, we see a large swath of high clouds, associated with an active late season cold front. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we see those high clouds to the north and south of the state, with generally clear skies otherwise. We can use this looping satellite image to see that thin area of high clouds to the south of the Big Island. Meanwhile, there are lots of high cirrus clouds moving along in the upper winds to our north…edging southward in our direction. Checking out this looping radar image shows very few showers in our vicinity, with most of those falling over the ocean at the time of this writing.
As noted above, the trade winds will blow through the rest of this work week, although are expected to slack off this weekend…veering to the southeast. Despite the fact that the trade winds will continue blowing for the time being, there will be limited precipitation in most areas. The windward coasts and slopes will find the most generous showers, while the leeward sides will remain mostly clear and dry. Our weather through the rest of this week will be quite nice, even through the weekend as the cold front approaches. We may begin to see a few afternoon upcountry showers this weekend…along with an increase in vog. The way it looks now, our weather will turn locally wetter as we push into early next week. The wild card revolves around an upper level low pressure system, and where it eventually locates itself. If it were to migrate close to the state, we could see its cold pool of air aloft triggering heavier showers, and even a few thunderstorms. If it were to stay further away, our precipitation would be less impressive. At any rate, look for a change taking place during the first half of the new week ahead.
Here in Kihei, Maui, at 530pm Wednesday evening, skies were mostly clear…with just a few spotty cumulus clouds around the edges. Again, be careful of the large surf along our north and west facing beaches going into Thursday. Besides the high surf, and the potentially muggy atmosphere this weekend, along with some vog, our weather will remain on the favorably inclined side through Sunday. As we move into Sunday, all bets are off, especially on the Kauai side of the island chain. I'm heading back upcountry now, for my evening walk, dinner, reading, and to bed. I'll be up at 420am Thursday morning, with your next new tropical weather narrative available around 545am. I hope you have a great Wednesday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting: An African land snail Limicolaria flammea has been discovered by researchers in six locations in Singapore, perhaps heralding a new invasion of alien land snails in Southeast Asia. Although snails may seem largely innocuous creatures, past invasions have resulted in agricultural and economic damage.
The global invasion of the giant African land snail (Achatina fulica) has been called one of the world's top 100 worst alien species. Writing in mongabay.com's open access journal Tropical Conservation Science, researchers examine the issue and provide suggestions as to how Singapore authorities can quickly rid the nation of Limicolaria flammea.
"The spread of Limicolaria flammea is potentially damaging to the multi-billion dollar horticultural industry in Singapore, as well as a major threat to agricultural productivity in neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia," the authors write. First discovered in 2006, the researchers believe that the species hitchhiked its way into the country on commercial African plants.
The species has managed to establish a foothold in parts. "Individuals of this alien species were initially found in disturbed areas (e.g., wayside vegetation in industrial areas and plant nurseries), but they do not appear confined to such habitats—several individuals have actually been observed in secondary forests," the authors explain.
Interesting2: Green science or products can be loosely defined as the term for any application of science, knowledge or technology towards improving the relationship between human technology involvement and the impact this has on the environment and natural resources. It is a broad category, in that it can cover many different facets of technology and human development.
With more and more environmentally conscious consumers trying to choose green products, American Chemical Society scientists reported today that the first reality check has revealed that the ingredients in those products may come from a surprising source —— petroleum, rather than natural plant-based sources. Now green products have no single definition.
For some it means only natural grown ingredients. For others it may mean my product is more green that the competitor. In a study presented here today at the 241st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), Cara A.M. Bondi and colleagues described their analysis of more than a dozen samples of commercial liquid laundry detergents, dish washing liquids, and hand washes.
Their study checked where the carbon in the product came from. By their definition carbon from petroleum is less green than carbon from other sources. "Not all carbon is created equal —— carbon originating from petroleum is clearly not from a renewable resource. No one can dispute that we need to use less petroleum and consumer products are no exception," Bondi said.
Carbon can really come from plants, coal or petroleum. Admittedly some carbon can be recycled which further blurs the source definition. To answer that question, Bondi's team turned to a variation of the famous carbon-14 dating technique — used to analyze carbon in ancient bone, cloth, and other artifacts.
The products tested showed significant variation in plant-derived carbon content: hand washes ranged from 28%-97%, liquid laundry detergents from 28%-94% and dish washing liquids from 43%-95%. The research also revealed that all of the products tested that are positioned in the consumer market as green contained over 50% more plant-based carbon on average than product samples tested without such positioning. "Some of the other findings, however, were a surprise" Bondi said.
"The plant-derived carbon content of the product samples tested was largely inconsistent with some of the content claims made on packaging. For example, a liquid laundry detergent that makes the claim 'petrochemical free' contained only 69% plant-based carbon, meaning that 31% of the carbon in this sample is, in fact, petroleum-derived."
"Carbon derivation is the cornerstone of sustainability and, as such, understanding the ratio of plant-derived versus petroleum-derived carbon is critical for both consumer product manufacturers and raw material suppliers who are trying to minimize petrochemical use," Bondi said.
"While radiocarbon dating is commonly used by archeologists to determine the age of artifacts, this method has not customarily been used to understand the renewable carbon content of consumer products.
We show that consumer product manufacturers who desire to use less petroleum can incorporate radiocarbon dating per ASTM D6866-10 as a method to verify the renewable carbon content of raw materials and finished products, as well as measure the sustainability and renewability improvements of formulation development efforts."
What is surfacing here is exaggeration in product claims helped by no firm definitions. Green, to some, should embrace the following principles:
1. Sustainability – meeting the needs of society in ways that can continue indefinitely into the future without damaging or depleting natural resources.
2. Creating products that can be fully reclaimed or re-used.
3. Reducing waste and pollution by changing the patterns of production and consumption.
4. Creating a center of economic activity around technologies and products that benefit the environment, speeding their implementation and creating new careers that truly protect the planet.
Interesting3: If you're sitting on a bench in New York City's Central Park in winter, you're probably freezing. After all, the average temperature in January is 32 degrees Fahrenheit. But if you were just across the pond in Porto, Portugal, which shares New York's latitude, you'd be much warmer — the average temperature is a balmy 48 degrees Fahrenheit.
Throughout northern Europe, average winter temperatures are at least 10 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than similar latitudes on the northeastern coast of the United States and the eastern coast of Canada. The same phenomenon happens over the Pacific, where winters on the northeastern coast of Asia are colder than in the Pacific Northwest.
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have now found a mechanism that helps explain these chillier winters — and the culprit is warm water off the eastern coasts of these continents. "These warm ocean waters off the eastern coast actually make it cold in winter — it's counterintuitive," says Tapio Schneider, the Frank J. Gilloon Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering.
Schneider and Yohai Kaspi, a postdoctoral fellow at Caltech, describe their work in a paper published in the March 31 issue of the journal Nature. Using computer simulations of the atmosphere, the researchers found that the warm water off an eastern coast will heat the air above it and lead to the formation of atmospheric waves, drawing cold air from the northern polar region.
The cold air forms a plume just to the west of the warm water. In the case of the Atlantic Ocean, this means the frigid air ends up right over the northeastern United States and eastern Canada. For decades, the conventional explanation for the cross-oceanic temperature difference was that the Gulf Stream delivers warm water from the Gulf of Mexico to northern Europe.
But in 2002, research showed that ocean currents aren't capable of transporting that much heat, instead contributing only up to 10 percent of the warming. Kaspi's and Schneider's work reveals a mechanism that helps create a temperature contrast not by warming Europe, but by cooling the eastern United States. Surprisingly, it's the Gulf Stream that causes this cooling.
In the northern hemisphere, the subtropical ocean currents circulate in a clockwise direction, bringing an influx of warm water from low latitudes into the western part of the ocean. These warm waters heat the air above it. "It's not that the warm Gulf Stream waters substantially heat up Europe," Kaspi says. "But the existence of the Gulf Stream near the U.S. coast is causing the cooling of the northeastern United States."
The researchers' computer model simulates a simplified, ocean-covered Earth with a warm region to mimic the coastal reservoir of warm water in the Gulf Stream. The simulations show that such a warm spot produces so-called Rossby waves. Generally speaking, Rossby waves are large atmospheric waves — with wavelengths that stretch for more than 1,000 miles.
They form when the path of moving air is deflected due to Earth's rotation, a phenomenon known as the Coriolis effect. In a way similar to how gravity is the force that produces water waves on the surface of a pond, the Coriolis force is responsible for Rossby waves.
In the simulations, the warm water produces stationary Rossby waves, in which the peaks and valleys of the waves don't move, but the waves still transfer energy. In the northern hemisphere, the stationary Rossby waves cause air to circulate in a clockwise direction just to the west of the warm region. To the east of the warm region, the air swirls in the counterclockwise direction.
These motions draw in cold air from the north, balancing the heating over the warm ocean waters. To gain insight into the mechanisms that control the atmospheric dynamics, the researchers speed up Earth's rotation in the simulations. In those cases, the plume of cold air gets bigger — which is consistent with it being a stationary Rossby-wave plume.
Most other atmospheric features would get smaller if the planet were to spin faster. Although it's long been known that a heat source could produce Rossby waves, which can then form plumes, this is the first time anyone has shown how the mechanism causes cooling that extends west of the heat source.
According to the researchers, the cooling effect could account for 30 to 50 percent of the temperature difference across oceans. This process also explains why the cold region is just as big for both North America and Asia, despite the continents being so different in topography and size.
The Rossby-wave induced cooling depends on heating air over warm ocean water. Since the warm currents along western ocean boundaries in both the Pacific and Atlantic are similar, the resulting cold region to their west would be similar as well.
Interesting4: The world is getting breezier, according to a new study, which found a slow but steady increase in top wind speeds across the oceans over the last 23 years. Although global warming is a suspect, researchers can't say for sure whether climate change is behind the growing gusts.
The trend could simply be part of a natural and long-term cycle that pushes wind speeds both up and down over the course of many decades. But if winds continue to pick up at the same rate, hurricanes could become far more damaging by the middle of the century. Among other implications, engineers would need to rethink they way they plan coastal and offshore structures.
"We may be observing an upward increase of something that, in the future, will go down again," said Ian Young, a physical oceanographer at the Australian National University in Canberra. "However, the fact that we're seeing this on a global basis in both the northern and the southern hemispheres suggests it may be a long-term trend rather than an oscillation.
If we're going to design things in the future, we may want to actually factor in oceanic waves going up." Winds over the oceans directly influence wave heights, and orbiting satellites use altimeters to regularly monitor both. Scientists are interested in these measurements because they affect the exchange of heat and gasses between water and sky. Winds also influence the frequency and strength of major storms.
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