December 19-20 2008
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Friday afternoon:
Lihue, Kauai – 76
Honolulu, Oahu – 79
Kaneohe, Oahu – 77
Kahului, Maui – 83
Hilo, Hawaii – 80
Kailua-kona – 81
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level, and on the highest mountains…at 4 p.m. Friday afternoon:
Kahului, Maui – 79F
Hilo, Hawaii – 76F
Haleakala Crater – 48 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 37 (near 14,000 feet on the Big Island)
Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours on each of the major islands, as of Friday afternoon
5.71 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.48 Kahuku, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.04 Kaupo Gap, Maui
0.44 Pahala, Big Island
Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing an area of low pressure center west of Kauai, which will move slowly out of the area through Monday. High pressue will then strengthen over area from the northeast with moderate trade winds returning Tuesday.
Satellite and Radar Images: To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with the Infrared Satellite Image of the islands to see all the clouds around the state 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
Aloha Paragraphs
Lovely sandy beach…makes me want to walk
Photo Credit: Flikr.com
A low pressure system remains in place to the west, with a high pressure center to the northeast, although this long last low pressure system has started its movement away from our islands…as expected. This pressure configuration, the way the winds move between the high and low, gives us southeast winds here in the islands. The computer models suggest that once the low pressure system gets a bit further away, our local winds will soften-up, although remain from the southeast this weekend…veering around to the trade winds by Monday or Tuesday.
As the low pressure system moves away, our overlying atmosphere will become drier, and less shower prone…certainly eliminating the threat of heavy showers. Meanwhile, the southeast wind flow will continue to bring some moisture our way, where a few showers may fall on those southeast sides of the islands. As the trade winds fill in after the weekend, the bias for showers will concentrate over the windward coasts and slopes. The leeward sides will find generally dry conditions, with lots of sunshine during the days by then.
It’s early Friday evening here in Kihei, Maui, as I start writing this last paragraph. As noted above, the low pressure system, which has kept the threat of heavy rains around Kauai, is now pulling out. We should see drier and more stable air moving in our direction, in the wake of the departing low pressure cell. It may take a little longer to rid our skies of the high and middle level clouds, which have been making for cloudy skies during the afternoon hours. There will be a few showers too, although we’re now moving into a considerably drier reality. This weekend should have good weather in general, which will stick around into the new week ahead. As the trade winds come back, we’ll see the usual showers along the windward sides, but nothing unusual is expected. ~~~ I did my last TV weather show for Kauai, Oahu, and the Big Island Friday morning. It was a bit emotional, as a good friend came into the studio while I was doing the show live, and presented me with a tuberose flower lei, and thanked me for doing the show for so long…wow! When he left the studio, and as I went on with the broadcast, I almost broke down and started to cry, it was too close for comfort! I’ll be back for the last three shows for Maui, Molokai and Lanai, this next week, and then it will be over, after almost 18 years of continuous airing…another wow! ~~~ I’m going to see a new film this evening called What Just Happened? starring Robert De Niro, Robin Wright Penn, Bruce Willis, and Stanley Tucci, among others. The statement that I found that sort of summarizes this film was this: "if you’re going to make a film about Hollywood greed, hypocrisy and lust, you have to be willing to burn your bridges". Here’s a trailer on the film, which gives you a peek at what this might be saying. I’ll be back early Saturday morning with my honest opinion. ~~~ I’m about ready to leave Kihei, for the drive over to Kahului, to the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, where this film is playing. Looking out the window before I leave, its majorly cloudy out there, but I don’t see any rain falling. I hope you have a great Friday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting: Rising water levels in China’s giant Three Gorges Dam have triggered dozens of landslides in recent months, damaging houses, land and infrastructure worth millions of dollars. In July, China finished evacuating residents from the last town to be submerged by the massive 400-mile long reservoir on the Yangtze River, ending an exodus of some 1.4 million people that began four years ago. The 2,309-meter-long dam, the world’s largest, aims to tame the river and provide cheap, clean energy for the country’s rapid development. But critics say rising water levels in the reservoir are eroding already fragile slopes and triggering landslides which could worsen as levels reach their maximum height next year. The reservoir’s administration began withholding water outflows in September to push the reservoir’s water level up to 175 meters.
But since then, the rising water level had "further induced geological harm including landslides and collapsing of the reservoirs’ banks," the Xinhua news agency quoted Chongqing government spokesman Wen Tianping as saying. "(These) have caused damage or created a latent threat to … infrastructure, land and housing in dam areas above the evacuation line," Wen said. He added that 93 "surface threats" had emerged in 12 regions and counties around the dam area, causing direct losses of $53 million, but had not caused any injury or loss of life. He however said the problems were anticipated during the dam’s feasibility study and that there was no cause for concern. Officials said last year $1.75 billion had been spent on repairs around the massive dam in past years and were confident such efforts were successful. But in April, a large mudslide hit a village in the Gaoyang area near the dam in April, sweeping into a school playground. A landslide nearby killed 35 people late last year. Finished in 2003, the dam’s water level has risen in stages, reaching 156 meters in 2006. It is expected to reach its final height next year.
Interesting2: The world’s first cargo ship partly propelled by solar power took to the seas on Friday in Japan, aiming to cut fuel costs and carbon emissions when automakers ship off their exports. Auriga Leader, a freighter developed by shipping line Nippon Yusen K.K. and oil distributor Nippon Oil Corp, took off from a shipyard in the western city of Kobe, officials of the two firms said. The huge freighter capable of carrying 6,400 automobiles is equipped with 328 solar panels at a cost of 150 million yen (S$2.4 million dollars), the officials said. The ship will initially transport vehicles being sent for sale overseas by Japan’s top automaker Toyota Motor Corp. The project was conceived before the global economic crisis, which has forced automakers to drastically cut production as sales dwindle.
Company officials said the 60,213-ton, 200m long ship is the first large vessel in the world with a solar-based propulsion system. So far solar energy has been limited to supporting lighting and crew’s living quarters. The solar power system can generate 40 kilowatts, which would initially cover only 0.2 per cent of the ship’s energy consumption for propulsion, but company officials said they hoped to raise the ratio. The shipping industry has come under growing pressure to take part in efforts to curb global warming, which is blamed on carbon emissions. Estimates say maritime transport accounts for anything from 1.4 per cent to 4.5 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. But the industry remains largely unregulated due to its international nature. Nippon Yusen, Japan’s largest shipping company, has set a goal of halving its fuel consumption and carbon-dioxide emissions by 2010.
Interesting3: Cows, sheep and goats may seem like innocent victims of humanity’s appetite for meat, but when it comes to climate change they have a dark secret. Forget cars, planes or even power stations, some of the world’s worst greenhouse gas emitters wander idly across rolling pastures chewing the cud, oblivious to the fact that their continuous belching (and to a lesser degree, farting) is warming the planet. Take New Zealand, where 34.2 million sheep, 9.7 million cattle, 1.4 million deer and 155,000 goats emit 48 per cent of the country’s greenhouse gases in the form of methane and nitrous oxide. Worldwide, livestock burps are responsible for 18 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions – more than produced from all forms of transport combined. Methane accounts for the bulk of ruminant green house gas emissions, one ton of the gas has 25 times the global warming potential of the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide. Rising populations and incomes are expected to double the global demand for meat and milk from 229 to 465 million ton and 580 to 1043 million ton, respectively, by 2050. This will almost double the amount of greenhouse gases produced by livestock, dwarfing attempts to cut emissions elsewhere. Apart from all of us turning to a vegetarian diet, can anything be done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from livestock?
Several ideas have been proposed to raise animals that are kinder to the environment. In New Zealand, researchers are testing different diets, food additives, vaccines and drug therapies, as well as breeding low-methane animals. One Australian team has even suggested we wean ourselves from cattle and sheep altogether and eat kangaroo instead – they do not emit methane. Concern for the climate isn’t the only factor driving the research. Eight per cent of the energy expended by a ruminant’s metabolism goes on producing methane. If livestock stopped making this gas, the energy saved could be diverted into making more meat. So why do ruminants give off so much methane? It’s all down to their stomachs. Sheep and cattle have a pregastric stomach, or rumen, where microbes digest plant matter and produce hydrogen, carbon dioxide and fatty acids. The fatty acids are a useful source of energy to aid animal growth, but the hydrogen and carbon dioxide are not. This is where microorganisms called methanogens come in: they have co-evolved with the animal to consume the carbon dioxide "
Interesting4: Jumbo squid are long-distance commuters. Every day, these gangly creatures migrate more than 500 hundred vertical feet. It’s a high-energy lifestyle — and one that’s going to suffer as a result of global warming, according to a new study. Squid now appear to be joining the list of marine creatures at risk from rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As the oceans absorb some of this CO2 load, pH levels drop, and the water becomes more acidic. Previous research has shown that ocean acidification makes it harder for corals, mollusks and other calcifying organisms to build skeletons and shells. The new study suggests that the effects of acidification are more complicated and far-reaching than many scientists expected.
"For the first time we’ve definitively proven important negative effects of high carbon dioxide levels on uncalcifying organisms like squid," said Rui Rosa, an animal physiologist at the University of Lisbon. "We’ve proven that CO2 will have a tremendous impact on their ability to move by the end of the century." Not to be confused with the mysterious giant squid, which can exceed 40 feet in length, jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas) are common and well studied. Also known as Humboldt squid, these animals can grow up to 8-plus feet long and weigh up to 110 pounds. They are a commercially important fishery catch in Mexico and South America.
Interesting5: A widespread and severe coral bleaching episode is predicted to cause immense damage to some of the world’s most important marine environments over the next few months. A report from the US Government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts severe bleaching for parts of the Coral Sea, which lies adjacent to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, and the Coral Triangle, a 5.4 million square kilometer expanse of ocean in the Indo-Pacific which is considered the centre of the world’s marine life. “This forecast bleaching episode will be caused by increased water temperatures and is the kind of event we can expect on a regular basis if average global temperatures rise above 2 degrees,” said Richard Leck, Climate Change Strategy Leader for WWF’s Coral Triangle Program. The bleaching, predicted to occur between now and February, could have a devastating impact on coral reef ecosystems, killing coral and destroying food chains. There would be severe impacts for communities in Australia and the region, who depend on the oceans for their livelihoods. The Coral Triangle, stretching from the Philippines to Malaysia and Papua New Guinea, is home to 75 per cent of all known coral species. More than 120 million people rely on its marine resources.
“Regular bleaching episodes in this part of the world will have a massive impact on the region’s ability to sustain local communities,” said Leck. “In the Pacific many of the Small Island Developing States, such as the Solomon Islands, rely largely on the coast and coastal environments such as coral reefs for food supply. This is a region where alternative sources of income and food are limited. “Time is crucial and Australia needs to step up to the plate. Following the government’s lack of resolve to seriously reduce future domestic carbon emissions, Australia has a huge role to play in assisting Coral Triangle countries and people to adapt to the changes in their climate.“ The Australian government this week announced a 2020 target for reducing its greenhouse gas pollution by 5 per cent, which WWF criticized as completely inadequate. Reductions of at least 25 per cent by 2020 are needed to set the world on a pathway to meaningful cuts in greenhouse pollution. Australia’s Coral Sea, which will also be affected by coral bleaching and climate change, is a pristine marine wilderness covering almost 1,000,000 square kilometers and is extraordinarily rich in marine life, including sharks and turtles, with a series of spectacular reefs rising thousands of meters from the sea floor.
Interesting6: Global warming will likely put enormous strain on California’s water supply and energy systems and have a devastating impact on certain crops. Stanford researchers predict this outcome based on projections from two different emission scenarios. One assumes a continuing moderate increase in greenhouse gas emissions until 2100; the other assumes emissions would increase until mid-century and then start dropping off. Both of the scenarios indicate there will be more frequent heat waves and generally rising temperatures, the only difference being just how dramatic the increases will be. "We will very likely see our current high temperatures much more often and also temperatures hotter than anything we’ve seen before under both projected levels of carbon dioxide emissions," said Michael Mastrandrea, a lecturer in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Environment and Resources and a research associate at the Woods Institute for the Environment.
"This is something that’s going to be a huge challenge for California to deal with in the future." Mastrandrea developed temperature projections using output from a set of global climate models scaled to reflect potential climate changes in California under both higher and lower emissions scenarios. In the next 50-100 years, average temperatures are expected to increase approximately 4-9 degrees Fahrenheit. Both the climate scenarios were developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.
Interesting7: Evidence of a key mineral on Mars has been found at several locations on the planet’s surface, suggesting that any microbial life that might have been there back when the planet was wetter could have lived comfortably. The findings offer up intriguing new sites for future missions to probe, researchers said. Observations NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which just completed its primary mission and started a second two-year shift, found evidence of carbonates, which don’t survive in conditions hostile to life, indicating that not all of the planet’s ancient watery environments were as harsh as previously thought. The findings are detailed in a study in the Dec. 19 issue of the journal Science and will be presented today at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
Over the past several years, evidence for water on Mars has been stacking up: Scientists have found gullies formed by running water, possible ancient lakes, and minerals formed by interaction with water. But just how much water there was and how suitable it was for Martian microbes or other primitive life forms have been harder puzzles to solve. Most evidence has pointed to a period when water on the planet’s surface formed clay-rich minerals, followed by a time of drier conditions, when salt-rich, acidic water affected much of the planet. These later conditions would have proven difficult for any Martian life — if it ever existed — to endure or to leave any traces for scientists to find. Because carbonates dissolve quickly in acid, finding them shows at least some areas of the planet escaped the acid bath and was less hostile to life. If primitive life sprang up in these pockets, it could have persisted and left clues of its existence.
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