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Pastimes : Bridging weather and climate -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: weatherguru who wrote (145)	4/1/2016 8:01:13 AM
From: FJB	1 Recommendation Recommended By TideGlider Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 270

Thought you might like this cool map. Can't vouch for its accuracy or anything. It is just pretty. earth.nullschool.net earth.nullschool.net earth - a visualization of global weather conditions a visualization of global weather conditions forecast by supercomputers updated every three hours ocean surface current estimates updated every five days ocean surface temperatures and anomaly from daily average (1981-2011) updated daily ocean waves updated every three hours purchase artwork from Point.B Studio to help support this site Community \| Facebook Page Author \| Cameron Beccario @cambecc Free Version of Source \| github.com/cambecc/earth Modules \| D3.js, backbone.js, when.js, node.js Weather Data \| GFS (Global Forecast System) NCEP / National Weather Service / NOAA Ocean Currents Data \| OSCAR Earth & Space Research Sea Surface Temperature \| Real Time Global SST MMAB / EMC / NCEP Waves \| WAVEWATCH III MMAB / EMC / NCEP Aerosols and Chemistry \| GEOS-5 (Goddard Earth Observing System) GMAO / NASA GRIB/NetCDF Decoder \| UCAR/Unidata THREDDS Geographic Data \| Natural Earth Hosting \| CloudFlare, Amazon S3 Font \| M+ FONTS, Mono Social Icons Font Color Scales \| chroma.js ColorBrewer2.org Kindlmann Linear Luminance MYCARTA Dave Green's cubehelix Waterman Butterfly \| watermanpolyhedron.com Earlier Work \| Tokyo Wind Map Inspiration \| HINT.FM wind map atmospheric pressure corresponds roughly to altitude several pressure layers are meteorologically interesting they show data assuming the earth is completely smooth note: 1 hectopascal (hPa) = 1 millibar (mb) 1000 hPa \| ~100 m, near sea level conditions 850 hPa \| ~1,500 m, planetary boundary, low 700 hPa \| ~3,500 m, planetary boundary, high 500 hPa \| ~5,000 m, vorticity 250 hPa \| ~10,500 m, jet stream 70 hPa \| ~17,500 m, stratosphere 10 hPa \| ~26,500 m, even more stratosphere the "Surface" layer represents conditions at ground or water level this layer follows the contours of mountains, valleys, etc. overlays show another dimension of data using color some overlays are valid at a specific height while others are valid for the entire thickness of the atmosphere Wind \| wind speed at specified height Temp \| temperature at specified height TPW ( Total Precipitable Water) \| total amount of water in a column of air stretching from ground to space RH \| relative humidity at specified height WPD ( Wind Power Density) \| measure of power available in the wind TCW (Total Cloud Water) \| total amount of water in clouds in a column of air from ground to space MSLP ( Mean Sea Level Pressure) \| air pressure reduced to sea level MI (Misery Index) \| perceived air temperature combined heat index and wind chill SST (Sea Surface Temp) \| temperature of the ocean surface SSTA (Sea Surface Temp Anomaly) \| difference in ocean temperature from daily average during years 1981-2011 Peak Wave Period \| period of most energetic waves, whether swells or wind generated HTSGW ( Significant Wave Height) \| roughly equal to mean wave height as estimated by a "trained observer" COsc (CO Surface Concentration) \| the fraction of carbon monoxide present in air at the earth's surface CO2sc (CO2 Surface Concentration) \| the fraction of carbon dioxide present in air at the earth's surface SO2sm (Sulfur Dioxide Surface Mass) \| amount of sulfur dioxide in the air near the earth's surface DUext (Dust Extinction) \| the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) of light at 550 nm due to dust SO4ext (Sulfate Extinction) \| the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) of light at 550 nm due to sulfate about ocean waves Significant Wave Height is the average height of the highest 1/3 of waves at a particular point in the ocean. There's a great writeup here describing what this means. Peak Wave Period is the (inverse) frequency of the most energetic waves passing through a particular point, whether wind generated or swells. Certainly, there are many more groups of waves moving through an area, each in different directions, but trying to show them all rapidly becomes complex. Instead, we show the one wave group contributing the most energy. This has the effect, though, of creating "boundaries" between regions of ocean where the #1 wave group suddenly switches to second place. Often these boundaries represent swell fronts, but other times they are just artifacts of the ranking mechanism. about CO2 concentrations While implementing the visualization of CO2 surface concentration, I noticed the NASA GEOS-5 model reports a global mean concentration that differs significantly from widely reported numbers. For example, from the run at 2015-11-23 00:00 UTC, the global mean is only 368 ppmv whereas CO2 observatories report concentrations closer to 400 ppmv. GEOS-5 was constructed in the 2000s, so perhaps the model does not account for accumulation of atmospheric CO2 over time? This is simply speculation. I'm just not certain. To bring the GEOS-5 results closer to contemporary numbers, I have added a uniform offset of +32 ppmv, increasing the global mean to 400 ppmv. This is not scientifically valid, but it does allow the visualization to become illustrative of the discussion occurring today around atmospheric CO2. Without question, I would welcome a more rigorous approach or an explanation why the GEOS-5 model produces the data that it does. disclaimer GEOS-5 data (covering all Chem and Particulates layers) comes with the following disclaimer: Forecasts using the GEOS system are experimental and are produced for research purposes only. Use of these forecasts for purposes other than research is not recommended.