* Astronomy

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RE: Freak Weather

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Cleanup and rebuilding teams responding to the devastation across Greece caused by this summers deadly fires are getting help from space. A series of crisis map products based on satellite acquisitions of affected areas are being provided to aid damage assessment efforts following the activation of the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters.
More than 60 people were killed and thousands left homeless in the worst forest fires to hit Greece in decades. According to data from ESAs ERS-2 and Envisat satellites, which continuously survey fires burning across the Earths surface with onboard sensors, Greece experienced more wildfire activity this August than other European countries experienced over the last decade.
In an effort to aid authorities responding to disasters such as this, ESA and other national space agencies established the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters in 2000 to provide rush access to a broad range of satellite data.

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Yes, the summer of 2007 was the wettest we have ever endured.
In fact, North East Lincolnshire suffered more than most of the UK - even though our rainfall is usually well below the national average.
A staggering total of 424.5mm (16.71ins) of rain fell in Stallingborough between June 1 and August 31.
That's THREE times more than the long-term average for North East Lincolnshire - and nearly 100mm more than the previous wettest in 1956.
Only a few small pockets of the UK - including parts of Yorkshire, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire as well as around the Humber estuary - suffered rainfall more than 250 per cent above their summer average.

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Smoke from fires along the western coast of Greeces Peloponnesus Peninsula, and from the northeastern region, casting a plume of smoke over Athens, and be seen in this image captured by NASAs Aqua satellite on August 26.

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Credit NASA

Blobrana · L

European hot spots

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RE: Freak Weather

Blobrana · L

Non-stop, torrential rains in and around the Jain temple town of Moodbidri in the taluk has resulted in heavy damage to property here.
The latest to be affected is the centuries-old Mantrady palace which has partially collapsed in the rain effect.

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Scientists say they have developed a model to predict how ocean currents, as well as human activities, will affect temperatures over the next decade.
By including short-term natural events, such as El Nino, a UK team says it is able to offer 10-year projections.
Models have previously focused on how the globe will warm over a century.
Writing in Science, Met Office researchers project that at least half of the years between 2009 and 2014 are likely to exceed existing records.

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The world experienced a series of record-breaking weather events in early 2007, from flooding in Asia to heat waves in Europe and snowfall in South Africa, the United Nations weather agency said. The World Meteorological Organisation said global land surface temperatures in January and April were likely the warmest since records began in 1880, at more than 1 degree Celsius higher than average for those months. There have also been severe monsoon floods across South Asia, abnormally heavy rains in northern Europe, China, Sudan, Mozambique and Uruguay, extreme heatwaves in southeastern Europe and Russia, and unusual snowfall in South Africa and South America this year, the WMO said.

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Blobrana · L

Sunspot activity