Monthly Archives: January 2014

A New Feature of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation?

We learn about things in mundane ways. Our conception of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) began with fish. Salmon are absolutely delicious. Tough handed people venture into dangerous conditions to catch them for us. It became apparent to the tough … Continue reading

Posted in California Drought, Climate, Geography, San Francisco Rainfall | Tagged | 3 Comments

Some Things We’ve Noticed About the California Drought

California is a drought state. Our so called “Mediterranean” climate falls in a global zone just poleward of the great deserts and along the western continental margins that is characterized by winter rain and summer drought. Should we be surprised … Continue reading

Posted in California Drought, Climate, Geography, Oceanography, Paleoclimate, Relationship of SST and 200hPa Anomalies, San Francisco Rainfall | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Carbon Dioxide, the Wimp

It is pretty well-known that CO2 represents only one part in 2500 in the atmosphere. Water vapor represents one part in 40. Not only is CO2 a wimpy constituent of the atmosphere, it is also a wimpy constituent of the … Continue reading

Posted in Climate, Global Warming, Optical Material Properties | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

A Very Dry Season in California

The pre-Columbian California native people had a mystical and cultural relationship to the climate that did not involve measuring rainfall. The Franciscan fathers were on their own spiritual quest, and while they sometimes recorded wine production at the missions, they didn’t record … Continue reading

Posted in Climate, Geography, San Francisco Rainfall | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Photon Food Fight

The fact that more energy cycles between the surface of the earth and the atmosphere than the earth receives from the sun strikes me as one of the great marvels of nature. This is the earth’s energy budget according to … Continue reading

Posted in Climate, Energy Budget, Photon Food Fight | Tagged , | 2 Comments