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A Student Guide to CClliimmaattee aanndd WWeeaatthheerr This page intentionally left blank A Student Guide to CClliimmaattee aanndd WWeeaatthheerr Weather Extremes VOLUME 1 Angus M. Gunn Copyright 2010 by Angus M.Gunn All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted,in any form or by any means, electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,or otherwise,except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review,without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gunn,Angus M.(Angus Macleod),1920- A student guide to climate and weather / Angus M.Gunn. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-313-35568-4 (set:hardcover:alk.paper) — ISBN 978-0- 313-35569-1 (set:ebook:alk.paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-35570-7 (v.1: hardcover:alk paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-35571-4 (v.1:ebook) — ISBN 978-0-313-35572-1 (v.2:hardcover:alk paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-35573-8 (v.2:ebook) — ISBN 978-0-313-35574-5 (v.3:hardcover:alk paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-35575-2 (v.3:ebook) — ISBN 978-0-313-35576-9 (v. 4:hardcover:alk paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-35577-6 (v.4:ebook) — ISBN 978-0-313-35578-3 (v.5:hardcover:alk paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-35579-0 (v.5:ebook) 1. Climatology.2. Meteorology.3. Climatic changes—Effect of human beings on. I.Title. QC861.3.G86 2010 551.5—dc22 2009042256 14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5 This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. ABC-CLIO,LLC 130 Cremona Drive,P.O.Box 1911 Santa Barbara,California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America C ONTENTS Introduction ix Changing Temperatures in Ancient Times xi Weather and Wars xii Droughts,Floods,and Atmospheric Dust xiii Arctic Warming and European Cooling xv Tomorrow’s Northwest Passage xvi 1 CHAPTER The Great Ice Age and Volcanoes 1 Long-term Changes in Earth-Sun Relations 3 Volcanic Eruptions and Extremes of Weather 4 Tambora Eruption 7 Future Supereruptions 9 2 CHAPTER The Little Ice Age 11 The Little Ice Age 12 Europe after 1300 13 The First Europeans Reach North America 14 The Irish Potato Famine 16 3 CHAPTER Weather and Warfare 17 The Spanish Armada 19 The Kamikaze Wind 21 D-Day Weather Forecasts 22 vi Contents 4 CHAPTER The Dust Bowl of the 1930s 25 Learning from Dust Bowl Experiences 27 5 CHAPTER Weather and Floods 31 Weather Conditions before 1887 Flooding 32 Damage from 1887 Flooding 33 Weather Conditions before 1993 Flooding 34 Damage from 1993 Flooding 35 History of the Levees and Floodwalls 35 Weather Conditions before 1953 Flooding 37 Damage from 1953 Flooding 38 6 CHAPTER The Kenyan Drought of 1998 41 El Niño and La Niña 42 The Ethiopian Drought of 1984 45 7 CHAPTER France in the Summer of 2003 47 Arctic Outburst in January 1999 49 The Sun’s Heat Reproduced on Earth 50 8 CHAPTER Arctic Meltdown of Sea Ice 55 Impact on Arctic Human Life and Wildlife 55 Impact on Eastern North America and Europe 57 The Northwest Passage 59 Contents vii 9 CHAPTER Kivalina 61 Investigating Future Trends 63 10 CHAPTER Volume One Review 65 Appendix A: Important Dates in Weather and Climate History 67 Appendix B: Some Extreme Global Weather Events 71 Appendix C: Some Extreme U.S.Weather Events 79 Appendix D: Measuring Weather and Climate Events 87 Glossary 91 Bibliography 99 Index 103 This page intentionally left blank I NTRODUCTION This is Volume One of a set of five books on weather and climate designed for schools and universities.These books are intended to provide two kinds of information: an understanding of the scientific processes at work in weather and climate,and an analysis of the ways in which weather and climate impact human life and the places where we live.The second of these goals is the more important of the two,as there are a number of books in print dealing with the scientific processes involved in weather and climate, but few on how weather influences our lives.Beginning in the first volume with aspects of the subject that impinge on us daily, such as the unpredictable nature of weather, we go on in the second and third volumes to deal with characteristic global weather patterns, before moving, in the last two books,into more general themes such as global warming and earth-sun relationships.A list of reference materials will appear at the end of each book to assist in linking together the different aspects dealt with in individual volumes. The element of weather that catches our attention immediately is the extreme event,something that is unexpected,and so this aspect of the field is the subject ofVolume One.Weather is what we experience day by day, and climate is what we expect to experience in a given season or in a particular part of the year.Generally the statistical average is what we use to calculate climate,and we define the different climatic regions of the world according to these averages.However,the things we remember and the things that get the most attention in the media are always the extreme events—floods,droughts,heat waves—and it is easy to forget that these rare events are as much a part of climate as the conditions that come close to the average.Furthermore,in many parts of the world on a regular basis,and over time in other places,it is the extreme events that have the greatest impacts on human life.For these reasons this first volume of the set on climate and weather is focused on extremes, beginning with the extremes we experience in the amount of energy from the sun. The reason for our preoccupation with sudden extremes, even though they may occupy only a brief period of time, relates to our physical nature.If we are born into a place that is very hot or cold or dry,or have lived there for some years,our bodies gradually adjust to