Hunga

NASA Analysis Confirms 2023 as Warmest Year on Record

Retrieved on: 
Friday, January 12, 2024
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WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Earth's average surface temperature in 2023 was the warmest on record, according to an analysis by NASA.

Key Points: 
  • WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Earth's average surface temperature in 2023 was the warmest on record, according to an analysis by NASA.
  • "NASA and NOAA's global temperature report confirms what billions of people around the world experienced last year; we are facing a climate crisis," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
  • However, the record temperatures in the second half of 2023 occurred before the peak of the current El Niño event.
  • NASA's full dataset of global surface temperatures through 2023, as well as details with code of how NASA scientists conducted the analysis, are publicly available from GISS.

4 factors driving 2023's extreme heat and climate disasters

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, July 27, 2023
People, Human, Climate, Power, Sun, Temperature, Carbon, Types of volcanic eruptions, Volcanic explosivity index, Forecasting, Plasma, Convection, Sunlight, Climate change, Risk, Water, Atmosphere, Weather, Hunga, Greenhouse, Air pollution, Granite, Agriculture, Coal, Silviculture, Wood drying, Nightclub, Natural gas, Pacific Ocean

Between the record-breaking global heat and extreme downpours, it’s hard to ignore that something unusual is going on with the weather in 2023.

Key Points: 
  • Between the record-breaking global heat and extreme downpours, it’s hard to ignore that something unusual is going on with the weather in 2023.
  • People have been quick to blame climate change – and they’re right, to a point: Human-caused global warming does play the biggest role.
  • A recent study determined that the weekslong heat wave in Texas and Mexico that started in June 2023 would have been virtually impossible without it.

How El Niño is involved

    • El Niño is a climate phenomenon that occurs every few years when surface water in the tropical Pacific reverses direction and heats up.
    • This happened in 2016, the time of the last strong El Niño.
    • A weak El Niño also occurred in 2019-2020, contributing to 2020 becoming the world’s second-warmest year.
    • El Niño’s opposite, La Niña, involves cooler-than-usual Pacific currents flowing westward, absorbing heat out of the atmosphere, which cools the globe.

Solar fluctuations

    • Earth’s temperature increase during a solar maximum, compared with average solar output, is only about 0.09 F (0.05 C), roughly a third of a large El Niño.
    • However, unlike the variable and unpredictable El Niño changes, the 11-year solar cycle is comparatively regular, consistent and predictable.
    • The last solar cycle hit its minimum in 2020, reducing the effect of the modest 2020 El Niño.

A massive volcanic eruption

    • In an unusual twist, the largest volcanic eruption of the 21st century so far, the 2022 eruption of Tonga’s Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai is having a warming and not cooling effect.
    • The eruption released an unusually small amount of cooling sulfate aerosols but an enormous amount of water vapor.
    • Water vapor is a powerful greenhouse gas, and the eruption may end up warming Earth’s surface by about 0.06 F (0.035 C), according to one estimate.

Underlying it all: Global warming

    • All of this comes on top of anthropogenic, or human-caused, global warming.
    • Humans have raised global average temperatures by about 2 F (1.1 C) since 1900 by releasing large volumes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
    • The warming from greenhouse gases is actually greater than 2 F (1.1 C), but it has been masked by other human factors that have a cooling effect, such as air pollution.

What does this mean for the future?

    • According to climate modeling, this would likely mean even more heat waves, forest fires, flash floods and other extreme weather events.
    • Unfortunately, climate modeling shows that as temperatures continue to increase, weather events get more extreme.
    • Because of the unfortunate timing of several parts of the climate system, it seems that the odds are not in our favor.

Global average sea and air temperatures are spiking in 2023, before El Niño has fully arrived. We should be very concerned

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Acceleration, Arctic Circle, Greenhouse, Heat, Great Barrier Reef, Water, Greenhouse gas, Temperature, Eastern states of Australia, Sulfur, Climate change, Risk, Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai, Anomaly, Atmosphere, Dust, Climate, Weather, Hunga, Coal, Renewable energy, Fertilizer, Whaling, Agriculture, Fossil fuel, Pacific Ocean, Antarctic Circle

Recent spikes in ocean heat content and average global air temperature have left climate scientists across the world scrambling to find the cause.

Key Points: 
  • Recent spikes in ocean heat content and average global air temperature have left climate scientists across the world scrambling to find the cause.
  • The global average air temperature, relative to 1850-1900, exceeded the 1.5℃ lower Paris Agreement threshold during part of March and the first days of June.
  • This last happened in 2020, and before that during the powerful 2015-16 El Niño.
  • Given the impending El Niño, we all need to take extra notice of what lies ahead for the next few years.

How much warmer are the oceans this year?

    • Because of this, any significant upward trend in average ocean heat is considered a harbinger for the acceleration of human-driven climate change more generally.
    • The global sea surface temperature anomaly on June 13 was about 4.5 standard deviations above the baseline global average.
    • The 36-month running average for the Earth Energy Imbalance is now at a record 1.36 Watts per square metre.

Why is this happening now?

    • These include rapidly declining sea ice in Antarctica and unusually warm temperatures in many parts of the world.
    • The submarine volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai erupted in January 2022 and ejected record-breaking amounts of water vapour into the stratosphere.
    • Water vapour acts as a potent greenhouse gas, and this may be contributing to the currently observed warming.
    • Both these forms of atmospheric aerosols have a cooling effect, as they reflect a small percentage of sunlight back to space.
    • Notably, how will the lingering atmospheric water vapour from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption amplify any El Niño warming?

SES Extends Digicel Partnership to Provide Tonga with Disaster Network Resiliency via O3b

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, September 14, 2022
Technology, Satellite, Mobile, Wireless, Telecommunications, Networks, Carriers and Services, Disaster, Island, GEO, Digicel, O3b, Population, MPower, Partnership, SES, Hunga, Communication, Kingdom, Data-rate units, Lists of disasters, MEO, Communications satellite, Earth, Pacific Ocean

SES and international mobile network operator Digicel announced today they will extend their partnership to provide the Kingdom of Tonga with long-term disaster resiliency to minimise bandwidth disruptions.

Key Points: 
  • SES and international mobile network operator Digicel announced today they will extend their partnership to provide the Kingdom of Tonga with long-term disaster resiliency to minimise bandwidth disruptions.
  • Under the agreement, Digicel will benefit from SESs expertise in offering disaster resiliency via SESs O3b satellite constellation to deliver low-latency and high-throughput connectivity and protect the Tonga population from future communication interruptions in the event of a natural disaster.
  • For the past decade, governments and businesses around the Pacific have been benefitting from the fibre-equivalent performance of the O3b satellite constellation.
  • With our continued partnership with Digicel, SES is glad to deliver high-performance, reliable connectivity to the residents in Tonga using our O3b satellites.

Lucira Donates Rapid Molecular At-Home COVID-19 Test Kits to Protect the Safety of Tonga Red Cross Society Workers

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, March 31, 2022
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EMERYVILLE, Calif., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lucira Health, Inc. ("Lucira Health" or "Lucira") (Nasdaq: LHDX), a medical technology company focused on the development and commercialization of transformative and innovative infectious disease tests, donated 2,000 Lucira™ Check-It COVID-19 tests, a rapid at-home test with PCR-quality accuracy, for Tonga humanitarian efforts after the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano in January 2022. The Tonga Red Cross Society was immediately on the scene of the disaster providing relief to local communities, as the tsunami reportedly caused waves as high as 49 feet on the low elevation islands.

Key Points: 
  • Lucira coordinated with the Tongan government's Ministry of Health and Air New Zealand to donate and deliver Lucira Check-It COVID-19 test kits to protect the health and safety of the staff and volunteers of the Tonga Red Cross Society, who supplied immediate support to affected communities.
  • Each Lucira Check-It test contains everything needed to run a single COVID-19 test.
  • Lucira's testing platform produces lab quality molecular testing in a single-use, consumer-friendly, palm-size test kit powered by two AA batteries.
  • Lucira designed its test kits to provide accurate, reliable, and on-the-spot molecular test results anywhere and at any time.

CGTN Exclusive: A Chinese employee currently working in Tonga described

Retrieved on: 
Friday, January 21, 2022
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Types of volcanic eruptions, CGTN, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, Drinking water, Hunga, Diplomatic mission, Local government, Supermarket, CEO, Government, Red Cross Society of China, List of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Digicel, Internet, Food, Water, Communication, Foreign minister, Interview, Mobile phone, Frankincense, Satellite navigation device

BEIJING, Jan. 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --A Chinese employee currently working in Tonga described the rare volcano eruption and his current status in an exclusive interview with CGTN through satellite telephone on Wednesday, saying he and colleagues are relying on bottled water bought from supermarkets to survive.

Key Points: 
  • BEIJING, Jan. 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --A Chinese employee currently working in Tonga described the rare volcano eruption and his current status in an exclusive interview with CGTN through satellite telephone on Wednesday, saying he and colleagues are relying on bottled water bought from supermarkets to survive.
  • "I think all the people are safe," Zhao Yongming, an employee of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation in Tonga, told CGTN.
  • Zhao described what he experienced after the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano, which some have dubbed a once-in-a-millennium event.
  • The Chinese Embassy in Tonga helped Zhao and his colleagues contact his company's headquarters in China.

CGTN Exclusive: A Chinese employee currently working in Tonga described

Retrieved on: 
Friday, January 21, 2022
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Types of volcanic eruptions, CGTN, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, Drinking water, Hunga, Diplomatic mission, Local government, Supermarket, CEO, Government, Red Cross Society of China, List of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Digicel, Internet, Food, Water, Multimedia, Communication, Foreign minister, Interview, Mobile phone, Frankincense, Satellite navigation device

BEIJING, Jan. 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --A Chinese employee currently working in Tonga described the rare volcano eruption and his current status in an exclusive interview with CGTN through satellite telephone on Wednesday, saying he and colleagues are relying on bottled water bought from supermarkets to survive.

Key Points: 
  • BEIJING, Jan. 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --A Chinese employee currently working in Tonga described the rare volcano eruption and his current status in an exclusive interview with CGTN through satellite telephone on Wednesday, saying he and colleagues are relying on bottled water bought from supermarkets to survive.
  • "I think all the people are safe," Zhao Yongming, an employee of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation in Tonga, told CGTN.
  • Zhao described what he experienced after the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano, which some have dubbed a once-in-a-millennium event.
  • The Chinese Embassy in Tonga helped Zhao and his colleagues contact his company's headquarters in China.

SES Enables Digicel to Restore First International Calls in Tonga

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, January 20, 2022
Technology, Mobile, Wireless, Telecommunications, Satellite, SES, Hunga, Communication, Time, Pacific Ocean, Digicel, Family, Friends, Partnership, Communications satellite

SES announced today that it has enabled Digicel to restore vital communications with the outside world following the Hunga Tonga-Haapai volcano eruption that sent tsunami waves across the Pacific Ocean.

Key Points: 
  • SES announced today that it has enabled Digicel to restore vital communications with the outside world following the Hunga Tonga-Haapai volcano eruption that sent tsunami waves across the Pacific Ocean.
  • First international calls service from Tongatapu provided by Digicel has been up since Wednesday, with both SES and Digicel teams working on restoring more vital communications services in the coming days.
  • With satellite partners such as SES, we have been able to establish international calls for our customers as soon as possible, and will increase capacity to provide more services in the next few days.
  • SES and Digicel have a long history of providing multi-orbit capacity into key Pacific markets, and our partnership enabled the first communication services out of Tonga.