ABUJA (Reuters) ? Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and labor unions failed to reach a compromise over government-subsidized fuel prices, but the unions said oil workers would not shut down crude output while the two sides kept talking.
"The meeting is not deadlocked but we have not reached a compromise," Nigeria Labor Congress President Abdulwaheed Omar told reporters after a meeting at the presidential villa went on until late Saturday night.
"We will meet and return to talk with the government. Our position is that they should suspend the increase in the pump prices and then we will suspend the strike and start negotiations."
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets and staged strikes for five successive days last week in protest against the removal of a fuel subsidy on January 1 that raised the price of petrol at the pump to 150 naira ($0.93) per liter from 65 naira.
Workers in Nigeria's 2 million barrel-per-day oil industry - it accounts for 8 percent of U.S. oil imports and is also a key source for Europe and Asia - had threatened to halt production by Sunday.
"PENGASSEN (the oil workers union) will not shut down oil production as earlier planned for Sunday," said Omar.
But the union itself said in a statement that it would shut down production immediately if talks broke down.
"All PENGASSAN branches and members at all the production platforms ... (will) execute immediately the systematic shut-down of oil production should the negotiation with the government break down," it said.
Industry officials doubt unions can stop crude oil exports completely because production is largely automated and Nigeria has crude stored in reserves, but even a minor outage could have a significant impact on the economy.
Even if oil output stayed in place, the strikes were costing Africa's second-biggest economy around $600 million a day, Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi told Reuters Thursday.
It was not clear when talks would resume but it seems unlikely a deal can be reached before strikes are due to restart Monday.
"We are going to continue our deliberation at our organization level and then maybe we will see the way forward," said Omar.
Unions suspended strike action for the weekend because of Saturday's talks.
Crude oil exports account for more than 90 percent of Nigeria's foreign exchange earnings and 80 percent of government revenues.
NO COMPROMISE
Omar said the unions were still insisting on having the subsidy put back fully, which the government is unlikely to agree to, at least without a concession allowing it to phase it in later.
"Let's go back to 65 naira then we agree on a new line of action," he said. Asked if the unions were still absolutely insisting on that, he said: "For now, yes."
Tankers have been unable to deliver supplies to Nigeria, which despite its oil riches, imports most of its refined petroleum products.
Saturday, motorists formed a long queue at one filling station near central Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, in a search for fuel that after a week of strikes was not readily available even at the new higher price.
Nearby a young man peddled black market petrol, using a hose spouting out of a jerrycan. "I have fuel for 350 naira a liter if you want," he said.
Eurasia Group's Philippe de Pontet in a research note late Friday suggested a combination of union intransigence and Jonathan's banking on workers tiring of the strike could mean no deal was reached by Monday.
The confrontation is a serious setback for Jonathan, already under fire for failing to quell an increasingly violent Islamist insurgency in the north.
(Additional reporting by Camillus Eboh in Abuja, James Jukwey, Chijioke Ohuocha and Tim Cocks in Lagos; Writing by Tim Cocks and James Jukwey; Editing by Ralph Gowling)
Boxing great Muhammad Ali, with his wife, Lonnie, right, waves to friends attending a celebration for his 70th birthday at the Muhammad Ali Center on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, in Louisville, Ky. Ali turns 70 Tuesday. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Boxing great Muhammad Ali, with his wife, Lonnie, right, waves to friends attending a celebration for his 70th birthday at the Muhammad Ali Center on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, in Louisville, Ky. Ali turns 70 Tuesday. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Boxing great Muhammad Ali is helped by his wife, Lonnie, right, and sister-in-law Marilyn Williams, left, as he looks down from a balcony at friends attending a celebration for his 70th birthday at the Muhammad Ali Center on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, in Louisville, Ky. Ali turns 70 Tuesday. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Boxing great Muhammad Ali looks down from a balcony at friends while attending a celebration for his 70th birthday at the Muhammad Ali Center on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, in Louisville, Ky. Ali turns 70 Tuesday. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Boxing great Muhammad Ali is helped by his wife, Lonnie, right, as he looks down from a balcony at friends attending a celebration for his 70th birthday at the Muhammad Ali Center on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, in Louisville, Ky. Ali turns 70 Tuesday. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Boxing great Muhammad Ali, with his wife, Lonnie, right, looks down from a balcony at friends attending a celebration for his 70th birthday at the Muhammad Ali Center on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, in Louisville, Ky. Ali turns 70 Tuesday. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) ? Muhammad Ali soaked in familiar cheers and chants along with a rendition of "Happy Birthday" on Saturday night as friends and admirers celebrated the boxing champ's coming 70th birthday at a party in his Kentucky hometown.
As party-goers mingled in a lobby of the Muhammad Ali Center before the party, Ali walked slowly to a second-floor balcony overlooking them. The crowd immediately began to clap, then broke into chants of "Ali! Ali!" followed by singing as Ali watched for about two minutes.
The three-time world heavyweight champion, who is battling Parkinson's disease, leaned against a rail and raised his right hand to wave to the crowd. Ali walked on his own but was at times assisted by his wife, Lonnie, and his sister-in-law. After the brief appearance, Ali went to his party.
Former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis said his boyhood idol is "still the greatest."
"I feel so proud and honored that we're able to show our feelings and show our support for him," Lewis said.
Lewis said Ali's strength and influence extended far beyond the boxing ring in his humanitarian efforts.
"What he's done outside the ring ? just the bravery, the poise, the feeling, the sacrifice," Lewis said "... He's truly a great man."
The guest list numbered 350 for the private party, which doubled as a $1,000-per-person fundraiser for the Ali Center, the six-year-old cultural and education complex designed to be a legacy to his social activism. The six-story center also retraces Ali's career, including his epic bouts against Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Sonny Liston.
Guests paid tribute to Ali beforehand.
"The reason I loved him is because of his confidence," University of Kentucky men's basketball coach John Calipari said. "He would talk and then back it up. He had great courage and who had more fun than him?"
The guest list also included Ali's trainer Angelo Dundee and three American hikers who were imprisoned in Iran. Ali, perhaps the most prominent U.S. Muslim, lobbied for their release. Rocker John Mellencamp headlined the entertainment.
Ali turns 70 on Tuesday, and the party in his hometown is the first of five planned in the next few months. Not long after Ali's dramatic appearance on the balcony, the crowd began filing into a banquet hall for the party, which was closed to the public and reporters.
The self-proclaimed "Greatest of All Time" remains one of the world's most recognizable figures, even though he's been largely absent from the public eye recently as he fights Parkinson's disease.
Lonnie Ali said Friday that her husband has mixed feelings about the landmark birthday.
"He's glad he's here to turn 70, but he wants to be reassured he doesn't look 70," she said.
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. on Jan. 17, 1942, Ali took up boxing at age 12, when his bike was stolen and he wanted to find and whip the culprit. The boy was introduced to Joe Martin, a police officer who coached boxing at a local gym.
Ali's brother, 68-year-old Rahaman Ali, recalled on Saturday night that the champ was cheerful and happy as a youngster.
"As a little boy he (said) he would be the world's greatest fighter and be a great man," he said.
Ali flourished in the ring, becoming a top amateur and Olympic gold medalist. He made his professional debut in Louisville and arranged for a local children's hospital to receive proceeds from the fight.
Lewis said Ali ranks as the greatest of heavyweights, and he said he was inspired by Ali's fights.
"I used to get mad if I didn't see the Ali shuffle," Lewis said. "So I was always watching him, expecting some type of antic."
Ali won the heavyweight title in 1964, defeating the heavily favored Sonny Liston. Soon after, Ali ? who was raised in a Baptist family ? announced his conversion to Islam and changed his name.
While in his prime, Ali was stripped of his heavyweight crown in 1967 for refusing to be drafted for military service during the Vietnam War. He cited his religious beliefs as the reason for his refusal.
His decision alienated Ali from many across the U.S. and resulted in a draft-evasion conviction. Ali found himself embroiled in a long legal fight that ended in 1971, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in his favor.
Ali lost his first bid to regain the heavyweight crown when Frazier knocked him down and took a decision in the "Fight of the Century" at Madison Square Garden in 1971.
Ali regained the heavyweight title in 1974, defeating Foreman in the "Rumble in the Jungle." A year later, he outlasted Frazier in the epic "Thrilla in Manila" bout.
Last year, a frail Ali rose from his seat and clapped for his deceased rival at Frazier's funeral.
Ali's last title came in 1978 when he defeated Leon Spinks.
Ali retired from boxing in 1981 and devoted himself to social causes. He traveled the world on humanitarian missions, mingling with the masses and rubbing elbows with world leaders. Ali received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush in 2005.
In this undated photo released by Hiroshima Prefectural Police, Chinese convict Li Guolin who bolted from a penitentiary in Hiroshima Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012 clad only in his underwear is shown. Police found Li, who was serving a 23-year sentence for attempted murder, near an elementary school in the southern Japan city on Friday, Jan. 13. Officials said it was the first prison break from a Japanese penitentiary since 1989. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA
In this undated photo released by Hiroshima Prefectural Police, Chinese convict Li Guolin who bolted from a penitentiary in Hiroshima Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012 clad only in his underwear is shown. Police found Li, who was serving a 23-year sentence for attempted murder, near an elementary school in the southern Japan city on Friday, Jan. 13. Officials said it was the first prison break from a Japanese penitentiary since 1989. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA
Journalists gather around Friday, Jan. 13, 2012 the area in Hiroshima where Chinese convict Li Guolin was captured after bolting from a penitentiary Wednesday clad only in his underwear. Police found Li, who was serving a 23-year sentence for attempted murder, near an elementary school in the southern Japan city on Friday. Officials said it was the first prison break from a Japanese penitentiary since 1989. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA
TOKYO (AP) ? A manhunt that riveted Japan ended Friday when police captured a Chinese convict who bolted from a Hiroshima penitentiary clad only in his underwear in the country's first prison break in more than two decades.
Police found Li Guolin, who was serving a 23-year sentence for attempted murder, near an elementary school in the southern Japan city on Friday.
Japan's public broadcaster, NHK, broke into programming to show police taking him into custody. He wore a heavy jacket and ski cap pulled down over his face. NHK said he had a knife when he was arrested.
Li is suspected of breaking into a apartment to steal clothes after he jumped the prison walls on Wednesday. According to the Japanese media, he also stole a beer while he was there ? police reportedly found his DNA on a can he left behind.
Hiroshima police confirmed his arrest, but had no further comment. Officials said it was the first prison break from a Japanese penitentiary since 1989.
The government's top spokesman apologized for the escape and vowed tougher measures to keep inmates from breaking out. Li managed to climb over a wall inside the prison campus and then use scaffolding to get over the 16-foot (5-meter) outer wall, which was under construction for repairs. Sensors on the wall were turned off because of the repair work.
"We apologize for causing serious safety concerns to the neighbors," Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said. "We'll make sure that prisons and related institutions take steps so that they will never repeat the same mistake."
Li, believed to be the leader of a gang of burglars, was convicted in 2005 for shooting at a police officer and stealing a squad car.
Nearly 800 officers had been assigned to the hunt for Li, who had been jailed for shooting at an officer and stealing a squad car in 2005.
The escape was the first ever from the Hiroshima prison. A corrections official with the Justice Ministry said the last escape by an inmate from within a Japanese prison was in 1989.
Li escaped by ducking out of an outdoor exercise session.
Unlock Root Roots Nearly 250 Android Devices in One Click [UPDATED] (Android) If you're looking to root your phone but don't want to pore over complicated instructions, a new program called Unlock Root claims to root a ton of different phones with ease.
Gym-Pact Rewards You for Going to the Gym with Cash, Charges You when You Skip Out (iOS) If you just signed up for a gym membership, completely convinced that you'll go every day this year, keep in mind you're essentially throwing money away when you don't go. If you need a little more motivation to make the trip and work out, Gym-Pact is a new iOS app and webapp that lets you put your money where your mouth is. Go to the gym and check in with your phone and you'll be rewarded with cash payouts. Skip your workouts, and the service penalizes you and your bank account.
OldChromeRemover Frees Up Disk Space Used by Old Versions of Chrome (Windows) We've mentioned before that Chrome stores old versions on your hard drive, which can eventually take up lots of space. OldChromeRemover is a simple app that will free that space back up for you.
Movie Explorer Compiles Details for All Those Movies on Your Hard Drive (Windows) If you have lots of movies ripped or downloaded to your hard drive it can be difficult to keep track of the details. Movie Explorer is a self-executable program for Windows 2000 and up that will scan your hard drive and pull movie posters and details from iMDB. You can use Movie explorer to browse your movies and when you've made a selection you can launch the file directly from the program.
Void Lock Secures Your Android Phone by Making It Appear Turned Off (Android) Void Lock keeps your phone secure by turning off your screen, as if the phone weren't on at all, and letting you unlock with a gesture.
Get Linux Compiles Information, Screenshots, and more for Tons of Linux Distributions for Easy Reference (Windows) So you've gotten started with Linux, maybe tried Ubuntu or Mint, but you're ready to move on to another distro. Get Linux is a simple app that helps you browse information on tons of other distros available.
Dragon Go! Brings Dragon's Superior Voice Search to Android (Android) While Android has a pretty great voice search system built-in, Dragon Go kicks it up a notch, with impeccable speech recognition skills and by automatically detecting what you're searching for and taking you to the correct web page.
Sparkbox Is a Repository for Your Creative Inspiration (Mac) When you find an image you find particularly inspiring, you often want to save it. If you save a lot of these images, they can be hard to sort through and find as needed. That's where Sparkbox can help. It's a repository for your creative inspiration.
Mindful Displays iCal Events and Reminders on Your Desktop (Mac) If you use iCal to manage your to-do list you may want to consider Mindful. This app creates a desktop view of your events and reminders for the day similar to the daily view function of most calendars.
Boycott SOPA for Android Scans Products, Warns You If the Manufacturer Supports SOPA (Android) We've discussed several ways you can stay on top of the fight against SOPA, and ways you can get around it, but Boycott SOPA is an Android app that turns your smartphone into a powerful tool to speak with your dollars, and avoid financially supporting companies that support the bill.
Irradiation is most often used to kill insects, parasites, or bacteria in or on spices, which are typically dried outdoors in before being shipped.
Lui Kit Wong/MCT /Landov
Irradiation is most often used to kill insects, parasites, or bacteria in or on spices, which are typically dried outdoors in before being shipped.
Earlier this week, we were surprised to learn that food manufacturers increasingly X-ray foods to screen for foreign objects that can break a tooth. That sounds like a good idea.
But the notion of X-rayed food also sparked a lively debate in The Salt's comments section on whether this poses a health threat. After all, we do know that some X-rays can damage DNA in the human body. So what does radiation mean for food?
To find out, we called around to experts on radiation, food, and safety for their thoughts. First we called Kelly Classic, a radiation health physicist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and a spokeswoman for the Health Physics Society.
"There are two different things that we're talking about here," Classic told The Salt. "One is radiation exposure, simply meaning that radiation is passing through some material, whether it's our bodies when we have a chest X-ray or the food in this case." The energy that passes through in the form of photons is used to make an image, but neither the person nor the food becomes radioactive.
That's very different than the second type of exposure: being exposed to radioactive material. That's what happened after last year's Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown in Japan. Radioactive iodine and cesium spit out by the plant have contaminated crops, livestock, and seafood. Because ingesting radioactive particles increases the risk of cancer, many people in Japan have taken to buying imported food, even though the government monitors radiation in the food supply.
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But too much exposure to plain old X-rays also increases cancer risk, too, which adds to the confusion. Repeated X-ray exposure damages DNA, and over time that can cause a mutation that leads to cancer. That's why people are told to limit the number of X-rays over a lifetime. (Here's a primer from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on how to limit X-ray exposure.)
Since Classic spends her workday explaining the differences between exposure to X-rays versus exposure to radioactive material to patients and staff, she's all too familiar with the complexities. "Unfortunately, people like me don't do a very good job of even trying to explain it."
OK, back to food. The small amount of radiation manufacturers are using to screen for foreign objects doesn't affect the food at all, radiation experts say. But still, we wanted the data. Thermo Fisher, one company that makes food scanners, said the dose of radiation for scanning a pie would be about 10 microsieverts. A chest X-ray typically uses 100 microsieverts.
To translate that, we called Ted LaBusa, a professor of food science and nutrition at the University of Minnesota who's an expert on food irradiation. It turns out he studied nuclear physics at MIT, and made short work of the task.
People are exposed to 36,000 microsieverts of radiation each year from the environment. That divides out to 98 microsieverts a day, or 4 microsieverts an hour, LaBusa says.
So the dose the food X-ray machine gives is equivalent to what the food would be exposed to if it were sitting out in the air for 2.5 hours. "That's very small," he says.
Food irradiation is another matter altogether. There, the goal is to kill insects, parasites, or bacteria in or on food. It takes a lot more radiation to do that ? about 3,000 sieverts, or almost a billion times more than the amount of radiation used to X-ray food for inspection.
Irradiation is used most often on spices, which are typically dried outdoors in Southeast Asia before being shipped to the U.S. "Cinnamon is probably the worst one," LaBusa says. "They dry it in the sun, it's exposed outside, you've got insects, birds, whatever, so you're going to get contamination." The FDA has also approved irradiation for fresh meat, poultry, wheat and produce. All food has to be labeled "treated by irradiation."
Irradiation of food raises fears of Fukushima-like contamination, though irradiated food does not become radioactive. More recent concerns about irradiation have focused on changes in foods' vitamin content and chemical composition, but the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there's not much to worry about there.
There's been an uptick in approvals for irradiated food of late, including mangoes from India and Pakistan. In August 2008, the FDA approved irradiation for iceberg lettuce and spinach, after repeated outbreaks of E. coli and Salmonella in fresh greens defied conventional methods of disinfection.
But still, irradiated meat and produce remains relatively uncommon in supermarkets.
Cold winters caused by warmer summers, research suggestsPublic release date: 12-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael Bishop michael.bishop@iop.org 44-117-930-1032 Institute of Physics
Scientists have offered up a convincing explanation for the harsh winters recently experienced in the Northern Hemisphere; increasing temperatures and melting ice in the Arctic regions creating more snowfall in the autumn months at lower latitudes.
Their findings may throw light on specific weather incidents such as the extremely harsh Florida winter of 2010 which ended up killing a host of tropical creatures, as well as the chaos-causing snow that fell on the UK in December 2010.
Published today, Friday 13 January, in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters, this new research suggests that the trend of increasingly cold winters over the past two decades could be explained by warmer temperatures in the autumn having a marked effect on normal weather patterns, causing temperatures to plummet in the following winter.
The strongest winter cooling trends were observed in the eastern United States, southern Canada and much of northern Eurasia, which the researchers, based at Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER), the University of Massachusetts and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, believe cannot be entirely explained by the natural variability of the climate system.
Their results showed strong warming throughout July, August and September in the Arctic, which continued through the autumn and, according to their observational data, appeared to enhance the melting of sea ice.
This warmer atmosphere, combined with melting sea ice, allows the Arctic atmosphere to hold more moisture and increases the likelihood of precipitation over more southern areas such as Eurasia, which, in the freezing temperatures, would fall as snow. Indeed, the researchers' observations showed that the average snow coverage in Eurasia has increased over the past two decades.
They believe the increased snow cover has an intricate effect on the Arctic Oscillation an atmospheric pressure pattern in the mid- to high-latitudes causing it to remain in the "negative phase".
In the "negative phase", high pressure resides over the Arctic region, pushing colder air into mid-latitude regions, such as the United States and northern Canada, and giving the observed colder winters.
The lead author of the study, Judah Cohen, said: "In my mind there is no doubt that the globe is getting warmer and this will favour warmer temperatures in all seasons and in all locations; however, I do think that the increasing trend in snow cover has led to regional cooling as discussed in the paper and I see no reason why this won't continue into the near future. Also if it continues to get much warmer in the fall, precipitation that currently falls as snow will fall as rain instead, eliminating the winter cooling."
It is also deduced that one of the main reasons conventional climate models fail to pick up on this observed winter cooling is their failure to account for the variability of snow cover, which, as demonstrated in this study, can greatly improve the accuracy of seasonal, and lengthier, forecasts.
"We show in the paper how using the snow cover in a seasonal forecast can provide a more skilful or accurate forecast. Without correctly simulating the coupling of winter climate patterns and the variability of snow fall, the models currently used by Government centres miss an important influence on winter and will therefore continue to be deficient in predicting winter weather on seasonal time scales, and even longer decadal time scales," continued Cohen.
###
Contact
1. For further information, a full draft of the journal paper or contact with one of the researchers, contact IOP Press Officer, Michael Bishop:Tel: 0117 930 1032E-mail: Michael.bishop@iop.org
Arctic warming, increasing snow cover and widespread boreal cooling
2. The published version of the paper 'Arctic warming, increasing snow cover and widespread boreal cooling' (Judah L Cohen, Jason C Furtado, Mathew A Barlow, Vladimir A Alexeev and Jessica E Cherry 2012 Environ. Res. Lett. 7 014007) will be freely available online from Friday 13 January. It will be available at http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/7/1/014007
Environmental Research Letters
3. Environmental Research Letters is an open access journal that covers all of environmental science, providing a coherent and integrated approach including research articles, perspectives and editorials.
IOP Publishing
4. IOP Publishing provides publications through which leading-edge scientific research is distributed worldwide. IOP Publishing is central to the Institute of Physics (IOP), a not-for-profit society. Any financial surplus earned by IOP Publishing goes to support science through the activities of IOP.Beyond our traditional journals programme, we make high-value scientific information easily accessible through an ever-evolving portfolio of community websites, magazines, conference proceedings and a multitude of electronic services. Focused on making the most of new technologies, we're continually improving our electronic interfaces to make it easier for researchers to find exactly what they need, when they need it, in the format that suits them best. Go to http://ioppublishing.org/.
The Institute of Physics
5. The Institute of Physics is a leading scientific society promoting physics and bringing physicists together for the benefit of all.
It has a worldwide membership of around 40 000 comprising physicists from all sectors, as well as those with an interest in physics. It works to advance physics research, application and education; and engages with policymakers and the public to develop awareness and understanding of physics. Its publishing company, IOP Publishing, is a world leader in professional scientific communications. Go to www.iop.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Cold winters caused by warmer summers, research suggestsPublic release date: 12-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael Bishop michael.bishop@iop.org 44-117-930-1032 Institute of Physics
Scientists have offered up a convincing explanation for the harsh winters recently experienced in the Northern Hemisphere; increasing temperatures and melting ice in the Arctic regions creating more snowfall in the autumn months at lower latitudes.
Their findings may throw light on specific weather incidents such as the extremely harsh Florida winter of 2010 which ended up killing a host of tropical creatures, as well as the chaos-causing snow that fell on the UK in December 2010.
Published today, Friday 13 January, in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters, this new research suggests that the trend of increasingly cold winters over the past two decades could be explained by warmer temperatures in the autumn having a marked effect on normal weather patterns, causing temperatures to plummet in the following winter.
The strongest winter cooling trends were observed in the eastern United States, southern Canada and much of northern Eurasia, which the researchers, based at Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER), the University of Massachusetts and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, believe cannot be entirely explained by the natural variability of the climate system.
Their results showed strong warming throughout July, August and September in the Arctic, which continued through the autumn and, according to their observational data, appeared to enhance the melting of sea ice.
This warmer atmosphere, combined with melting sea ice, allows the Arctic atmosphere to hold more moisture and increases the likelihood of precipitation over more southern areas such as Eurasia, which, in the freezing temperatures, would fall as snow. Indeed, the researchers' observations showed that the average snow coverage in Eurasia has increased over the past two decades.
They believe the increased snow cover has an intricate effect on the Arctic Oscillation an atmospheric pressure pattern in the mid- to high-latitudes causing it to remain in the "negative phase".
In the "negative phase", high pressure resides over the Arctic region, pushing colder air into mid-latitude regions, such as the United States and northern Canada, and giving the observed colder winters.
The lead author of the study, Judah Cohen, said: "In my mind there is no doubt that the globe is getting warmer and this will favour warmer temperatures in all seasons and in all locations; however, I do think that the increasing trend in snow cover has led to regional cooling as discussed in the paper and I see no reason why this won't continue into the near future. Also if it continues to get much warmer in the fall, precipitation that currently falls as snow will fall as rain instead, eliminating the winter cooling."
It is also deduced that one of the main reasons conventional climate models fail to pick up on this observed winter cooling is their failure to account for the variability of snow cover, which, as demonstrated in this study, can greatly improve the accuracy of seasonal, and lengthier, forecasts.
"We show in the paper how using the snow cover in a seasonal forecast can provide a more skilful or accurate forecast. Without correctly simulating the coupling of winter climate patterns and the variability of snow fall, the models currently used by Government centres miss an important influence on winter and will therefore continue to be deficient in predicting winter weather on seasonal time scales, and even longer decadal time scales," continued Cohen.
###
Contact
1. For further information, a full draft of the journal paper or contact with one of the researchers, contact IOP Press Officer, Michael Bishop:Tel: 0117 930 1032E-mail: Michael.bishop@iop.org
Arctic warming, increasing snow cover and widespread boreal cooling
2. The published version of the paper 'Arctic warming, increasing snow cover and widespread boreal cooling' (Judah L Cohen, Jason C Furtado, Mathew A Barlow, Vladimir A Alexeev and Jessica E Cherry 2012 Environ. Res. Lett. 7 014007) will be freely available online from Friday 13 January. It will be available at http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/7/1/014007
Environmental Research Letters
3. Environmental Research Letters is an open access journal that covers all of environmental science, providing a coherent and integrated approach including research articles, perspectives and editorials.
IOP Publishing
4. IOP Publishing provides publications through which leading-edge scientific research is distributed worldwide. IOP Publishing is central to the Institute of Physics (IOP), a not-for-profit society. Any financial surplus earned by IOP Publishing goes to support science through the activities of IOP.Beyond our traditional journals programme, we make high-value scientific information easily accessible through an ever-evolving portfolio of community websites, magazines, conference proceedings and a multitude of electronic services. Focused on making the most of new technologies, we're continually improving our electronic interfaces to make it easier for researchers to find exactly what they need, when they need it, in the format that suits them best. Go to http://ioppublishing.org/.
The Institute of Physics
5. The Institute of Physics is a leading scientific society promoting physics and bringing physicists together for the benefit of all.
It has a worldwide membership of around 40 000 comprising physicists from all sectors, as well as those with an interest in physics. It works to advance physics research, application and education; and engages with policymakers and the public to develop awareness and understanding of physics. Its publishing company, IOP Publishing, is a world leader in professional scientific communications. Go to www.iop.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
MANCHESTER, N.H. ? Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Tuesday defended his "I like to fire people" remark against criticism from GOP rivals as he and his family faced a crush of reporters, supporters and detractors on New Hampshire's primary day.
"I was talking about as you know insurance companies," Romney said as he fought through the crowd with his wife, Ann, and son Craig. "We all like to get rid of our insurance companies."
Romney's campaign was also defending the White House hopeful from his GOP foes' continued attacks on his business record at venture capital investment company Bain Capital.
Taken together, the assault has left Romney's team tense going into a night they hoped would be a celebration of an overwhelming victory that would contribute to the perception that the former Massachusetts governor would inevitably become the Republican nominee.
Instead, when Romney reached out to hold a supporter's baby daughter, the shouts were angry. "Are you going to fire the baby?" someone yelled over the din.
Others shouted, "We want Mitt!"
Romney's staffers tried to guide him through the crush of reporters shouting questions at him and had to shove people out of the way to open the door of Romney's SUV. His daughter-in-law was left behind in the crowd, and Romney moved a meeting with volunteers to a different, unannounced location.
He had no other public events planned until Tuesday evening.
Romney has led in opinion polls here for months ? in recent days by 20 percentage points or more. He's been pushing for an overwhelming victory as he looks to South Carolina, a state where the conservative GOP base was uncomfortable with him in 2008, and strives to wrap up the nomination fight as quickly as possible.
His campaign aides had been most concerned about complacency among supporters, and they launched an intensive get-out-the-vote effort over the weekend, backed by hundreds of volunteers and hundreds of thousands of phone calls.
Romney and his rivals are in many ways already looking to the first-in-the-South contest a little more than a week from now. Gingrich allies are spending millions to run ads attacking Romney's time heading Bain Capital.
And rival Rick Perry, in South Carolina on Tuesday, said companies like Bain are "vultures" that "swoop in and eat the carcass" of struggling companies.
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Public release date: 12-Jan-2012
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