“A new calculation of what meteorologists consider normal temperatures reveals that every U.S. state is now warmer on average than it was 30 years ago. NOAA released the new 30-year running average on July 1, which incorporates data from the period 1981-2010 to replace the 1971-2000 observations used to determine normal temperatures. ‘The climate of the 2000s is about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the 1970s, so we...
Read MoreA recent “Ziggy” cartoon by Tom Wilson depicts Ziggy being confronted by two aliens, one of whom comments: “Earth? You named your planet after dirt?” Yep, Earth is the only planet whose English name does not derive from Greek/Roman mythology; the name comes from the Old English word eorðe (erda in Old High German): “Earth: O.E. eorþe ‘ground, soil, dry land,’ also used (along with...
Read MoreDr. Krzysztof Janowicz officially joined the Geography Department as an Assistant Professor of Geographic Information Science on July 1 and will arrive within the next few days. Before joining UCSB, Krzysztof was an Assistant Professor at the GeoVISTA Center of the Department of Geography at Pennsylvania State University. Before moving to the U.S., he was working as postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Geoinformatics (ifgi) at...
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