climate patterns

In August of 2007, the editorial team noticed a number of manuscripts about water technologies coming over the transom in just a few months.

Then more manuscripts arrived. Our instinct—that the serendipity represented by this uncoordinated and unplanned influx of articles is an especially telling one—is borne out both by the thematic insights found in this collection of articles and by the encouraging scholarly trends in the history of technology that the July issue demonstrates in microcosm.

The Gulf Stream's impact on climate is well known, keeping Iceland and Scotland comfortable in winter compared to the deep-freeze of Labrador at the same latitude.

That cyclones tend to spawn over the Gulf Stream has also been known for some time. A new study reveals that the Gulf Stream anchors a precipitation band with upward motions and cloud formations that can reach 7 miles high and penetrate the upper troposphere.