Excerpts of the AAAS Fiscal Year 2009 Appropriations Summary ( September 2008 summary: Congress has made little progress on the federal government's budget for fiscal year (FY) 2009,... To keep the government operating, lawmakers approved a continuing resolution (CR) extending funding for all programs in unsigned 2009 appropriations bills at 2008 funding levels through March 6. … In real terms, the federal investment in basic and applied research has already declined since 2004, and under the CR federal funding of research would decline again in 2009 for the fifth year in a row.

The global climate: 0.80 °C in 2008 (5th warmest, mean); last 8 years exceptionally warm

Mean January through November 2008 temperature anomalies Global mean: anomalies with respect to Land0.80C 5th warmest in 129 years* Ocean0.37C 10th warmest Land and Ocean0.48C 9th warmest Northern Hemisphere mean: Land0.89C 4th warmest Ocean0.40C 8th warmest Land and Ocean0.59C 8th warmest Southern Hemisphere mean: Land0.53C 6th warmest Ocean0.34C 12th warmest Land and Ocean0.37C 11th warmest * 2007 was the warmest

Southern Australia drought continues Wet Asia, dry western eq. Pacific typical of cold ENSO

2007, 2008 ice amounts are the smallest in 30 year record

U.S. climate: Temperature through November 2008 is 0.1C above the mean

Southwest warmer than normal in Summer and Fall. Central midwest cooler than normal in all seasons.

Southwest normal last Winter; dry all other seasons, especially Spring. Midwest and New England wet all seasons.

2008: Atlantic: 8 hurricanes, 5 major hurricanes (speeds>110mph), 3rd most costly Other oceans near or below normal

U.S. Wildland Fires number of fires acres burned ,772 5,159, ,208 8,900, ,964 9,589, ,844 8,571, ,488 8,077, ,802 3,910, ,981 7,137, ,876 3,562, ,610 7,314, : large number of fires, but fewer acres

Last winter’s significant cold ENSO persisted in central eq. Pacific Significant negative Pacific Decadal Oscillation all year (cold along west coast of North America; warmer than normal central north Pacific)

El Niño / Southern Oscillation (ENSO) November and December values of and °C, respectively. Eq. Pacific SST anomalies became organized in last several months, and intensified from -0.5 to -1°C during December.

PDO < -1 Standard Deviations since late 2007 Linear Inverse Model forecasts continued negative PDO through 2009

Last year: October-November-December 2007 SST anomalies

This year: October-November-December 2008 SST anomalies

DJF and JFM Averages of -0.5C (NOAA definition Of La Nina); Diminishing in the Spring