Fridays are awesome. It seems I have said that before.
I`m Carl Azuz for commercial-free CNN STUDENT NEWS.
It is month and one day until the official end of summer in the northern hemisphere.
But scientists say, worldwide, July was the warmest month
since 1880 when researchers started reporting global temperatures. It`s according to U.S.
and Japanese government agencies.
How much warmer? In Fahrenheit, scientists say July 2015 was 0.36 of 1 degree warmer
than the previous record set in July 2011. This was a
worldwide measurement. Summer in the U.S. alone had pretty normal temperatures.
Well, it`s now official -- July 2015 is the warmest month on record.
The biggest driver of this I think is El Nino. It`s always warm when we have an El Nino year.
It`s that warm water that sets off the Pacific coast
of South America, getting blown across the Pacific. It`s warm pool of air and it keeps
the atmosphere warmer because it is so warm.
We also have greenhouse gases, the highest concentrations that we`ve ever measured.
So, where do these measurements come from? Thermometers on land. Satellite measurements,
looking down at the Earth measuring temperatures
remotely. And also, ships at seas taking measurements as they cross the globe.
Now, there are smaller circulations across the globe, too. There are patterns across
the Pacific Northwest. This thing called "The Blob" out
there, an area of warm water that has really drastically change the climate for Seattle
and Portland and for most of California in a very big drought.
All of this part of the warmest month on record.
It`s a mystery that started on March 8th of 2014. After taking off from Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, heading to Beijing, China, Malaysia Airlines
Flight 370 vanished with 239 people onboard.
Investigators believe the plane dramatically changed course during its flight and eventually
went down somewhere in the Indian Ocean, far off the
western coast of Australia.
A possible clue emerged late last month on Reunion Island. This is a French territory
located east of Madagascar, in the western Indian Ocean,
where debris from the plane might have drifted.
A beach-cleaning crew found part of an airplane wing. Malaysian officials say it`s from Flight
370, but it`s still being investigated. And
investigators still don`t know what happened to the plane or where any other wreckage might
be.
Veteran oceanographers tell CNN this could be the new front line of the search for
MH370, which is why search teams are now looking off not only Reunion Island but nearby Madagascar,
the Seychelles Islands, Mauritius,
Mozambique, and off the east coast of South Africa.
The reason? A powerful stream of currents circulating in the Indian Ocean, called a
gyre.
It is a permanent circulation pattern in the Indian Ocean that runs counter clockwise starts
off the
coast of Australia and the west of Australian current, moves north and then picks up in
the southern equatorial current, moving east to west across the
Indian Ocean basin before it turns south and then returns.
TODD: Former U.S. Navy oceanographer, Van Gurley, says other parts of MH370 that could
be found, seats or other objects with foam inserts or
closed air pockets, characters which could cause something to float.
Experts say that may be why this apparent piece made it to Reunion Island. But Gurley
says if the missing plane is in the area off Australia where
scientists think it went down, objects could also be found in the other direction, on the
other side of Australia.
GURLEY: Looking at the overall current patterns, at the end of 18 to 24 months, the red area,
some debris could end up over here where we`re
talking now, but others could end up down here.
I`ve just thought I have a few days left. But I was surprisingly at ease. You know,
I`ve had a wonderful
life. I`ve had thousands of friends and I`ve had an exciting and adventurous and gratifying
existence. So, I was surprisingly at ease --
much more so than my wife was.
But now I feel, you know, it`s in the hands of God and my worship, and I`ll be prepared
for anything that comes.
Earlier this month, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter was treated for a mass on his
liver. But afterward, an MRI, an internal body scan,
showed the 90-year-old leader has four cancer spots on his brain. Doctors say it`s melanoma,
a type of cancer that usually starts in the skin, though
they`re not sure how it started in this case. Carter started radiation treatment yesterday.
In 1977, Jimmy Carter was sworn in as the 39 president of the United States. A former
peanut farmer and later governor of Georgia, he served
one term as president. After a landslide defeat to Ronald Reagan in 1980, Carter returned
to Georgia, devoted himself to diplomacy and humanitarian
work and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
When I say "U.S. Secret Service", you probably think of the officers who protect the president.
They do that. The agency was formed in 1865 to
prevent counterfeit currency in the U.S. It`s seen its ups and downs since then.
In the past few years, Secret Service agents have been accused of misconduct in other countries
and some problems in the U.S. One incident
involved the man who jumped over the fence around the White House and made his way inside
the president`s mansion before agents finally stopped him.
The agency is making some major chances.
This is an ambush training drill that they use to train agents and officers who are
protecting the president and the vice president.
This is where they train dozens, sometimes hundreds, of recruits every year. You got
to see the canine dogs.
It was just so incredible to watch these beautiful animals responding to that really kind of
amazing fashion.
It`s an impressive facility, but no question about it, we were invited here for one reason,
and that is to reassure the public that the Secret Service
can do the job of protecting the president.
We are on an upswing, and we are hiring. We hope to have nine classes of officers this
year.
And you can see from walking around the complex today, we`re moving here.
Man!
Joe Clancy worked in the Secret Service for many, many years. He was part of the president`s
protective detail. And even though he`s got a lot of
skeptics up on Capitol Hill, people saying, hey, you know what, you can`t have an insider
fix the Secret Service. You have to have an insider. Joe
Clancy is trying to -- he`s trying to really go against that grain.
The president has said he`s confident in you. Do you feel confident that the Secret Service
is where it needs to be to protect the president of the
United States and his family?
Well, to be honest, I never feel that I turned the corner, and this agency should never feel
that we`ve turned the corner. Every day is a
new day. We`ve got to be prepared.
Our viewership is on a roll. The call of the rolls.
Starting in Namibia, a nation in Southwest Africa, it`s great to see you today at Windhoek
International School. It`s in the Namibian capital.
Marrero, Louisiana, is next. Just outside of New Orleans, we`ve got the Patriots of
John Ehret High School watching.
In just southeast of Arizona`s capital is the city of Casa Grande. Shoutout to the Wildcats
of Casa Grande Middle School.
An animal in northern Vancouver knows how to beat the heat. I guess he decided he just
couldn`t bear it anymore. The owner of this swimming
pool says you see funny things on YouTube. It`s amazing when it happens in your own backyard.
It`s not the first time the bear has been there. It might have been the same one that
stopped by last month and ate from the bird feeder.
If you`re wondering, there is a fence around the pool. The animal just punched a hole in
it, which I guess isn`t really so un-bear-livable. Maybe
the first time he started furtive about his visit, was just roaring to come back, so he
thought, I`ll say next Ursa-day.
It`s terrible. Unbearable. But we hope your weekend is not and than you`ll come back next
Monday for more CNN STUDENT NEWS.