News

Photo feature: A ‘welcoming’ sun returns to the South Pole

The fall equinox means the end of summer for the Northern Hemisphere, but marks the beginning of spring — and the first glimpse of the sun since March — for scientists at NOAA’s South Pole Atmospheric Baseline Observatory located at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Station.

Stephen Montzka named AGU Fellow

GMD's Stephen Montzka was named an AGU Fellow for the Class of 2018. The American Geophysical Union will honor the Fellows at its fall meeting in Washington, D.C.

Another climate milestone on Mauna Loa

Carbon dioxide levels measured at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory averaged more than 410 parts per million in April and May, the highest monthly averages ever recorded, scientists from NOAA and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego announced today.

NOAA’s greenhouse gas index up 41 percent since 1990

NOAA’s Annual Greenhouse Gas Index, which tracks the warming influence of long-lived greenhouse gases, has increased by 41 percent from 1990 to 2017, up 1 percent from 2016 -- with most of that attributable to rising carbon dioxide levels.

Featured photo: Last call at the South Pole, for now

As hints of spring appear across the United States, NOAA’s first all-women crew at the South Pole atmospheric observatory are half a world away, ready for Antarctica’s brutal, six-month polar night.

Move of Bondville, IL Aerosol System to New Facility

Aerosol measurements have been made by the NOAA/ESRL Global Monitoring Division (GMD) at the Bondville Environmental and Atmospheric Research Site (BEARS) since June of 1994. In late October of 2017, the GMD aerosol monitoring system was moved from the aging, uninsulated sea container to a new temperature-controlled building about 80 meters away.

South Pole sees first sunrise in 6 months with arrival of spring

The fall equinox signals the coming of winter for the Northern Hemisphere, but heralds the arrival of spring — and the first sunrise since March — for researchers at NOAA’s South Pole Atmospheric Baseline Observatory.

After 2000-era plateau, global methane levels hitting new highs

Following a plateau in the early 2000s, global concentrations of the powerful greenhouse gas methane have hit new highs in recent years. Chemical fingerprint tests seem to rule out a major role for fossil fuels. With more than half a dozen possible natural and human sources, how will scientists figure out where it's coming from?

As Alaska's North Slope warms, greenhouse gases have nowhere to go but up

The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) being released from tundra in the northern region of Alaska during early winter has increased 70 percent since 1975, according to a new regional climate paper by scientists participating in a research project funded by NOAA and NASA.

Study published on reduced lifetime for a future strong greenhouse gas

NOAA/ESRL scientists and their colleagues at the University of East Anglia, Utrecht University, and NCAR calculated an atmospheric lifetime of the trace gas, sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), based on measurements in the polar stratospheric vortex and modeled transport into the stratosphere.

Watch a weather balloon explode 100,000 feet high in the atmosphere

Patrick Cullis of the GMD Ozone and Water Vapor Group, created a video of a weather balloon bursting, posted at Washington Post.

Carbon dioxide levels rose at record pace for 2nd straight year

Carbon dioxide levels measured at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Baseline Atmospheric Observatory rose by 3 parts per million to 405.1 parts per million (ppm) in 2016, an increase that matched the record jump observed in 2015.

Photo: Last flight from the South Pole

As winter closes in, flights to the international research compound are suspended for the long Antarctic winter.

Unprecedented Arctic weather has scientists on edge

As station chief at NOAA’s Point Barrow, Alaska, observatory, Bryan Thomas works close to the edge of the Arctic Ocean. What he saw from his office in early February, looking north toward the horizon, was troubling.

4 ways the ozone hole is linked to climate, and 1 way it isn’t

To mark the peak of ozone hole season, we’re highlighting four ways that climate and the ozone hole are related—and one important way they aren’t.