News

CarbonTracker-CH4: An assimilation system for estimating emissions of atmospheric methane

The NOAA CarbonTracker-CH4 Data Assimilation Product has been developed as a companion product to NOAA's CarbonTracker (CO2), with the goal of producing quantitative estimates of emissions of methane to the atmosphere from natural and anthropogenic sources for North America and the rest of the world. CarbonTracker-CH4 emission estimates are consistent with observed patterns of CH4 in the atmosphere.

2013 State of the Climate: Carbon dioxide tops 400 ppm

On May 9, 2013, the daily average concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere surpassed 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, where the modern record of observations began back in 1958. Other Northern Hemisphere sites also reported CO2 concentrations exceeding 400 ppm in 2013. By summer, the high concentrations at these sites had dropped as vegetation began taking up carbon dioxide for photosynthesis.

How NOAA keeps track of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases

The extent to which our home planet changes in response to increases in man-made heat-trapping gases is one of the foremost questions for the scientific community, policy makers, and the general public alike. To help answer this question, NOAA’s Global Monitoring Division produces the Annual Greenhouse Gas Index—a yearly report on the combined influence of long-lived greenhouse gases on Earth’s surface temperature.

Tracking carbon dioxide across the globe

Between burning fossil fuels and clearing forests, humans emit far more carbon dioxide than Earth’s natural physical and biological processes can remove from the atmosphere. Fundamental to any attempts to understand, slow, or reverse the build up of atmospheric carbon dioxide is a global accounting of where it’s released and stored. That’s why scientists at NOAA’s Earth Systems Research Laboratory created CarbonTracker: a carbon dioxide measuring and modeling system that tracks sources and sinks around the globe.

Renewed Increase in Atmospheric Methane Concentrations

In an article published in Science Perspectives, scientists from ESRL, the UK and France show that total global emissions of methane increased by 15 to 22 Tg CH4 yr-1 starting in 2007. This result is based on methane measurements from NOAA ESRL GMD’s ~70-site sampling network.

Dry conditions in Amazonia reduce uptake of carbon dioxide

As climates change, the lush tropical ecosystems of the Amazon Basin may release more of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than they absorb, according to a new study published Feb. 6 in Nature.

UAS with NOAA ESRL instruments flies into the Earth’s coldest tropopause.

NOAA ESRL is participating in NASA Global Hawk Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) research flights from an airbase in Guam to study the coldest parts of the Earth’s tropopause over the tropical Western Pacific.

ESRL’s Pieter Tans and greenhouse gas reference network team given the 2013 Colorado Governor’s Awards for High-Impact Research.

Dr. Pieter Tans and his team of researchers at ESRL's Global Monitoring Division were honored for work in Atmospheric Sciences for the Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network. Tans and team developed and sustained the careful and continuous collection of atmospheric observations to create a long-term record of atmospheric trace gases that is helping scientists around the globe understand the Earth system and how humans are changing the dynamics of the climate on the Earth.

NOAA's Barrow, Alaska, Observatory marks 40 years of continuously monitoring carbon pollution in the Arctic

40 years ago, on July 24, 1973, NOAA’s atmospheric observatory in Barrow, Alaska—the U.S.’ northernmost city, located at the tip of the North Slope—began measurements of carbon dioxide pollution with a continuous analyzer, providing one of the world’s most important records of this potent heat-trapping gas.

Global Hawk UAS Study of Climate Changing Stratospheric Water Vapor & Ozone

The first science flights of the NASA Global Hawk UAS in the winter portion of the Airborne Tropical TRopopause EXperiment (ATTREX) are set to begin the week of 28 January 2013. Six science flights from Edwards Air Force Base, California are scheduled. The UAS experimental payload includes two NOAA/ESRL instruments measuring water vapor, two measuring ozone and one measuring methane, nitrous oxide, hydrogen, and sulfur hexafluoride. Five NOAA/ESRL and six CIRES scientists are at the NASA Dryden facility supporting the missions.

Ellsworth G. Dutton 1949-2012

ESRL scientist Ellsworth Dutton passed away on 11 October, 2012. Ells was widely respected for his careful study of the surface radiation budget of the Earth.

Polar Sunrise and the Ozone Hole at South Pole, Antarctica: Sept. 22, 2012

At the bottom of the world, fifty people are looking forward to seeing the sun peek above the horizon on or around September 22 – the first time they have seen the sun in six months. NOAA ESRL/ GMD personnel LTJG Heather Moe and Johan Booth spent the Antarctic winter working at NOAA’s Atmospheric Research Observatory located at the geographic South Pole. The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, one of three United States research stations in Antarctica, only experiences one sunrise and sunset per year due to its location at 90˚S latitude.

Earth's oceans and ecosystems still absorbing about half the greenhouse gases emitted by people

Earth's oceans, forests and other ecosystems continue to soak up about half the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere by human activities, even as those emissions have increased, according to a study by University of Colorado and NOAA scientists.

2011 Dr. Daniel L. Albritton Outstanding Science Communicator Award to Russ Schnell

Russ Schnell, Deputy Director of the Global Monitoring Division of NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) is the 2011 recipient of the Dr. Daniel L. Albritton Outstanding Science Communicator Award. The NOAA Research award recognizes outstanding achievement in communicating the meaning and value of NOAA-related science and research to non-scientific audiences.

NOAA greenhouse gas index continues climbing

NOAA’s updated Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (AGGI), which measures the direct climate influence of many greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, shows a continued steady upward trend that began with the Industrial Revolution of the 1880s.