March 2, 2011

Cows put it out there. So do mines and landfills. On a molecular level, methane gas is elegantly simple, just four tiny hydrogen atoms surrounding a single carbon atom. Zoom out, however, and the picture is more complex, particularly when it comes to climate change. Methane, the main component in natural gas, is both a rich source of energy and a powerful greenhouse gas.

Seventy-five percent of the world’s coral reefs are currently threatened by local and global pressures, according to a comprehensive analysis released by the World Resources Institute, along with the Nature Conservancy, the WorldFish Center, the International Coral Reef Action Network, Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, the UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Center, and a network of more than 25 partner organizations, including NOAA.

It’s a puzzle: How could warmth in the Arctic produce frigid conditions elsewhere? NOAA scientists may have a clue.

NOAA scientists and their colleagues from Boulder, Colo., and across the country have gathered in Erie, Colo., for a month-long study of the chemistry of the wintertime atmosphere, which they hope will shed light on some scientific mysteries.