NOAA Research News

A new NOAA analysis of ocean temperature data finds that for the 52-year period from 1968 to 2019,  72 to 79 percent of the ocean area showed warming, while only 1 to 3 percent exhibited cooling.

Increased flooding, warming ocean temperatures, fluctuating lake levels, and more frequent heat waves—these are just some of the impacts communities across the country are facing as people from every U.S. region and economic sector turn to NOAA for actionable climate information. 

NOAA’s newest high performance computer used for research to advance weather, climate and ecosystem prediction was named number 88 among the top 500 high performance computers in the world based on computing capacity, according to Top500.org.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide measured at Mauna Loa Observatory reached a seasonal peak of 417.1 parts per million for 2020 in May, the highest monthly reading ever recorded. Monthly CO2 values at Mauna Loa first breached the 400 ppm threshold in 2014, and are now at levels not experienced by the atmosphere in several million years.

Running barefoot from scorching asphalt to cool grass in the summertime as a kid, you likely learned how cityscapes tend to get much warmer than green spaces. Extreme heat can be fatal, and buildings and pavement increase its threat, making some parts of cities up to 20°F hotter than other parts.

A NOAA study published in Nature Geosciences takes a new look at faint, old smoke and finds that it is just as important an influence on the climate as the thick plumes produced by active fires.