A new study finds that air pollutants emitted from cooking can account for nearly a quarter of human-caused volatile organic compounds in dense urban areas.
Those delicious smells may be impacting air quality Read More >
Levels of the three most important human-caused greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide – continued their steady climb during 2023, according to NOAA scientists.
No sign of greenhouse gases increases slowing in 2023 Read More >
This groundbreaking study could lead to vast improvements in fire weather forecasting.
First-of-its-kind experiment illuminates wildfires in unprecedented detail Read More >
A group of 31 leading atmospheric scientists have offered a consensus physical science research roadmap to build the knowledge base needed to evaluate the viability of marine cloud brightening approaches.
Scientists detail research to assess viability and risks of marine cloud brightening Read More >
On September 30, 2021, a saildrone uncrewed surface vehicle made history by intercepting the eyewall of Hurricane Sam in the northwestern tropical Atlantic, recording a
Historic NOAA – Saildrone mission is helping scientists improve hurricane forecasts Read More >
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded NOAA $5 million to support the conversion of the Mauna Loa atmospheric baseline observatory in Hawaii to
Department of Energy to help NOAA’s Mauna Loa observatory go net-zero Read More >
The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano on January 15, 2022, produced the largest underwater explosion ever recorded by modern scientific instruments, blasting an enormous amount of water and volcanic gases higher than any other eruption in the satellite era.
NOAA scientists investigating the stratosphere have found that in addition to meteoric ‘space dust,’ the atmosphere more than seven miles above the surface is peppered with particles containing a variety of metals from satellites and spent rocket boosters vaporized by the intense heat of re-entry.
While the shade offered by clouds on a hot sunny day can be obvious, quantifying the actual climate impact in terms of solar energy remains a challenging task. This is because the volume, thickness, and lifetime of marine clouds can change rapidly, and the processes that govern how and where clouds form and how gases and aerosols in the air interact with cloud droplets are highly complex. In a marine environment, many of those gases and aerosols in the air come from the ocean itself.
NOAA researchers fly out over the Pacific to investigate cloud-forming marine sulfur Read More >
The surface temperatures of about 40% of the global ocean are already high enough to meet the criteria for a marine heatwave — a period of persistent anomalously warm ocean temperatures — which can have significant impacts on marine life as well as coastal communities and economies. The new forecast by the Physical Sciences Laboratory (PSL) projects that it will increase to 50% by September, and it could stay that way through the end of the year.
Global ocean roiled by marine heatwaves, with more on the way Read More >
