News

Rising emissions drive Greenhouse Gas Index increase

Record levels of greenhouse gas pollution continued to increase humanity’s impact on the atmosphere’s heat-trapping capacity during 2018, according to a yearly analysis released by NOAA scientists.

US methane emissions flat since 2006 despite increased oil and gas activity: study

Natural gas production in the United States has increased 46 percent since 2006, but there has been no significant increase of total US methane emissions and only a modest increase from oil and gas activity, according to a new NOAA study.

Global carbon dioxide growth in 2018 reached 4th highest on record

By the end of 2018, NOAA’s atmospheric observatory at Mauna Loa recorded the fourth-highest annual growth in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) in 60 years of record-keeping.

Ozone hole modest despite conditions ripe for depletion

The ozone hole that forms in the upper atmosphere over Antarctica each September was slightly above average size in 2018, NOAA and NASA scientists reported today.

Study sheds light on persistent gap in natural gas methane emissions measurements

It’s a question that’s puzzled policymakers, researchers and regulatory agencies for years: How much methane is being emitted from natural gas operations across the U.S.? And why have the two main estimation methods applied across U.S. oil and gas basins always seem to disagree?

Story map: NOAA Boulder

From the foothills of the Rockies, NOAA’s pioneering science, life-saving products, and enduring contributions to America’s economy have enormous impact.

After a 20 Year hiatus, GMD scientists will return to sampling the stratosphere with the NASA ER-2 aircraft

An airborne project with NOAA and CIRES instrument investigators in the Global Monitoring Division was selected for five-year funding starting in 2020 through 2025 from the NASA Earth Venture Suborbital-3 program (EVS-3).

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?