New England research project to boost off-shore wind generation

A new research effort led by NOAA and the Department of Energy spinning up this month will play a significant role in the development of wind energy off of the New England coast.

NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory supports the nation’s greenhouse gas monitoring strategy

NOAA will commit its long-established, state-of-the-art capabilities in observation, modeling, and data analysis—including several major initiatives from NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory (GML)—to support the new U.S. Greenhouse Gas Measurement, Monitoring, and Information System.

Biden-Harris Administration releases Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Strategy

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration released a conceptual framework for a national system to measure, monitor and share information related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to meet U.S. commitments under the 2015 Paris Agreement. NOAA will commit its long-established, state-of-the-art capabilities in observation, modeling and data analysis to support this whole-of-government effort.

NOGAP survey completed its first flights to document greenhouse gas distribution across the U.S.

The National Observations of Greenhouse gasses Aircraft Profiles (NOGAP) survey completed the first of six loops around the United States to document and understand in great detail the vertical distribution of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) in the lower atmosphere.

2023 ozone hole ranks 12th largest on record, find NOAA and NASA

The 2023 Antarctic ozone hole reached its maximum size at 10 million square miles (26 million square kilometers) on September 21, which ranks as the 12th largest since 1979, according to annual satellite and balloon-based measurements made by NOAA and NASA.

NOAA's Global Monitoring Laboratory releases CarbonTracker-Methane 2023

Scientists in the Global Monitoring Laboratory released NOAA’s latest global atmospheric methane assimilation/flux inversion system, CarbonTracker-CH4 2023.

Photo feature: 'First bit of orange glow’ greets NOAA crew at South Pole

After six months of darkness, the return of the sun at the South Pole signals the arrival of spring in the Southern Hemisphere. For scientists at NOAA’s South Pole Atmospheric Baseline Observatory (SPO), that’s a welcome sight.

50th anniversary of CO2 measurements at NOAA’s Barrow Observatory

July 24, 2023 marked the 50^th anniversary of continuous measurements of CO₂ in the atmosphere at the Barrow, Alaska Atmospheric Baseline Observatory.

Revolutionary NOAA High-Altitude Research Tool Passes Key Milestone

The quest by Global Monitoring Laboratory scientists to develop a reliable, cost-effective way to study Earth’s stratosphere passed a significant milestone on May 17 when a remotely controlled glider, carried to an elevation of 90,000 feet by a weather balloon, returned to its launch location on Colorado’s Pawnee National Grasslands with its scientific payload intact.

Broken record: Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels jump again

Carbon dioxide levels measured at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory peaked at 424 parts per million in May, continuing a steady climb further into territory not seen for millions of years, scientists from NOAA and Scripps Institution of Oceanography offsite link at the University of California San Diego announced today.

NOAA index tracks how greenhouse gas pollution amplified global warming in 2022

Greenhouse gas pollution from human activity trapped 49 percent more heat in the atmosphere during 2022 than those same gases did in 1990, according to an annual NOAA report. NOAA’s Annual Greenhouse Gas Index, known as the AGGI, tracks increases in the warming influence of heat-trapping gases generated by human activity.

#EarthDay: Invest in our changing planet now to secure a more livable future

Since the first Earth Day, billions across the globe have invested their time, creativity and energy to honor and nurture our home planet. In the decades since April 22, 1970, however, global climate change has had an alarming effect on Earth and its inhabitants. So how is NOAA addressing climate change and other environmental challenges?

Greenhouse gases continued to increase rapidly in 2022

Levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide, the three greenhouse gases emitted by human activity that are the most significant contributors to climate change, continued their historically high rates of growth in the atmosphere during 2022, according to NOAA scientists.

The Montreal Protocol banned this family of ozone-depleting chemicals. Why are some still increasing?

The Montreal Protocol contained an exception that allowed continued production of some CFCs in the manufacture of other chemicals, including ozone-friendly CFC replacements called hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs. Scientists are now drawing attention to this exception not just because rising emissions of these chemicals potentially complicate recovery of the ozone layer, but because they are also potent greenhouse gases contributing to global warming.

Vanda Grubišić named director of NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory

Vanda Grubišić, Ph.D., a research meteorologist and experienced scientific leader, has been named the director of NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. Grubišić will join one of the world’s preeminent research institutions for monitoring long-term changes in the atmosphere, including those caused by climate change. She starts on March 27.