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How the Climate System Works
- Department:December 21, 2016
How does La Niña and the jet stream impact winter conditions in the United States?
- Department:November 23, 2016
Are sea surface temperatures located north of the equator important for El Niño or La Niña development? Yes! Introducing the Pacific Meridional Mode.
- Department:October 12, 2016
The ozone hole didn't cause global warming, but climate and the ozone hole are related in other ways.
- Department:October 6, 2016
Sometimes, on a long journey, it’s good to revisit the basics. That’s the theme for this edition of Beyond the Data. We’re going old school, looking at some good old climatology adages and truisms, through the lens of a sturdy, reliable warhorse of a dataset.
- Department:August 2, 2016
Globally, 2015 set a new record for the most extremely warm days in the 66-year record (1.8 times more than the average). The number of extremely warm days and nights was the highest ever recorded in western North America, parts of central Europe, and central Asia.
- Department:August 2, 2016
2015 was a tough year for vegetation, both natural and agricultural, with a near-record area of global land surfaces in some state of drought.
- Department:August 2, 2016
Using measurements taken worldwide, scientists estimated that 2015’s global average carbon dioxide concentration was 399.4 parts per million (ppm), a new record high. At Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawai’i, where atmospheric carbon dioxide has been recorded longer than anywhere else in the world, the annual average carbon dioxide concentration was 400.8—also a new record, and a new milestone.
- Department:August 2, 2016
In 2015, glaciers across the globe, on average, continued to shrink for the 36th consecutive year.
- Department:August 2, 2016
Ocean heat storage has increased substantially since 1993, hitting a record high in 2015, according to the State of the Climate in 2015 report. Ocean warming accounts for over 90% of the warming in Earth’s climate system.
- Department:August 2, 2016
The global mean sea level in 2015 was approximately 7 centimeters (2.7 inches) above the 1993 average, making it the highest observed since the satellite altimeter record began in 1993. Regional variations highlighted the short-term influence of climate phenomena like the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the largest El Niño event since 1997/98.