News
October 25, 2016
Antarctic ozone hole about average in 2016
The hole in the Earth’s ozone layer that forms over Antarctica each September grew to about 8.9 million square miles in 2016 before starting to recover, according to scientists from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) who monitor the annual phenomenon.October 12, 2016
4 ways the ozone hole is linked to climate, and 1 way it isn’t
To mark the peak of ozone hole season, we’re highlighting four ways that climate and the ozone hole are related—and one important way they aren’t.October 6, 2016
Study finds fossil fuel methane emissions greater than previously estimated
Methane emissions from fossil fuel development around the world are up to 60 percent greater than estimated by previous studies, according to new research led by scientists from NOAA and CIRES.October 3, 2016
Carbon dioxide levels race past troubling milestone
Carbon dioxide levels in the Earth’s atmosphere passed a troubling milestone for good this summer, locking in levels of the heat-trapping gas not seen for millions of years. Every year, the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) rises during winter and then falls slightly during the Northern Hemisphere’s growing season, as plants take up this greenhouse gas during photosynthesis. But this year, for the first time since before the Ice Age, CO2 will not fall below 400 ppm.September 30, 2016
Pacific Oxidants, Sulfur, Ice, Dehydration, and cONvection (POSIDON) Experiment
The NASA Pacific Oxidants, Sulfur, Ice, Dehydration, and cONvection (POSIDON) Experiment is a focused airborne science mission to study the ozone distribution, sulfur chemistry, very short-lived ozone depleting species (VSLS), cloud microphysics, and dehydration in the tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere over the western Pacific.September 22, 2016
ESRL's Brad Hall wins Governor's Award for High Impact Research
Brad Hall, a research scientist in the Global Monitoring Division of NOAA/ESRL, has been named a winner of the 2016 Governor's Award for High-Impact Research for his work on improving existing techniques to make calibration standards and measurements of very low concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone-depleting gases like chlorofluorocarbons.September 19, 2016
NOAA “reels in” data on Utah’s winter ozone problem
A deep sea fishing rod is probably not the first tool that comes to mind when thinking about how to study air pollution in a remote inland desert, but it’s the heart of a new NOAA system that has given scientists a minute-by-minute look at how quickly the sun can convert oil and gas facility emissions to harmful ground-level ozone.August 2, 2016
2015 State of the Climate: Carbon Dioxide
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.July 28, 2016
Robert (Bob) D. Evans of ESRL Global Monitoring Division receives the prestigious IO3C Farman Award Nomination
Robert (Bob) D. Evans of ESRL Global Monitoring Division receives the prestigious IO3C Farman Award Nomination For Sustaining a Long-term Inter-calibrated World-wide Dobson Total Ozone Observing Network. The "Joseph C. Farman Award" is granted to one or more outstanding scientists who have created and used high-quality, long-term time series of atmospheric measurements related to the study of atmospheric ozone and/or surface ultraviolet radiation.July 8, 2016
Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom)
The Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom) is a NASA-funded multi-agency effort using the NASA DC-8 research aircraft to systematically sample trace gases and aerosols from sea level to the stratosphere on 10 pole-to-pole flights covering the Atlantic and Pacific oceans over the next 3 years. ATom will study the impact of human-produced air pollution on greenhouse gases and on chemically reactive gases in the atmosphere with a focus on ozone, methane, and black carbon, as well as atmospheric particulate matter.June 22, 2016
As Alaska warms, methane emissions appear stable
Analysis of nearly three decades of air samples from Alaska’s North Slope shows little change in long-term methane emissions despite significant Arctic warming over that time period, according to new research published in Geophysical Research Letters.June 21, 2016
MLO Science Fair Awards
Every year MLO contributes to the local Science Fair event. This year Samantha Yamamoto & Maile Birlhante won the junior research award with their project 'Light Dispersing'. Kendra Puleo won the second award with 'Ocean acidification effect on the food chain.' Kylan K. Sakata won the senior division award with 'Verifying special relativity over time dilation through moon decay at variable altitudes' and Moana Lily Pinner won the second award with 'Investigating the SPF, anti-oxidant and anti cancer potential of turmeric and ginger.'June 15, 2016
South Pole is last place on Earth to pass global warming milestone
The Earth passed another unfortunate milestone May 23 when carbon dioxide surpassed 400 parts per million (ppm) at the South Pole for the first time in 4 million years.May 20, 2016
Arctic set for record-breaking melt this summer
The record heat baking Alaska is poised to smash a host of climate records in 2016, including the earliest snowmelt date at NOAA’s Barrow Observatory, the northernmost point in the nation.May 18, 2016