News & Features

A new study finds that more frequent rocket launches may harm Earth’s ozone layer. The finding highlights the need to better understand the impact of space travel on ozone and climate.

A new study finds that global warming contributed to a 13-percent decline in tropical cyclones worldwide over the 20th century. The North Atlantic bucked this trend, though. More frequent North Atlantic hurricanes could be caused by decreasing human-caused aerosols.

Alaska is more than 4,000 miles from the equator. Does the influence of El Niño and La Niña reach that far?

Sparked by lightning on May 31, the East Fork Fire spread swiftly across the Alaskan tundra, threatening four Yup’ik villages by mid-June. NOAA updated local residents, as well as state and national news media about the rapidly evolving situation. Though unrelated to the fire’s source, climate change likely contributed to the fire’s rapid growth to historic proportions.

As of 2023, the warming effect of long-lived greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere had increased by 51% compared to 1990. Relative to pre-industrial times, today's atmosphere absorbs more than 3 extra watts of energy per square meter.

May 2022 was the ninth-warmest May in the 143-year NOAA record. Despite La Niña, there's a greater than 99 percent chance that 2022 will rank among the 10 warmest years on record.

June 8, 2022 was World Ocean Day. The global ocean covers roughly 70 percent of Earth’s surface and produces at least half of the world’s oxygen. It’s home to most of Earth’s biodiversity, and the main source of protein for more than a billion people.

Great Lakes ice cover affects activities ranging from shipping to recreation. Accurate forecasts are critical, but forecast products have been spatially and temporally limited. The next generation of NOAA’s Great Lakes Operational Forecast System (GLOFS) aims to fill information gaps.

The chances that La Niña will last through summer are only slightly higher than the chances of a short dip into neutral before returning to La Niña by early winter. How will it affect the hurricane season?

Summer-like heat felt across much of the South during May. Drought conditions improve for some, yet remain across much of the West.