Coral reefs are important and productive ocean ecosystems, providing shelter and protection for diverse sea life. NOAA's latest seasonal outlook for coral bleaching shows potential for bleaching along the Pacific coast of Mexico and islands in the equatorial central Pacific Ocean.
The Sun's average brightness varies over time, and the changes can affect global surface temperature. But long-term changes over the period of human-caused global warming are minimal.
The amount of sea ice that survives the Arctic summer has declined by 13 percent per decade since the start of the 43-year satellite record.
In the past 60 years, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased 100 times faster than it did during the end of the last ice age.
Earth's surface temperature in 2021 was 1.87 °Fahrenheit warmer than the 20th-century average.
The Oceanic Nino Index tracks the sea surface temperature in the east-central tropical Pacific Ocean. It is NOAA's primary indicator of the climate patterns known as El Niño and La Niña.
Earth had its sixth-warmest July on record, with extreme dryness over Europe, the U.S. West, western Australia, and central South America, and extreme wetness over eastern Australia, east-central Africa, and parts of the Middle East.
The tropical Pacific appears to be hopelessly devoted to La Niña for at least the early part of winter.
On average, July is the United States hottest month of the year. But where did this July fall in the historical record? See highlights from the monthly U.S. summary from NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.
From the coasts of South America to the Galapagos Islands, the story of ENSO cannot be told without discussing its impact on marine life. But just as ENSO can affect climate patterns thousands of miles away from the equatorial Pacific, ENSO can also affect marine life. And there is no better example of this than its impacts on Salmon across the North Pacific. In this interview with expert Dr. Nate Mantua, learn all about the complexities of salmon and ENSO.