What's New
Click image to see full graphic (Source: NOAA Climate.gov)
Despite rapid Arctic warming, plan for more frigid spells
New research on the Arctic confirms that even as the Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the world, cold-air outbreaks from the polar region will continue across the Northern Hemisphere in the coming decades.
The big challenge now is to better understand what triggers these cold-air outbreak events and how to improve their predictability.
Much of the previous research has shown how a weakening of the ... more
In the News
After a twelve-month set of climate records driven by global warming it is time to take stock of how we’re impacting the planet as a species. One of the driving forces... more
El Niño is expected to gain strength and flaunt its muscle this winter, and forecasters are closely watching ocean temperatures to determine just how strong the El Niño... more
The prospect of a possible El Niño summer, with the hot and dry conditions it’s known for in Australia, can be frightening. The winter has already been dry in parts of... more
Featured Publication
Fifty years ago, NOAA created a new environmental research laboratory in Seattle with an initial focus on water quality in Puget Sound, and environmental studies of the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea.
Since then, the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory has evolved into one of the world's leading ocean research institutes, specializing in observing ocean conditions from tsunamis to changes in climate and ocean chemistry with the aid of innovative instrumentation and measurement... more