National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (noaa)

climate change reversibility

The notion that we can reverse climate change by cutting emissions is one of the most commonly held myths — and one of the most dangerous. Instead, climate change is “largely irreversible for 1000 years.”[read more]

Last year was officially the hottest ever recorded for the lower-48 states. Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tallied weather and temperature data for 2012, and found that the year was both the warmest and the second-most extreme for weather ever recorded for the contiguous U.S.[read more]

On November 7 the American people woke up to a post-election Washington, D.C., that looks an awful lot like pre-election Washington, D.C. President Barack Obama earned a four-year extension on his lease at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and his Democratic colleagues retained their hold on the Senate, and Speaker of the...[read more]

The average global land surface temperature between June and August of 2012 was the warmest ever recorded, according to data from the National Climatic Data Center. The three month period saw an average land temperature that was 1.03°C (1.85°F) above the 20th century average.When factored with ocean surface temperature, the average...[read more]

Thermometer via Shutterstock

The summer of 2012 has come to a close, but it won’t be forgotten anytime soon. It delivered one extreme weather event after another, from heat waves to freak storms, wildfires to drought. People lost their homes and livelihoods, yet even as they try to pick up the pieces, more powerful weather systems are looming on the horizon.Extreme...[read more]

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports that last month was, on average, the hottest July on record for the contiguous United States, beating the previous record set in the dust bowl of 1936. The past 12 months have been the hottest ever recorded in the US, with more than 27,000 heat records broken so far this...[read more]

Frances Beinecke, President of NRDC, New York CityOn Wednesday, the Senate Environment and Public Works committee takes up the important issue of climate change science and adaptation.Hopefully, it's a first step toward some real solutions to address record heat, drought, storms and other effects of climate change that we're now all...[read more]

NOAA has released its “State of the Climate Global Analysis” for May 2012. Here are the highlights:The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for May 2012 was 0.66°C (1.19°F) above the 20th century average of 14.8°C (58.6°F). This is the second warmest May since records began in 1880, behind only 2010.The Northern...[read more]

Introduction In Cracking the Carbon Code, Terry Tamminen lays out his strategy for managing and reducing carbon emissions. He describes what California has done. He describes great strides that China has made. He describes his strategic meetings on the subject with President Obama prior to his election. He makes estimates on what the...[read more]

The latest data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atomospheric Agency's (NOAA) Earth Systems Research Laboratory shows that carbon dioxide levels have reached the highest the laboratory has ever recorded in its 50 year history. Located 12,000 feet above sea level in Mauna Loi, Hawaii, this NOAA atmospheric monitoring station is...[read more]