Many people know about the effect of atmospheric rivers on the Western U.S., but they affect the Eastern U.S., too. Wintertime atmospheric river frequency over the Eastern U.S. has risen in the past four decades.
News & Features
Floods and landslides along the U.S. West Coast in January 2023 have happened thanks to an atmospheric river. Satellites can easily spot these rivers over the ocean, observing their structure is harder over land. So NOAA has developed on-the-ground atmospheric river observatories.
The World Meteorological Organization has declared 2023’s Tropical Cyclone Freddy to be the longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record, at 36 days. Freddy covered a distance nearly a third of Earth’s circumference.
As NOAA adopts 1991–2020 as the new 30-year period of record, “average” hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean will increase. Average activity for the new period of record means 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes, and 3 major hurricanes.
New research that provides the most comprehensive calculations of aviation’s impact on the climate finds that global air travel and transport is responsible for 3.5 percent of all drivers of climate…
New research in Geophysical Research Letters and partially funded by CPO's AC4 program found that the Bakken Formation, an oil and gas field in North Dakota and Montana, is responsible for roughly 2…
The Northern Hemisphere’s aerosols and land reflect more sunlight, balanced by the Southern Hemisphere’s low- and mid-level clouds. Both hemispheres are darkening, but it’s unclear if this change is happening equally.
The drought of the 1950s was among the most widespread, severe and sustained ever experienced in the United States, exceeding that of the 1930s "Dust Bowl" in several states. Specifically, the 1950s…
Scientists hope to understand why Cheeca Rocks and other inshore patch reefs have shown greater resilience to environmental stressors such as bleaching, disease, and overfishing.
NOAA PMEL oceanographers and colleagues are leading an effort to establish first-of-their-kind standards for calculating and reporting trends in ocean acidification observations