NOAA Archives - State of the Planet

A Key U.S. Earth-Sciences Official Visits Columbia to Explore Research Ideas

Oceanographer Richard Spinrad of NOAA participated in a town hall and discussed funding opportunities with Columbia Climate School researchers.

by |March 29, 2022

Rebuilding America’s Environmental Agencies and Environmental Consensus

If we can wed the genius of free enterprise to the goal of a less polluted planet, we might find a pathway back to an American environmental consensus.

by |November 9, 2020

How Will the Ocean Carbon Cycle Evolve in the Future? New Project Aims to Find Out

A new effort to analyze the ocean’s ability to take up CO2 will be important for predicting the effectiveness of climate change mitigation efforts.

by |September 28, 2020
cumulous cloud over mountains

New Project Will Analyze Clouds to Make Future Climate Less Nebulous

Understanding how clouds respond to climate change will be essential for predicting how much hotter the planet could get.

by |September 1, 2020

2016 Sets Another Record for Warmth

The news doesn’t come as a surprise to scientists and others who’ve been watching, but marks a milestone nonetheless: 2016 was the warmest year on record, dating back to the start of modern record keeping in 1880.

by |January 18, 2017

In 2015: Hot, Wet and Opinionated

This year is shaping up to be the warmest year on record since 1880, according to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And, perhaps not so coincidentally, a new poll says more people in the United States are coming around to the view that climate change is happening.

by |October 23, 2015
hurricanes, hurricane prediction

Behind the Expected Quiet 2015 Hurricane Season

On May 27, 2015, NOAA officially announced a likely below-normal Atlantic Hurricane season is coming up. The range for the possible numbers of major hurricanes is 0-2. What are the reasons behind it? How precise are these numbers?

by |June 2, 2015

Project Aims to Strengthen Climate Resilience

The Caribbean, Asia’s Indo-Gangetic Plain and West Africa are three regions known to be extremely vulnerable to climate variability and change, particularly to droughts, extreme weather events and stresses on food production, water resources and coastal areas. A new five-year project jointly led by the International Research Institute for Climate and Society and the University of Arizona aims to strengthen climate resilience in these regions using strategies in the sectors of water resources, hazard risk management and coastal planning and management.

by |May 29, 2014

2013 Ranks in Top 10 Warmest Years

Last year was one of the warmest on record, according to analyses of global temperature data by NASA and NOAA. Both federal agencies placed 2013 among the top 10 warmest years since records began in 1880, continuing a longer-term trend of global warming.

by |January 22, 2014
Cynthia Rosenzweig, GISS, Paul Ehrlich, AAAS 2013

Making Sense of Climate’s Impact on Food Security

From warmer temperatures to natural disasters such as flooding and drought, changing patterns of climate are having billion-dollar impacts on our food-growing systems. But scientists are struggling to find ways to measure and predict what may happen in the future—and to translate that into policies to help feed a bulging world population.

by |February 17, 2013