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Arctic sea ice extent in August 2009. Image courtesy of NOAA's Environmental Visualization Laboratory.

Study gives further proof that changes in the Arctic have huge impacts across the globe

In a paper now online and to be published in the January issue of Tellus, Jim Overland from NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and Muyin Wang from the Joint Institute for the Study of Oceans and Atmosphere at the University of Washington, discuss how large-scale atmospheric circulation changes are associated with the recent loss of Arctic sea ice. The most important conclusion from this new study, combined with several other recent studies, is that the loss of summer Arctic sea ice can have an impact on the larger Northern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation, further proof that what happens in the Arctic can have large-scale effects across the globe. The Arctic Research Program in CPO's Climate Observations Division supported this paper.

Aerosol layer from fires burning in Russia observed from the NOAA WP-3 aircraft over Alaska in April 2008.

Biomass burning in Russia is an important contributor to "Arctic haze," ESRL scientists say

A recent paper published January 6 in Geophysical Research Letters shows that biomass burning is a more important source of pollution to the Arctic than previously believed. In the study, scientists from the Earth System Research Laboratory utilized results from the 2008 NOAA Aerosols, Radiation, and Cloud Processes affecting Arctic Climate (ARCPAC) field project. Long-range transport of pollutants from Eurasia and North America cause elevated levels of particles to build up in the winter and spring, commonly called "Arctic haze."

National Weather Service Publishes Pacific Islands Precipitation Frequency Estimates

The National Weather Service Office of Hydrology's Hydrometeological Design Studies Center (HDSC) published NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 5: Precipitation-Frequency Atlas of the United States, Selected Pacific Islands. The Atlas contains precipitation frequency estimates for selected durations and frequencies and supplementary information on temporal distribution of heavy precipitation, analysis of seasonality, analysis of trends in annual maximum series data, and other information for selected Pacific Islands.

The Ultraclean Geochemistry Laboratory will be housed in the Comer Geochemistry Building on Columbia University's Lamont Campus.

NIST Awards $123 Million in Recovery Act Grants To Construct New Research Facilities

On January 8, the U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) awarded more than $123 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants to support the construction of new scientific research facilities at 11 universities and one non-profit research organization.

Photo courtesy of U.S. Global Change Research Program.

Advancing our understanding of how aerosols affect climate and human health

It's no secret that the emissions leaving a car tailpipe or factory smokestack affect climate and air quality. Even trees release chemicals that influence the atmosphere. But until now, scientists have struggled to know where these organic molecules go and what happens to them once they leave their source, leading to prediction models for climate and air quality that are incomplete or less than accurate.