Latest Earth System Research Laboratory Stories

  During the 2010 BP/Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill, an estimated one of every 20 barrels of spilled oil was deliberately burned off to reduce the size of surface oil slicks and minimize impacts of oil on sensitive shoreline ecosystems and marine life. In response to the spill, NOAA quickly redirected its WP-3D research aircraft to survey the atmosphere above the spill site in June. During a flight through one of the black plumes, scientists used sophisticated instrumentation on board,...

Volcanic ash from small-scale eruptions and soot resulting from the burning of fossil fuels may be responsible by slowing the rate of global warming up by to 20-percent, according to the results of a new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) study released Thursday.Particles such as these, commonly referred to as "aerosols", can reflect sunlight back into space once they reach the stratosphere, which according to an NOAA press release, "leads to a cooling...

Cigarette smoking, forest fires and woodburning can release a chemical that may be at least partly responsible for human health problems related to smoke exposure, according to a new study by NOAA researchers and their colleagues.Using a custom mass spectrometer designed by the researchers, the NOAA-led team was able get the first look at levels of the chemical, isocyanic acid, in the atmosphere. Isocyanic acid has been difficult to detect with conventional measurement techniques."We...

New dataset provides understanding of Earth's past and future climateFrom the hurricane that smashed into New York in 1938 to the impact of the Krakatoa eruption of 1883, the late 19th and 20th centuries are rich with examples of extreme weather. Now an international team of climatologists have created a comprehensive reanalysis of all global weather events from 1871 to the present day, and from the earth's surface to the jet stream level.The 20th Century Reanalysis Project, outlined in the...

WASHINGTON, April 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has successfully completed the first science flight of the Global Hawk unpiloted aircraft system over the Pacific Ocean. The flight was the first of five scheduled for this month's Global Hawk Pacific, or GloPac, mission to study atmospheric science over the Pacific and Arctic oceans. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The Global Hawk is a robotic plane that can fly autonomously to altitudes above 60,000 feet...

NASA has successfully completed the first science flight of the Global Hawk unpiloted aircraft system over the Pacific Ocean. The flight was the first of five scheduled for this month's Global Hawk Pacific, or GloPac, mission to study atmospheric science over the Pacific and Arctic oceans.The Global Hawk is a robotic plane that can fly autonomously to altitudes above 60,000 feet -- roughly twice as high as a commercial airliner -- and as far as 11,000 nautical miles, which is half the...

Technology developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has helped boost the military's accuracy of airdrops by up to 70 percent. Wind directions and speeds are often tough to determine, and can easily blow cargo, vehicles and paratroopers away from their intended targets. This can be a particular problem in mountainous terrain such as Afghanistan.In response, the Defense Department looked to NOAA for help in developing its program to improve wind forecasts. NOAA...

NOAA scientists are now flying through springtime Arctic pollution to find out why the region is warming "” and summertime sea ice is melting "” faster than predicted. Some 35 NOAA researchers are gathering with government and university colleagues in Fairbanks, Alaska, to conduct the study through April 23."The Arctic is changing before our eyes," said A.R. Ravishankara, director of the chemistry division at NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo. "Capturing in detail...

WASHINGTON -- With concern growing about global warming, researchers said Wednesday they have developed a new system to track carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Being able to determine where and when this major greenhouse gas increases or decreases should help in projecting future climate change and evaluating efforts to reduce releases of carbon. "This is a pretty exciting opportunity," said Richard Spinrad, head of research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.It...