Topic: NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory

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Hey, what happened to winter? What its wimpiness portends for spring.

Despite a few powerful snowstorms, the winter of 2011-12, with record-breaking temperatures and less precipitation than normal, has been the fourth warmest on record in the US. What gives?
Raging wildfires: Climate changes to blame for record season?

Many scientists suggest that climate changes could be causing certain kinds of wildfires for which the West's forests are not well adapted. This year could help researchers better understand and fight the trend.
The new water wars? Study shows broad decline in Rockies snowpack.

Many studies have documented the West's declining snowpack. But a new one, published Friday in the journal Science, covers the length of the Rockies over an 800-year period.
Why has global warming paused? Water vapor may be in the answer.

A decline in stratospheric water vapor between 2000 and 2009 followed an apparent increase between 1980 and 2000, a team of scientists has found. That finding may have implications for global warming.
The next major threat to the ozone layer: nitrous oxide

Each molecule remains in the atmosphere for about 100 years, meaning the gas can deplete the ozone layer as much others covered by the 1987 Montreal Protocol.
Horizons
Climate change could be 'irreversible' for 1,000 years? Gulp!

Rather than a call to throw up one's hands in discouragement, the results show the importance of acting quickly to reduce emissions and so limit the very long-lived effects
What’s black and dirty and messing with the climate?

Soot, derived from many sources, needs to be looked at more closely by atmospheric researchers.
U.S. scientists to study Arctic smog

Key question: Is air pollution from lower latitudes causing the region's recent warming?