The first half of 2012 was the hottest Jan-June period in the contiguous US states since record-keeping began 118 years ago, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)*.
Tags: · Climate Change, heat, hottest weather, NOAA, temperatures, U.S.
Now it’s official: March 2012 was warmest on record in the continental US.
Unseasonably hot temperatures slammed into the Midwest, Eastern and Southern states, creating a sudden spring, and shattering more than 15,000 warm temperature records for localities in dozens of states from Maine to Nevada, and Georgia to Texas.
Tags: · Climate Change, heat, March 2012, NOAA, record-breaking heat, warm temperature records, warmer weather
July 2010 was the second hottest July in the 32-year history of charting temperatures by satellite, according to preliminary records kept by the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
The global average temperature was only 0.03 C cooler than the record set in July 1998, said Dr. John Christy, professor of atmospheric science and director of the Earth System Science Center
Tags: · Climate Change, Earth System Science Center, ESSC, global warming, John Christy, July, NASA, NOAA, rising temperatures, Roy Spencer, satellite temperature recording, second hottest July on record, summer heat
Congress debates it. Nations argue about how to address it. But its existence is “unmistakable” according to the 2009 State of the Climate report released Wednesday.
Global warming is happening.
State of the Climate, which drew on work by 300 scientists in 160 research groups in 48 countries, confirms that the past decade of 2000-2009 was the warmest on record, and that Earth has been growing warmer over the past 50 years.
The research groups looked at 10 indicators, and confirmed that seven are going up, making the world slightly, but significantly warmer.
Tags: · 200-2009 hottest on record, 2010 hottest on record, Climate Change, climate trends, Fossil Fuels, global warming, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, State of the Climate, State of the Climate report, weather trends
You’ve probably encountered those “Don’t Feed the Bears” signs in national parks. Well, it’s true of dolphins also.
NOAA has put out notice that the public should not feed, corral, swim or approach dolphins in the gulf, even if they appear distressed from possible exposure to the oil spill.
But residents concerned about suffering or stranded dolphins should call in about them on the federal government’s wildlife hotline at 866-557-1401.
While they wait for a response team, they can and should:
Tags: · bottlenose dolphins, BP oil spill, Deepwater Horizon, dolphins, Gulf of Mexico, marine mammals, NOAA, oil, oil spill, Wildlife
Goodness knows everyone wants to help. Take the thousands of people who swept up more than 400,000 pounds of human hair and animal fur (dogs, cats, even alpacas) to stuff inside what are essentially gigantic panty hose in an effort to soak up the oozing oil. (Unfortunately, engineers have said that’s not going to help much.) But where, when and how, will this gusher be stopped, and how can the damage be blunted? Pretty much everyone’s on the case.
Tags: · BP oil spill, Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Doug Helton, Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Gulf oil spill, hay video, Innocentive, national laboratories, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, oil spill solutions, Pat Campbell, scientists at gulf oil spill
Gulf currents (Image: NOAA)
Tags: · BP oil spill, Florida coast, Gulf of Mexico currents, Loop Current, NOAA, oil entrained in Loop Current, tarballs
Government experts reported today that those tarballs found on beaches in the Florida Keys earlier this week are NOT from the BP Oil Spill. Coast Guard experts tested samples of the 20-odd tar balls found at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park in Key West and “determined that none of the collected samples are from the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill,” according to a news release from the oil spill response team.
Tags: · beaches, BP oil spill, Florida Keys, NOAA, tarballs
I have been working for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA), National Ocean Service since 1999. Currently as the National Education Liaison for the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, I work with various partners, such as National Geographic 
Society and the Institute for Exploration on national and regional educational programs that enhance public awareness, understanding and appreciation of the marine environment, particularly America’s underwater treasures, known as national marine sanctuaries.
Tags: · blue planet, California, Claire Fackler, Hawaii, marine life, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, Ocean for Life, Ocean Guardian Kids Club, Oceans
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
Environmentalists are questioning whether climate change solutions and green jobs will be adequately folded into the discussion at the economic discussion of the G20 countries this week.
It remains to be seen. But here at home those passionate about fighting global warming are raising the rhetoric, even in quarters where the bureaucrats usually remain comfortably quiet and noncommittal.
Tags: · BarbaraKesslerBlog, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, G20, Jane Lubchenco, National Academies of Science, NOAA, Worldwatch Institute
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
What happens when salmon are given a pesticide cocktail? The effects are more pronounced than the damage done from exposure a single pesticide, according to a study just released in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal.
In an attempt to replicate real world pesticide exposures, researchers from NOAA Fisheries Service and Washington State University studied how coho salmon reacted to five common pesticides, individually and in various combinations.
They found that almost every pesticide pairing resulted in a chemical reaction in the brain – a reduction of an enzyme – that could lead to the accumulation of acetylcholine, which would affect the salmon’s behavior, jeopardizing its ability to survive.
Tags: · carbaryl, carbofuran, chlorpyrifos, diaznon, Environmental Health Perspectives, malathion, NOAA, pesticides, Salmon, Washington State University
By Barbara Kessler It may not be news to riverside residents of flooded Iowa and Missouri, or to many climate scientists, but the government made it official this week: Climate change means wilder weather.
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Barbara Kessler
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