News & Features

On May 27, 2021, NOAA’s Climate Program Office hosted a meeting of US agencies and several external partners involved in international coastal blue carbon research, capacity building, and climate policy, for the purpose of advancing collaboration through the recently established NOAA Blue Carbon Inventory (BCI) Project.

On May 24, the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) hosted a Drought Update and Wildfire Outlook Webinar for California and the Southwest. The webinar summary and recording are now available. The webinar provided stakeholders and other interested parties in the region with timely information on the current drought status and outlook, as well as the wildland fire potential outlook.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide measured at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory peaked for 2021. In May, the monthly average reached 419 parts per million (ppm), the highest level since accurate measurements began 63 years ago.

NOAA and Boeing are teaming up to evaluate the best placement for a NOAA greenhouse gas sampling system on a commercial jet. This is a first step toward an expansion of NOAA’s global atmospheric sampling network to include commercial airliners in the U.S. and International airlines in these critical data-gathering efforts.

NOAA Sea Grant in North Carolina partnered with state and local groups to evaluate strategies for coping with inland road flooding during tropical storms and hurricanes.

An early summer heatwave across the drought-stricken West smashed records in seven states as temperatures cleared 100 degrees Fahrenheit for days on end.

May 2021 global surface temperature was 1.46°F above the 20th-century average, tying with 2018 as the sixth-warmest May in the 142-year record.

May 2021 was mild across much of the contiguous U.S., with dry conditions widespread across the West, the Northern Plains, the Ohio Valley, and the Mid-Atlantic.

Marine scientist Flo La Valle's life has taken her from the Philippines, to Rome, to Hawaii. A love for coastal ecosystems and the communities they support has stayed with her.

From algae growth and sea ice to tsunamis, moored ocean buoys are vital to understanding and predicting the ocean.