The next solar cycle will be 30-50% stronger than the last one and begin as much as a year late, according to a breakthrough forecast using a computer model of solar dynamics. The prediction can help society plan for active bouts of solar storms.
A large research team is heading to Mexico City this month to assess the impact of air pollution on regional and global air quality, climate, and ecosystems. The project, known as MIRAGE, will rely on research flights and ground instruments to investigate the chemical and physical transformation of air pollution.
The nation's newest and most advanced research aircraft takes off this month on its first mission, studying a severe type of atmospheric turbulence that forms over mountains and endangers airplanes. The HIAPER aircraft will fly over treacherous whirlwinds, or rotors. as they form above California's Sierra Nevada mountains.
A five-year, $8.8 million pilot project to examine whether seeding clouds with silver iodide produces a measurable increase in snowfall over Wyoming mountains begins this month. Scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) designed the experiment.
Over half of the Northern Hemisphere's topmost layer of permafrost could thaw by 2050 and as much as 90 percent by 2100. The thaw would alter ecosystems, damage buildings, add runoff to the Arctic Ocean, and release vast amounts of carbon.
New simulations of 21st-century climate show that human-produced changes in land cover could produce additional warming in the Amazon region comparable to that caused by greenhouse gases, while counteracting greenhouse warming by 25% to 50% in some midlatitude areas.
The growth of Chinese imports in the U.S. economy boosted the total emissions of carbon dioxide from the two countries by over 700 million metric tons between 1997 and 2003, according to an analysis.
Two of the nation's leading digital science libraries will offer free online workshops on December 6 and 8 to teachers in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. Textbooks and other traditional materials remain in short supply there. The libraries are operated by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.
Storms will dump heavier rain and snow around the world as Earth's climate warms over the coming century, according to several leading computer models. Now a study explains how and where warmer oceans and atmosphere will produce more intense precipitation.
An advanced research weather model run by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is following Hurricane Rita to give scientists a taste of how forecast models of the future may predict hurricane track, intensity, and important rain and wind features.
A joint study shows the number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes worldwide has nearly doubled over the past 35 years, even though the total number of hurricanes has dropped since the 1990s. Meanwhile, sea surface temperatures have risen across the globe.
In this record-breaking year, where will the next research breakthroughs in hurricane forecasting, tracking, and impacts come from?
Scientists have created a detailed computer simulation showing Earth's climate at the time of the greatest mass extinction in history. The work supports a theory that increased atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide triggered the Permian extinction 251 million years ago.
Innovative online courses are helping NOAA forecasters protect the public from rip currents. These narrow, fast-moving currents carry around 100 U.S. swimmers to their deaths each year, and lifeguards rescue some 50,000 others ensnared in the deadly flows.
Wildfires in Alaska and Canada in 2004 emitted as much carbon monoxide as did human-related activities in the continental United States during the same time period, according to new research by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).
Warmer oceans, more moisture in the atmosphere, and other factors suggest that human-induced climate change will increase hurricane intensity and rainfall, according to climate expert Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
A new water vapor sensor developed partly at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research will improve a wide range of weather forecasts to make flying safer, allow airlines to expand routes, provide alternate landing options, and save fuel.
A multibeam Doppler radar that scans storms every 5 to 10 seconds is prowling the Great Plains through June in search of its first close-up tornado. The National Center for Atmospheric Research helped develop the Rapid-Scan Doppler on Wheels and a powerful technique to analyze its data in 3-D.
New research links a particular magnetic structure on the Sun with the genesis of powerful solar storms that can buffet Earth's atmosphere. The research may enable scientists to eventually forecast the storms, known as coronal mass ejections, days before they occur.
Africa's Sahel region, drought-scarred into the 1990s, could get wetter monsoons for decades to come. However, drought across southern Africa is projected to intensify further. Oceanic warming consistent with an increase in greenhouse gases appears to be a factor.
Even if all greenhouse gases had been stabilized in the year 2000, we would still be committed to a warmer Earth and greater sea level rise in the present century, according to a new study by a team of climate modelers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
The United States exports nitrogen pollution beyond its borders, and some of this nitrogen may end up in Western Europe. Most of the nitrogen pollution produced in Western Europe is deposited within its own boundaries.
On February 16, the Kyoto Protocol will take effect. A number of NCAR scientists are available to comment on the latest developments in climate research and how the protocol may affect future climate change.
The percentage of Earth's land area stricken by serious drought has more than doubled since the 1970s, according to a new analysis by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Rising global temperatures appear to be a major factor.
New technology that detects and measures heavy freezing drizzle could save airlines millions of dollars in engine repairs. Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research developed the system, which will be installed this winter at Denver International Airport.
A closer look at earlier studies of the Sun and Sun-like stars casts doubt on evidence of long-term solar cycles, their intensity, and their possible influence on Earth's climate.
Newly documented small-scale circulations within squall lines produce damaging straight-line winds and up to 20% of all U.S. tornadoes, according to a Midwest field study organized by the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
Days and nights when the air temperature dips below freezing will become increasingly less common by the late 21st century across much of the world, according to a modeling study by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
Scientists have made their first direct discovery of a planet orbiting a bright star using a network of small telescopes and the "transit method" of detection. The team analyzed the shadow cast by the planet as it passed between its star and Earth.
Heat waves in Chicago, Paris, and elsewhere in North America and Europe will become more intense, more frequent, and longer lasting in the 21st century, according to a new modeling study by two scientists.
From Mazatlán to Tucson, the NCAR is analyzing moisture-laden skies as part of the largest study yet of the North American Monsoon, the summer rains that affect dryland farming, ranching, and wildfire control across the southwest United States and northwest Mexico.
A powerful new instrument heading to space this Saturday is expected to send back long-sought answers about greenhouse gases, atmospheric cleansers and pollutants, and the destruction and recovery of the ozone layer.
A group of middle- and high-school educators is spending two weeks at the NCAR for a NASA-sponsored course in scientific modeling. The teachers are learning how computer-based models are built, how Earth-system scientists use them, and how the models can support geoscience education.
UCAR has purchased a large-scale, Linux-based computing system that will allow NCAR's major community climate and weather codes to be built, tested, and evaluated in a full-scale Linux environment for the first time.
The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) on June 23 is unveiling a powerful new version of a supercomputer-based system to model Earth's climate and project global temperature rise in coming decades.
As Venus traverses the Sun, NCAR's Timothy Brown will study the chemical composition and winds of the planet's upper atmosphere, a region poorly observed until now. He applies the same technique, called spectroscopy, to piece together atmospheric data on an extrasolar planet 150 light years from Earth.
A new instrument developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research has captured landmark imagery of fast-evolving magnetic structures in the solar atmosphere.
Today Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research announced new research leading to an improved forecast of cycle 24. Predicting features of the solar cycle may help society anticipate sunspots and associated solar storms.
The release of the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" is spurring discussion about global climate change, with its depiction of giant storms and plummeting temperatures abruptly menacing the planet. But are the movie's climate scenarios plausible?
A C-130 research aircraft will fly over Colorado's Front Range this May and July to measure how much carbon dioxide mountain forests remove from the air as spring turns into summer. Scientists are developing new methods for assessing carbon uptake over complex terrain.
A new system that scans for potential airborne toxins near the Pentagon and predicts their motion and impact on the building is being tested through May 15. Scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research helped develop the system and are coordinating the tests.
NASA and an international science and education program called GLOBE are conducting a worldwide experiment on Earth Day, April 22, in celebration of GLOBE's tenth anniversary. Everyone interested in helping develop a better understanding of Earth is invited to join.
A team of researchers has been awarded $2 million to develop an advanced, computer-generated, data-driven system that will send real-time maps and predictions of a wildfire's next moves to wildfire incident management teams hundreds of miles away.
Timothy Killeen, director for the National Center for Atmospheric Research and an expert on the Earth's upper atmosphere, has been elected president of the American Geophysical Union. Killeen will take the helm on July 1, 2006, while continuing his role as NCAR director.
Global climate change poses a major threat to coral reefs, which already suffer from coastal development, overfishing, and pollution. A report warns that changes in surface ocean temperature and chemistry will continue to damage these biologically vital and economically important ecosystems.
Four scientists are studying the chemistry of sulfur and nitrogen in the air above Antarctica. The investigation will help them understand the continent's chemical processes better, as well as refine scientists' interpretations of ice cores, which provide information on past climates.
One of the first global-scale simulations of dust and climate from preindustrial times to the year 2100 projects a worldwide decrease in airborne dust of 20"“63% by the end of this century.
There is no doubt that human activities are having measurable--and increasing--impacts on global climate. Two scientists cite atmospheric observations and computer models to paint a detailed picture of climate changes in coming decades.
Findings from this year's active Atlantic hurricane season confirm that track forecasts have markedly improved, following advances at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that include the use of enhanced wind data from parachute-borne instrument packages.
GLOBE, a worldwide Earth science and education program based at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, has selected Craig Blurton as its new director. Blurton, an educator who specializes in science and computers, starts work on January 5.
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