NOAA Research’s top 5 stories from 2021

Nobel Prize Winner Suki Manabe. Credit: GFDL

Spectacular footage from inside a hurricane; a major ocean mapping milestone; new insights on the continued impacts of climate change, and much more. 2021 was a busy year for NOAA Research. As the year draws to a close, we’re taking a look back at a few of our biggest research stories of the last 12 months.

Story 1: Greenhouse gas emissions are on the rise - but there’s one pollutant that’s falling

2021 was a big year for climate records. In May, carbon dioxide measured at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory peaked for 2021 at a monthly average of 419 parts per million (ppm). That’s the highest level since accurate measurements began 63 years ago, according to NOAA and Scripps Institution of Oceanography scientists. NOAA’s Mauna Loa Observatory is critical for tracking carbon dioxide - it’s a remote location with little vegetation and human activity, so it represents a good baseline for atmospheric greenhouse gas levels.

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