What's New
Click image to see full graphic (Source: NOAA Climate.gov)
Despite rapid Arctic warming, plan for more frigid spells
New research on the Arctic confirms that even as the Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the world, cold-air outbreaks from the polar region will continue across the Northern Hemisphere in the coming decades.
The big challenge now is to better understand what triggers these cold-air outbreak events and how to improve their predictability.
Much of the previous research has shown how a weakening of the stratospheric polar vortex can allow pockets of frigid air to plunge much farther south than normal. The new study, conducted by an international team including Arctic researchers from NOAA, provides additional insights as to how other influences - stalled weather systems, stretching of the stratospheric polar vortex and even events in the distant midlatitudes can influence these polar patterns.
"A better understanding of these Arctic-midlatitude... more
PMEL in the News
Experts said they were "blind" to the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. Twenty years later, working toward a world without tsunami deaths is a challenge.
Warning systems for the deadly waves now exist in oceans around the world.
As the Northern Bering Sea ecosystem emerges from the extraordinary warmth that wreaked havoc on Alaska fisheries, wildlife and communities, a study warns of likely future occurrences.
Feature Publication
The Bay of Bengal, with the location of the instrumented buoy shown by the blue dot. Credit Sarah Battle, NOAA PMEL
Rare observations of surface currents to the left of winds in the Bay of Bengal
One of the foundational principles of modern oceanography is that ocean surface currents on our rotating planet will be deflected to the right of the winds in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left of the winds in the Southern Hemisphere.
While this principle, first explained by the Swedish... more