Current Events

  • Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm
    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm rep...Read more

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    Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm

    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm repeatedly. Daily levels of CO2 can vary due to weather, and there are seasonal trends as well. The level of atmospheric greenhouse gases continues to increase, now over 120 ppm since the Industrial Revolution began. For more on the Keeling Curve, see http://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/. Find out more about greenhouse gases and warming.
  • Massive Tornado Outbreak on Tornado Alley
    The week of May 19 brings dozens of tornadoes to Tornado Alley in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Io...Read more

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    Massive Tornado Outbreak on Tornado Alley

    The week of May 19 brings dozens of tornadoes to Tornado Alley in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. On May 20th, a massive tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, devastating communities - destroying over 100 homes and hitting two elementary schools and a hospital - with many casualties and deaths. Our thoughts are with our friends and colleagues suffering from these storms. For more on the May 20th storms, see the NOAA Storm Prediction Center Storm Report.
  • Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education
    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of ...Read more

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    Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education

    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of sustainability. Here is a link to the one-page bill: http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2013_14/measures/documents/hb2366_00_0000.pdf. See report on Bloomberg News.
Dr. Thompson received her PhD from Bryn Mawr, her Masters from Princeton, and a Bachelors of Science from Swarthmore.

Anne Thompson

I'm a scientist who specializes in tropospheric ozone (the ozone we consider to be pollution). In particular I work on experimental campaigns where balloons are launched with small devices attached to measure ozone from the ground up to 30km. These ozonesondes give us a very detailed look at ozone in the atmosphere. Since the late 90's I've been the principal investigator of the Southern Hemisphere Additional Ozonesonde Network, or SHADOZ for short. My primary responsibilities on this project involve coordinating the weekly launches of ozonesondes at many locations throughout the southern hemisphere. By combining all these measurements together, we can get a very good idea of general trends in tropospheric ozone throughout the entire globe.

Although I am a chemist by trade, my PhD was actually in physical chemistry. I had no idea when I began school that I'd be studying ozone in the atmosphere. The work I do now is a long way away from the days and nights spent titrating chemicals in graduate school. Launching balloons is certainly more fun, but I'm very glad for the strong chemistry background I obtained in school.

In addition to chemistry, I love traveling, which is one of my favorite perks about this job. I've launched ozonesondes in Africa, on cruises in the Atlantic, and visited many other exotic tropical locations where our balloons are launched.

Visit my research page (http://www.meteo.psu.edu/~jstone) at Penn State, to learn more about my research, and many of the wonderful folks I work with.

Last modified February 20, 2006

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