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.

   Image courtesy of Janine Goldstein

From: Janine Goldstein
Schopfloch, Germany, August 7, 2007

First Ops

Hi! Boy did we get a big storm today. Today is my first day doing "ops" (that means operating the Doppler on Wheels). We set up the radar in the middle of a field and have been operating all night long. Just a bit ago a big thunderstorm developed and it went right over our truck!

The picture above is what the storm looks like to the radar. This radar image is like a map of the storm's location. In the image, blue is clear sky. The cloud is in shades of pink, yellow, and red, and the black parts show where it is raining. The Doppler on Wheels (DOW) truck that we were in is the little black rectangle in the middle. The storm was blowing from North-West to South-East. North is up and East is right in the image, so this is just minutes before we got slammed with rain. There were big raindrops and even a bit of lightning for about 1/2 an hour, then the storm moved past us, the clear air that was behind the storm moved over us, and the rain stopped. That was a nice storm for my first time in the DOW. I can't wait to see what other storms we get to measure.

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Postcards from the Field: COPS

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