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 Carlye Calvin

From: Brigitte Baeuerle
Arica, October 26, 2008

Environment of Extremes

Hola,

This picture was taken from the air before landing in Arica. The first time I came to Chile I was wondering what possessed me to come to such a desolate place. While the Pacific Ocean in this part of the world holds a great biodiversity of marine fauna due to ocean upwelling, the Atacama Desert is the exact opposite - extremely arid, almost barren, and potentially deadly.

Relatively few plants and animals have adapted to this arid environment. So it is actually quite surprising that more than a million people live in the Atacama today. They have settled in coastal cities, isolated mining compounds, small fishing villages, and the occasional hidden oasis. Determined farmers like Ester make their living by growing olives and tomatoes with the help of irrigation systems, paying monthly for a small amount of water from aquifers. In the altiplano, the descendants of the region's indigenous people herd llamas and alpacas and grow crops with water from snowmelt streams.

What you may not know is that astronomers from all over the world are constant visitors to observatories on the Atacama's coastal range. The cloudless skies offer perfect conditions to explore million of stars during the quiet night hours.

Brigitte

Postcards from the Field: Climate Science from the Southeast Pacific

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