Global Monitoring Division
  • Mauna Loa
    Mauna Loa, Hawaii
  • MLO CO2
    Mauna Loa CO2
  • Barrow, Alaska
    Barrow, Alaska
  • American Samoa
    American Samoa
  • Water Vapor Balloon Flight
    Picture from Water Vapor balloon flight, 20km altitude
  • Solar Transmisison
    Mauna Loa Apparent Solar Transmission
  • Hats data
    Global Means of various Halogenated compounds
  • Surface Radiation
    Surface Radiation Measurement Instruments near Penn State
  • Trinidad Head
    Trinidad Head, California
  • South Pole Ozone
    South Pole Ozone Hole Profile
  • South Pole
    The Atmospheric Research Observatory at South Pole
  • Summit
    Summit, Greenland
  • Carbontracker
    CO2 Weather computed by Carbontracker Model
Climate ESRL's Global Monitoring Division conducts sustained observations and research related to global distributions, trends, sources and sinks of atmospheric constituents that are capable of forcing change in the climate of the Earth. This research will advance climate projections and provide scientific policy-relevant, decision support information to enhance society's ability to plan and respond.
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Ozone ESRL's Global Monitoring Division conducts research on the depletion of the global stratospheric ozone layer and Antarctic ozone hole through global surface-based monitoring of total-column ozone, ultraviolet radiation, and ozone-depleting gases, including those regulated by the Montreal Protocol. Continued surveillance is necessary in order to verify the expected recovery of the ozone layer.
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Air Quality ESRL's Global Monitoring Division monitors levels of air quality elements such as tropospheric ozone, carbon monoxide and aerosol particles in non-source regions which may be affected by long range transport from distant sources of industrial pollution. This large-scale transport affects baseline air quality which must be monitored in order to determine the importance of regional sources that may impact the environment and public health.
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Observatories

News and Highlights

Antarctic ozone hole about average in 2016
October 25, 2016

Antarctic ozone hole about average in 2016

The hole in the Earth’s ozone layer that forms over Antarctica each September grew to about 8.9 million square miles in 2016 before starting to recover, according to scientists from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) who monitor the annual phenomenon.
4 ways the ozone hole is linked to climate, and 1 way it isn’t
October 12, 2016

4 ways the ozone hole is linked to climate, and 1 way it isn’t

To mark the peak of ozone hole season, we’re highlighting four ways that climate and the ozone hole are related—and one important way they aren’t.
Study finds fossil fuel methane emissions greater than previously estimated
October 6, 2016

Study finds fossil fuel methane emissions greater than previously estimated

Methane emissions from fossil fuel development around the world are up to 60 percent greater than estimated by previous studies, according to new research led by scientists from NOAA and CIRES.
Carbon dioxide levels race past troubling milestone
October 3, 2016

Carbon dioxide levels race past troubling milestone

Carbon dioxide levels in the Earth’s atmosphere passed a troubling milestone for good this summer, locking in levels of the heat-trapping gas not seen for millions of years. Every year, the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) rises during winter and then falls slightly during the Northern Hemisphere’s growing season, as plants take up this greenhouse gas during photosynthesis. But this year, for the first time since before the Ice Age, CO2 will not fall below 400 ppm.
Pacific Oxidants, Sulfur, Ice, Dehydration, and cONvection (POSIDON) Experiment
September 30, 2016

Pacific Oxidants, Sulfur, Ice, Dehydration, and cONvection (POSIDON) Experiment

The NASA Pacific Oxidants, Sulfur, Ice, Dehydration, and cONvection (POSIDON) Experiment is a focused airborne science mission to study the ozone distribution, sulfur chemistry, very short-lived ozone depleting species (VSLS), cloud microphysics, and dehydration in the tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere over the western Pacific.
ESRL
September 22, 2016

ESRL's Brad Hall wins Governor's Award for High Impact Research

Brad Hall, a research scientist in the Global Monitoring Division of NOAA/ESRL, has been named a winner of the 2016 Governor's Award for High-Impact Research for his work on improving existing techniques to make calibration standards and measurements of very low concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone-depleting gases like chlorofluorocarbons.
NOAA “reels in” data on Utah’s winter ozone problem
September 19, 2016

NOAA “reels in” data on Utah’s winter ozone problem

A deep sea fishing rod is probably not the first tool that comes to mind when thinking about how to study air pollution in a remote inland desert, but it’s the heart of a new NOAA system that has given scientists a minute-by-minute look at how quickly the sun can convert oil and gas facility emissions to harmful ground-level ozone.
 2015 State of the Climate: Carbon Dioxide
August 2, 2016

2015 State of the Climate: Carbon Dioxide

Using measurements taken worldwide, scientists estimated that 2015’s global average carbon dioxide concentration was 399.4 parts per million (ppm), a new record high. At Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawai’i, where atmospheric carbon dioxide has been recorded longer than anywhere else in the world, the annual average carbon dioxide concentration was 400.8—also a new record, and a new milestone.
Robert (Bob) D. Evans of ESRL Global Monitoring Division receives the prestigious IO3C Farman Award Nomination
July 28, 2016

Robert (Bob) D. Evans of ESRL Global Monitoring Division receives the prestigious IO3C Farman Award Nomination

Robert (Bob) D. Evans of ESRL Global Monitoring Division receives the prestigious IO3C Farman Award Nomination For Sustaining a Long-term Inter-calibrated World-wide Dobson Total Ozone Observing Network. The "Joseph C. Farman Award" is granted to one or more outstanding scientists who have created and used high-quality, long-term time series of atmospheric measurements related to the study of atmospheric ozone and/or surface ultraviolet radiation.
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Research Groups

Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network

The GGGRN makes measurements of the spatial and temporal distributions of greenhouse gases and provides essential constraints to our understanding of the global carbon cycle.

Halocarbons and other Trace Species

The HATS group quantifies the distributions and magnitudes of the sources and sinks for important ozone-depleting and greenhouse gases.

Aerosols

The goals of this program are to characterize means, variability, and trends of climate-forcing properties of different types of aerosols.

Global Radiation

Activities involve empirical and theoretical research of the Earth's surface radiation budget.

Ozone and Water Vapor

Research on the nature and causes of the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer and the role of ozone and water vapor in forcing climate change.

Observatory Operations

NOAA/ESRL operates staffed atmospheric baseline observatories from which numerous in situ and remote atmospheric and solar measurements are conducted.

2017 Global Monitoring Annual Conference

2017 Global Monitoring Annual Conference

December 19, 2016

NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL), Global Monitoring Division, will hold the 45th Global Monitoring Annual Conference on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 23rd and 24th, 2017, in Boulder, Colorado.

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Education and Outreach

Publications


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