Index

Predicting El Nino and Other Climate Variations: Successes & Remaining Challenges.  Progress in predicting El Niño, months and occasionally a year in advance, has been facilitated by nearly twelve years worth of research coordinated by the USGCRP Program. (posted 20 June 2002)

The TAO support vessel and TAO buoy (right).The first comprehensive effort to understand and pursue prediction of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon  was the international Tropical Oceans-Global Atmosphere (TOGA) research program.  A global legacy of the TOGA program was the placement of the Tropical Atmosphere - Ocean (TAO) array of buoys that monitor  temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean.  Image Source: TAO Project Office, NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory.

The Contribution of NOAA Buoys to a Global Ocean Observing System: Benefits.  Press release (dtd 5 March 2002) from  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  (link posted 20 March 2002)
 

Carbon Cycle Science Breakthroughs... at NOAA and Beyond.  Recognizing the integrated nature of the carbon cycle, federal agencies are coordinating their individual carbon cycle research programs to address common research goals.  Here, NOAA provides an overview of the science and highlights of currently funded research.  (link posted January 2002)

Satellite Data Help Researchers Track Carbon in Northern Hemisphere Forests.  
Researchers "suggest that forests in the United States, Europe and Russia have been storing nearly 700 million metric tons of carbon a year during the 1980s and 1990s."  Press release (dtd 11 Dec 2001) from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.   (link posted December 2001)