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Scripps Institute of Oceanography projects that next month its monitoring station will for the first time measure CO2 at 400 parts per million. Atmospheric CO2 has risen from 280 parts per million before the Industrial Revolution. 400 ppm is an arbitrary milestone that we'll blow right past on our way to 450 ppm within a few decades. This is an unprecedentedly fast rate of increase and it's getting faster. Not all measuring stations are exactly the same: A NOAA station in the Arctic measured CO2 at 400 ppm last year. [more inside]
posted by Sleeper on Apr 25, 2013 - 127 comments

Lauren Rojas, a 12 year old from California, sent Hello Kitty on a return trip to the stratosphere (over 28 kilometres above the Earth) and recorded the results.
posted by rollick on Feb 5, 2013 - 41 comments

The author of the "Forecast Center" column from Weatherwise magazine to place Forecast Center articles online. So if you want to sharpen your analysis skills, there's a mountain of Forecast Center installments going back to 2001 in full resolution. There is a permanent embargo on all articles newer than 12 months old, so the first issue of 2010 is as far forward as the articles go, but they go back as far as July/August 2001. For example, Hone your hand analysis skills and get your forecast on for the upcoming severe storm season on the Plains.
posted by spock on Feb 21, 2011 - 6 comments

The Weather World 2010 project at UIUC began as a comprehensive meteorology tutorial designed for a high school/undergraduate level. It has since expanded to include guides to remote sensing and reading weather maps. (Some highlights include optical effects, severe storms, and the basics of weather forecasting.) For folks in the US, it also has current surface and satellite imagery for a number of different atmospheric properties.
posted by Upton O'Good on Jul 13, 2008 - 6 comments

New maps show US fossil fuel emissions aren't where we thought they were. The Vulcan Project collects more accurate data at a higher resolution than previous studies. Explanatory video. via [more inside]
posted by desjardins on Apr 7, 2008 - 28 comments

Ico did not sell very well. Though critics loved it, the simple third person puzzler failed to capture an audience on the PS2. (youtube trailer) Fast forward a few years to Shadow of the Colossus, and desiger Fumito Ueda struck gold. Earning tons of critical praise for his story of a young boy out to bring his love back from the dead. [more inside]
posted by tylerfulltilt on Mar 1, 2008 - 74 comments

Paraglider survives 32,000ft fall. A German paragliding champion named Ewa Wisnierska was "sucked into a storm that pulled her higher than Mount Everest." She "soared skywards," and was soon "covered in ice" as she "battled hailstones the size of oranges," becoming one with the weather. "I could see the Earth coming," she later said, "wow, like Apollo 13 – I can see the Earth."
posted by BLDGBLOG on Feb 16, 2007 - 57 comments

I didn't believe my eyes, but it turns out that it only takes some cold water and a thermal inversion to make a superior mirage (superior in both position and awesomeness). Pekka Parviainen has written about the phenomenon in Finland and has lots of photos to share. Still don't believe? Watch the videos: especially the one in which the mirage disappears before your very eyes! (.rm)
posted by imposster on May 11, 2006 - 23 comments

7000 frames per second Newscientist article, with links to the movies. "Atmospheric 'sprites' captured in explosive detail ... by researchers using an ultra-high-speed camera. "The best images yet of the flashes – which resemble a giant undulating jellyfish with its tentacles falling from a halo of light – have allowed the team to pick apart their structure and mechanics. "
posted by hank on Feb 17, 2006 - 22 comments

Clouds formed at sea may be created by plankton to protect themselves from harsh UV rays by inducing more dimethyl sulfide to the atmosphere.
posted by rudyfink on Jul 17, 2004 - 9 comments

Spectacular atmospheric optics.
Beautiful pictures of atmospheric phenomena, common and rare. You can also run your own halo simulations if you like... (Found in New Scientist's Weblinks, an extensive, annotated collection of all kinds of science links from all over the web.)
posted by talos on Sep 12, 2002 - 13 comments

Stormy Space Weather Takes a Toll on Ozone A new study confirms a long-held theory that large solar storms rain electrically charged particles down on Earth's atmosphere and deplete the upper-level ozone for weeks to months thereafter. Said Charles Jackman, a researcher at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Laboratory for Atmospheres and lead author of the study: "[W]hen these solar proton events occur you can see immediately a change in the atmosphere, so you have a clear cause and effect."
posted by dagny on Aug 2, 2001 - 4 comments

East Coast go Boom.
posted by nathan_teske on Jul 24, 2001 - 23 comments

Scientists discover possible microbe from space. Scientists has recovered microorganisms in the upper reaches of the atmosphere that may have originated from outer space. The living bacteria, are unlike any known on Earth, but the astrobiologists want to keep the details under wraps until they are absolutely convinced that these are extraterrestrial. Do not adjust your set...
posted by lagado on Nov 28, 2000 - 4 comments

"Ahhhhh the atmosphere" should get at least a giggle out of you. Commercials at their best.
posted by physics on Aug 15, 2000 - 5 comments