Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (AGGI), 1750-2019. For 2019, the AGGI was a record high 1.45, representing an increase in total direct radiative forcing of 45% since 1990. The increase in radiative forcing from CO2 alone since 1990 was 60.6%. Pre-1978 changes in the CO2-equivalent abundance and AGGI are based on the ongoing measurements of all greenhouse gases reported here, measurements of CO2 going back to the 1950s from C.D. Keeling (Keeling et al., 1958), and atmospheric changes derived from air trapped in ice and snow above glaciers (Machida et al., 1995, Battle et al., 1996, Etheridge, et al., 1996; Butler, et al., 1999). Equivalent CO2 atmospheric amounts (in ppm) are derived with the relationship between CO2 concentrations and radiative forcing from all long-lived greenhouse gases. Graphic: Butler and Montzka, 2020 / NOAA

NOAA Annual Greenhouse Gas Index reached another record high in 2019 – Total direct radiative forcing has increased 45 percent since 1990

14 May 2020 (NOAA) – […] The NOAA monitoring program provides high-precision measurements of the global abundance and distribution of long-lived greenhouse gases that are used to calculate changes in radiative climate forcing. Air samples are collected through the NOAA/GML global air sampling network, including a cooperative program for the carbon gases which provides samples […]

Map showing observed global extreme humid heat. Color symbols represent the 99.9th percentile of observed daily maximum TW for 1979–2017 for HadISD stations with at least 50 percent data availability over this period. Marker size is inversely proportional to station density. Graphic: Raymond, et al., 2020 / Science Advances

Dangerous humid heat extremes occurring decades earlier than expected – “We are already locked in to large increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme humid heat events, and the risk is much larger than most people appreciate”

8 May 2020 (NOAA) – Oppressively hot summer days often evoke the expression, “it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.” That sticky, tropical-like air combined with high temperatures is more than unpleasant — it makes extreme heat a greater health risk. Climate models project that combinations of heat and humidity could reach deadly thresholds for […]

Map showing change in global daily fossil CO2 emissions, 1 January 2020 - 20 May 2020 Video: Le Quéré, et al., 2020 / Nature Climate Change

COVID-19 crisis causes 17 percent drop in global carbon emissions – “The drop in emissions is substantial but illustrates the challenge of reaching our Paris climate commitments”

19 May 2020 (UEA) – The COVID-19 global lockdown has had an “extreme” effect on daily carbon emissions, but it is unlikely to last – according to a new analysis by an international team of scientists. The study published in the journal Nature Climate Change shows that daily emissions decreased by 17% – or 17 […]

Monthly job gains or losses in the U.S., from 1939 to 30 April 2020. Data: U.S. Labor Department. Graphic: The Washington Post

U.S. unemployment rate soars to 14.7 percent, the worst since the Great Depression – “This is a catastrophe. When things go over a cliff, they usually they don’t recover quickly.”

By Heather Long 8 May 2020 (The Washington Post) – The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 14.7 percent in April, the highest level since the Great Depression, as most businesses shut down or severely curtailed operations to fight the deadly coronavirus. The jobless rate was pushed higher because 20.5 million people lost their jobs last […]

View of air pollution in Moscow, Russia on 6 August 2010 and 20 April 2020. Photo: Natalia Kolesnikova / Niklas Halle'n / AFP / Getty Images

Before-and-after photos show dramatic decline in air pollution around the world during coronavirus lockdown

By Sophie Lewis 22 April 2020 (CBS News) – As humans continue to stay indoors under lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Earth is slowly healing. Wild animals have taken to roaming the streets, clear waters have returned to the Venice canals and the world is literally shaking less.  With billions of people quarantined and businesses closed, travel has all but […]

Total column ozone field (in Dobson Units) from CAMS, 1 April 2020 - 6 April 2020, showing values below 250 DU over large parts of the Arctic. Video: Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service / ECMWF

Arctic ozone depletion tracks at record levels in Spring 2020

9 April 2020 (WMO) – Depletion of the ozone layer, ­ the shield that protects life on Earth from harmful levels of ultraviolet radiation, ­is at an unprecedented level over large parts of the Arctic this spring . This phenomenon is caused by the continuing presence of ozone­-depleting substances in the atmosphere and a very […]

Simulated high temperatures in Florida on Tuesday, 14 April 2020 by the American NAM model. Graphic: WeatherBell

Miami is shattering heat records during a wildly-warm start to 2020 – Most of Florida has endured record heat in the past four weeks

By Matthew Cappucci 15 April 2020 (The Washington Post) – Florida is supposed to be warm. After all, it’s, well, Florida. But temperatures in the Sunshine State have been shattering records and rivaling typical readings during the heart of summer. Miami even endured its earliest heat wave on record last week, when it hit at […]

Aerial view of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig burning after an explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, off the southeast tip of Louisiana, 21 April 2010. Ten years after an oil rig explosion killed 11 workers and unleashed an environmental nightmare in the Gulf of Mexico, companies are drilling into deeper and deeper waters where the payoffs can be huge but the risks are greater than ever. Photo: Gerald Herbert / AP Photo

10 years after BP spill: Oil drilled deeper; rules relaxed – “I’m concerned that in the industry, the lessons aren’t fully learned — that we’re tending to backslide”

By Kevin Mcgill and Matthew Brown 18 April 2020 NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Ten years after an oil rig explosion killed 11 workers and unleashed an environmental nightmare in the Gulf of Mexico, companies are drilling into deeper and deeper waters, where the payoffs can be huge but the risks are greater than ever. Industry leaders and […]

U.S. Federal deficit as percent of GDP, 2010-2019 and projected to 2025. Total U.S. debt is projected to equal the size of the entire economy in 2020. Graphic: CRFB

U.S. debt to exceed the size of the economy in 2020 – Budget deficits will total more than $3.8 trillion – “At some point, such high and rising deficits and debt levels will prove unsustainable, and corrective action will be needed”

13 April 2020 (CRFP) – The United States entered the current public health and economic crisis facing high levels of debt and trillion-dollar deficits. Due to the effects of the crisis and legislation enacted to combat it, debt and deficits will now grow much higher, to never-before-seen levels both in dollars and as a share of Gross Domestic […]

Global real GDP level projected to 2021. The cumulative output loss is expected to reach $9 trillion. Graphic: IMF

IMF: Global economy will suffer worst year since Great Depression – “This is a crisis like no other”

By Paul Wiseman and Martin Crutsinger 14 April 2020 WASHINGTON (AP) – Beaten down by the coronavirus outbreak, the world economy in 2020 will suffer its worst year since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the International Monetary Fund says in its latest forecast. The IMF said Tuesday that it expects the global economy to […]

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