NOAA scientists plumbed the deep ocean, probed the heights of the stratosphere, and surveyed some of the fiercest storm systems on Earth in meeting 2011's scientific challenges. Their discoveries are paying off in longer storm warning lead times, better understanding of our climate, and new knowledge about environmental disasters.

The amount of air pollutants in the atmospheric plume generated by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was similar to a large city according to a new NOAA-led study published today in a special issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A recent mission marked the completion of a five-year collaboration between the United States and Canada to survey the Arctic Ocean. The bilateral project collected scientific data to delineate the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the coastline, also known as the extended continental shelf (ECS).

Great Lakes perch lovers will find good news in a new NOAA study that shows yellow perch efficiently eliminate a harmful algal toxin from their tissues. The findings suggest that unless the fish are caught during a toxic algae bloom, eating them will not likely expose people to unsafe levels of the toxin known as microcystin.

NOAA's commitment to science was further solidified today with the release of a scientific integrity policy by Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.

An international team of scientists who monitor the rapid changes in the Earth's northern polar region say that the Arctic is entering a new state – one with warmer air and water temperatures, less summer sea ice and snow cover, and a changed ocean chemistry.

For more than 25 years, many scientists subscribed to the idea that tiny marine plants played a starring role in regulating climate change. A new study, published today in the journal Nature, indicates that the phytoplankton's part is more of a walk-on.