The National Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released the annual increase in atmospheric methane during 2021 and found the largest annual increase ever recorded since systematic measurements began in 1983. Scientists estimate global methane emissions in 2021 are 15% higher than in the 1984-2006 period. That means a single year generated the amount of methane in one year that typically would be measured over a 22-year span.

Methane has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over the first 20 years after it reaches the atmosphere. At least 25% of today’s global warming is driven by methane from human actions. Human actions from methane emissions are driven by the increase in population and demand for more meat. Agriculture is the predominant source of methane, but there are ways to stay ahead of dangerous methane output. Livestock emissions, yes cow feces and other gastrointestinal releases, account for roughly 32% of human-caused methane emissions.

Economic development and urban migration have stimulated unprecedented demand for animal protein. There have been several specific diets in the last 30 years that are based around meat, as the primary protein and with the global population approaching 10 billion, this hunger is expected to increase by up to 70% by 2050. NOAA

The second half of hurricane season is here and there have already been 15 named storms to keep hurricane hunters busy. But have you ever noticed hurricane hunters' flight patterns shown by meteorologists on TV look like random, odd shapes?

Those seemingly random flight patterns may look like boxes or stars, but they serve specific purposes for each individual storm.

We ended 2020 with a record-breaking 30 named storms in the Atlantic basin and if this season is anything like last year, we have a long way to go.

Hurricane hunters don't fly away from these storms like commercial airlines do. They fly directly into them, but they don't just fly into and around the storms randomly. There is a method to the madness.

There are two distinctive groups of hurricane hunters, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Air Force Reserve (USAF). Both organizations fly missions into tropical disturbances in order to record invaluable data used by forecasters at the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

For Hurricane hunters, there are two main types of missions flown, fixed and invest.

Fixed missions

Fixed missions are designated for systems that meet tropical cyclone qualifications, such as tropical depressions, tropical storms and hurricanes. The main objectives are to mark the center of circulation, monitor winds speeds and pressure changes and other variables that are tricky for satellites in space to measure in full detail.

For fixed missions, 'Alpha' is the most common flight pattern used to collect data in a tropical cyclone.

"The Alpha pattern is the standard profile we fly for fix missions so it's the one people are most familiar with seeing from us," Maj. Jeremy DeHart, meteorologist and aerial reconnaissance weather officer with the Air Force Reserve's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, said. "The pattern consists of two legs flown at intercardinal directions, and when complete, looks a lot like the Greek Alpha symbol when including the crossleg."

Cardinal directions are the standard points on a compass: north, south, east, and west. Intercardinal directions are the diagonal points in between: northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest.

Interestingly, the bigger, stronger storms tend to be the "easier" ones to fly in.

"From my perspective as the onboard meteorologist, the Alpha pattern is the "easiest" to fly. Because we normally fly those on stronger storms, there's not a lot of question where the storm center is," DeHart said. "The flights can be rough of course, but at the end of the day we just go fly through the storm center, collect the data, and send it to NHC."

Invest missions

The primary objective of an invest mission is to determine if a system meets the definition of a tropical cyclone; storms that do not yet have a name or any real tropical structure characteristics.

For invest missions, the NHC will often send estimated coordinates of where they believe the center of circulation is, which is where the missions will target for their starting point.

However, invest missions by nature have to be a bit more flexible for flight patterns, simply because there are so many unknowns with these types of storms.

"We never know what we're going to find, yet we always have to be thinking two or three steps ahead. So that really makes us need to think about the meteorology [in each particular storm]," DeHart said. "Is it a closed low or an open wave? Maybe it's closed but just elongated? Is it battling shear? Are there several smaller swirls competing to be the main circulation center? Weak storms and invests can be very tricky and require a lot of thinking on our toes."

Air Force Hurricane Hunters have a variety of flight patterns to choose from for invest missions: X, Delta, and Box, just to name a few.

DeHart explains the missions are ideal for the weaker, more uncertain storms. While the X pattern may resemble the Alpha pattern, it is flown at much lower altitudes, usually around 500 to 1,000 feet.

"Once a system becomes a tropical storm or hurricane, the hurricane hunters begin flying at higher altitudes, ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 feet depending on the severity of the storm," said Jessica Kendziorek, public affairs operations chief with the USAF 403rd Wing.

Flight levels for the Delta and Box patterns are usually at or below 5,000 ft absolute altitude.

"The Delta and Box patterns are similar in that we'll fly around the periphery of the forecast center seeing if we can observe winds in all four quadrants of the storm that would indicate a closed circulation. If we find a closed circulation, we can confidently go [find] the center; if not, we'll continue the mission in 'invest mode,'" DeHart said.

NOAA focuses on research

NOAA Hurricane Hunters also fly operational fixed and invest missions (though the names may be different), but they usually have more research-oriented objectives. They fly many unique flight patterns, with different types of aircraft, depending on what type of mission is assigned.

Hurricane hunters also fly a third type of mission, which the Air Force rarely flies, according to DeHart, called synoptic missions.

For fixed missions, NOAA often flies a Figure 4, Rotated Figure 4 pattern, or a Butterfly pattern.

"The Butterfly and Figure 4 patterns flown by the WP-3D through the storm are typically the ones used to [find] the center of circulation," said Jonathan Shannon, public affairs specialist for the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center Office of Marine and Aviation Operations.

The Rotated Figure 4 pattern is as it sounds; the Figure 4 pattern turned on the side.

"The goal with every flight is to gather data all around the center of the storm, and those patterns allow us to efficiently fly through a storm's various quadrants," Nick Underwood, NOAA Hurricane Hunter, said. "This data helps with predicting a storm's intensity, as well as determining exactly where the center is."

For invest missions, the Lawnmower and Square Spiral patterns are flown, to determine if there are actual tropical characteristics associated with the area in which they are investigating.

"The Lawnmower Pattern allows us to map out a large area when we don't have a center to aim for," Paul Flaherty, science branch chief at NOAA's Aircraft Operations Center, said. "Once we are able to map a full circulation (usually by finding a west wind), we'll shift back to Figure 4's based on that newly identified center position."

The Square Spiral pattern is a survey mission meant to supply observations on the structure and characteristics including information about the vortex center, if it exists.

There is a unique third type of mission flight pattern, often used to sample the surrounding atmosphere which helps forecasters know the direction the storm is likely to go.

The Star pattern focuses on a scan of the outer edges of the system. The closely related Star-2 pattern also does an outer span of the system, while also adding in a circumference loop near the center of circulation.

Recently, NOAA's Gulfstream IV flew a Star-2 pattern around Hurricane Larry, to investigate outflow patterns from the storm and better determine where the storm was headed.

"The flight pattern you'll typically see from our Gulfstream IV is a circumnavigation of the storm itself, as well as sampling of the atmosphere around and ahead of the storm," Underwood said. "This data helps with predicting the storm's track."

Regardless of which entity is flying, the operational missions are the backbone for the National Hurricane Center, tasked with providing essential life-saving information about a storm.

The NHC takes the data and uses it to issue guidance and advisories to the public, so people know whether Elsa or Ida or Nicholas are still tropical storms or have become hurricanes.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last month was the hottest June on record in the United States, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“Exceptional heat waves from coast to coast helped push June 2021 to the No. 1 spot on the list of hottest Junes on record for the U.S.,” wrote the NOAA in a statement.

The NOAA says the average June temperature across the lower 48 states was 72.6 degrees F, 4.2 degrees above average. That makes it the hottest June in 127 years of record-keeping and it surpasses the record set in June 2016 by 0.9 of a degree.

Officials say eight states — Arizona, California, Idaho, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Utah — also saw their hottest June on record.

Six other states — Connecticut, Maine, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming — marked their 2nd hottest June, according to the NOAA.

It was also quite a wet month for the U.S. The average June precipitation across the country was 2.93 inches, matching the historical average for the month.

But some states saw extremes in rainfall, with either too much or too little. The NOAA says South Dakota saw its driest June on record and Mississippi had its second wettest. And many parts of the West Coast are experiencing a drought as wildfire season looms.

EVANSTON, Ill. — Phosphorus is an essential nutrient. Every living organism on the planet requires it and there is no synthetic substitute. Half the world’s food supply is fertilized by its chemical derivative – phosphate. And we’re running out. Add to that, phosphate runoff in streams and lakes is causing toxic algae blooms killing aquatic life, and you find the catch-22.

Scientists say maintaining a delicate balance is important. Phosphorous normally occurs naturally in small quantities. But its increased use in fertilizer for agricultural purposes negatively impacts water quality and ecosystems.

“It can stimulate the growth of algae, too much is not good, and too little is not good,” said Craig Stow, a research scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.

Increased temperatures, light penetration, and phosphate run-off pollution have caused harmful algae blooms in rivers, streams, and lakes for years.

“Very wet conditions cause a lot of runoff from agricultural yields, and that goes into the major rivers and tributaries,” said Stow. “So, some of wetter years tend to be worse years for algal blooms.”

Satellite imagery over Lake Erie shows some of the dangerous algae blooms that have killed aquatic life and contaminated drinking water.

But now, a team of scientists has developed a way to target and remove phosphate from polluted waters.

“Phosphate, in particular, is a very menacing problem,” said Vinayak Dravid, director of the Northwestern University Atomic and Nanoscale Characterization (NUANCE) Center.

He and his team have developed a membrane that they say can soak up 99% of the phosphate ions from water.

“Just like a household sponge absorbs water and soap and you can wash the dishes, this particular sponge membrane absorbs only phosphate,” said Dravid.

“This is going to be a lot like a conventional sponge, but it has a special coating on it,” explained Stephanie Ribet a Ph.D. student and study co-author. “We will load our column full of the membranes and then we will run our contaminated water with a pump through the column and then we'll get the water out.”

Last year, the team successfully used the same kind of nanotechnology to soak up oil from water.

“We have been expanding for a lot of pollutants right now, such as heavy metals, microplastics, as well as in soil and air also,” said Vikas Nandwana, a research assistant professor of material sciences at Northwestern.

In addition, the sequestered phosphate can be reused.

“You take that absorbed phosphate to another tank and slightly change the condition to basic and all the phosphate gets released,” said Dravid. “And that allows it to be used many times potentially.”

The research, which was published in "The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" could provide the kind of new filtration technology that they say is sustainable and inexpensive.

“I think there's an opportunity to show that not only is it the right thing to do, but it is scalable, and it has a business proposition,” said Dravid.

It’s a possible lab innovation that could help preserve life as we know it.

The second tropical storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season has formed hundreds of miles off the mid-Atlantic coast.

On Monday evening, the National Hurricane Center upgraded Bill to a tropical storm. It's currently churning out in the Atlantic Ocean with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, as of 7 a.m. ET Tuesday.

When storms over the Atlantic begin to organize into a rotating system around a central "eye," and sustained wind speeds in the storm reach 39 mph, it's classified as a tropical storm. Once wind speeds in the system reach 74 mph, it becomes a hurricane.

Tropical Storm Bill is not expected to make landfall in the U.S., according to the National Hurricane Center's projections on Monday. The agency expects Bill to take a sharp turn northwest and eventually make landfall in Newfoundland on Wednesday afternoon.

One other storm has reached tropical storm status in 2021. Ana formed as a tropical storm in the Atlantic, where it circled for several days before breaking up in late May.