NOAA

April 2026 set a new monthly record for atmospheric CO2 at 431.12 ppm—the highest in over two million years—while the Trump administration's FY2027 budget proposes eliminating NOAA's climate research funding entirely, threatening the 68-year Mauna Loa record.

The first dual-coronagraph record of a Kreutz sungrazer's destruction and a pre-print tracing the comet's 1,663-year orbit to a daylight comet of 363 AD are reshaping models of cometary survival and the family's ancient genealogy.

Arctic sea ice reached its lowest annual maximum extent on record in March 2026, with satellite data showing a continued erosion of the winter ice cap that scientists attribute to accelerating polar warming.

Three separate satellite programs are converging in 2026 to transform wildfire detection from space, while university researchers benchmark AI models that could process the flood of new orbital data.

The ISA adjourned without completing deep-sea mining rules as a Nature study found 90 percent of species in the target zone remain unknown and the US fast-tracks its own permits.