On May 3, Drs. Rodney Cluck and Brad Blythe of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s Environmental Studies Program (BOEM ESP) presented examples of collaborations with NOAA and other federal agencies during the NOS Seminar Series. One of the most highest-attended seminars, it highlighted two recent projects with the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science [...]
New assessment techniques developed, in part, by NCCOS will be used by the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program’s research in St. Thomas and St. John, USVI. The new techniques will be used to collect data on seafloor habitat types in the region, and stony coral populations and condition. NCCOS scientists met with other scientists from [...]
For those who live and play on the shores of Lake Erie, the spring rains that will begin falling here soon are less a blessing than a portent. They could threaten the very future of the lake itself. Lake Erie is sick. A thick and growing coat of toxic algae appears each summer, so vast [...]
A new interactive map, “Mapping America’s Coral Reefs,” gives casual observers an engaging overview of the nearly 3 million acres of sea floor habitat mapping data produced by the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and its partners. This “story” map complements a recent report summarizing NOAA shallow-water coral reef mapping outcomes and results, which [...]
NOAA investigators and their partners embarked on a year-long study to determine the origins of coral polyps and fish species seeding the reefs of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam so that the islands’ officials can take customized measures to protect them from overharvesting or other damage. Using drifting sensors coupled with a computer [...]
Researchers from the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science recently evaluated techniques to design robust marine bird surveys to support offshore wind energy sites that are in the same location as sensitive bird migratory pathways. Spinning turbine blades can kill birds outright or divert them from their natural routes which disrupt their fairly inflexible behavior. [...]
As part of a pilot initiative known as “beach hazard statements,” NOAA’s National Weather Service in Tampa Bay began to issue red tide warnings to beachgoers in an area where a bloom of algae is responsible for causing fish kills and breathing problems in people. While the announcement is new, the forecasts themselves are well [...]
To support a watershed restoration initiative in Guanica Bay, researchers from the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science released new shallow-water (less than 30 meters deep) sea floor habitat maps for the Guanica Bay/La Parguera region and Finca Belvedere Natural Reserve in the southwest part of the island. Furthermore, the maps will support ongoing management of [...]