NCCOS-funded research into the ecosystem effects of climate change may improve management of the commercially important shellfish populations in a warming climate. Stone crabs (Menippe mercenaria), normally found only in South Atlantic estuaries, are moving northward into the mid-Atlantic due to warming temperatures. This pole-ward range shift is predicted to increase interactions between stone crabs [...]
Local scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lab on Pivers Island are developing a model to forecast wave activity in Albemarle and Pamlico sounds. Dr. Mark Fonseca, chief of the Applied Ecology and Restoration Research Branch at the lab, and Amit Malhotra, geographic information system scientist at the lab, are developing a wave [...]
The National Weather Service in Newport, North Carolina is bringing our wave energy model (called WEMo) into its daily weather forecasts for the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds and their tributaries. Previously, boaters relied on forecasts based on only four locations over 3000 square miles, which led to hazardous situations for boaters encountering waves higher than those forecast. This month, [...]
It was October 31, 1987—Halloween Day in the U.S. It seemed to be an otherwise ordinary day, but people on the beaches near Beaufort, North Carolina, were experiencing out of the ordinary respiratory distress. A bloom of “Florida red tide”, the toxic algae Karenia brevis, had unexpectedly appeared in North Carolina coastal waters for the first time on record. It [...]
In 2002, a mysterious disease began killing fish at a commercial aquaculture facility in North Carolina. Lots of fish. Over 21,000 striped bass died during the outbreak. At the time, no one knew what caused this massive fish kill. Why did it happen? Would it happen again? We now know that the culprit behind the [...]
Learn about lionfish — a beautiful, and deadly, predator now invading western Atlantic waters. “Lionfish on the Loose” is just one of many exciting videos on The Ocean Today Kiosk. For full effect, visit the Ocean Today Kiosk at the Smithsonian Institution’s Sant Ocean Hall or at an aquarium near you. Original source: http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/video.html
Scientists from the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, working with NOAA Fisheries Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response researchers, identified multiple cases of lobomycosis in stranded and live, free-swimming bottlenose dolphins from coastal North Carolina. Lobomycosis is a chronic fungal infection of the skin and, until now, only been reported in people and dolphins [...]
National Ocean Service researchers began testing out the use of sonar to investigate sea turtle abundance and habitats in coastal waters near Cape Lookout, North Carolina, this October. This novel use of acoustic technology may lead to new ways to protect threatened and endangered species. The survey follows the first successful use of sonar to [...]