Regulatory scientists from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Columbia, candidates for reference laboratories, completed two weeks of formal training for high throughput detection of toxins responsible for paralytic shellfish poison (PSP) and ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP). The course of study was provided by National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) scientists at Charleston, SC [...]
The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) has developed a DNA microarray for profiling gene expression patterns in blood to aid in clinical and population level studies of domoic acid exposure on sea lions. There is currently no straightforward way to diagnose domoic acid poisoning due to the highly variable symptoms, the fact that [...]
On March 20, 2012, NOAA and New York’s Department of State jointly announced the release of A Biogeographic Assessment of Seabirds, Deep Sea Corals and Ocean Habitats of the New York Bight. The 2-year study, led by scientists at NCCOS and New York’s Department of State Ocean and Great Lakes Program, will advance New York’s management of its [...]
NCCOS scientists have optimized their previous solid-phase extraction methods in conjunction with liquid chromatography−mass spectrometry to improve the sensitivity of domoic acid determination in seawater and phytoplankton cells and to accommodate fluid and tissue samples from living and dead marine mammals. Having a reproducible method with high sensitivity for toxin detection is important. Sample types [...]
The January 2012 issue of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC)’s Harmful Algae News No. 45 featured NCCOS harmful algal bloom forecasts–both under development and operational. The article, “Harmful Algal Bloom Operational Forecast System in the US,” describes each forecast, how far along it is in development, plans for the future, as well as why each system is [...]
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 [...]