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Projects
An Ecological Assessment to Support NOAA’s Choptan...
The Choptank watershed is an ecologically and economically valuable resource and designated Habitat Focus Area. We are collecting and synthesizing biological, chemical, and physical data to characterize the condition of ...
Assessing Community Vulnerability to Flood Hazard ...
Coral Bay, St. John, USVI, after Hurricane Irma, September 25, 2017. Credit: U.S. Army photo by Spc. Charles Brock/FOUO (via FEMA Historic Disasters). Communities in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) ...
Assessing Community Vulnerability to Flood Hazards...
High tide flooding in the inner harbor area of Baltimore, Maryland, December, 12, 2023. Credit: https://mycoast.org/ Coastal communities in the United States are forced to grapple with flooding, storms, and ...
Assessing Community Vulnerability to Inland and Co...
Men canoeing down Central Street in Danforth, Maine, after a flood in 1923. Credit: Maine Memory Network, contributed by an individual through East Grand School. Communities in Maine’s Washington County ...
Assessing the Geographic Variability in Vulnerabil...
Coastal communities are increasingly vulnerable to climate effects, such as sea level rise and coastal erosion. To address these and other changing coastal risks in Los Angeles County, NCCOS researchers ...
Assessing the Threat of Hypoxia to Coral Reefs
We are examining the impact of low-oxygen (hypoxia) stress on coral reef ecosystems. Coral reefs are in decline, and human-assisted restoration is actively trying to reverse this trend. Our project ...
Assessment of Hurricane Impacts to Coral Reefs in ...
In 2017, major hurricanes impacted coral reefs in both Florida and Puerto Rico. We quantified these impacts using diver-based surveys, and our information was used to guide targeted emergency stabilization ...
Assessment of the Beneficial Use of Dredged Sedime...
Navigation channels across the country require regular maintenance dredging to avoid infilling with sediments and becoming impassible. In an experimental strategy that is often referred to as “beneficial use,” sediments ...
Benthic Habitat Characterization and Climate Chang...
Cordell Bank, Greater Farallones and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuaries harbor diverse communities of deep-water fish, corals and sponges. Corals and sponges associated with groundfish habitat face many threats, including ...
Chesapeake Bay Climate Sensitivity Assessment
The Chesapeake Bay is one of the largest estuaries in the world, economically valuable for its productive habitats, valuable fisheries, and recreational opportunities. However, it is clear that climate changes ...
News
How Should Coastal Resilience be Defined?
NCCOS scientists have published Understanding Resilience in Communities Across the U.S Coastline, which compares different metrics for measuring the resilience of coastal communities across the Nation. This document builds on ...
Publication Describes How to Effectively Communica...
January 2024 storm brings flood waters to Acadia National Park's historic Blue Duck Ships Store on Little Cranberry Island in Maine. Credit: Melissa Amuso, National Park Service. NCCOS-funded researchers have ...
NCCOS Begins New Acoustic Telemetry Project Studyi...
Matt Kendall and Bethany Williams prepare to tag a ‘bull’ red drum. Photo credit: Captain Stephen Griffin. NCCOS scientists embarked on their first fish telemetry field mission to support the ...
Blushing Star Coral from Deeper Reefs May Help Rep...
A colony of blushing star coral, Stephanocoenia intersepta, on a mesophotic reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Credit: Ryan Eckert, Florida Atlantic University, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. NCCOS-funded ...
Model Predicts Resilience of Roads After Flood Eve...
With coastal flooding becoming more common, roadway resilience to such events is top of mind for many communities. Pavements are highly susceptible to water infiltration during floods, resulting in damage ...
North Carolina Wetlands Not Keeping Up with Sea Le...
NCCOS researcher uses a surface elevation table to monitor elevation changes in a North Carolina salt marsh. Credit: NOAA. A new report from the North Carolina Surface Elevation Table Community ...
Coastal Eddies Promote Large-scale Algal Response ...
A NCCOS-funded study found that anthropogenic nutrients are promoting enhanced algal productivity in the Southern California Bight (SCB), that is predicted to result in an offshore zone of lowered subsurface ...
Marine Mammals off U.S. East Coast Highly Vulnerab...
Among the 108 stocks assessed, several stocks of the iconic common bottlenose dolphin in the Gulf of Mexico were among the most highly vulnerable to climate change. Credit: Wayne Hoggard/NOAA ...
Los Angeles Uses NCCOS-funded Flood Risk Study for...
Los Angeles Flood Risk - distribution of predominant race/ethnicity (left) and flood depth (right). Six weeks after the scientific study Large and inequitable flood risks in Los Angeles, California was ...
Suitable Habitat for Pacific Halibut Predicted to ...
Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) in Glacier Bay, Alaska. Credit: National Park Service. A study by NCCOS-funded researchers predicts that under a business-as-usual carbon dioxide emissions scenario, suitable habitat for Pacific ...
Products
Maps, Tools & Applications
This Data Explorer Map contains ecological and socioeconomic datasets including management boundaries, human use activities, fish and oyster surveys, and benthic habitats in the NOAA Choptank Habitat Focus Area (HFA) Ecosystem Assessment. The tool allows managers, stakeholders and the general public to visualize data that assists with decision-making about management of the ecosystem in the Choptank watershed.
Project PageView Product
The NCCOS Regional Ecological Assessments (REA) website provides access to data contained in the Coastal Ecology Database, which were collected as part of a series of Regional Ecological Assessments conducted by NCCOS and partners throughout various estuarine, coastal, and continental shelf areas of the U.S.
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Data & Publications
A Decade of Water Level Changes along the New River Estuary in North Carolina, USA
From 2008-2018, our program evaluated coastal marsh resilience to changes in inundation along the New River Estuary in Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (MCBCL) near Jacksonville, NC. To properly contextualize marsh parameters and processes across a range of tidal influence, ...
An ecosystem services assessment using bioextraction technologies for removal of nitrogen and other substances in Long Island Sound and the Great Bay/Piscataqua Region Estuaries
A State-Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Nutrient Innovations Task Group concluded in a 2009 report (State -- EPA Nutrient Innovations Task Group, 2009) that 'continuing the status quo at the national, state, and local levels and relying upon our current practices ...
An Integrated Assessment Model for Helping the United States Sea Scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) Fishery Plan Ahead for Ocean Acidification and Warming
Ocean acidification, the progressive change in ocean chemistry caused by uptake of atmospheric CO2, is likely to affect some marine resources negatively, including shellfish. The Atlantic sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) supports one of the most economically important single-species commercial fisheries ...
Benthic Characterization of Deep-Water Habitat in the Newly Expanded Areas of Cordell Bank and Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuaries
A large area of the seafloor off northern California lies within the US National Marine Sanctuary System, but very little of the habitat has been explored and even less is characterized using visual survey techniques, especially deep-water habitats. Benthic surveys ...
Biotic resistance, disturbance, and mode of colonization impact the invasion of a widespread, introduced wetland grass
Disturbance and biotic resistance are important factors driving plant invasions, but how these factors interact for plants with different modes of colonization (i.e., sexual and asexual) is unclear. We evaluated factors influencing the invasion of nonnative Phragmites australis, which has ...
Characterization of deep coral and sponge communities in the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary: Rittenburg Bank, Cochrane Bank and the Farallon Escarpment
The purpose of the surveys was to groundtruth mapping data collected in 2011, and to characterize the seafloor biota, particularly corals and sponges, in order to support Essential Fish Habitat designations under Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) and other conservation and management ...
Characterization of the Mesophotic Benthic Habitat and Fish Assemblages from ROV Dives on Pulley Ridge and Tortugas during 2014 R/V Walton Smith Cruise
Three research cruises were conducted in 2012, 2013 and 2014 to the region of Pulley Ridge and Dry Tortugas to study and survey the mesophotic reef communities and fish populations. Pulley Ridge is the deepest known photosynthetic coral reef in ...
Choptank ecological assessment: digital atlas - baseline status report
The Choptank watershed was selected by NOAA as a Habitat Focus Area (HFA) for the Habitat Blueprint Program. As such, NOAA plans an integrated set of activities combining resources from multiple programs to leverage the full weight of its eff ...
Coastal Ecological Assessment to Support NOAA’s Choptank River Complex Habitat Focus Area: Tred Avon River
In the Tred Avon River, an important tributary of the Choptank River, we assessed the impacts of land use on the health of the aquatic ecosystem in a 3-year field study (2015-2017). In our analysis of information collected during the ...
Coastal ecosystem assessment of Chesapeake Bay watersheds: A story of three rivers, the Corsica, Magothy, and Rhode
This assessment explored linkages between land use and aquatic ecosystem health. Three watersheds (Corsica, Magothy, and Rhode rivers) with variable dominant land-use patterns (agriculture, suburban/residential, and mixed-use, respectively) were examined. The health of each habitat was assessed using a suite ...
General Pages
Climate Change
Changes in climate and an increase in extreme events can alter coastal ecosystems and the services those ecosystems provide to support our coastal communities and economy. NCCOS’s research efforts seek ...
Community and Social Vulnerability
Climate change and its associated rising and warming sea levels and intensifying weather events disproportionately impact coastal communities, including populations who are already vulnerable due to social or economic factors ...
Wave Exposure Model (WEMo)
Go directly to download and system requirementsHydrodynamic factors profoundly impact the environment of coastal areas. Wind waves, particularly waves associated with storms, are unpredictable and can pose dangerous situations under ...
WEMo Download
If you have any installation problems, please contact nccos.webcontent@noaa.govTerms and Conditions of UseBy using this software tool, you indicate your awareness of and consent to the following terms and conditions ...
NOAA Internship Opportunities
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About NCCOS
NCCOS delivers ecosystem science solutions for stewardship of the nation’s ocean and coastal resources to sustain thriving coastal communities and economies.
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