The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries serves as the trustee for a network of underwater parks encompassing more than 629,000 square miles of marine and Great Lakes waters from Washington state to the Florida Keys, and from Lake Huron to American Samoa. National Marine Sanctuaries directly support coastal communities, many of which are particularly vulnerable to extreme weather, disruptions to coastal infrastructure and maritime transport, and changing ocean conditions. As average temperatures rise globally, national marine sanctuaries and the communities they serve are facing unprecedented hazards including changing weather patterns and worsening storm events, warming waters, declining ocean oxygen levels, ocean acidification, and sea level rise. The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries is committed to bolstering the resilience of coastal and Great Lakes communities and economies to the challenges of a changing ocean, including through education and outreach. NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries’ education programs not only work to instill a sense of stewardship and conservation, but also share the latest science and research happening in the sanctuaries, including challenges due to global changes to ocean temperatures.
Through this internship an interested student will support sanctuaries’ mission by assessing system-wide, and sanctuary-specific, data on effective messaging around resilience to changing ocean conditions, and developing communications assets or resource lists tailored to the results of the analysis.