The NCCOS Regional Ecological Assessments (REA) and NOAA National Benthic Inventory (NBI) include observations of water quality, sediment quality, fish and shellfish tissue chemical contaminants, and benthic infaunal abundance obtained from studies conducted since 1991 by NOAA and partnering institutions ...

This document contains the results and analysis from the fourth national coastal assessment, published in 2012 ...

NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) works in partnership with other federal agencies and coastal states to conduct assessments of ecological condition and potential stressor impacts throughout our Nation’s estuaries, coastal-ocean waters, and NOAA protected areas; carry out ...

Spatial information about the seafloor is critical for decision-making by marine resource science, management and tribal organizations. Coordinating data needs can help organizations leverage collective resources to meet shared goals. To help enable this coordination, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric ...

Ecosystem-based management (EBM) of the ocean considers all impacts on and uses of marine and coastal systems. In recent years, there has been a heightened interest in EBM tools that allow testing of alternative management options and help identify tradeoffs ...

Puget Sound is an estuarine inland sea fed by 14 major rivers and also strongly influenced by the nearby Fraser River. A comprehensive, particle-based reanalysis of an existing circulation model was used to map the area of influence of each ...

This report presents long-term seasonal distribution maps of selected seabird, pinniped and cetacean species off the Pacific coast of Washington. The maps were created to support state-led marine spatial planning and responsible stewardship of natural resources by the Olympic Coast ...

This data collection comprises seasonal distribution maps and model outputs of selected seabird, pinniped and cetacean species off the Pacific coast of Washington. The maps were developed by predicting relative density using associative models linking at-sea species observations with environmental ...

Spatial information about the seafloor is critical for decision-making by marine science, management and tribal organizations. While this type of information is important, its collection is expensive, time consuming and logistically intensive. Developing a network of partners and coordinating data ...

The benefits and ecosystem services that humans derive from the oceans are threatened by numerous global change stressors, one of which is ocean acidification. Here, we describe the effects of ocean acidification on an upwelling system that already experiences inherently ...