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The latest news releases from NOAA - the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NOAA has set up live cameras on three of its Recovery Act restoration projects. Zoom in on the action, watch time lapse clips, or click play to watch the activity frame by frame.
NOAA issued a statement about the outcome of the annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas.
The October 2009 average temperature for the contiguous United States was the third coolest on record for that month according to NOAA’s State of the Climate report issued today by the National Climatic Data Center.
Hurricane Ida remnants will continue to churn along the mid-Atlantic coast through Saturday. The storm is causing widespread rainfall and gale-force winds from southern Virginia into southern New England. Some areas will continue to experience significant coastal flooding, above-normal high tides and dangerous storm surge.
A senior scientist at NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory, Dr. Solomon, accepted the 2009 Volvo environment prize for her pioneering scientific contributions and subsequent impacts on environmental policies.
Our NOAA Administrator has a new Facebook page. Become a fan to follow the happenings at NOAA.
El Niño to Help Steer U.S. Winter Weather
The combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the second warmest September on record, according to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
NOAA helps keep the nation's coastline safe through observations and
warnings of impending tsunamis. Education is key: know how to recognize
the signs of a tsunami and know what to do.
Ida is weakening over the Gulf of Mexico, but is still forecast to bring heavy rain and gusty winds to parts of the northern U.S. Gulf Coast. Get the latest information from NOAA’s National Weather Service.
NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco joined with federal, state and local officials and volunteers at Hunt’s Mills Dam in East Providence, R.I., to celebrate a $3 million American Reinvestment and Recovery Act project restoring a migratory fish passage.
Obama Administration officials released the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force Interim Report for a 30-day public review and comment period.
Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., the under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, comments on release of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force interim report to the President.
The world’s ocean surface temperature was the warmest for any August on record, and the warmest on record averaged for any June-August summer season, according to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center.
Backed by sound science, strong stakeholder support and extensive outreach, the federal government today filed with a United States district court a strengthened plan to implement NOAA’s 2008 biological opinion governing operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System.
The average June-August 2009 summer temperature for the contiguous United States was below average – the 34th coolest on record, according to a preliminary analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. August was also below the long-term average.
NOAA today announced its intent to develop a comprehensive national policy for sustainable marine aquaculture in the coming months, providing a framework for addressing aquaculture activity in federal waters.
NOAA’s Fisheries Service will implement catch shares in the Gulf of Mexico commercial grouper and tilefish fisheries beginning January 1, 2010, in an effort to reduce overcapacity and improve profitability and working conditions for commercial fishermen.
Nitrous oxide has now become the largest ozone-depleting substance emitted through human activities, and is expected to remain the largest throughout the 21st century, NOAA scientists say in a new study.
Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, will lead a U.S. delegation to Geneva, Switzerland, August 31- September 4 for the World Climate Conference-3 in efforts to establish a Global Framework for Climate Services.
Today’s the day you can help chart NOAA’s future as we build the agency’s Next Generation Strategic Plan (NGSP). And, all it takes is 10 minutes.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke today approved a plan to prohibit the expansion of commercial fishing in federal Arctic waters until researchers gather sufficient information on fish and the Arctic marine environment.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced in Norfolk, Va. today $40 million for critical hydrographic survey and chart projects across the U.S. that strengthen the economy, create jobs, and support safe and efficient marine commerce and trade.
NOAA will join a multi-agency joint expedition to collect and share data useful to both countries in defining the full extent of the Arctic continental shelf.
According to its August Atlantic hurricane season outlook, NOAA now expects a near- to below-normal Atlantic hurricane season, as the calming effects of El Niño continue to develop. But scientists say the season’s quiet start does not guarantee quiet times ahead.
The planet’s ocean surface temperature was the warmest on record for July, breaking the previous high mark established in 1998 according to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
NOAA has selected the Port of Newport, Ore., to be the new home of the agency’s Marine Operations Center-Pacific beginning in 2011 pending the signing of a 20-year lease.
NOAA-supported scientists found the size of this year’s Gulf of Mexico dead zone to be smaller than forecasted, measuring 3,000 square miles. However the dead zone, which is usually limited to water just above the sea floor, was severe where it did occur, extending closer to the water surface than in most years.
NOAA and the Exploratorium announced a five-year partnership to bring cutting edge climate and ocean science to the public.
The combined average global land and ocean surface temperatures for June 2009 ranked the second warmest since worldwide records began in 1880, according to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
During a session on tsunami forecasting during an international meeting in Russia on July 15, scientists saw NOAA’s Internet-based tsunami research forecast system in action.
NOAA scientists have now demonstrated that tsunamis in the open ocean can change sea surface texture in a way that can be measured by satellite-borne radars. The finding could help save lives through improved detection and forecasting of tsunami intensity and direction at the ocean surface.
NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco today announced more than $7 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to restore habitat projects throughout coastal Oregon.
NOAA scientists today announced the arrival of El Niño, a climate phenomenon that has significant influences on global weather, ocean conditions and marine fisheries.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced today 50 habitat restoration projects that will restore damaged wetlands, shellfish beds, coral reefs and reopen fish passages that boost the health and resiliency of our nation’s coastal and Great Lakes communities.
A new Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite was launched tonight and successfully reached orbit, joining three other GOES spacecraft that help NOAA forecasters track life-threatening weather and solar storms.
NOAA today sent the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction a letter notifying it that it is required to refrain from buying, possessing or selling federally regulated fish for 10 consecutive days.
A new report compiles years of scientific research and offers a valuable, objective scientific consensus on how climate change is affecting — and may further affect — the U.S.
The combined average global land and ocean surface temperatures for May 2009 ranked fourth warmest since worldwide records began in 1880, according to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center.
The NOAA-managed National Spatial Reference System provides more than $2.4 billion in potential annual benefits to the U.S. economy, according to a new independent study.
The May 2009 temperature for the contiguous U.S. was above the long-term average, based on records going back to 1895, according to an analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center.
NOAA released its final biological opinion today that finds the water pumping operations in California’s Central Valley jeopardize the existence of several threatened and endangered species under the jurisdiction of NOAA’s Fisheries Service.
NOAA announced that Harris Corporation has been selected to develop the GOES-R ground system, which will capture, process and distribute information from NOAA’s next generation geostationary satellite series to users around the world.
NOAA’s National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center calls for a 50 percent probability of a near-normal season, a 25 percent probability of an above-normal season and a 25 percent probability of a below-normal season.
NOAA’s National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center announced that projected climate conditions point to a 40 percent probability of a below normal season, a 40 percent probability of a near normal season, and a 20 percent probably of an above normal season.
A United Nations report found that 61 of the world’s 64 large marine ecosystems show a significant increase in sea surface temperatures in the last 25 years, altering fisheries catches.
NOAA’s Fisheries Service reported to Congress today that four stocks - the largest number of stocks to be declared rebuilt in a single year - have been rebuilt to allow for continued sustainable fishing.
NOAA's National Weather Service and the National Safe Boating Council launched a new Web site to help boaters stay safe this spring and summer.
The combined average global land and ocean surface temperatures for April 2009 ranked fifth warmest since worldwide records began in 1880, according to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
The NOAA FY 2010 Budget "blue book" Web site, which offers detailed highlights of the agency's $4.5 billion budget request and helpful one-page fact sheets, is now available online from NOAA's Budget Office.
VORTEX2, the largest-ever field program to study how tornadoes form and dissipate, has hit the road. Follow live reports from NOAA's National Severe Storm Laboratory Web site.
NOAA and NASA officials announced Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. has been selected to build two satellites for NOAA’s next generation geostationary satellite series, GOES-R.
NOAA announced the award of a new cooperative institute to focus on ocean exploration, research, and technology development for the U.S. East Coast.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said today he was extending the 2008 West Coast salmon disaster declaration for California and Oregon in response to expected poor salmon returns to the Sacramento River.
NOAA's Fisheries Service announced a temporary rule that will require the commercial reef fish longline fleet to fish seaward of a line approximating the 50-fathom contour in the Gulf of Mexico.
Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced that the two departments are revoking a Bush administration rule that undermined Endangered Species Act protections.
NOAA is helping Americans look beneath the surfaces of the five Great Lakes by providing Google Earth with data, including detailed three-dimensional mapping.
This Earth Day, NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco visited Jug Bay to celebrate its restoration. After a decade-long effort, nearly 80 percent of the vital habitat has been restored.
According to a preliminary analysis for NOAA’s annual greenhouse gas index, carbon dioxide and methane increased in 2008, despite economic slump.
NOAA christened R/V Bay Hydro II, a new state-of-the-art research vessel that will collect oceanographic data in the Chesapeake Bay region.
NOAA announced it will allocate $16 million of its current fiscal year 2009 budget to assist the Northeast fishing industry with the transition to management of the fishery by sectors and catch shares.
NOAA has submitted to Congress its proposed Recovery plan to create jobs, strengthen the economy, and restore our environment. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act , NOAA was provided $830 million.
NOAA has announced interim fishing measures that protect the Northeast groundfish stocks most in trouble, while still allowing the fishing industry to target some healthy stocks as the fishery rebuilds.
NOAA scientists report that Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers, chemicals used in commercial goods as flame retardants since the 1970s, are found in all U.S. coastal waters and the Great Lakes.
Rivers will continue rising to near or at record levels in parts of the Midwest, according to NOAA's National Weather Service. Away from rivers, over-land flooding is ongoing due to the flat terrain and frozen drainage networks.
Flooding in the upper Midwest and continued drought in the South and West are among the highlights in NOAA's National Weather Service Spring Outlook.
Advanced planning can help protect lives and minimize property losses due to flooding. NOAA's National Weather Service and FEMA observe the fifth annual Flood Safety Awareness Week
Temperatures for December 2008 – February 2009 across the contiguous U.S. were near average according to a preliminary analysis by scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. For February, the average temperature was above the long-term average.
Scientists identified seven new species of bamboo coral discovered on a NOAA-funded mission in the deep waters of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
NOAA will receive $830 million in funds as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The agency will use the funds for projects that protect life and property and conserve and protect natural resources.
NOAA Ship John N. Cobb, a former fisheries research vessel, is on track to be added to the federal government’s official list of the nation's historic places worthy of preservation.
Temperatures for the contiguous United States last month were slightly above the long-term average, based on records going back to 1895, according to a preliminary analysis by scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
NOAA's new polar-orbiting environmental satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California today to support NOAA’s efforts to forecast and monitor the environment.
NOAA has issued the first La Niña advisory under its new El Niño Southern Oscillation Alert System as La Niña is forecast to influence weather patterns across the United States into early spring.
Google Earth today unveiled Ocean in Google Earth, a new way for online explorers to dive into the ocean’s depths.
Existing infrastructure for responding to maritime accidents in the Arctic is limited; more needs to be done to enhance emergency response capacity as Arctic sea ice declines and ship traffic increases according to a UNH/NOAA report.
A pioneering study, led by NOAA senior scientist Susan Solomon, shows how changes in surface temperature, rainfall, and sea level are largely irreversible for more than 1,000 years after carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are completely stopped.
The year 2008 tied with 2001 as the eighth warmest year on record for the Earth, according to a preliminary analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
The 2008 annual temperature for the contiguous U.S. was near average, while the temperature for December was below average, based on records dating back to 1895, according to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
President Bush has created three new marine protected areas in the central and western Pacific Ocean, protecting nearly 200,000 square miles.
Several North Atlantic right whales have been seen in the Gulf of Maine recently, leading NOAA researchers to believe they have identified a wintering ground and potential breeding ground.
NOAA's Fisheries Service released its final rule today to create a national saltwater angler registry of all marine recreational fishermen to help the nation better protect our shared marine resources.
This year is on track to be one of the 10 warmest years on record for the globe, based on the combined worldwide land and ocean surface average temperatures, according to a preliminary analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
The November 2008 temperature for the contiguous United States was warmer than the long-term average, according to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
Starting Dec. 9, ships in U.S. Atlantic coastal waters must slow down to protect North Atlantic right whales, one of the most endangered whales in the world.
The 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season produced a record number of consecutive storms to strike the United States and ranks as one of the more active seasons in the 64 years since comprehensive records began.
Maritime archaeologists today announced they have recently identified the wreck of the historic slave ship Trouvadore off the coast of East Caicos in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
NOAA's Climate Prediction Center is calling for warmer-than-normal temperatures for much of the central part of the nation, and a continuation of drier-than-normal conditions across the Southeast.
The combined global land and ocean surface average temperature for October 2008 was the second warmest since records began in 1880, according to a preliminary analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
High school teachers prepare to take part in the 100th mission of NOAA’s Aquarius Reef Base — becoming the first teachers to live and work from the world’s only permanent undersea laboratory.
William J. Brennan, Ph.D., named acting under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and acting administrator of NOAA.
Two people rescued from the site of their downed airplane near Concrete, Wash., pushed to 6,000 the number of people rescued in the U.S. by NOAA's SARSAT system.
The combined global land and ocean surface average temperature for September 2008 tied with September 2001 as the ninth warmest since records began in 1880, according to an analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
NOAA has issued a regulation that implements new measures requiring large ships to reduce speeds in areas where North Atlantic Right whales feed and reproduce — reducing the risk of collisions.
President George W. Bush praised the successes of U.S. Ocean Action Plan, highlighting NOAA’s achievements in ocean conservation, and heralded the opening of the new Sant Ocean Hall at the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural History.
NOAA’s latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows improved drought conditions over the Plains and the Midwest, in part due to tropical systems; lingering drought exists for the interior Southeast, south-central Texas, and Calif.
A collection of more than 4,000 aerial photos are now available showing the damaged Texas coastline in the wake of Hurricane Ike. This imagery was acquired by NOAA's Remote Sensing Division to support NOAA's national security and emergency response activities.
Responders from NOAA are on the move as residents and businesses in Texas and Louisiana recover from the effects of Hurricane Ike.
Summer 2008, the combined global average land and ocean surface temperature was the 9th warmest on record according to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. Also, this August was the 10th warmest.
Short-lived gases and particle pollutants - which stay in the atmosphere for just days or weeks - have a greater influence on Earth’s climate than previously thought, according to a new NOAA-led report.
Responders from NOAA are on the move as residents and businesses in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas assess the impacts of Hurricane Gustav.
NOAA issues environmental impact statement for the Ship Strike Reduction Rule, which aims to reduce the number of endangered North Atlantic right whales injured or killed by collisions with large ships.
NOAA and partnering federal agencies are now distributing NOAA Public Alert Radios to preschools, Head Start programs, nonpublic schools and central offices, K-12 school district offices, and post-secondary schools. Earlier distributions delivered a radio to every public school.
NOAA archaeologists discover remains of the 1837 British whaling ship Gledstanes within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
Okeanos Explorer - the first federal ship dedicated solely to exploring the ocean - has been commissioned. The ship enables on shore scientists to participate in real-time exploration while viewing live images and other ocean data.
View the latest forecasts from NOAA's National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service as Fay brings heavy rain to parts of Mississippi and Louisiana.
Check with NOAA's National Hurricane Center for the latest forecast for Fay in the western Atlantic Ocean.
NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center has increased the likelihood of an above-normal hurricane season and raised the total number of named storms and hurricanes that may form.
The Bush Administration is bolstering funding for hurricane research and forecast improvements by $13 million to accelerate NOAA scientists’ ability to more accurately forecast tropical storms, hurricane intensity, the paths of these storms, and related storm surges.
NOAA's Fisheries Service, in partnership with top international scientists and the U.S. Navy, has completed a pioneering research effort in Hawaii to measure the biology and behavior of some of the most poorly understood whales on Earth.
Each year, about a hundred people drown in rip currents. NOAA offers valuable advice to help you avoid and/or survive a rip current.
Removed from its energy source - the warm Gulf of Mexico waters - Edouard will continue weakening as it moves across northern Texas. Though Edouard's winds will weaken, locally heavy rain will fall along its path.
NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration and the NOAA National Weather Service are on scene in New Orleans aiding in the response to the estimated 419,000 gallons of #6 fuel oil spilled the morning of July 23.
The remnants of Hurricane Dolly have provided a mixed bag of damaging floods and welcome drought relief for residents of south Texas.
NOAA's Office of Coast Survey's Navigational Response Teams are scanning the seabed of the Brownsville shipping channel for debris and other navigation hazards in the wake of Hurricane Dolly to ensure the safe passage of vessels in and out of the port.
Rain and the threat of flooding will diminish across Southwest Texas as the remnants of Tropical Depression Dolly move westward across northern Mexico. NOAAWatch has the latest storm information.
Last month, the average global temperature was the 8th warmest June on record according to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. Also, globally it was the ninth warmest January – June period on record.
Low-flying unmanned aircraft are closely observing the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Data collected will help scientists determine whether the ice sheet’s melt rate will accelerate in the future.
Scientists expect this summer's Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” off the coast of Louisiana and Texas could be the largest on record, reaching the size of New Jersey.
Last month was the 27th warmest June for the contiguous United States, according to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. Flooding rainfall in the Midwest during the month countered worsening drought in the Southeast, southern Plains and West.
Check with NOAA's National Hurricane Center for the latest forecast for Bertha in the western Atlantic Ocean.
New report highlights the likely changes in extreme weather and climate conditions under ongoing climate change.
Learn how to keep yourself safe during thunderstorms. If you hear thunder, you are within striking distance of the storm, so “when thunder roars, go indoors.”
Get your forecast through the Fourth of July holiday weekend from NOAA's National Weather Service.
View the current and projected river levels across the flooded Midwest as predicted by NOAA's National Weather Service.
This year may set records for tornadoes and tornado-related deaths. Only halfway through the season and there have already been 111 tornado-related deaths, making it the deadliest tornado season since 1998.
Temperatures from March to May were the 36th coolest on record for the contiguous United States, according to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. May alone was the 34th coolest on record.
NOAA satellites are primed for an inevitable summer spike in distress signals from emergency locator beacons. Through May, 139 people have been rescued in the U.S. this year.
Reduce the effects of a hurricane disaster. Learn what to do before, during and after a storm at NOAA’s Hurricane Preparedness Web site.
NOAA's National Weather Service is forecasting severe weather through this weekend in parts of the central U.S. Be sure to have a NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards for life-saving warning information.
Corrosive water caused by the ocean’s absorption of carbon dioxide was found less than 20 miles off the west coast of North America. “Acidification” of ocean water could have far-reaching effects on the health of our near-shore environment and the ecosystems.
The number of humpback whales in the North Pacific Ocean has increased since international and federal protections were enacted in the 1960s and 70s, according to a new report funded primarily by NOAA and conducted by more than 400 whale researchers throughout the Pacific region.
NOAA’s Fisheries Service issued a proposed rule in the Federal Register to prohibit the future harvesting of krill between three and 200 miles of the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington. Krill are a small shrimp-like crustacean and a key source of nutrition in the marine food web.
The NPOESS Integrated Program Office has selected the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory to develop the microwave imager/sounder sensor planned for the next generation of polar-orbiting weather satellites. The sensor will bring improved data and imagery, paving the way for better weather forecasts, severe-weather monitoring and climate change assessment.
A new satellite set to launch next month will monitor the rate of sea-level rise and help measure the strength of hurricanes, according to a leading NOAA scientist. At a press briefing today, Laury Miller, chief of NOAA's Laboratory for Satellite Altimetry, said NOAA will use data from the Jason-2/Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM) to extend a 15-year record from two earlier altimeter missions that currently show sea level is rising at a rate of 3.2 mm/year — nearly twice as fast as the previous 100 years. “This rate, if it continues unchanged over the coming decades, will have a large impact on coastal regions, in terms of erosion and flooding,” said Miller.
NOAA's Fisheries Service announced today that it will honor seven people and two organizations for their efforts to enhance the understanding, protection, and sustainable use of U.S. ocean resources. This recognition is part of the agency’s third annual Sustainable Fisheries Leadership Awards program. NOAA’s leaders will present the awards at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on June 2.
NOAA’s Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu expects three to four tropical cyclones in the central Pacific basin in 2008, a slightly below average season.
Mariners can now get free real-time information on water and wind conditions for the Port of Pascagoula, Miss., from a new NOAA ocean observing system at the port.
The natural resources of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary off the North Carolina coast are in good condition overall, but the wreck of the Civil War ironclad encompassed by the site is at risk from human activity and natural deterioration, according to a new NOAA report.
The names Dean, Felix, and Noel, three of the most devastating storms of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season, were retired by members of the 30th Session of the World Meteorological Organization's Regional Association IV Hurricane Committee during its annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries announced today it is offering “Ocean Guardian” grants of up to $6,000 to a number of California schools whose students create a school or community-based conservation project that protects their local watershed and the ocean.
U.S. Navy mine-hunting technology has a potential dual use to help NOAA find historic shipwrecks by allowing maritime archaeologists to “see” below the seafloor. With greater resolutions and access to deeper depths, maritime archaeologists can better understand submerged cultural and historic resources without disturbing those sites.
NOAA has awarded scholarships to 111 students from 36 states through the agency’s 2008 Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship program.
NOAA today released a comprehensive draft management plan and environmental assessment for Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary for public review and comment. Based on several years of scientific study and extensive public input, the plan recommends specific actions to address issues impacting the sanctuary.
NOAA's Fisheries Service, the federal agency charged with protecting Northwest salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act, released today a trio of biological opinions that provide comprehensive, far-reaching plans for the protected salmon species.
A sensor considered critical in monitoring global climate will be restored to the first satellite scheduled to fly in the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) top officials from NOAA, NASA, and the Air Force said yesterday.
While the Arctic and the Antarctic experience similar greenhouse gas levels and solar radiation, each region responds in a dramatically different way, especially in temperature and loss of sea ice, says an international team of scientists that includes a NOAA oceanographer. While the Arctic is warming, most of Antarctica is not, largely because of the ozone hole, but projections indicate that is likely to change.
Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez today declared a commercial fishery failure for the West Coast salmon fishery due to historically low salmon returns. Also today, NOAA’s Fisheries Service issued regulations to close or severely limit recreational and commercial salmon fishing in the area.
NOAA has launched a major initiative to link together a wealth of ocean observation data from a wide variety of federal and non-federal sources.
Remarks by VADM Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., US Navy (Ret.) to the Maryland Space Business Roundtable; April 29, 2008.
Arlington County, Va., has become the fifth Washington, D.C., metropolitan county to become StormReady, making more than 63 percent of metro Washington D.C. StormReady.
NOAA today announced it will install the last nine of the 114 stations as part of its new, high-tech climate monitoring network. The stations track national average changes in temperature and precipitation trends. The U.S. Climate Reference Network (CRN) is on schedule to activate these final stations by the end of the summer.
Last year alone global levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the primary driver of global climate change, increased by 0.6 percent, or 19 billion tons. Additionally methane rose by 27 million tons after nearly a decade with little or no increase.
In the spirit of Earth Day, Hawai‘i Governor Linda Lingle, Deputy Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett, and retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, gathered at Washington Place today to announce the availability of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument Draft Management Plan and associated Environmental Assessment for public review and comment.
NOAA’s Fisheries Service will extend the final decision on listing Cook Inlet beluga whales up to six months, which will give NOAA researchers time to prepare a 2008 population abundance estimate before the agency decides whether or not to list the population under the Endangered Species Act.
NOAA’s Fisheries Service has outlined new measures to prevent overfishing and rebuild the number of sandbar and other shark species. The public may comment on the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) until May 19.
NOAA and partners have launched a comprehensive, user-friendly online resource featuring the latest scientific research conducted within three West Coast national marine sanctuaries.
The Web site, http://sanctuarysimon.org, integrates scientific monitoring data from Gulf of the Farallones, Cordell Bank and Monterey Bay national marine sanctuaries — three contiguous, federally protected marine areas off California's northern central coast.
Coral experts from the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Florida will gather at a NOAA-hosted workshop this month to share strategies for mitigating and managing the impacts of coral bleaching and climate change on reefs in the Caribbean and other regions.
Herring in Lynn Canal, near Juneau, Alaska, should not be listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act since they are similar to other herring populations in the area that are being considered for listing, according to NOAA’s Fisheries Service.
A tour of the NOAA National Hurricane Center is now as close as your computer with the inauguration of a new virtual online tour of the famous forecast center. The Web site, http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/nhctour.shtml, provides panoramic views of different areas of the facility, accompanied by audio and text descriptions.
NOAA announced today that it will invest $200,000 in Florida’s Miami-Dade County to expand the scope of Baynanza, an annual celebration and cleanup of Biscayne Bay. The funding — the largest NOAA contribution ever made towards a community marine debris cleanup project — will support the large-scale removal of marine debris, such as abandoned vessels, docks and pilings, and other large items that cannot be bagged by volunteers.
NOAA scientists are now flying through springtime Arctic pollution to find out why the region is warming — and summertime sea ice is melting — faster than predicted. Some 35 NOAA researchers are gathering with government and university colleagues in Fairbanks, Alaska, to conduct the study through April 23.
The fragile and unique marine ecosystems of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands encompassed by the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument will receive additional protection under a new internationally recognized designation announced today by NOAA.
NOAA’s Fisheries Service has determined that a petition to reclassify loggerhead turtles in the western North Atlantic Ocean as a distinct population segment with endangered status may be warranted, and is seeking comments on the petition action. Currently, loggerhead turtles are listed as a threatened species throughout the world.
A team of NOAA scientists traveled to Ghana this week to teach 40 government officials and university students to become trained marine resource observers, able to provide scientific data needed to manage their fish stocks.
NOAA's National Ocean Service is launching today a new multimedia elementary educational program, Nautical Charts, at the annual meeting of the National Science Teachers Association in Boston.
A field study now under way is looking at the pollutants within the Arctic atmosphere – called “Arctic Haze” – including their sources, concentrations, and climate impact, in an ice-free region.
A 90-ft. ship that helped bring closure to a grieving nation after two aircraft tragedies — the loss of TWA flight 800 in July 1996 and John F. Kennedy Jr.’s aircraft in July 1999 — will be decommissioned Mar. 25 after 41 years of service.
NOAA’s Fisheries Service has accepted a petition from a California environmental group seeking protection under the Endangered Species Act for an ice seal called the “ribbon seal” that inhabits Alaska’s Bering Sea.
The Department of Commerce, in consultation with the Department of the Interior, has appointed 13 new members to the Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee. The agency has also reappointed one member to a new two-year term.
Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne has announced that the crown jewel of NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary System, Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, is one of two sites he is considering to officially nominate for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The public is invited to provide input on the creation of a special research area in NOAA’s Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary during a comment period open through April 21. If established, the research area would dedicate a portion of the sanctuary’s waters to scientific investigation and exploration.
The average temperature across both the contiguous U.S. and the globe during climatological winter (December 2007-February 2008) was the coolest since 2001, according to scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. In terms of winter precipitation, Pacific storms, bringing heavy precipitation to large parts of the West, produced high snowpack that will provide welcome runoff this spring.
NOAA’s National Weather Service, in collaboration with the California Office of Emergency Services and the Humboldt County Sheriff’s office, will conduct a test of the tsunami warning system in coastal Humboldt County, Calif., between 10:15 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on Wed., Mar. 26.
A NOAA survey of land use along U.S. coasts shows that 53 percent of the new development between 1996 and 2001 occurred along the Southeastern U.S. coast between Texas and North Carolina.
NOAA's Fisheries Service is formally accepting a petition from the Cowlitz Indian Tribe to list eulachon (smelt) populations in Washington, Oregon and California for protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The tribe’s petition describes severe declines in smelt runs along the entire Pacific Coast, with possible local extinctions in California and Oregon
NOAA’s Fisheries Service is assembling a team of biologists to examine the decline of five Rockfish specifies in the Puget Sound and determine if it should formally propose listings under the Endangered Species Act. The assessment follows the acceptance of a petition filed by a Washington citizen.
NOAA’s Fisheries Service found that the State of New Jersey has failed to implement measures necessary to fulfill its responsibilities under the tautog interstate fishery management plan which are crucial for conservation of the salt water fish. As a result, NOAA will close New Jersey’s commercial and recreational fishery for tautog on April 1.
NOAA’s Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary has awarded the Farallones Young Marine Scientist Award to seventh-grade student Noe Manley for her entry which compared a fish’s size to its breathing rate in the 26th annual San Francisco Middle School Science Fair.
NOAA and the U.S. Air Force Reserve will host a series of public events the week of March 23rd in five coastal communities in Mexico and the Caribbean to urge residents to prepare for the upcoming hurricane season.
NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and the U.S. Army Dive Company are joining forces this month to repair buoy moorings, remove trash from dive sites, and install listening devices to track fish in national marine sanctuaries off Florida and Georgia.
American eels are fast disappearing from restaurant menus as stocks have declined sharply across the North Atlantic. While the reasons for the eel decline remain as mysterious as its long migrations, a recent study by a NOAA scientist and colleagues in Japan and the United Kingdom says shifts in ocean-atmosphere conditions may be a primary factor in declining reproduction and survival rates.
Scientists aboard the NOAA research vessel Oscar Dyson in the North Pacific have sighted a creature of great rarity and even myth: a white whale.
NOAA’s Fisheries Service has published its new Steller Sea Lion Recovery Plan to help restore the endangered population in western Alaska and provide further improvements to the threatened population across eastern Alaska.
NOAA scientists are reviewing unusual environmental conditions in the Pacific Ocean as the likely culprit for the dramatically low returns of Chinook and coho salmon to rivers and streams along the West Coast of the United States last year.
For the first time, America’s entire fleet of aircraft that fly through hurricanes now have instruments that measure surface winds, giving forecasters at NOAA’s National Hurricane Center a better view of the intensity and the size of these powerful storm systems.
Scientists at the National Coral Reef Institute are currently growing more than 400 corals from the larval stage as part of NOAA-funded research, and will transplant them to restore damaged coral reefs. "NOAA strongly supports research that will help managers develop new tools to address coral restoration," said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. "In this Year of the Reef, such innovative approaches may provide a new way forward to protecting these valuable resources."
NOAA and the World Bank today announced that they have signed an agreement to work together to help developing nations manage water resources, combat drought, and measure changes in climate.
NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary Program will use innovative Internet and satellite technology to transport students across the country to a scientific expedition in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The experience, which will feature the use of broadcasts from autonomous underwater vehicles, will be accessible on the Internet and telecast to a network of partner Boys and Girls Clubs across the nation via satellite from Mar. 2–7.
NOAA’s Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary is now recruiting volunteers for its Beach Watch shoreline monitoring program, which played a key role in the response to the 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill. Orientations and training will be held beginning this spring at several San Francisco Bay Area locations.
More than 700 volunteers gathered data from the shores of Oahu, Kauai, the Big Island, and Kahoolawe for Saturday’s annual Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Ocean Count.
NOAA’s Milford Laboratory and the newly formed East Coast Shellfish Growers Research Institute have teamed up to study how growing and harvesting shellfish will affect the marine ecosystem. The partnership reaffirms the Bush Administration's support for a robust and healthy aquaculture industry, a focal point of President Bush's Ocean Action Plan.
A team of scientists have found that the economic damages from hurricanes have increased in the U.S. over time due to greater population, infrastructure, and wealth on the U.S. coastlines, and not to any spike in the number or intensity of hurricanes.
This month more than 30 scientists will embark on a research cruise to the Southern Ocean, which surrounds Antarctica, where they will be battling nature’s elements to study how gases important to climate change move between the atmosphere and the ocean under high winds and seas.
NOAA has selected the recipients of the 2008 Walter B. Jones Awards and NOAA Awards for Excellence in Coastal and Ocean Management. These biennial awards recognize coastal stewards, graduate students, state and local government, and non-governmental organizations for their outstanding efforts in coastal and ocean management.
A team of scientists studying the California Current – a slow-moving mass of cold water that travels south along the coast from British Columbia to Baja California – are seeing increasing areas of water off Washington and Oregon with little or no oxygen, possibly resulting in the deaths of marine animals that cannot leave the low-oxygen areas.
The average temperature across the contiguous U.S. during January 2008 was near average (ranking the 49th coolest) and the 31st warmest on record globally, according to an analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. Temperatures throughout most of the western U.S. were cooler than average and warmer than normal in the Northeast.
NOAA and the Shell Oil Company have signed a cooperative agreement to place meteorological and oceanographic observation sensors on seven Shell oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Once installed, the suite of observation equipment will become a vital component of the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), providing valuable data for use in hurricane research, forecasting, and coastal resource management.
The California Resources Agency and NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program have been honored for their joint “Thank You Ocean” campaign, which encourages Californians to learn about and respect the ocean.
Ben Kyger has been selected to manage the day-to-day operations of the nation’s weather and climate supercomputers that give federal, private and broadcast meteorologists the latest forecasts and models for national weather, daily air quality, U.S. hazards assessments, drought, hurricane, and seasonal outlooks.
In an effort to improve forecasts released 12 and 72 hours before a winter storm, NOAA is flying its WP-3D “hurricane hunter” aircraft into severe weather over the Pacific Ocean from a temporary base in Portland, Ore. The aircraft is acquiring atmospheric data from severe winter storms originating over the Pacific Ocean that will affect the continental United States.
James W. Balsiger has been appointed as acting assistant administrator for NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, directing federal scientists and regulators responsible for managing commercial and recreational ocean fishing and the protection of marine mammals, sea turtles and their habitat.
Elkhorn and staghorn corals, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in May 2006, will benefit from the designation of newly proposed critical habitat. NOAA is seeking public comment on its proposal, which identifies approximately 4,931 square miles of marine habitat in Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands as critical habitat for the threatened corals – a requirement of the ESA.
NOAA's Fisheries Service will list Oregon coast coho as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Residents and visitors in southeast central Idaho now have immediate access to weather information thanks to a new NOAA Weather Radio-All Hazards transmitter, recently installed at Mt. Baldy near Salmon, Idaho.
NOAA’s Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary advises beachgoers against interacting with any seal pups they may find on the beach. Newborn harbor seal pups, born in late winter and spring, could suffer permanent harm if someone not licensed in marine mammal rescue were to move them.
NOAA has named Robert Maxson director of the Aviation Weather Center in Kansas City, the nation’s primary source of weather information for domestic and international flights. Maxson will leave his post as a research pilot with the National Science Foundation in Boulder, Colo. and begin his new duties at NOAA on Feb. 4.
More than 600 volunteers gathered data from the shores of Oahu, Kauai, the Big Island, and Kahoolawe for Saturday’s annual Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Ocean Count on Jan. 26.
NOAA’s Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary has extended the deadline to Feb. 10 for applications for the tourism alternate and Chumash Community member and alternate positions on its advisory council.
David Westerholm, former chief of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Office of Response, has been named the new director of NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration.
NOAA’s top official today expressed concern that a contractor’s slow development of a critical new sensor will delay its delivery for a scheduled launch of a precursor mission for the National Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS).
A warming global ocean — influencing the winds that shear off the tops of developing storms — could mean fewer Atlantic hurricanes striking the United States according to new findings by NOAA climate scientists.
NOAA has awarded a regional consortium of Great Lakes area universities and research organizations $760,000 for the first year of a five-year, $3.8 million pilot project to develop a new approach to analyzing and managing the cumulative effects of climate change, land use, invasive species, and other environmental stressors on Saginaw Bay and its surrounding ecosystem.
A former Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary research ship sunk last year off the Georgia coast as an artificial reef is now home to a diverse array of marine fish and invertebrates after only four months on the bottom, according to NOAA scientists.
NOAA’s Fisheries Service is asking for public comment as it considers four alternatives to deter California sea lions from eating imperiled salmon and steelhead that congregate below the Bonneville Dam on the lower Columbia River as they head upriver to spawn.
An international research team, including biologists from NOAA’s Fisheries Service, reported in the scientific journal Conservation Biology, that the estimated population of vaquita, a porpoise found in the Gulf of California, is likely two years away from reaching such low levels that their rate to extinction will increase and possibly be irreversible.
New coral reef maps released by NOAA reveal that the Big Island of Hawaii has the highest percentage of live coral of the main Hawaiian islands.
Fishing fleets from more than 30 countries on the high seas of the Atlantic and Pacific will now use new ways to avoid accidentally snaring seabirds going after bait on long lines.
NOAA's Office of Education is now accepting applications for environmental literacy projects to promote changes in K-12 education in effort to expand the amount of Earth system science taught in the classroom and improve student learning of the subject.
NOAA’s Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and its partners today accepted the third charter operator into a new program created to help protect wild dolphins in the Keys. Key West Eco Tours officially joined the Dolphin SMART program after successfully meeting standards that promote responsible viewing of dolphins in the wild.
NOAA’s Fisheries Service announced today that the Atlantic white marlin, a billfish highly prized by recreational anglers, does not warrant listing as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Based on the biological status of the species and consideration of the ESA listing factors, the species is not in danger of extinction.
The U.S. Climate Change Science Program Revised Research Plan Summary is available in the Federal Register and online for review and comment by the public.
After negotiations with the chairman of the International Whaling Commission, Japan has agreed not to target humpback whales during its annual whale hunt that is underway in the seas off Antarctica.
New NOAA fisheries survey vessel, launched on Dec. 19, in Mississippi, will be able to study fish quietly without altering their behavior.
NOAA and NASA today announced Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company of Palo Alto, Calif., has been selected for a $96.7 million (including options) contract award to design and develop a new instrument on the next generation of weather satellites.
NOAA Fisheries Service biologists estimate a beluga whale population of 375 in the Cook Inlet near Anchorage, Alaska, according to data collected during their annual survey in June. This population estimate is the largest since 2001.
NOAA is proposing to extend most of the prohibitions of the Endangered Species Act - normally applied only to endangered species - to the threatened elkhorn and staghorn corals.
Officials have broken ground for a new, larger NOAA Great Lakes research laboratory in Pittsfield Township, replacing the current Ann Arbor laboratory in mid to late 2008. The new building will provide twice as much space as the current location as well as updated wet and dry laboratories, and new conference capabilities including a lecture hall that can seat 150.
NOAA Coral Reef Watch coordinator Mark Eakin, and 17 fellow coral scientists from around the globe say corals could begin to disappear in 50 to 75 years due to steadily warming temperatures and increasing ocean acidification caused by carbon dioxide emissions.
NOAA has established a new monitoring program in Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary to collect data on the location and types of marine debris in the sanctuary.
NOAA Captain Michele G. Bullock recently took command of the day-to-day operations of the 10 research and survey ships in NOAA’s Pacific fleet controlled from the agency’s Marine Operations Center-Pacific in Seattle.
Custer County, Idaho, and the communities of Challis, Mackay, and Stanley completed the NOAA National Weather Service StormReady program, better equipping the county to handle severe weather. The Custer County emergency management team fulfilled a rigorous set of warning and evacuation criteria, including the development of a formal hazardous weather plan.
NOAA released a new report, The State of Deep Coral Ecosystems of the United States, called for in the President’s Ocean Action Plan on December 10. The peer-reviewed report, prepared by NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program, provides a baseline for future research and management of these unique and vulnerable ecosystems.
Retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, announced today that Mary M. Glackin has been appointed as deputy under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere.
A team of scientists took a crucial step forward in NOAA’s effort to prepare U.S. coastal communities, including Long Island, Atlantic City, and Daytona Beach for potentially deadly tsunami and storm-driven flooding. Scientists with NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, both based in Boulder, Colo., recently created high-resolution digital elevation models, or DEMs, for the three cities.
The Earth’s tropical belt – approximately the area between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn – has widened over the past quarter century as the planet has warmed, and could change precipitation patterns that would affect ecosystems, agriculture, and water resources, according to research by a NOAA scientist and colleagues. The findings are published today in the first edition of the new publication Nature Geoscience.
NOAA announced today that the Port of Mobile, Ala. has become the 14th location in the United States to install the Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System. PORTS®, developed and operated by NOAA, provides accurate real-time oceanographic and meteorological data to mariners that can significantly reduce the risk of vessel groundings and increase the amount of cargo moved through the port. The system will become operational on Dec. 3.
Enterprise (Ala.) High School officials and students followed appropriate safety measures prior to and during the March 1 tornado outbreak which killed eight students, but the event further demonstrated the need for such facilities to have hardened safe rooms, according to a NOAA National Weather Service assessment released today.
NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Program announced the launch of a new national ocean literacy, education, and public awareness campaign featuring Sanctuary Sam, a California sea lion who will be the program’s “spokes-sea lion” from his SeaWorld-based home in Orlando, Fla.
NOAA Fisheries Service today published its annual List of Fisheries that classifies each U.S. commercial fishery based on its level of interaction with marine mammals.
A new NOAA study, appearing in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows how a prolonged drought in North America in 2002 cut the continent’s natural uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) in half, leaving more than 360 million tons more of the heat-trapping greenhouse gas in Earth’s atmosphere.
Temperatures in October 2007 were the ninth warmest on record for the contiguous U.S., and especially warm in the Northeast, where five states had their warmest October on record. The January-October 2007 U.S. temperature was the seventh warmest since national records began in 1895, according to scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
NOAA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are soliciting information and ideas on ways to lessen dependence on fish-based feeds in the aquaculture industry. This comment period is the first step of a broad, year-long program that will include research projects, scientific consultations and a national workshop aimed at developing new and effective ingredients for aqua-feed.
NOAA is accepting applications for a scholarship program in honor of retired South Carolina Sen. Ernest F. Hollings, who promoted oceanic and atmospheric research throughout his career. This is the fourth year this scholarship is being made available to students interested in pursuing degrees in ocean and atmospheric sciences and education.
The U.S. Climate Change Science Program published a report today that quantifies North America’s net contribution of carbon to the atmosphere and catalogues sources and sinks of carbon on the continent.
To help protect the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale population, NOAA Fisheries Service is reminding mariners and fishers that the start of calving (birthing) season begins Nov. 15, and continues through April 15. Regulations and recommendations are in place to help protect these endangered whales during this critical period.
NOAA Fisheries Service today proposed limits on fishing three key species in order to end overfishing and promote rebuilding of the stocks. The proposal is based on scientific analysis and recommendations of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
A new NOAA study reveals that the level of human development activities, including roadways, sidewalks and roofs, in a watershed has a direct impact on the health of America's tidal creeks and may potentially threaten public health in those coastal areas.
A debris flow and flash flood warning system developed jointly by NOAA’s National Weather Service and the U.S. Geological Survey will help protect Southern Californians from potentially devastating debris flows, commonly known as mud slides, and flash floods in and around burn areas created by the recent wildfires
A new NOAA research model indicates nutrients flowing from the Mississippi River may stimulate harmful algal blooms to grow on the continental shelf off the west coast of Florida. The peer-reviewed hypothesis is being published in a special issue on Florida red tide in the journal "Continental Shelf Research."
A pilotless hurricane hunter is being flown by remote control into hurricane force winds for the first time to give researchers from NOAA and NASA a real time, low altitude look at a storm with hurricane category 1 winds hovering around 80 miles per hour.
NOAA today launched a comprehensive effort aimed at reducing dangerous marine debris. The Internet-based educational campaign for marine debris awareness and prevention answers President Bush's call to increase public awareness and understanding of the global problem of marine debris.
The size of this year's Antarctic ozone hole is slightly above the 10-year average in both depth and overall area, NOAA scientists announced today.
The NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program has developed a colorful new printed guide and Web page for scuba diving enthusiasts about diving in our nation's 13 national marine sanctuaries, home to some of America's most spectacular underwater sights.
A total of 87 tornadoes were reported in the United States from October 17-19 – a new record outbreak for the month, according to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.
NOAA has awarded four Honolulu based organizations $500,000 for the first year of a three-year $1.4 million project to improve the understanding of deep water coral reef ecosystems in the Hawaiian Islands.
NOAA has awarded $330,000 to the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, in a five-year $1.8 million NOAA project to help resource managers analyze and predict how hypoxia, water quality, and fishery production respond to nutrient loading and climatic factors in Chesapeake Bay and Delaware inland bays.
NOAA has awarded first-year funding of $284,000 to researchers at the University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute (UTMSI) as part of a three-year $781,000 project to develop a better understanding of how nutrient pollution from the Mississippi River affects the large area of low oxygen water called the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. The project will also look at how the dead zone affects commercially and recreationally important fish and shellfish.
The season's first hurricane brewing in the Atlantic.