Tag: NOAA

  New research by NOAA, University of Alaska, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the journal Oceanography  shows that Chukchi and Beaufort Seas could become less hospitable to shelled animals by 2030 “Our research shows that within 15 years, the chemistry of these waters may no longer be saturated with enough calcium carbonate for a number of animals from tiny sea snails to Alaska King crabs to construct and maintain their shells at certain times of the year,” said Jeremy Mathis, an oceanographer at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and lead author. “This change due to ocean acidification would not only affect shell-building animals but could ripple through the marine ecosystem.” A team of scientists led by Mathis and Jessica Cross from the University of Alaska Fairbanks collected observations on water temperature, salinity and dissolved carbon during two month-long expeditions to the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Seas onboard United States Coast Guard cutter Healy in 2011 and 2012. These data were used to validate a predictive model for the region that calculates the change over time in the amount of calcium and carbonate ions dissolved in seawater, an important indicator of ocean acidification. The model suggests these levels will drop below the current range in 2025 ...

Some new tools that are enhancing the capabilities that provide the foundation of the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System

  NOAA officially launched its 2015 Arctic hydrographic survey season, in Kodiak, Alaska, in a World Ocean Day ceremony which showcased the deployment of the NOAA ships Rainier and Fairweather. In remarks directed to the crews of NOAA ships, Vice Admiral Michael S. Devany, NOAA deputy under secretary for operations, said, "Most Arctic waters that are charted were surveyed with obsolete technology, with some of the information dating back to Captain Cook's voyages, long before the region was part of the United States. Your work this summer is a crucial mission in our determination to make the Arctic seas safer for shipping, sustenance, and marine life." In anticipation of growing vessel traffic in the Arctic, NOAA is increasing its charting activities in the region to help ensure navigation safety. This week, Rainier and Fairweather will depart Kodiak to begin a summer of hydrographic surveying projects in the Arctic. NOAA will use the surveys, which will measure ocean depths and search for dangers to navigation, to update nautical charts for Alaska’s waters. This summer’s projects were the focus of today’s deployment ceremony, which was attended by federal, tribal, state and local dignitaries and featured a performance by the Kodiak Alutiiq Dancers. ...

  As part of an unusual mortality event investigation, a team of scientists has discovered that dead bottlenose dolphins stranded in the northern Gulf of Mexico since the start of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill have lung and adrenal lesions consistent with petroleum product exposure according to a paper published in the peer-reviewed online journal PLOS ONE. These findings support those of a 2011 health assessment of live dolphins in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, a heavily oiled area during the spill which showed those resident dolphins had poor health, adrenal disease, and lung disease. The timing, location, and nature of the detected lesions support that contaminants from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused these lesions and contributed to the high numbers of dolphin deaths within this oil spill's footprint. Increased dolphin deaths following the oil spill are part of the northern Gulf of Mexico unusual mortality event investigation. "This is the latest in a series of peer-reviewed scientific studies, conducted over the five years since the spill, looking at possible reasons for the historically high number of dolphin deaths that have occurred within the footprint of the Deepwater Horizon spill," said Dr. Teri Rowles, veterinarian and one of 22 contributing authors ...

(Image Credit: Craig Hayslip/Oregon State University) Bruce Mate has been tagging blue whales since 1979. After 35 years, he has yet to lose his sense of wonder. "The term 'awesome' is almost trite nowadays, people use it a lot. But for blue whales it's an appropriate term," said Mate, director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University. "They're the biggest animal that's ever lived on Earth, over 100 feet long, over 100 tons in weight, and their color is a sort of iridescent blue. When you see them rising to the surface you start seeing this glimmer that keeps getting bigger and bigger. They're just amazing," he said. A new online tool funded by NASA that helps protect this endangered whales is set to be released this year by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The WhaleWatch tool will help decrease whale mortality due to collisions with shipping and fishing gear. About a fourth of the roughly 12,000 blue whales in the world today live in the Pacific Ocean, said Mate. Most of them, along with other endangered whale species, migrate up and down the California coast – along with heavy fishing and shipping traffic to and from the ...

Two southeast Louisiana shipping hubs critical to the U.S. economy will see the installation of NOAA's PORTS

(Image Credit: NOAA, Georgia Department of Natural Resources) A new online tool developed by NOAA  to manage and integrate the massive amounts of data collected by different sources during the five years following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, called DIVER for Data Integration, Visualization, Exploration, and Reporting, is now available for use by research teams and the public at https://dwhdiver.orr.noaa.gov. The DIVER announcement plays a part in the Department of Commerce’s goal of unleashing its vast resources of environmental data and delivering on one of its key priorities – transforming data capabilities and supporting a data-driven economy. NOAA is a constituent agency of the Commerce Department. “NOAA pledged from the start of the Deepwater event to be as transparent as possible with the data collected,” said Kathryn D. Sullivan, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “The DIVER data warehouse approach builds upon that original pledge, and is another significant step in making NOAA’s environmental data available for the research community, resource managers and the general public.” DIVER provides unprecedented flexibility for filtering and downloading validated data collected as part of the ongoing Natural Resources Damage Assessment and response. These data collections now include more than 53,000 ...

  On April 22, two autonomous surface vehicles equipped with meteorological and oceanographic sensors will be released for the first time in the Bering Sea by NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL). Saildrones have the capacity to increase observational infrastructure in remote and hostile polar regions where ship time and human labor is costly and potentially hazardous. The ongoing development of Saildrones is a collaborative effort of researchers at PMEL, the Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO) at the University of Washington, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Saildrone Inc. The wind- and solar-powered Saildrone incorporates the principles of sailing and scientific research with a nearly 20 foot high carbon-fiber wing that speeds through the waters with a suite of high resolution sensors. Compared to other remotely operated vehicles, these autonomous surface vehicles can carry over 200 pounds of instrumentation, travel at speeds up to 16 mph, and are quickly maneuverable. There is also no need to ‘drive’ or continuously monitor Saildrones. Like a ship with a set course, a Saildrone will continue on its path while continuously taking measurements, notifying on-call engineers of potential dangers via phone. For the past ...

A chromatogram of oil that leaked from the Macondo well. Each peak represents one of thousands of chemical compounds in the oil (Image Credit: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) Five years after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, killed 11 workers, and unleashed the largest accidental oil spill in history, the lingering question five years on is how long will it take the environment to get back to “normal.” What’s normal for the Gulf, however, is an elusive question for scientists. One of the most deviling issues is where vast amounts of the 4.9 million barrels of oil still unaccounted for and 1.85 million gallons of the toxic oil dispersant Corexit that sunk it went, and to what extent this combination is still affecting the seas, marshes, beaches and wildlife. The oil still at large, said a 2014 study from the University of California at Santa Barbara, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and the University of California at Irvine, is estimated at about 2 million barrels, which is on the ocean floor at depths of some 1000 meters. Scientists generally estimate it will take another five to 10 years from now to determine the full impact of the spill from BP’s ...

Five years after the nation’s largest off-shore oil spill, the leaders of three aspects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill recovery effort, including the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (Council), the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) Trustees, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), expressed continued commitment to ensure the Gulf of Mexico fully recovers from this disaster. Although involved in separate processes with different responsibilities, the leaders of these efforts emphasize they are coordinating with one another to ensure efforts fit together for the benefit of the Gulf environment and the people affected by the spill. “Five years after the devastating Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Council’s mission remains critical to restoring the ecosystem and economy for the people who live, work and play in the Gulf region,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, Chairperson of the Gulf Restoration Council. “We will continue doing everything we can in coordination with our partners and stakeholders in the region to make sure the Gulf Coast comes back stronger and more vibrant than before the disaster.” The Council expects to publish an initial draft funded priorities list for public comment and then select projects for funding later this year. “We ...