NOAA Issues First Installment Of $2.5 Million Grant To University Of South Carolina Research Foundation To Study Coastal Ecosystems And Climate Variability

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded the University of South Carolina Research Foundation a $499,837 grant to forecast the effects of climate variability on vulnerable coastal ecosystems. This grant is the first of a five-year, $2.5 million study from NOAA. NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The grant is supported by the Ecological Forecasting (ECOFORE) Program, managed by the NOAA Ocean Service’s National Center for Coastal Ocean Science, Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research/ Coastal Ocean Program (CSCOR/COP). ECOFORE will develop a capability to forecast the responses of marine and coastal ecosystems to factors such as pollution, climate change, population growth and invasive species. In much the same way that a weather forecast or economic forecast can help society plan for the future, an ecological forecast could allow managers to consider future possibilities and challenges in environmental arenas. The ECOFORE program will help to identify areas that should be most sensitive to environmental change in estuaries and rocky intertidal shores.

“This project supplements efforts to understand and forecast the effects of climate variability on ocean and coastal systems,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “NOAA recognizes the importance of these near-shore ecosystems and realizes that a first step in the protection and wise use of these environments is to identify vulnerable areas. NOAA and the Bush Administration are working to improve the understanding of our environment, and put that understanding into practice.”

This research will use satellite and ground-based data to project areas and species that should be most sensitive to environmental change related to climate change or ocean variability such as El Niño. Ten sites within NOAA’s National Estuarine Research Reserve System will serve as study areas. The National Estuarine Reserves are a network of protected areas established as a partnership between NOAA and coastal states for long-term research, education and stewardship.

The National Estuarine Research Reserve System was established by the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, and is administered through the office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management within NOAA.

CSCOR/COP has awarded up to $30 million annually to academic, state, tribal and Federal partners to assist NOAA in the study of our coastal oceans. Research sponsored by the Coastal Ocean Program provides decision makers with reliable and timely scientific information. These research programs are critical to the NOAA mission of predicting environmental change, managing ocean resources and protecting life and property.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing public health and safety, and sound economic interests by researching and predicting weather and climate-related events and protecting our nation's coastal and marine resources. To learn more about NOAA, please visit http://www.noaa.gov.