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About Us
The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) conducts and supports research, monitoring, assessments, and technical assistance to meet NOAA’s coastal stewardship and management responsibilities. NCCOS was formed within the National Ocean Service (NOS) in March 1999 as the focal point for coastal ocean science. Each of its five centers has specific capabilities and research expertise in coastal and ocean issues. Three of the centers have on–site research facilities, while two centers conduct research through analyses of field data or sponsored extramural research.
- The Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research
- The Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment
- The Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research
- The Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research
- The Hollings Marine Laboratory
NCCOS focuses its research on four ecosystems: coral reefs; estuaries, including the National Estuarine Research Reserves; National Marine Sanctuaries; and coastal ocean regions. NCCOS activities focus on five key ecosystem stressors: climate change, extreme natural events, pollution, invasive species, and land and resource use. Understanding how these stressors affect ecosystems is vital for assessing the impacts on coastal communities and effectively managing our nation’s ocean and coastal resources.
Left alone, stressors change ecosystems. These force social and economic changes, both good and bad. NCCOS conducts and funds research to define these stressors and assess their consequences to ecosystem health and natural resource abundance. Based upon these studies, NCCOS forecasts the anticipated effects of alternate management strategies on ecosystems. By using science to predict potential consequences of different actions, coastal managers have the information necessary to make more informed decisions. This series of steps connecting the status of ecosystems with the prediction of consequences from different management actions is called an Integrated Assessment. The assessments describe ecosystems, forecast future ecological health, and evaluate management strategies and their consequences. They provide focused, relevant, and timely science that managers can use to make better decisions, and form the foundation of the NCCOS research strategy.
NCCOS’s Ecological Forecasts help managers answer the "what if" questions. These forecasts are developed by integrating physical, chemical, biological, economic, and social data about the present condition of the coastal environment and predicting future conditions based on various management strategies. They allow managers to decide what future conditions are acceptable to society and take appropriate actions.
The scientists within NCCOS conduct applied research and manage long–term research projects. NCCOS builds flexibility into its research planning to develop and explore unanticipated results, and to be able to integrate future environmental issues and technologies. The projects provide a link between laboratory research and coastal management. NCCOS conducts interdisciplinary research to enrich information made available to other scientists and coastal managers. Driven by NOAA’s mandates and missions, science conducted and supported by NCCOS focuses on agency and constituents’ needs for practical answers.
In 2005, the Ecosystem Research Program (ERP), to which NCCOS is a major contributor, was reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). OMB’s Performance Assessment Rating Tool (PART) identifies program strengths and weaknesses to inform funding and management decisions aimed at increasing program effectiveness. ERP’s performance earned the rating Adequate. In order to prepare for the next PART, we are taking the following actions:
- Assess the portfolio of research within ERP to clarify
the role of each of the Program’s components and eliminate redundancies;
- Modify planning and management processes so that research activities meet the highest priority science needs and provide a balanced response to local, regional, and national issues.
