NCCOS' Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research (CSCOR) has
had numerous accomplishments to date. CSCOR has
excelled at providing basic scientific research that is directly relevant
to resource management needs, synthesizing research findings and developing
forecasts for resource managers. CSCOR’s
most significant accomplishments include:
Recent Accomplishments
CSCOR’s most significant accomplishments include:
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How is past CSCOR research being used today?
Olympic Region Harmful Algal Bloom Program (ORHAB)
Along the coast of the Washington Olympic Peninsula, razor clam and Dungeness crab harvesting have been closed for long periods of time due to blooms of two neurotoxin producing HABs, Pseudo-nitzschia and Alexandrium.
The Olympic Region Harmful Algal Bloom (ORHAB) partnership, initially funded by CSCOR in 2000, continues its ongoing partnership comprised of federal, state and local management agencies, coastal Indian tribes, marine resource-based businesses, public interest groups, and academic institutions that developed a state-of-the-art shellfish monitoring program along the Washington coast. ORHAB provides managers up to a week's early warning, allowing for timely and selective closures.
Maryland Eyes on the Bay
Between 1998 -2000, CSCOR partners at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) developed and tested monitoring applications that led to new, continuous, real-time methods for measuring environmental parameters in critical shallow water areas at unprecedented temporal and spatial resolutions. These tools enhanced Maryland DNR’s continuous monitoring program that has evolved, with assistance from CSCOR HAB research funding, to supporting the evaluation of new water quality criteria set forth in multi-state and Federal agreements to restore the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland DNR incorporated these tools into their successful Eyes on the Bay program, which has become vital to building awareness of the importance of water quality monitoring for the bay and had led to new institutional partnerships to help sustain monitoring programs. Eyes on the Bay changed the way citizens now interact with State agencies charged with monitoring the health of the Chesapeake Bay. By accessing continuous monitoring data in a map-based format, the public can gain a better understanding about the critical habitats of favorite locations around the bay and the environmental factors that affect their daily use of bay resources. Maryland DNR monitoring programs have also been critical partners in recent CSCOR research. Improved predictive models have demonstrated new capabilities for forecasting HABs and other water quality concerns for Chesapeake Bay communities.
Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP)
CSCOR developed a standard, nationally accepted protocol for mapping submerged aquatic
vegetation, emergent coastal wetlands, and adjacent uplands in the Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP). This research is now being used in NOAA's Coastal Change Analysis Program at the Coastal Services Center to provide state coastal managers the ability to take an ecosystem approach to environmental issues that cross state boundaries.
Read more about CSCOR's work with the Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP)
CoastWatch Program
With CoastWatch, CSCOR helped to create the first application
of satellite data to oceanography to be used on an operational basis. The Coast Watch program provides access to near real-time and retrospective satellite images and in
situ data and aircraft observations to decision-makers and researchers.
There are many uses for each type of image. Sea surface
temperature maps help meteorologists predict weather and fishermen
locate prime fishing areas. Ocean color and chlorophyll -a levels help
scientists track changes in the ocean that may indicate harmful algal
blooms, while ocean surface winds are used by sailors and commercial
shipping pilots for navigation. CoastWatch is currently operational with NOAA's Satellites and Information Service in 6 regions across the U.S.
Read more about CSCOR's work with the The
CoastWatch Program
Great Lakes Coastal Forecast
System
The
Great Lakes Forecasting System combines data from satellite,
land, and lake-based systems with computer models for real-time prediction
of the physical status of the Great Lakes. The system links existing
models, computer systems, and data networks to provide data assimilation,
modeling, data display, and distribution. The three-dimensional numerical
model predicts currents, temperatures, and water levels. Output from
the forecasting system includes maps and data sets tailored to display
specific information required by particular user groups. The Great
Lakes Forecasting System was transferred to NOAA’s
Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory and Ohio State University
and is now operational.
CSCOR also
initiated a similar effort to develop a real-time atmosphere-ocean
operational system for the U.S. East Coast. Four estuarine or port
modeling and forecasting efforts are operational; the larger
scale East Coast Forecast System continues to be developed by the NOAA
Ocean Service - Office of Coast Survey.
Bering Sea Fisheries
Oceanography Coordinated Investigation (BS FOCI)
The
Bering Sea Fisheries Oceanography Coordinated Investigation (BS FOCI)
was a genetic assessment for stock identification. This study found
that Walleye pollock in the Bering Sea's Donut Hole region were not
a "self-sustaining" population
due to low food availability in that area. In addition, the pollock
in the Donut Hole are exclusively biologically part of U.S. stocks
that were being harvested by international fleets. The BSFOCI finding
that the donut hole population of pollock was not a self-sustaining
stock led directly to the international agreement that closed the
Donut Hole fishery.
Georges Bank Predation
Study (Multi-species Focus)
The Georges Bank project provided predation information on cod and
haddock to the New England Regional Management Council. This project
identified a shift in the prey-predator relationships on Georges Bank
in Maine and the effects of changes in currents on larval mortality.
As a result of these findings, the Council felt it was important to
include a multi-species management component in Amendment 7 of the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which sought
to reduce fishing pressure on Georges Bank. Without the information
from this project, there would have been no justification to move beyond
the traditional single-species approach.
Nutrient Enhanced Coastal Ocean Program (NECOP)
The
Nutrient Enhanced Coastal Ocean Program (NECOP) documented
the extent of nutrient input and hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico,
developed the first mass-balance water quality model that predicts
water quality responses to various nutrient reduction strategies in
the Mississippi watershed, and helped initiate political-management
decisions through tools such as the 1995 Hypoxia Management Conference
designed to address the hypoxia problem.
CSCOR has
published six technical reports and a final integrated report that
form part of an assessment of hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
These reports support efforts of the White House Office of Science
and Technology Policy - Committee on Environment and Natual Resource's
scientific assessment of the causes and consequences of Gulf hypoxia
through its Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (CENR).
Decision Analysis Series
Assessment, synthesis and
dissemination of existing coastal resource information is needed to ensure that decision makers have access to
appropriate, useful information for management decisions.
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