As part of a joint investigation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, researchers from the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science quantified pollutants that could contaminate the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. The agencies’ researchers analyzed water samples from test wells around a nearby farm and sites inside the reserve to look for the [...]
Back in July, scientists from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) issued the first-ever seasonal harmful algal bloom (HAB) forecast for western Lake Erie at a press event at Ohio State University’s Stone Laboratory. Now, with the 2012 HABs season over, Dr. Jeff Reutter reflects on the successful prediction and looks ahead [...]
A recently published paper in the journal Tropical Conservation Science presents an environmental baseline of surface water nutrient conditions for lagoons and nearshore waters of Vieques, Puerto Rico. Researchers for the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science found that the lagoons on the island had higher levels of nutrients than water offshore. Somewhat unexpectedly, however, [...]
Some homes in the United States still teem with potentially dangerous chemicals that were banned years ago, researchers have found. And they’re coming from the most comfortable seat in the house. For example, the flame retardant PentaBDE, which belongs to a group of compounds called polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and was used to make sofas [...]
The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center’s DOOM lab (Dissolved Oxygen and Oyster Mortality) is examining how oysters respond to sudden drops in oxygen levels in shallow parts of the Chesapeake Bay at night. These fluctuations are partially natural, but appear to be made worse by nitrogen and phosphorus pollution. Oxygen depletion may make oysters more susceptible [...]
The Mussel Watch Program is a nation-wide water-quality monitoring program run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Since 1986, it has been crucial in helping scientists and the public learn about the presence and extent of toxic contaminants in the nation’s oceans and bays. In Washington, monitoring of Puget Sound is administered by [...]
The dolphin was coming straight up out of the water, making pitiful moans and then going back down, slowly swimming around the Bushy Park Boat Landing. Cathy Murphy spotted it Friday. It looked like something might be wrapped around its tail, dragging it down. “ We’ve watched dolphins for years, and we knew something was wrong,” she [...]
There are things Iowa farmers and other landowners can do to reduce the flow of nitrate pollution into the Mississippi River and, eventually, into the Gulf of Mexico. But some possible solutions have been repeatedly side-tracked by cost, political stalemates and uncertainty over what benefits, if any, would result in the Gulf if measures to [...]