News and Features by Research Area or Topic
Posted on January 23rd, 2013 in Climate Impacts, Coastal Pollution, Ecosystem Management, Invasive Species, Marine Spatial Planning, Sea Level Rise
The U.S. benefits from a wealth of resources and activities that depend on healthy coastal habitats. However, these habitats are being degraded by extensive hardening of shorelines due to climate-driven sea level rise, increasing shoreline development, land use changes in coastal watersheds, pollution, and invasions of non-native species. In the Mid-Atlantic region alone, coastal development [...]
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Posted on January 21st, 2013 in Climate Impacts, Ecosystem Management, Marine Spatial Planning, Sea Level Rise
The threat of sea level rise and storminess poses many management challenges in North Carolina due to low elevation, extensive barrier islands and vulnerability to coastal storms. The long-term North Carolina Sea Level Rise Project, part of the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science’s Ecological Effects of Sea Level Rise (EESLR) program, has developed modeling and [...]
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Posted on November 28th, 2012 in Chemical Contaminants, Climate Impacts, Coastal Pollution, Hypoxia & Eutrophication, News Clips, Ocean Acidification, Pathogens & Microbes, Sponsored Research
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 [...]
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Posted on November 20th, 2012 in Climate Impacts, Ecosystem Management, Human Dimensions, News Clips, Sea Level Rise
Project-of-the-Year Awards Showcase Program Successes Congratulations to the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) and Environmental Security Technology Certification Program(ESTCP) Projects of the Year, recognized for research and technology developments with significant benefits to the Department of Defense (DoD). These outstanding efforts are helping DoD achieve its mission while improving its environmental performance. Resource [...]
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Posted on October 3rd, 2012 in Climate Impacts, Ocean Acidification, Other Topics, Outreach
NCCOS-funded scientists working under the auspices of the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program were recently introduced to the internal research community at special roll-out and open discussion at the Third International Symposium on the Ocean in a High-CO2 World. Three U.S. ocean acidification researchers were recently awarded NOAA Ocean Acidification Program extramural funding. The roll-out introduced [...]
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Posted on September 30th, 2012 in Climate Impacts, News Clips, Ocean Acidification
Kris Holderied, who directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Kasitsna Bay Laboratory, says the ocean’s increasing acidity is “the reason fishermen stop me in the grocery store.” “They say, ‘You’re with the NOAA lab, what are you doing on ocean acidification?’ ” Holderied said. “This is a coastal town that depends on this ocean, and [...]
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Posted on September 24th, 2012 in Changing Temperature & Hydrology, Climate Impacts, Ecology & Oceanography, Forecasting, Ocean Acidification
A research paper published this week reveals that large die-offs of algae locally magnify ocean acidification. As the cells die and sinks to the bottom, the bacteria population that feeds on them swells in response, consuming more oxygen and releasing more carbon dioxide (CO2). The CO2 reacts in seawater to form acidic compounds that lower [...]
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Posted on September 21st, 2012 in Changing Temperature & Hydrology, Climate Impacts, News Clips, Ocean Acidification
A new kind of witchy interaction is underway in the oceans, report the authors of a new paper in Environmental Science & Technology. William G. Sunda and Wei-Jun Cai created a model to predict how CO2 from water pollution—that is, runoff from chemical fertilizers (farms), human waste (sewage), and animal waste (feedlots, ranches), plus nitrogen [...]
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