Since 2016, the researchers of the Department of Geology at Tallinn University of Technology have been engaged in a research project analyzing the causes of Silurian biodiversity crisis. The findings of the study are summarized in the article "Linking the progressive expansion of reducing conditions to a stepwise mass extinction event in the late Silurian oceans," published recently in the journal Geology.

Germany-based AIDA Cruises, a Carnival Corporation brand, has held a keel-laying ceremony for an LNG-powered cruise ship at the Neptun Werft shipyard in Rostock.

Legal and tactful bank stabilization of federally protected rivers is doable, case studies show.

By now it's well established that microplastics are a problem in the environment, even in the remotest parts of the planet. But where do different microplastics come from and how they get there, especially in the Arctic?

'Crab Trap App' will empower students, engage citizens in pollution reduction

Wealthier communities in the United States are more likely to receive federal assistance to buffer the effects of climate change, and more likely to reap the benefits of renewable energy, two new studies show.

New research from U of T 's Mississauga and Scarborough campuses reveals fascinating secrets about the complex structure of a marine organism found around the globe. The data provides important new insights about a molecular mineralization process creates the unique structure of a marine plant.

The U.S. has sustained 254 weather and climate disasters since 1980 where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including CPI adjustment to 2019). The total cost of these 254 events exceeds $1.7 trillion.

New study raises as many questions as it answers, but researchers say that's the point.

Vulnerable communities within wealthy areas were the most common buyouts across the U.S. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been offering voluntary buyout programs to homeowners in flood-prone neighborhoods since the 1980s.

Those eyes in the skies can serve as public health heroes by passing along important information that’s gathered from the vantage point of outer space.

A team of researchers has begun investigating deep-sea habitats off the U.S. West Coast to help inform possible locations for offshore wind energy development.

Trump administration officials tend to talk around climate change, but in official documents, they outline an unfolding crisis of extinctions, flooding and fire.

Book review: In “Sea Level Rise,” Orrin and Keith Pilkey poinder what will happen to the United States when oceans are 3 feet higher than they are now.

The world’s first hydrogen-powered boat to tour the world, Energy Observer, has sailed into London. With no CO2 emissions, no fine particles and no noise that could disturb underwater fauna, the ship is the first of its kind and potentially a model for the future

The worldwide offshore rig count in September 2019 decreased by four units sequentially, but increased by 43 units year-over-year, according to reports by Baker Hughes, a GE company.

The Jason-2/Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM), the third in a U.S.-European series of satellite missions designed to measure sea surface height, successfully ended its science mission on Oct. 1. NASA and its mission partners made the decision to end the mission after detecting deterioration in the spacecraft's power system.

The author of “The Geography of Risk” argues that reckless development and the specter of more severe storms pose a grave threat to high-risk

Will our “Spanish Village by the Sea” see the impacts of sea level rise?

Seagrass meadows put down deep roots, persisting in the same spot for hundreds and possibly thousands of years, a new study shows.

Recently, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a new report explaining the devastating impacts of climate change on the ocean and the wildlife that depend on it. With “high confidence,” the report states: “It is virtually certain that the global ocean has warmed unabated since 1970.” As the managing director for Audubon Connecticut, the state office of the National Audubon Society, I can tell you this is bad news for birds.

Projects will help improve efforts to protect marine resources, public health and coastal economies

Scuba divers are being asked to join others in backing the exclusion of trawlers from a devastated area of Sussex coast – so that its once-thriving kelp-forest can be restored.

Tropical cyclones – storms that bring strong, rotating winds and rain, and which can intensify into hurricanes or typhoons – affect coastal regions around the world. Our research team, centered at the University of North Carolina’s Institute of Marine Sciences, has analyzed a 120-year record of tropical cyclones affecting coastal North Carolina, and found that six of the seven wettest storms over this time period occurred in the past two decades.

When it comes to feeding, corals have a few tricks up their sleeve. Most of their nutrients come from microscopic algae living inside of them, but if those algae aren't creating enough sustenance, corals can use their tentacles to grab and eat tiny prey swimming nearby.

Scientists are using evidence left behind by ancient hurricanes to show how storms behaved in the past and how climate change might affect them in the future.

Asia’s largest LNG bunkering vessel has reached its first milestone with the strike steel ceremony held at the Sembcorp Marine’s shipyard

Flying along the coast in Senegal, it's impossible not to notice thousands of dots below in the water. These are large, planked fishing canoes, the product of centuries of design and tradition, and a vital part of the local economy.

New research provide clear links between storm-water discharge, which sometimes includes wet-weather sewer overflow (WWSO) events, and the presence of AbR in microorganisms living in urban beach habitats.

Millions of people are suffering from malnutrition despite some of the most nutritious fish species in the world being caught near their homes, according to new research published in Nature

As hurricanes and floods become more frequent and intense, the threat to coastal real estate continues to rise.

Climate scientists say seabed carbon storage could be a new ally to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a volume greater than all the carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere from the planet’s coal-burning power stations.

When criminals ply their trade at sea

Human-driven climate change has made the oceans hotter and more acidic, depleting them of oxygen and kneecapping their ability to produce life – a trend that will only continue if greenhouse gas emissions keep rising.

Lift a shell from the sand to your ear and everyone knows you can hear the sea. But listen carefully enough and you can hear shells in the sand too. Sand, it turns out, has a signature sound of its own, and now scientists have found a way to tune in.

“As a society, we really like living near water. We love living in the wildland urban interface, in the mountains, and we love nature, and these are the places in particular where the disasters are more prevalent,” said Leslie Chapman-Henderson, president of the Florida-based Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH). “Should we be dredging up sand to build those places back up? Or should we just acknowledge that we shouldn’t put structures there?”

Coastal Mnews Today and the American Shoreline Podcast Network are going because we're covering the conference and bring to you, our readers and listeners, the highlights of America's premier coastal conference. Join us and we'll see you in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina from October 22-25!

Insurance for Coral Reefs Help Boost Resiliency for Coastal Communities

Harmful algal blooms are a major environmental problem in all 50 states. Red tides, blue-green algae, and cyanobacteria are examples of harmful algal blooms that can have severe impacts on human health, aquatic ecosystems, and the economy.

The 2019 Atlantic Hurricane Center has been challenging the ground rules for an insurance industry organization that dispatches pilots to take aerial photographs immediately after natural disasters.

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives last week passed a continuing resolution to extend federal government funding through Nov. 21 and avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month. The bipartisan vote of 301-123 saw three Democrats vote no while 76 Republicans supported it.

In 2016, global plastic waste amounted to some 242 million metric tons. Of this, 137 million tonnes (or more than 57%) originated in East Asia, the Pacific, Europe, Central Asia and North America, much of which made its way into the ocean.

In May this year, the Environment Agency launched its National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management strategy (National Strategy), warning that the country must prepare for the worst on climate change.

Long-sought reforms to Endangered Species Act (ESA) implementation have arrived. On August 27, 2019, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) finalized regulations (the 2019 Regulations) intended to make ESA listing decisions, critical habitat designations, and agency consultations more transparent and efficient while still protecting listed species.

Global warming, rising sea levels and rapidly growing cities are placing immense pressure on coastal cities, towns and subsistence communities. The U.S. Population Reference Bureau estimates that almost 6 billion people will be living within 200 kilometres of a coastline by 2025 – close to double the number in 2003. Population growth – along with sea level rise compounded by storm surges and increased rainfall intensity due to climate change – are the key reasons for the increase in coastal flooding and the degradation of our coastal regions and ecosystems today.

Book review: In “The Geography of Risk,” reporter Gilbert M. Gaul assesses the costs of beach overdevelopment -- and who pays for it Note: Listen to Gilbert Gaul on ASPN's Ship o Shore Podcast, hosted by Robert Frump; link at end of article.

“Snoozing crew raises specter of criminal charge in boat fire” was the headline of an AP story this week and if the feds do indeed charge the surviving crew of the dive ship Conception, it won’t be the first time in recent years that they have dusted off the archaic “seaman’s manslaughter” statute.

Douglas B. Mackie, Chief Executive Officer of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company (GLDD) from 1995 to 2011, passed away on September 11, 2019.

Real estate investors cautioned to consider climate risk before they buy -- It’s time for a real estate climate risk index

U.S. needs better policy for flood zones, says NRDC report, or risks “cycle of flood-rebuild-repeat”

Environmental experts on Wednesday warned House lawmakers about risks to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) posed by climate change, saying the situation is likely to worsen in the coming years.

“It’s hard to predict if you’re safer over here than over there.”

In the US, it's cheaper to build and operate wind farms than buy fossil fuels.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House lawmakers approved bipartisan legislation Wednesday that would block new offshore drilling off the majority of the nation’s coast, including Virginia, despite pushback from many Republicans.

The strange shapes rising out of the sand are hard to make sense of from a distance. Sun-bleached and jagged against the skyline, they resemble antlers of enormous deer, or perhaps the splintered bones of giants.

House of Representatives to vote on two landmark bipartisan bills to ban drilling off Atlantic, Pacific coasts and Eastern Gulf

The US Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board finally may be heading to a high level showdown over long-standing NTSB proposals for tougher regulations protecting passengers on small passenger vessels and duck boats – vessels used by millions of people per year.

Sam Urato was 5 years old when his family loaded into a station wagon and fled Hilton Head Island ahead of Hurricane Hugo.

Newly digitized vintage film doubles how far back scientists can peer into the history of underground ice in Antarctica.

The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) Atmospheric Science Department and UAH’s Rotorcraft Systems Engineering and Simulation Center (RSESC) have teamed up to offer University of Georgia scientists a unique drone-gathered data set for their coastal disturbance studies.

THE HATCHING OF dozens of tiny loggerhead sea turtles at the north end of Virginia Beach’s Oceanfront early in August was cause for celebration.

Sharks are magnificent predators that represent an impressive evolutionary success story. They've swum the oceans for more than 400 million years, diversifying over time to inhabit rivers and lakes as well. About 500 known species are alive today, and there are likely even more yet to be discovered.

They binged on Netflix and junk food. They dusted off board games and wrestled crosswords. They read. They drank. When the power went out, one family grilled frozen pizzas.

The catastrophic impacts of Hurricane Dorian are a grim reminder of the need to invest in research and technology to improve forecasts of hurricanes and other storms. Weather prediction has become significantly more reliable in recent years, but we still need far more precise forecasts of the track, intensity and timing of hurricanes to safeguard society.

Book review: In “The Geography of Risk,” reporter Gilbert M. Gaul assesses the costs of beach overdevelopment -- and who pays for it

UNSW scientists have released a world-first framework for guiding the building and management of coastal infrastructure at a global scale. It is hoped that the framework—published today in journal BioScience—will influence decisions in ways that help coastal systems to resist or recover from the impacts of climate change and construction.

Hurricane Dorian has left a trail of devastation over the last few days, but an onslaught of destructive floods have hit communities all across the country this summer. From small towns in the Midwest and Southeast to large cities like Washington and New York, torrential rains have inundated homes, cut power, and disrupted lives. It’s no accident either. Climate change is fueling more floods, leading to mounting economic costs, and upending our ability to respond to growing risks.

Big insurance losses from hurricanes, wildfires and other natural disasters over the past two years are set to push reinsurance renewal rates higher in January, ratings agencies said.

Summer is drawing to a close, and while that thought tends to brings us down, the closing of the summer also means we are getting close to the annual National Coastal Conference! 

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Decision makers face choices about how to design risk management strategies to protect coastal populations from rising sea levels and storm surges. Finding a solid strategy is difficult and only complicated by a warming climate, but a team of Penn State researchers has identified five factors that can better characterize risk management options.

We went into the depths of the ocean with a scientist seeking to understand how frozen gas deposits might respond in a rapidly warming world.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has established a contract for a Gulfstream G550 to join its Hurricane Hunter fleet of aircraft. The aircraft will support NOAA’s weather forecasting and research programmes.

It was the deflated clump of balloons floating in Unicorn Lake that really did it.

Farming seaweed, then sinking the mature plants to the bottom of the ocean, could be an effective way to fight warming. So why don’t we do it?

Charles Morgan in the mid-1800s used the power of steam for his ships and railroads, and then combined them by constructing a port infrastructure.

FEMA’s rates are up, while private carriers are starting to return to the market

After passing a key review hurdle, NASA's newest mission to study the health of Earth's ocean ecosystems and atmosphere is ready to move from design to reality.

A Q&A with scientist Michelle Newcomer on looking for unexpected causes of harmful algal blooms

You could be contributing to the 14 billion pounds of trash that Sea Stewards estimates makes it into the ocean every year — even if you don’t live anywhere near the beach, experts say.

IADC today announced the fourth nomination running to receive the Safety Award 2019 award – Jan de Nul’s Full Mission Simulator safely prepares crews for risky conditions at sea.

Climate change is accelerating the spread of lethal algal blooms in American waterways—with devastating results for humans and animals alike.

It’s a clear summer day in South Florida but a storm rages inside the SUSTAIN Laboratory at the University of Miami’s (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, where the world’s biggest hurricane simulation tank is in full swing.

On a recent, sunny Friday morning, a group of journalists and photographers gathered on the roof deck of the Surfrider Malibu, a boutique hotel that looks out over the iconic surf break for which it’s named. We were there for a demo of a new feature from Surfline, an iPhone app best known for its surf forecasts. Called Sessions, the feature captures the waves surfers ride and downloads the videos to their phones. “The pro guys have their personal filmers documenting their every ride,” Dave Gilovich, Surfline’s chipper, sixty-seven-year-old brand director, said. “Well, Surfline Sessions is for the everyman.”

Canadian research scientists are spending a month at sea collecting information on the health of the remaining North Atlantic right whales.

Raytheon will build the Geostationary Littoral Imaging and Monitoring Radiometer, or GLIMR, sensor, under a contract from the University of New Hampshire. GLIMR, NASA's selected Earth Venture Instrument-5 investigation, will be NASA's first hyperspectral imager in geostationary, or GEO, orbit. Hyperspectral imaging collects and processes information from across the electromagnetic spectrum including visible light, infrared and ultraviolet frequencies to create a highly detailed view of physical and biological conditions in coastal waters.

This notice allocates $6.875 billion in Community Development Block Grant Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) funds to grantees recovering from qualifying 2015, 2016, and 2017 disasters. Funds allocated by this notice were made available by the Further Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Requirements Act, 2018 (Pub. L. 115-123, approved February 9, 2018) (the “Appropriations Act”).

As the scale and frequency of major disasters escalate, millions of dollars in federal, state and insurance payments intended for recovery efforts are being stolen by fraudsters taking advantage of chaos and the pipeline of aid flowing into the stricken areas.

Researchers have developed new maps that predict coastal flooding for every county on the Eastern and Gulf Coasts and find 100-year floods could become annual occurrences in New England; and happen every one to 30 years along the southeast Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico shorelines.

A new paper led by a A.R. Siders of the University of Delaware states that communities should plan for retreat in some cases from areas that are flood- or fire- or hurricane-prone and adjust their building codes and services as needed.

The U.S. could “drown the world in oil” over the next decade, which, according to Global Witness, would “spell disaster” for the world’s attempts to address climate change.

Protecting and preserving the world's oceans, waves and beaches has been the hallmark mission statement for the 82 international chapters of the Surfrider Foundation.

A legendary writer, a quirky biologist and their jolly adventure in the Sea of Cortez

A new study provides evidence that increasing the abundance of a threatened or endangered species can deliver large benefits to the citizens of the Pacific Northwest.

In the U.S., getting to the beach usually means driving. But some sandy shores can still be reached by train, subway, and bus.

Nestled at the tip of Cape Cod, Provincetown, Massachusetts, has a year-round population of 2,500 that swells into the tens of thousands during the summer. Though primarily known as an artists’ resort nowadays, the coastal town—founded some 300 years ago—still retains a bit of its legendary fishing character, with $8 million to $10 million worth of shellfish (lobsters, scallops, and crab) coming across the commercial pier each season.

New studies find cities most vulnerable to climate change disasters—heat waves, flooding, rising seas, drought—are the least prepared.

Over the recent decade, total human impacts to the world’s oceans have, on average, nearly doubled and could double again in the next decade without adequate action, researchers say.

Arch Insurance North America has agreed to acquire Ventus Risk Management, a technology and analytics-driven managing general underwriter that specializes in providing coastal commercial property insurance solutions to small and mid-sized enterprises.