Science

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.

For the first time ever, endangered Atlantic pillar coral have spawned through lab-induced techniques. The scientific breakthrough occurred this week in a research laboratory at The Florida Aquarium’s Center for Conservation in Apollo Beach as part of Project Coral. Scientists believe the historic breakthrough could ultimately help save corals in the Florida Reef Tract from extinction.

Due to soaring temperatures, tropical coral reefs are facing a bleak future. But recent research shows that some of these corals are migrating to cooler subtropical seas, offering a measure of hope that these ecosystems can survive the existential threat of climate change.

By 1851, the bowhead whales, it seems, had unionized.

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

Preliminary findings suggest some of the Chesapeake’s underwater grass beds were hurt by heavy rains, heat

A $20 million grant announced today from the National Science Foundation will fund a five-year initiative by Maine science institutes to revolutionize the understanding and management of coastal ocean ecosystems.

With up to 14,000 tons of sunscreen being washed off people into oceans each year, it’s time for all of us to understand how sunscreen damages coral reefs. Our simple and allegedly healthy habit of putting on lotion before exposing ourselves to UV radiations is indeed taking its toll on marine life and biodiversity.

Iron age site has been occupied by Romans, used as Second World War defences and formed part of a golf course

Florida's coral reefs are experiencing a multi-year outbreak of stony coral tissue loss disease. Here is a description of the problem, what NOAA and partners are doing in response to the problem, and how you can help.

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.

Scientists say they have found high levels of small plastic particles in Arctic snow. Their findings provide more evidence that plastic is entering Earth’s atmosphere and traveling great distances around the planet.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska has been America's canary in the coal mine for climate warming, and the yellow bird is swooning.

The most detailed study ever done of coastal estuaries concludes that nearly 750,000 acres of historic tidal wetlands along the West Coast, including enormous swaths of Bay Area habitat, have disappeared largely as a result of development.

Some researchers think the whales are starving, but the cause of death may be far more complicated.

As hurricane forecasts become more accurate, scientists are increasingly turning their attention to communicating those forecasts to vulnerable communities in a meaningful way. The goal is to enable residents and local officials to see how the incoming storm could affect specific areas so they can make critical decisions about protecting their lives, homes, and businesses.

Researchers examined more than a million individual corals across 44 countries for a new study on how to save coral reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Orrin Pilkey was sounding the alarm about climate change and sea level rise long before the topics were part of public consciousness. As an early whistleblower, his work was not always well received, but he pressed on and has authored and edited dozens of books about the environment in the past few decades.

A worm that feeds on bacteria and has no eyes is one of the standout stars of almost 600 unfamiliar and potentially new ocean species identified at NIWA in the past year.

USGS scientists look to the past to learn about the future of Florida mangroves

NASA Sea Level Change Team Meeting; Annapolis, Maryland, 11–13 March 2019

Alaska is the fastest-warming state in the country, but Rhode Island is the first state in the Lower 48 whose average temperature rise has eclipsed 2 degrees Celsius. Other parts of the Northeast - New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts - trail close behind.

As greenhouse-gas emissions continue to concentrate in the atmosphere and heat up the planet, the oceans are warming faster than ever. That's devastating for coral reefs, since warmer temperatures prompt coral bleaching — when coral expels its algal food sources and turns ghostly white, increasing its risk of death. A diver photographed a coral-bleaching event over two months in Tahiti to show the stark contrast between before and after.

The gliders' deployment in Hurricane Florence found that subsurface temperatures were about 25 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the ocean modeling predicted without their input. Another glider helped define the Gulf Stream.

This summer, coastal newspapers all around the country boasted headlines of record-breaking sea turtle nests along their local beaches. These headlines were especially prevalent in communities along the shorelines of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, which includes are our own home turf of the Outer Banks.

After years of federally mandated protection, scientists see signs that this once ecologically fertile area known as the Hawaiian-Emperor Seamount Chain is making a comeback.

The National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative supports science for estuarine and coastal decision-makers. Managed by the University of Michigan Water Center, through a cooperative agreement with NOAA, the Science Collaborative coordinates regular funding opportunities and supports user-driven collaborative research, assessment, and transfer activities that address critical coastal management needs identified by the reserves.

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The announcement that 11 billion tons dropped off the Greenland Ice Sheet in one day turned out to be a made-for-television example of the effects of climate change. Dramatic videos of water pouring off the glaciers went viral. But apart from the occasional spectacular image, it’s hard to focus the attention of the news media on the Greenland Ice Sheet. And that’s too bad.

Industry players argue they protect and monitor the southern resident whales

More frequent ocean warming events will have significant impacts on marine ecosystems and the people who depend on them

Karen St. Germain, systems architecture and advanced planning director for NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service, presented this potential future architecture for NOAA's Earth observation constellation in April 2019 at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.

Jumbo squid live up to their name. They can grow up to six feet long and can weigh 100 pounds. They’re deep red, muscular, and just plain mean. Mexican fisherman call them diablo rojo — red devil — because they eat each other and anything they can. When the squid invaded Monterey Bay in 2002, they devoured over 50 kinds of fish.

There’s a new way to keep track of the harmful algal blooms growing in Lake Erie.

Somewhat drab and unassuming, the humble rockweed's olive-green or yellowish-brown appearance belies its importance in the rocky intertidal zone.

For the past several years, including this one, endangered North Atlantic right whales appear to have been bypassing traditional feeding grounds off Maine’s coast, congregating instead off Canada in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where some are dying.

Scientists can now predict where and when blue whales are most likely to be foraging for food in the California Current Ecosystem, providing new insight that could aid in the management of the endangered population in light of climate change and blue whale mortality due to strip strikes, a new study shows.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Thousands of Pacific walruses have come to shore off the northwest coast of Alaska in their earliest appearance since sea ice has substantially receded.

ALASKA (Mark Price/The Charlotte Observer) - A team of ocean explorers captured images last week of a surreal transparent squid with glowing internal organs in the Gulf of Alaska, as part of a study backed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Scientists have found still another reason why it is important to restore seagrass beds, including in Delmarva's coastal and bay waters.

NASA is elevating environmental conservation efforts with its new Geosynchronous Littoral Imaging and Monitoring Radiometer (GLIMR) instrument, which will make observations of coastal waters to help improve resource management, boost economic activity, and protect ecosystem sustainability.

Florida Governor DeSantis announces in Englewood that the new Red Tide Task Force will complement the Blue Green Algae Task Force and the Florida Red Tide Mitigation and Technology Development Initiative, which is the partnership between the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute within FWC and Mote Marine Laboratory.

Funds will be used to fix large laboratory building on the UT Marine Science Institute campus in Port Aransas ravaged by Hurricane Harvey.

A University of Miami study released last week found that smoke from African fires burning wild or to clear land has more usable phosphorus in it than Saharan dust — long thought a potential culprit in over-nourishing far away marine ecosystems and South American flora.

Southern right whale mothers and their calves shelter in the noisy surf, stay in close proximity and effectively whisper—calling softly less than once per dive—to avoid attracting any unwanted attention.

Environmental stressors like warming water temperatures are contributing to massive coral death, scientists say. But a recent study with three decades of data collected from Looe Key Reef is revealing another serious problem — land-based nutrient runoff.

This year in Alaska, an abnormal rise in temperature has, like in much of the north, disrupted communities and the environment

For eight years, thick mats of seaweed have smothered coral reefs, trapped sea turtles and brought economic instability to coastal communities as reddish-brown gobs of foul-smelling sargassum wash onto beaches along the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and tropical Atlantic.

Tiny plastic building blocks are spilled into oceans and waterways before they’re even made into plastic goods. Listen to Jace Tunnel, Texas Nurdle Specialist, on the American Shoreline Podcast. Pod link at the end of the story

The National Weather Service said Friday it took a long look at Thursday’s record afternoon temperatures before announcing late in the day that the thermometer had reached an astonishing 90 degrees at the official recording site at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

When the Conowingo Dam opened to fanfare nearly a century ago, the massive wall of concrete and steel began its job harnessing water power in northern Maryland. It also quietly provided a side benefit: trapping sediment and silt before it could flow miles downstream and pollute the Chesapeake Bay, the nation’s largest estuary.

Sea urchins have gotten a bad rap on the Pacific coast. The spiky sea creatures can mow down entire swaths of kelp forest, leaving behind rocky urchin barrens. An article in the New York Times went so far as to call them "cockroaches of the ocean." But new research suggests that urchins play a more complex role in their ecosystems than previously believed.

For those in the drinking water and wastewater treatment space, the climbing temperatures in summer months can bring with them an obstacle that seems to get worse every year — harmful algal blooms. Illustrating this aggravation is the presence of a massive bloom now approaching Florida that is reportedly the largest in world history.

Blue-green algae blooms have been growing more frequent, both in Florida and elsewhere in the United States. Mississippi just closed all 21 of its beaches because of a bloom.

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (CN) – Elected officials from cities and counties up and down coastal California agreed with state officials that sea level rise as a result of climate change is “happening now.”

Deep sea sediments are notoriously nutrient poor, however, microbes belonging to the Archaea group of unicellular microorganisms have been efficiently scavenging dead cells, and play an important role in the geochemical carbon and nitrogen cycles of the ecosystem, researchers have found.

Off St. Thomas, the disease is moving faster and killing more corals than any disease before

Barry, now a tropical depression, continues moving slowly north through Arkansas and rainfall and flooding remains a concern. NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over the south central United States yesterday, July 14 and captured a visible image of then Tropical Storm Barry.

Florida’s water and environment won big in the 2019 budget recently passed by the state legislature and enacted by Governor Ron DeSantis.

Study is world's longest record of reactive nutrients, algae concentrations for coral reefs

For the third time in five years, a sea turtle nesting record at Cape Hatteras National Seashore (Seashore) has been broken.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has deployed four underwater gliders off the coast of Puerto Rico.

Marine sediments tell the history of an environment, including oil spills. By "reading" sediments from the past century, a research team has now determined how much oil hydrocarbon is accumulated in different vegetated coastal habitats of the Arabian Gulf and the significance of this for environmental management.

A landmark 30-year study of ailing coral in the Florida Keys shows nutrient-supercharged water from as far north as Orlando is contributing to the death of an ancient ecosystem that evolved to thrive in a fertilizer-free environment.

Due to its vast size and depth, the deep-pelagic ocean (200 meters and below) helps maintain the health of the planet by playing a role in carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling and waste absorption, and even supports the production of economically valuable fisheries.

An “exceedingly rare” pocket shark—originally collected in a trawl survey in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and stored in a giant freezer for three years before anyone identified the species—has been officially identified as a new species and given a name.

MONCTON, N.B. — Two more dead North Atlantic right whales have been spotted off the east coast, bringing to eight the number of the endangered whales to die this year in Canadian waters, federal officials said Friday.

CAPE ISLAND — Seven days a week, a team of interns and volunteers gear up in the pre-dawn darkness to launch for an eroding spit of island at the far reach of the coast.

Pacific gray whales are showing up dead in North America’s oceans and shores at a rate four-times greater than typical. As of July 11, 182 gray whales have been found dead or beached this year in Mexico, the US, and Canada according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

A new species of shark has been identified in the Gulf of Mexico by a team of researchers, and the creature has one very distinctive feature — it glows in the dark. The glowing shark measures just 5.5 inches long, according to a study published in the Zootaxa journal.

Deep-sea sharks are elusive creatures. Many of the seafloor-skimming creatures predate dinosaurs. But the shady lives of the rare sharks are poorly understood because of the depths in which they swim.

The Morro Bay National Estuary Program is working to restore eelgrass, which was decimated in recent years.

Phenomenon has environmental, economic reprecussions

‍MOORE HAVEN Could algae, the fish-killing bane of Lake Okeechobee and Florida’s coastal waters, actually become a valuable state product? Think orange juice, except green, slimy and terrible tasting. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and private partners think there is a possibility.

First Nations leaders liken ship noise impact to residential schools

A decade ago, Rotterdam's rundown inner-city Zomerhofkwartier district was slated for redevelopment - a project that was shelved when a global economic crisis hit.

Don't get caught in a water-cooler conversation during Shark Week without knowing your stuff.

High nutrient levels in 2018 resulted in a nearly 9,000-kilometer belt of Sargassum, a seaweed critical to many marine animals but also a nuisance when it washes up on shorelines, new results reveal.

Offshore aquifers may be a common feature along passive continental margins around the world.

Gil Gaul's book on the coasts is releasing soon and is well reviewed here.

Automated cameras and other sensors deployed in the wild are transforming the way biologists monitor natural ecosystems and animal populations. These technologies can collect huge amounts of data, however, and conservation biologists are increasingly turning to the tools of artificial intelligence (AI) to sort through it all.

Researchers with the Harte Research Institute (HRI) for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi are partnering with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts’ Natural Resources Program to launch a cutting-edge $2.7 million project to assess the health of Matagorda Bay.

Plans are advancing to harvest precious ores from the ocean floor, but scientists say that companies have not tested them enough to avoid devastating damage.