The power of environmental DNA (eDNA) to help us decode the mysteries of the deep is undeniable. The ability to detect marine species by the DNA they leave behind in water samples has revolutionized biodiversity monitoring and distribution mapping. Still, as a new field of study, standards for formatting eDNA data to ensure broad accessibility […]
NOAA scientists and their international collaborators reached a significant milestone with the publication of two global ocean carbon data products which will substantially improve our capacity to monitor and measure global biogeochemical cycles and improve predictions of ocean change. The 2026 version of the Surface Ocean CO₂ Atlas (SOCAT) as well as the newest version […]
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DWH) lasted three months and released 134 million gallons of oil across the Gulf of America – the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Greater than 108,000 square miles of fishing area were shut down for almost a year. Oil blanketed coastlines and an estimated 770 square miles of […]
Scientists at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) have successfully installed an underway pCO2 system on the Research Vessel Falkor (too) as part of a new collaboration with the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Ocean Biogeochemistry Virtual Institute (OBVI), performing continuous surface measurements of the ocean’s accumulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide as the vessel sails across […]
The U.S. east coast has already seen shifts in the distribution of major fisheries, influencing catch limits and complications with permitting across states. As black sea bass, summer flounder and scup populations have shifted away from their habitat in the southeast, they have moved to northern regions where fisheries may have lower catch limits and […]
Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) consists of 160 miles of dispersed banks with underwater mountains, ridges, and troughs over 80 miles off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, and it hosts the highest recorded coral cover of any reef within the greater U.S. Atlantic region. While the relatively shallow coral reef caps of […]
In early May, the 273-foot research vessel Roger Revelle docked in Cabo Verde with an international team of scientists after 53 days at sea, crossing the open Atlantic along a cruise path known as A16S. With scientists at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) and the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) […]
This story is adapted from NOAA Ocean Exploration. See the full story here. In April, NOAA Ocean Exploration, in partnership with NOAA’s National Systematics Laboratory at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the Northern Gulf Institute, and the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, released its first deep-sea environmental DNA (eDNA) datasets. These biological data […]
Divers drop over the gunnel. Tanks, weights, divers, and a mesh bag full of tools all descend in emerald waters beneath grey skies. Off the vessel’s bow, a yellow beacon blinks with a red flashing light and a thin data cable stretching to the seafloor, all connected to a suite of sensors twenty feet below […]
With sterile sample bottles at the ready, scientists in the Molecular and Environmental Microbiology Lab at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) prepare to capture water samples for analysis in the lab. Invisible to the naked eye, nutrients, pollutants, and entire communities of bacteria, algae, and other microorganisms drift through these waters leaving clues […]
