Category: Physical Oceanography

Photo of Sargassum Floating in Open Water. Photo Credit: Credit: NOAA Teacher at Sea Program, NOAA Ship OREGON II Blue economy

Massive bloom of seaweed in tropical Atlantic raises the risk for Caribbean, Gulf, and Florida beach impacts in coming months

Earlier this year, ocean scientists raised an alert about the large amount of seaweed drifting in the tropical Atlantic this spring. Experts warned that the region’s annual spring bloom of Sargassum—a free-floating brown macroalgae from the North Atlantic that suddenly appeared in large quantities in the tropics in 2011— was the densest observed in March since scientists began tracking the phenomenon with satellite images twenty years ago. Excessive amounts of Sargassum raise the chances that large mats will break free from the prevailing currents and wash ashore later this spring and summer in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and around Florida.

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Eddies in the Caribbean Sea Influence the Prediction of the Loop Current in the Gulf of Mexico  

A recent study by scientists at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) in collaboration with partners at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science used a numerical modeling approach to investigate the impact of the eddy field in the Caribbean Sea on Loop Current predictions downstream in the Gulf of Mexico. They found that eddy activity in the Caribbean Sea is crucial for the accurate prediction of eddy shedding by the Loop Current.

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NOAA Scientists Detect a Reshaping of the Meridional Overturning Circulation in the Southern Ocean

Scientists at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) have shown that the Global Meridional Overturning Circulation (GMOC), commonly known as the global ocean conveyor belt, has changed significantly in the Southern Ocean since the mid-1970s, with a broadening and strengthening of the upper overturning cell and a contraction and weakening of the lower cell. These changes are attributed to human induced ozone depletion in the Southern Hemisphere stratosphere and increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The study also shows that the changes in the Southern Ocean are slowly advancing into the South Atlantic and Indo-Pacific oceans.

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NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown

Female Leaders Aboard the A16N GO-SHIP Cruise

In celebration of Women’s History Month, NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) would like to recognize two female scientists from our Ocean Chemistry and Ecosystems Division who are leaders aboard the A16N GO-SHIP (Global Ocean Ship-based Hydrographic Investigations Program) Repeat Hydrography cruise.

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NOAA Research Vessel “Ronald H. Brown” in the harbor of Victoria, Seychelles. Photo Credit: NOAA.

First NOAA GO-SHIP Cruise In 5 Years Departs To Study Unique Atlantic Basin

Originally published at NOAA Global Ocean Monitoring & Observing on March 7th, 2023. 30-years of ocean observations provide view into long-term ocean trends On March 6, a team of scientists on the NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown departed from Suape, Brazil for a 55-day cruise to the northerly waters of Reykjavik, Iceland. With 150 planned stops along this […]

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A few PIRATA buoys lay on their side aboard the NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown in front of a pink, yellow, and orange sky during the PIRATA Northeast Extension cruise (2022)

NOAA Cruise Ensures Flow of Critical Climate and Weather Data and Supports Collaborative Science

Researchers with NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL), NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, and partners set sail from Bridgetown, Barbados aboard NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown on November 1st, 2022. Over the next 40 days, the crew and scientists recovered and redeployed key moorings in the Prediction and Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic (PIRATA), deployed an additional mooring, and serviced two equatorial PIRATA buoys in support of the PIRATA Northeast Extension project and broader PIRATA objectives. They also conducted a number of research projects on the ocean and atmosphere that advance our understanding of carbon absorption in the ocean and atmospheric pollution.

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AOML Scientists Present at the 103rd Annual AMS Meeting

The world’s largest yearly gathering for the weather, water and climate community took place earlier this month in Denver, Colorado. Scientists from NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) participated in the 103rd annual American Meteorological Society (AMS) meeting from January 8 – 12, both virtually and in-person. Formal presentations, posters, panel discussions and town hall meetings were all featured during the meeting.

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Meridional Overturning Circulation schematic

SAMOC Initiative Advances Understanding of the South Atlantic’s Unique Role in Global Overturning Circulation

Since the inception of the international South Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (SAMOC) initiative in 2007, substantial advances have been made in observing and understanding the South Atlantic component of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). The goals of the SAMOC initiative are to monitor climatically relevant oceanic fluxes of mass, heat, and freshwater, provide observations to validate and improve numerical models and climate predictions, and understand the impacts of the SAMOC on climate and weather.

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