Scientists aboard the Ronald H. Brown for the GO-SHIP engage in international collaboration to monitor carbon dioxide dynamics to understand how the oceans help the Earth regulate its temperature. JAMSTEC and NOAA have a long history of international collaboration, find out more about it on the GO-SHIP Blog.
How does the ocean move, and how can you tell? Katey Williams aboard the GO-SHIP I07 Cruise is tracking Chloroflurocarbons (CFCs) through gas chromatography to study how water masses migrate through the ocean. Find out more on the GO-SHIP I07N Blog.
NOAA Scientists, along with partnering institutions have embarked on a two-month research cruise in the Western Indian Ocean to monitor the ocean basins from coast to coast and top to bottom to find out how the ocean has evolved over the past 23 years. The Global Ocean Ship-Based Hydrographic Investigations Program (GO-SHIP) 107N cruise is sending live updates from the Indian Ocean. Check out the post to find out what it’s like aboard a NOAA research vessel. Here are some photos of CTD operation and deployment by one of our partnering scientists, Yashwant Meghare.
Researchers from AOML’s Physical Oceanography Division recently deployed three surface drifters and ten special spot trace drift buoys, all contributed by NOAA, in the Caribbean Sea to help to identify the site of where an Argentine Air Force C-54E Skymaster aircraft crashed in 1965. The data gathered by the drifters will help back track the possible location of the lost aircraft based on the location of life vests recovered during search operations after the crash. These deployments are part of a larger effort in support of the Argentine Air Force and search and rescue operations professionals from the US, Costa Rica, Panama and Argentina to locate the remains of the flights. Mr. Jose Rivera of NOAA, Captain Marcelo Covelli from Perfectura Naval Argentina and Licenciado Mariano Torres Garcia, representing the Argentine Air Force, are closely coordinating the 4th Expedition in the Caribbean Sea to locate the remains of TC48 and its 68 crew members on April 2018.
NOAA/AOML hurricane scientists attended the Aviation Week and Science Technology Laureate Awards in Washington D.C. to receive Aviation Week magazine’s prestigious Laureate award for Dual Defense Use. The NOAA/Raytheon team was recognized for using Coyote Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) during missions into Hurricane Maria, to help track and model hurricanes.
Each year, AOML scientists have the opportunity to bring their children to work, where they are taught about different aspects of the research being performed within the three divisions of AOML. This year, the children partook in lessons and activities in the subjects of buoyancy, density, ocean currents and circulation, marine debris, ecosystem based management, and ocean observations.
AOML scientists recently returned from the first cruise of 2018. As part of the South Florida Project, regional surveys over the southwest Florida shelf and the Florida Keys reef tract are routinely performed aboard the R/V F.G. Walton Smith on a bimonthly basis, to keep a watchful eye over sensitive marine habitats found in the region. Sampling methodologies include discrete sampling and flow through measurements of water quality and chemistry, and biological oceanographic parameters.
This past Saturday, December 2nd, the FIU School of Environment, Arts and Society and FIU Sea Level Solutions Center hosted their “Changing Waters” event: an innovative science-art event focused on the issue of sea level rise. The event featured a science panel with experts from a variety of disciplines in addition to musical and theatrical performances inspired by the global rise of sea levels and the search for solutions. AOML researcher and oceanographer Chris Kelble sat on the panel, sharing his unique knowledge of water quality in Biscayne Bay and the impact of sea level rise in South Florida’s coastal communities.
Throughout the month of October, AOML scientists were hard at work surveying south Florida’s coastal waters. The research team focused on monitoring water quality, seagrass beds, and juvenile sport fish populations throughout Florida Bay, Biscayne Bay, Florida Keys and the southwest Florida shelf. These surveys assessed ocean temperatures, salinity, nutrients, environmental DNA and primary productivity to better understand how south Florida’s coastal ecosystems were impacted by the passage of Hurricane Irma.
The 2017 hurricane season has already fulfilled forecaster predictions of a busy year. Hurricane Harvey rapidly strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane before making landfall in Texas, late on August 25th.
