Category: Publication Stories

High-resolution photomosaic images taken at Maug Island. Photo Credit: NOAA

Volcano Spewing Carbon Dioxide Drives Coral to Give Way to Algae

The new research published online August 10 in Nature Climate Change provides a stark look into the future of ocean acidification – the absorption by the global oceans of increasing amounts of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions. Scientists predict that elevated carbon dioxide absorbed by the global oceans will drive similar ecosystem shifts, making it difficult for coral to build skeletons and easier for other plants and animals to erode them.

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Coral ecologist Ian Enochs dives in the carbon dioxide bubbles of Maug's coral reefs (credit: Stephani Gordon/Open Boat Films/NOAA)

Increased Erosion at Acidified Coral Reefs

Corals live and thrive by maintaining a careful balance between their growth rate and the rate of erosion. Scientists already know the projected increases in carbon dioxide in our global oceans, known as ocean acidification, will slow the rate at which corals build the hard calcium carbonate skeletons that are the foundation of their habitat. A new study published online today in PLOS ONE demonstrates that in naturally highly acidified waters, these coral skeletons will also face increased erosion from microscopic organisms, called bioerosion. The result is accelerated breakdown and loss of reef structures, and potentially the loss of essential habitat.

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Infographic showing El Nino patterns. Photo Credit: NWS/ NCEP

Study Explores Role of El Niño in Transport of Waterborne Disease

A new study published in the journal Nature Microbiology highlights how emerging, devastating outbreaks of Vibrio infection in Latin America might be linked to El Niño, a climate pattern that periodically causes surface temperatures to warm throughout the equatorial Pacific Ocean. A researcher with the University of Miami’s Cooperative Institute of Marine & Atmospheric Studies at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Lab was part of an international research team that used microbiological, genomic, and bioinformatic tools to demonstrate how El Niño provides a mechanism for the transport of disease from Asia into the Americas. 

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New Study Describes Link Between South Atlantic Ocean and Global Rainfall Variability

In a recent paper published in the Journal of Climate, scientists with NOAA and the University of Miami have identified how variability in ocean circulation in the South Atlantic Ocean may influence global rainfall and climate patterns. The study by researchers at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) and the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) suggests that the South Atlantic is a potential predictor of global rainfall variability with a lead-time of approximately 20 years. This link between the South Atlantic Ocean and weather and climate could provide significant long-term insight for water management on a global scale.

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A satellite image taken of Hurricane Katrina at peak intensity in the Gulf of Mexico on August 28, 2005. Image credit: NOAA

10th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

Early on the morning of August 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Louisiana delta region and the Mississippi coast.  The storm surge brought enormous damage to the Gulf Coast and, when the levees around New Orleans failed, a great number of fatalities.  Coming amidst the very busy 2005 hurricane season, Katrina brought death and destruction not seen in a U.S. land-falling hurricane in decades.

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Volcano Spewing Carbon Dioxide Drives Coral to Give Way to Algae

Scientists from NOAA and the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies at the University of Miami have documented a dramatic shift from vibrant coral communities to carpets of algae in remote Pacific Ocean waters where an undersea volcano spews carbon dioxide.

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The ARSV Laurence M. Gould, operated by the National Science Foundation (NSF), in the Southern Ocean. (Colm Sweeney / CIRES & NOAA)

Scientists Find Southern Ocean Removing CO2 from the Atmosphere More Efficiently

A research vessel ploughs through the waves, braving the strong westerly winds of the Roaring Forties in the Southern Ocean in order to measure levels of dissolved carbon dioxide in the surface of the ocean. (Nicolas Metzl, LOCEAN/IPSL Laboratory).

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AOML Scientists Featured in Special Women’s History Month Issue of Oceanography Magazine

Women’s History Month is celebrated annually in March and pays tribute to the generations of women whose contributions made a historical impact on society. It is also a month to honor women who are currently working hard to make positive innovations and impressions on the world.

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Fish species in NOAA’s Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, off Texas. Photo Credit: NOAA

Gulf of Mexico Marine Food Web Changes Over the Decades

Scientists in the Gulf of Mexico now have a better understanding of how naturally-occurring climate cycles–as well as human activities–can trigger widespread ecosystem changes that ripple through the Gulf food web and the communities dependent on it, thanks to a new study published Saturday in the journal Global Change Biology.

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Research Reveals New Theory on Hurricane Formation and Intensification

Download PaperThe Relative Roles of the Ocean and Atmosphere as Revealed by Buoy Air–Sea Observations in Hurricanes How do hurricanes form, survive, and intensify? Hurricane scientists have long believed upper ocean temperatures are the key factor. AOML’s Dr. Joe Cione reveals a new theory, after observing 62 Atlantic hurricanes of a span of 32 years, [...]
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