Florida Keys Integrated Assessment Team Launches New Ecosystem Status Report Web Tool

The Florida Keys Integrated Assessment (IEA) team, led by AOML in partnership with managers and scientists from the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, launched a new Ecosystem Status Report web tool on May 13th. The IEA approach aims to balance the needs of nature and society through Ecosystem-Based Management. It provides scientific knowledge of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary ecosystem to scientists, policy makers and resource managers. 

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Advances in the Application of Surface Drifters

Lumpkin, R., Özgökmen, T., & Centurioni, L. (2017). Advances in the application of surface drifters. Annual Review of Marine Science, 9, 59-81.

Abstract:

Surface drifting buoys, or drifters, are used in oceanographic and climate research, oil spill tracking, weather forecasting, search and rescue operations, calibration and validation of velocities from high-frequency radar and from altimeters, iceberg tracking, and support of offshore drilling operations. In this review, we present a brief history of drifters, from the message in a bottle to the latest satellite-tracked, multisensor drifters. We discuss the different types of drifters currently used for research and operations as well as drifter designs in development. We conclude with a discussion of the various properties that can be observed with drifters, with heavy emphasis on a critical process that cannot adequately be observed by any other instrument: dispersion in the upper ocean, driven by turbulence at scales from waves through the submesoscale to the large-scale geostrophic eddies.

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Connection between Madden-Julian Oscillation and U.S Tornadoes may Provide Earlier Warning for Storms

Recently, scientists at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) and the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) explored the physical causes between U.S. tornado activity and the Madden-Julian Oscillation. In a study recently published in the Journal of Climate (Kim et al., 2020), they showed that a series of key atmosphere-ocean processes are involved in the remote impact of Madden-Julian Oscillation on U.S. tornado activity.

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Precipitation Processes and Vortex Alignment during the Intensification of a Weak Tropical Cyclone in Moderate Vertical Shear

Rogers, R. F., Reasor, P. D., Zawislak, J. A., & Nguyen, L. T. (2020). Precipitation Processes and Vortex Alignment during the Intensification of a Weak Tropical Cyclone in Moderate Vertical Shear. Monthly Weather Review, (2020).

Abstract:

The mechanisms underlying the development of a deep, aligned vortex, and the role of convection and vertical shear in this process, are explored by examining airborne Doppler radar and deep-layer dropsonde observations of the intensification of Hurricane Hermine (2016), a long-lived tropical depression that intensified to hurricane strength in the presence of moderate vertical wind shear. During Hermine’s intensification the low-level circulation appeared to shift toward locations of deep convection that occurred primarily downshear. Hermine began to steadily intensify once a compact low-level vortex developed within a region of deep convection in close proximity to a midlevel circulation, causing vorticity to amplify in the lower troposphere primarily through stretching and tilting from the deep convection…

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NOAA Celebrates 50 Years of Science, Service, and Stewardship

NOAA’s unique science mission benefits every American life every day in positive ways, including keeping Americans safer and contributing to greater US economic growth than ever before. In the next 50 years, NOAA will advance innovative research and technology, answer tough scientific questions, explore the unexplored, inspire new approaches to conservation, and continue its proud legacy of science, service, and stewardship.

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NOAA Premieres Strategies Focused on Emerging Science and Technology

At the 2020 international Ocean Sciences meeting, AOML microbiologist Kelly Goodwin helped NOAA unveil a new strategy for how the agency will dramatically expand its use of ‘Omics in the coming years. The ‘Omics strategy is one of four blueprints NOAA premiered that will guide transformative advancements in the quality and timeliness of its science, products, and services. 

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Women’s History Month: Ocean Acidification with Leticia Barbero

Dr. Leticia Barbero is a chemical oceanographer at NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies at the University of Miami. In her role, she works with AOML to study the carbon dioxide system in the ocean, specifically ocean acidification in the coastal waters of the  U.S. East Coast and Gulf of America.

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Satellite image of Hurricane Micheal. Image Credit, NOAA.

Modeling Michael: Using NOAA’s HFV3 to predict rapid intensification in Hurricane Michael

In a recently published study, AOML hurricane researchers used multiple computer model forecasts to gain a better understanding of how Hurricane Michael, which made landfall in the panhandle of Florida with winds up to 162 mph, rapidly intensified despite strong upper-level wind shear which usually weakens hurricanes. By contrasting two sets of forecasts, the study found that Michael only rapidly intensified when rainfall completely surrounded Michael’s center, and when the eye of the storm itself was located in nearly the same place at different heights.

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Women’s History Month: Omics with Kelly Goodwin

In honor of Women’s History Month, NOAA Research recently featured AOML microbiologist, Kelly Goodwin, in an article which gives readers a look inside the daily life of a researcher.  Kelly is a co-chair of the task force that’s laying out the plan to implement NOAA’s Omics Strategy, one of four science and technology strategies that aim to guide transformative advancements in the quality and timeliness of NOAA science, products and services.

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Pods Away! New Autonomous Data Pods Will Provide Low-Cost, Reliable Data Retrieval

AOML is preparing to deploy two autonomous data pod systems with Pressure Inverted Echo Sounders near the eastern boundary of the North Atlantic during March 2020.  This will be the first full scale operational deployment of data pods, with a goal of providing a low-cost solution for the sustained Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation monitoring without the continuous use of a research vessel. 

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