Author: AOML Communications

AOML's CTD/O2/LADCP instrument package is recovered, secured, and ready for sampling following the first station at 27N in the Florida Straits. Image credit: NOAA

Hydrographic Survey Conducted in the Florida Straits

Ryan Smith, Robert Roddy, and Jay Hooper conducted a hydrographic survey along 27N in the Florida Straits aboard the R/V F.G. Walton Smith December 11-12, 2014. The cruise was performed as part of the Western Boundary Time Series project, which conducts regular surveys such as this to quantify Florida Current volume transport and water mass changes in the Straits of Florida. This survey and others also help to calibrate daily estimates of the Florida Current volume transport derived from a submarine telephone cable deployed across the Straits.

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Waterways Program Features the Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs

The latest episode of the educational television series “Waterways” features coral research conducted by NOAA scientists in the Florida Keys. As the global ocean becomes more acidic, NOAA is documenting these changes and their impact on organisms like corals. The first part of the episode entitled “Ocean Acidification & Tortugas Tide Gauge”   features AOML [...]
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Time-longitude plots of (a) composite mean (CM) and (b and c) the two leading inter-event EOFs of the tropical Pacific SST anomalies averaged between 5°S and 5°N, for 21 El Ninos during 1949-2013. (d and e) Same as b and c except that the two EOFs are rotated by 90º. Units are in ºC. The dashed gray boxes indicate Nino 3.4 in DJF (0,+1), Nino 3 (150°W-90°W and 5°S-5°N) in AMJ (+1), Niño 3 in AMJ (0), and Niño 3.4 in OND (+1).

A new approach provides a holistic view of ENSO variability during the onset, peak and decay phases

From its onset to the decay, El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) plays an important role in forcing climate variability around the globe. A new study led by Sang-Ki Lee, a PhOD/CIMAS scientist, provides an efficient approach to explore the differences in the evolution of space-time patterns of sea surface temperature observed during El Niño events

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Renee Carlton diving in the Solomon Islands as part of the ongoing collaboration between the Khaled bin Sultan's Living Oceans Foundation and AOML's ACCRETE team to obtain baseline ocean acidification related data from remote coral reef locations across the Pacific Ocean. Image credit: Living Oceans Foundation

Living Oceans Foundation Global Reef Expedition

AOML coral scientists Renee Carlton participated in the Living Oceans Foundation Global Reef Expedition to the Solomon Islands from October 27, 2014 through November 25, 2014. Carlton collected seawater carbon dioxide data and coral cores for calcification analysis as part of the ongoing collaboration between the Living Oceans Foundation and AOML to obtain baseline ocean acidification-related data from remote coral reef locations across the Pacific Ocean.

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Science party aboard the Argentine research vessel ARA Puerto Deseado during a cruise to study the Meridional Overturning Circulation in the South Atlantic on October 4-16, 2014. Credit: SHN Argentina

Meridional Overturning Circulation: Following the Heat

If you want to understand Earth’s climate and how it changes from year-to-year and decade-to-decade, look to the oceans, and follow the heat. The major driver in the redistribution of heat around the globe in the ocean-climate system is Meridional Overturning Circulation, or MOC. The MOC is a vertical circulation pattern that exchanges surface and deep waters via poleward movement of surface waters. As an example, the well known Gulf Stream on the eastern seaboard of North America carries warm water northward to the Greenland and Norwegian Seas, where it cools and sinks.

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NASA's Global Hawk and the flight pattern created by AOML hurricane researchers to observer Hurricane Edouard. Image credit: NASA

Atlantic Hurricane Season Remains Quiet As Predicted

The Atlantic hurricane season will officially end November 30, and will be remembered as a relatively quiet season as was predicted. Still, the season afforded NOAA scientists with opportunities to produce new forecast products, showcase successful modeling advancements, and conduct research to benefit future forecasts.

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CTD Descends into the depths to collect water samples for use with eDNA technologies.

NOAA Partners Join CalCofi to Examine the Potential of ‘Omics Research

NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory is teaming up with NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, National Marine Fisheries Service, and Integrated Ocean Observing System, as well as the J.C. Venter Institute and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to enhance ecosystem observation programs by integrating genome-enabled techniques and technologies (i.e., ‘omics) into the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI). CalCOFI is a multi-partner, long-term ecosystem and fisheries study off the coast of California. The first quarterly CalCOFI expedition that included ‘omics recently completed at the end of November.

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Researchers with the Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI) finished redeploying their CREWS buoy off Little Cayman Island during the month of October. Image credit: Central Caribbean Marine Institute

The Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI) Redeploys Coral Reef Early Warning System (CREWS) Buoy

During the month of October, the Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI) finished redeploying their buoy, which is part of the Coral Reef Early Warning System (CREWS). The buoy was first deployed in October 2013 and needs to be returned to land each year for cleaning, repainting and instrumentation swap. The buoy was towed from its deployment site on October 14th and returned to position on October 29th. AOML’s Mike Jankulak worked remotely with CCMI personnel to update the buoy’s programming and develop procedures for instrument configuration. As of October 31st all data feeds from the buoy to AOML and NDBC has fully resumed.

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Evolution of the mean difference between the time the observation is taken to the time the profile is available at the Global Argo Data Assembly Centers. The reduction of the elapsed time at the beginning of 2012 are due to improvements of the processing system, while the reduction of the elapsed time at end of 2012 is due to switching operational data processing from once daily on an old computer to twice daily on a new and faster computer. Software and schedule changes in 2014 lead to further reductions of the elapsed time. Image Credit: NOAA AOML.

The US Argo Data Assembly Center improves the real-time processing system and adds new float types

The US Argo Data Assembly Center at PhOD used the transition to the NETCDF profile format version 3.0 to consolidate three processes into one process. This major development had multiple benefits. The primary benefit is that during the development stage the rapid changes in the float technology, for example the addition of sensors, were taken into account to increase the adaptability of the software to future changes of floats as well as the NETCDF profile format. Prior to this development, three programs required adaptation when float types with a new combination of sensors was deployed.

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