Celebrate the Ocean
Join us to celebrate and learn about our world ocean during National Ocean Month.
What do harmful algal blooms, dust from the Saharan desert, and hurricanes have in common? They are all pieces of the puzzle that modeling puts together to give us the big picture when it comes to studying and understanding our ocean and coasts. In part one of this two-part episode, we take a deep dive into why modeling is important, what kind of data is provided, and how collaboration with stakeholders strengthens our knowledge base.
There are some factors that cause the tides to be higher than what is "normally" seen from day to day. View our bulletin to see when you may experience higher than normal high tides for the period of time between June and August, 2021.
NOAA invests in the environment—and communities. We use our scientific expertise, and funding from pollution settlements, to restore habitats impacted by oil spills and hazardous waste releases. In turn, restoration helps communities who rely on the resources and services habitats provide. Settlements after pollution events can provide opportunities to fund restoration. Restoration comes in many forms, and is designed to help the environment recover, and restore recreational opportunities like fishing and boating. Some projects rebuild wetlands, estuaries or coral reefs.
NOAA is moving into the digital age by phasing out paper nautical charts over five years. In this podcast, we talk with NOAA Corps Capt. EJ Van Den Ameele, chief of Coast Survey's marine chart division, to learn how this transition will affect mariners and why electronic charts offer many advantages over paper. And if you still need paper charts, Coast Survey has you covered. EJ discusses how an online tool called NOAA Custom Chart makes it easy to export printable charts for all maritime areas.
2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, a treaty focused on the conservation and wise use of important wetlands. To receive the honor of being designated a Ramsar wetland, candidate sites must fulfill at least one of nine specific criteria. Of the 2,400 sites around the world, 41 are found in the U.S. and three are within the NOAA family — each of which are major stopover points for migratory birds along the Pacific Flyway in California.
For the first time, NOAA is launching a national rip current forecast model, aimed at saving lives of beach-goers around the country. This new model can predict the hourly probability of rip currents along U.S. beaches up to six days out. Similar to predicting weather or precipitation, the model predicts the likelihood of dangerous seaward currents on a sliding scale - from 0 to 100%.
Barrier islands form as waves repeatedly deposit sediment parallel to the shoreline. As wind and waves shift according to weather patterns and local geographic features, these islands constantly move, erode, and grow. They can even disappear entirely. NOAA supports natural and nature-based infrastructure projects that restore and protect barrier islands and the benefits they provide to coastal communities and ecosystems.
View the 2020 NOS Science Report for summaries of selected scientific projects undertaken by National Ocean Service program offices during Fiscal Year 2020.
nautical charts
coastal ocean science
tides and currents
