Category: Environment

The Truth About Garbage Patches in the Ocean

3/6/2024 - By blog.marinedebris.noaa.gov. You’ve likely heard the term “garbage patch” many times and it’s possible that this is what comes to mind: A thick, floating mass of marine debris is what most people picture when they think of the garbage patch. However, this is actually pretty inaccurate. Although this is what… SEE MORE

Wreck of the schooner Galinipper, Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary's oldest known shipwreck. Image: Becky Schott / Liquid Productions

Shipwrecks: New Study Opens Window to Cultural Past in Great Lakes Sanctuary

3/4/2024 - By santuaries.noaa.gov. While shipwrecks are often the primary focus of maritime heritage preservation in America’s Great Lakes national marine sanctuaries, a recent two-part maritime cultural landscape study of the 962-square-mile Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary reveals that shipwrecks only tell part of the story of human connections to the natural environment… SEE MORE

Unprecedented Shipping Disruptions Reshaping Global Trade, UN Report Warns

3/2/2024 - By Mike Schuler. The recent attacks on Red Sea shipping coupled with existing geopolitical and climate-related challenges are reshaping global trade routes with the potential for major economic and environmental implications. This is according to a new report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), titled “Navigating… SEE MORE

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The Coast of Maine Gets Back to Business

2/29/2024 - By Paul Molyneaux. Putting the coast of Maine back together will take know-how and patience. After two back-to-back, record-breaking storms in Maine, there may not be any getting back to normal. According to a webinar offered by the Island Institute in Rockland, Maine, normal is over. The Gulf of Maine has risen 7.5… SEE MORE

https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/images/plastics-ocean-infographic

Plastics in the Ocean: How They Get There, Their Impacts, and Our Solutions

2/28/2024 - By blog.marinedebris.noaa.gov. Marine debris is a pervasive problem facing our ocean and Great Lakes. Of all the trash that ends up in these important water bodies, plastics are the most common. This week, we’re exploring the problem of plastics in our ocean and the solutions that are making a difference. Globally, we… SEE MORE

NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center | Credit: NASA

NASA Climate Satellite Blasts off to Survey Oceans and Atmosphere of a Warming Earth

2/26/2024 - By Jonathan Watts. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s newest climate satellite rocketed into orbit Thursday to survey the world’s oceans and atmosphere in never-before-seen detail. SpaceX launched the Pace satellite on its $948 million mission before dawn, with the Falcon rocket heading south over the Atlantic to achieve a… SEE MORE

Alaska Senator Introduces New Bill to Strengthen Coastal Workforce, Fisheries, and Infrastructure

2/24/2024 - By Carli Stewart. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski introduced the Working Waterfront Act, legislation that includes more than a dozen provisions aimed at boosting the workforce, energy and shoreside infrastructure, food security, and economies of coastal communities in Alaska and across the country. The bill will also support efforts to mitigate… SEE MORE

Honeywell’s high-altitude LiDAR atmospheric sensing (HALAS) system measures atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction. Credit: Honeywell

NOAA and Honeywell to explore use of HALAS upper-air data to aid in weather forecasting

2/22/2024 - By weather.gov. February 7, 2024 - NOAA’s National Weather Service and Honeywell Aerospace Technologies signed a two-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement to deploy a high-altitude LiDAR Atmospheric Sensing (HALAS) ground system and to evaluate the upper-air data gathered to determine if it could aid in weather forecasting. Honeywell’s HALAS ground system uses… SEE MORE

A 22 inch diameter grouping of ice crystals. Photo taken on February 28, 1936. (Image credit: NOAA)

Friday Find: Supersized Ice Crystals

2/20/2024 - By noaa.gov. On the morning of February 28, 1936, “ice crystals of unusual size” were found in Boise, Idaho. According to the March 1936 edition of the Weather Bureau’s Monthly Weather Review, the group was 22 inches across, or almost twice as wide as two standard dinner plates, and included… SEE MORE

Straddling the equator, the Amazon River Basin occupies more than a third of South America. Rainfall is seasonal, shifting north of the equator in Northern Hemisphere summer and south of the equator in Northern Hemisphere winter. NOAA Climate.gov image, based on NASA Blue Marble collection.

Preliminary Analysis Says Global Warming More to Blame than El Niño for Amazon’s Ongoing Record Drought

2/18/2024 - By REBECCA LINDSEY. The devastating drought in the Amazon River Basin that we wrote about in October has continued into Northern Hemisphere winter, which is the heart of the wet season in the southern part of the basin. The drought is cutting off rural and riverside communities from food supplies, markets for… SEE MORE