Category: Environment

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Scientists Project More Ice Cover on Great Lakes in 2021

1/22/2021 - NOAA scientists project the maximum Great Lakes ice cover for 2021 will be 30 percent, higher than last year’s maximum of 19.5 percent, but part of a long-term pattern of declining ice cover likely driven by climate change. The maximum typically occurs between mid-February and early March. The 30-percent projected… SEE MORE

Gulf of Mexico Marine Sanctuary Nearly Triples in Size

1/22/2021 - By Charlotte Runzel. This week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA for short, announced it will expand the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary to nearly triple its current size. Situated on salt domes rising up from the seafloor, Flower Garden Banks is one of only two marine sanctuaries in… SEE MORE

NOAA Finalizes Citizen Science Strategy

1/19/2021 - NOAA released its Citizen Science Strategy, providing a path to better observe, predict, and understand the environment, and manage and conserve natural resources by harnessing the power of the crowd. NOAA engages the public in support of key mission areas through the rapidly growing field of citizen science — a… SEE MORE

Michigan and Illinois to Curtail Invasive Carp

1/13/2021 - By Joseph Healy. The governors of Illinois and Michigan will work jointly to protect the Great Lakes from Asian carp. The cooperative effort is focused on the Brandon Road Lock and Dam in the Chicago Area Waterway System near Joliet, Ill., a critical point for keeping bighead, silver and black… SEE MORE

https://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov

NOAA Chesapeake Bay Offering 6 Paid Summer Internships

1/13/2021 - College students, are you considering a career in marine biology, oceanography, environmental education, climate science, or a related field? We invite you to apply for one of the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office’s six summer 2021 internships. Applications for all six internships are due by February 20. SEE MORE

5.7 Earthquake Hits 127 Miles Off Oregon Coast

1/12/2021 - By The Associated Press, KOIN 6 News Staff. A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck about 127 miles (204 kilometers) off the Oregon coast late Monday night, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The earthquake struck just after 11 p.m., west of Bandon, Oregon. The Northwest National Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska,… SEE MORE

Sudden Stratospheric Warming Could Mean Wild Winter Storms

1/11/2021 - By Jeff Berardelli. In the span of a week, from late December to early January, temperatures high in the atmosphere above the Arctic jumped by 100 degrees Fahrenheit. While this may sound alarming, it's a natural phenomenon that happens every couple of years, but experts say human-caused climate change may be… SEE MORE

Jellyfish Build Walls of Water to Swim Around the Ocean

1/8/2021 - By Kenneth Chang. Locomotion through the seas can be arduous. Water is more viscous than air, and so underwater creatures must overcome strong frictional resistance as they swim. To make things more difficult, liquid water provides nothing solid to push off against. But lowly jellyfish, which have swum in the… SEE MORE

Jellyfish

Photo Courtesy of AP Photo/Los Angeles Times, Mel Melcon

2020 Took Weather to New Extremes

1/4/2021 - By Matthew Cappucci and Jason Samenow. As most of us are breathing a sigh of relief that 2020 is over, many meteorologists are doing the same thing. The year featured devastating wildfires and hurricanes, tornadoes, derechos and flooding, and just about everything else the atmosphere has to offer. Wildfires and… SEE MORE

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/noaa-scientists-virtually-discover-new-species-comb-jelly-near-puerto-rico

NOAA Scientists Virtually Discover New Species Near Puerto Rico

1/4/2021 - A NOAA Fisheries research team discovered Duobrachium sparksae, a new species of ctenophore, or comb jelly. The discovery was made during an underwater expedition led by the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research. The new species and a new virtual method of describing and documenting the discovery are both explained in Plankton and Benthos… SEE MORE