Sardine collected on the 2023 Coastal Pelagic Species Survey. Pacific and Japanese sardine look so similar that they can only be distinguished by genetics. Genomic analysis later revealed that the catch contained both species. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Kelsey James

Surprise! Japanese Sardines Astonish Scientists by Crossing the Pacific to the West Coast

11/18/2024 - By fisheries.noaa.gov. Next generation genomic sequencing of Pacific sardine reveals not one, but two species of sardine in the California Current in 2022 and 2023. When research scientist Gary Longo first saw the results of his genomic analysis of sardines, he thought he must have mixed up his samples. Besides… SEE MORE
Image Credits: goodfon.com.

Offering a Dose of Healing, Curious Beluga Whales Frolic in a Warming Hudson Bay

10/17/2024 - By Seth Borenstein. Playful large white beluga whales bring joy and healing to Hudson Bay. Their happy chirps leap out in an environment and economy threatened by the warming water melting sea ice, starving polar bears and changing the entire food chain. Loud and curious belugas swarm boats here, clicking, nudging and frolicking.… SEE MORE
Image Credits: Flickr.com.

For at Least a Decade Quinault Nation has Tried to Escape the Rising Pacific. Time is Running Out

10/16/2024 - By Hallie Golden. Standing water lies beneath the home Sonny Curley shares with his parents and three children on the Quinault reservation a few steps from the Pacific Ocean in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. The back deck is rotting, and black mold speckles the walls inside, leaving the 46-year-old fisherman feeling… SEE MORE
Image Credits: PxHere.

The Galapagos Islands and Many of Their Unique Creatures are at Risk from Warming Waters

10/15/2024 - By Alie Skowronski. GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS, Ecuador  — Warm morning light reflects from the remains of a natural rock arch near Darwin Island, one of the most remote islands in the Galapagos. In clear, deep blue water, thousands of creatures — fish, hammerhead sharks, marine iguanas — move in search of… SEE MORE
Students learn first hand about ocean acidification as part of a NOAA Climate Stewards Program in 2016. (Image credit: Dieuwertje Kast/ University of Southern California Joint Educational Project)

Federal Science Agencies Update the Nation’s Climate Literacy Guide

10/5/2024 - By noaa.gov. Guide to inform community decision-makers, workers, educators and students. Today, the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) released the third edition of the nation’s climate literacy guide: Climate Literacy: Essential Principles for Understanding and Addressing Climate Change. The guide presents information that is important for individuals and communities to know and… SEE MORE
Extreme rain causes culvert washout at Walker Brook in Becket, Massachusetts. (Image credit: Photo courtesy Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration.)

Update to U.S. Precipitation Frequency Standards Now Accounts for Climate Trends

10/3/2024 - By noaa.gov. NOAA seeks stakeholder feedback on Precipitation Atlas 15 pilot data before expanding nationwide. A key scientific NOAA resource on extreme precipitation that is widely used by floodplain managers, city planners, civil engineers, developers and communities across the nation will soon include climate trend data. NOAA’s Precipitation Frequency Atlas of… SEE MORE