Highlights Archive

Rare observations of surface currents to the left of winds in the Bay of Bengal

One of the foundational principles of modern oceanography is that ocean surface currents on our rotating planet will be deflected to the right of the winds in the...

Humans generate about 36 billion tons of carbon dioxide pollution every year, about 30 percent of which are absorbed by the oceans. While that means there's less carbon dioxide (CO₂) heating the atmosphere, the result is that the chemistry of the...

The North Pacific has warmed significantly faster than any other ocean basin on Earth since 2013, enduring two major marine heat waves in five years that had devastating effects on marine mammals, seabirds, as well as fisheries and the communities...

Unprecedentedly low sea ice cover in the northern Bering and Chukchi seas during back-to-back winters from 2018 to 2019 caused a cascade of impacts that abruptly transformed the regional marine ecosystem, compounding challenges faced by the...

The extraordinarily powerful eruption of Hunga volcano in the Tongan archipelago in the southern Pacific Ocean on January 15, 2022 blasted gas and ash 36 miles high, generating atmospheric gravity waves, two different types of destructive tsunamis...

As the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continue to increase and climate change impacts become more costly, the scientific community is redoubling efforts to investigate the potential risks and benefits of artificially shading Earth’s...

Over the past 20 years, researchers have been studying how the atmosphere reacts to changing ocean temperatures globally, sparking debates on the exact mechanisms at play.

Using advanced tools like uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs), moored ocean...

Hurricane intensity predictions would benefit from timely, more accurate ocean temperature, salinity and wave measurements, NOAA researchers find.

On September 30, 2021, a saildrone uncrewed surface vehicle made history by intercepting the eyewall...

Fifty years ago, NOAA created a new environmental research laboratory in Seattle with an initial focus on water quality in Puget Sound, and environmental studies of the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea. Since then, the Pacific Marine Environmental...

Fifty years ago, NOAA created a new environmental research laboratory in Seattle with an initial focus on water quality in Puget Sound, and environmental studies of the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea.

Since then, the Pacific Marine Environmental...

July 17 to Aug. 4, 2023: A team of NOAA and industry uncrewed aircraft professionals conducted flight operations at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Lompoc, California, to expand and test the use of uncrewed aircraft to gather critical observational...

NOAA and partner scientists recently completed two successful field tests in the US Arctic merging new technologies and traditional ship surveys to assess real-time phytoplankton species distributions in response to surface warming. 

The rapid...

The year 2022 was marked by unusual (though not unprecedented) disruptions in the climate system including a “triple-dip” La Niña nearly continuous from August 2020 through the end of 2022, extraordinary amount of precipitation over Antarctica in...

The 120-day Tropical Pacific Observing System (TPOS) 2023 Saildrone Mission officially began on June 22, 2023, just after the official start of what experts suggest may be a strong El Niño. The three Saildrone, Inc. Explorer-class Uncrewed Surface...

May 15 – June 11, 2023: The Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST) recently hosted NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) on a research cruise aboard the KIOST ship R/V ISABU to maintain moorings as part of the multi...

Climate change already affects every part of the globe, with potentially dire consequences for many ecosystems and human communities. Reducing human-caused emissions of greenhouse gasses, including carbon dioxide, is the most important strategy for...