Ocean science news, explainers, and statistics covering marine environments, currents, climate, coasts, seafloor research, and the changing global ocean.
NOAA helps clean up oil and chemical spills by forecasting where pollution will move and identifying people or habitats at risk. It also advises the agencies that direct the response. Its specialists bring scientific models and chemical databases, supported by environmental maps, to a command structure that includes federal and state authorities. The agency’s summary…
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The National Estuarine Research Reserve System is a U.S. network of protected coastal sites used for long-term science and monitoring, alongside education and stewardship. Each reserve pairs NOAA with a state or territorial partner, sometimes through a local institution. Together, the sites let researchers compare estuaries across regions while local teams apply the findings to…
Nature-based solutions use ecosystems or processes that resemble them to reduce hazards and solve practical problems. Along a coast, the term can describe protecting an existing marsh, rebuilding an oyster reef or placing clean sediment where a barrier island is eroding. These projects are planned infrastructure, with performance goals that can include lower waves, less…
The Mariner’s 1-2-3 Rule is a conservative way to draw a hurricane danger area on a nautical chart. A navigator adds 100 nautical miles to the forecast storm position at 24 hours, 200 miles at 48 hours and 300 miles at 72 hours, then adds the forecast radius of 34-knot winds at each point. The…
