Whale Fecal Samples Link Ocean Warming to Rising Algal Toxins in Arctic Waters
19 years. While domoic acid was less prevalent (in some years no DA was detected), this study shows for the first time that domoic acid exposures in Arctic waters are increasing due to warming and loss of sea ice.Scientists used data from a monitoring mooring in the Beaufort Sea, funded by the National Science foundation’s Arctic Observing Network, to compare toxins in the bowhead whales to environmental conditions. “It was fortuitous that we’ve maintained a long-term mooring near the whale feeding site, which provided the opportunity to investigate the role of the changing circulation
Satellite data from Ship Captures Landslide-Generated Tsunami
place at the right time to show this method also works for landslide-generated tsunamis.”On May 8, 2022, a landslide near the port city of Seward, Alaska, sent debris tumbling into Resurrection Bay, creating a series of small tsunami waves. The R/V Sikuliaq, a research ship owned by the National Science Foundation and operated by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, was moored 650 meters (0.4 miles) away. It was equipped with an external Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver previously installed by Ethan Roth, the ship’s science operations manager and co-author of the study.Adam
Research Vessels: A Conversation with Bruce Applegate of UNOLS
the United States among other countries.Copyright 2025 Scripps Institution of Oceanography / UC San DiegoFunding and the Future of UNOLSOceanographic research holds significant value yet continues to struggle with ongoing funding difficulties. UNOLS depends mainly on financial backing from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) yet existing funding fails to satisfy expanding research needs. “If we doubled our budget tomorrow, we would still have enough scientific projects ready to use that additional capacity immediately,” Applegate emphasized.UNOLS
Wind Patterns Help Predict Low Antarctic Sea Ice
influencing ice sheets and global currents.As summer arrives in the Southern Hemisphere, the current sea ice extent remains sparse around Antarctica, close to a record low for this time of the year.The study was published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment and was funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy
Unlocking Ocean Power: $3.6M for Community-centric Wave Energy Converters
environmental trade-offs.Coastal communities are partnering with a multidisciplinary research team to determine the best way to harvest wave energy at Beaver Island, Michigan, and Nags Head, North Carolina.The project is led by the University of Michigan, supported with $3.6 million from the National Science Foundation. It brings together researchers from five different institutions to help provide renewable energy that addresses the needs and concerns of coastal and island communities and identifies paths to make wave energy technology competitive with solar and wind power.Waves are a vast source of
US Aims to Improve Ocean Observations with $2.7 Million for New Robotic Floats
and ocean acidification. Most floats last for 4-5 years on battery power. The new funding will add 40 more Argo floats, 7 more Deep Argo floats and 6 biogeochemical floats to the mix. Funding will also support the development of key data management infrastructure for the array. NOAA and the National Science Foundation support U.S. Argo investments and activities
TCarta Plans Bathymetric Mapping Workshop for Jamaica
2030 will make the data publicly available to support coastal resilience, environmental protection, and other marine applications.TCarta first introduced Jamaican hydrographers to the SDB Toolbox in a 2022 training session. The Toolbox, which was developed by TCarta with funding from the National Science Foundation, contains a pre-processing tool to allocate calibration and validation in situ source data, two algorithm workflows to derive water depth measurements using Machine Learning and empirical regression, and a statistics estimation tool for quality assurance of derived water depth measurements
WHOI Board Chair Paul Salem Gives $25 Million for Ocean-based Climate Solutions
and the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP), as well as gifts from individuals, foundations, and corporations will support a growing ecosystem of fundamental and applied scientific research and engineering development at WHOI. These build on existing capabilities such as the National Science Foundation-funded Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) and the international Argo network of autonomous profiling floats. Funding from Salem, NOPP, DOE and other sources expand on these existing programs, in part by supporting investigations of new marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) projects, including
US Issues Draft RFP for New Antarctic Research Vessel
The U.S.' National Science Foundation (NSF) has released a draft request for proposal (RFP) for its Antarctic Research Vessel (ARV) Integrator requirement.According to NSF, the draft represents a functionally complete RFP with sections A through M, released to provide transparency and early exposure for what is a robust requirement.NSF said it seeks feedback from industry on the whole of the RFP, be that technical or contractual requirements, instructions to offerors and evaluation criteria, or small business engagement. By inviting questions NSF desires to enhance mutual understanding by reducing
February 2025
