Florida Current is the Weakest Its Been in a Century
, who specializes in coastal and regional sea level change, used a connection between coastal sea level and the strength of near-shore currents to trace the evolution of the Florida Current, a key component of the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream flows north along the Southeast Atlantic Coast of the United States and eventually east into the North Atlantic Ocean, carrying heat, salt, momentum and other properties that influence Earth’s climate. Because nearly continuous records of sea level stretch back more than a century along Florida’s Atlantic Coast and in some parts of the Caribbean,
Offshore Wind Could Bring In $1.7B to U.S. Treasury by 2022
The United States has an opportunity to accelerate offshore wind energy growth, and benefit from 28 new gigawatts of wind power and $1.7 billion in U.S. Treasury revenue by 2022, according to a study released by the energy intelligence group Wood Mackenzie. Apart from the benefits to the Treasury, the offshore wind industry in the U.S. could create 80,000 jobs annually from 2025 to 2035.Commissioned by four energy industry groups, American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA), New York Offshore Wind Alliance (NYOWA), and the Special Initiative on Offshore
U.S. Navy, NOAA Strike Deal to Fast-Track Unmanned Maritime Systems
The advent of autonomy in the maritime and subsea space has received a significant boost with the announcement that a pair of U.S. government titans, the United States Navy and NOAA, have inked an deal to jointly expand the development and operations of unmanned maritime systems.“With the strengthening of our ongoing partnership with the Navy, NOAA will be better positioned to transition unmanned maritime technologies into operational platforms that will gather critical environmental data that will help grow the American Blue Economy,” said retired Navy Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet, Ph.D.
Enhancing Understanding of Gulf Sediments
re-nourishment requirements. The plan will provide each group with robust communication strategies and shared resources to evaluate alternatives to maximize utilization of offshore minerals for Coastal Storm Risk Management and Ecosystem Restoration (CSRM/ER) that can be applied anywhere in the United States."Working together with BOEM and GLO is key to our integrated plan for Texas coastal resilience,” said Col. Timothy Vail, Commander, USACE Galveston District. “Our agencies are working together to increase our understanding of existing data on sand resources, while at the same
The Benefits of Sustainable Marine Lumber
of crude oil in Prince William Sound, Alaska, impacting 1,300 miles of Alaskan shoreline and killed much of its native wildlife. The Valdez spill prompted the passage of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which increased penalties for companies responsible for oils and required oil tankers operating in United States waters to have a double hull. In 2010, an explosion of the oil drilling rig, the Deepwater Horizon, would surpass the volume of oil spilled by the Valdez, releasing over 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico over a period of 87 days, affecting some 16,000 miles of coastline
Army Corps' Data Driven to Improve Coastal Projects
academia to further develop these technologies to meet its respective programs. One of the center's programs is the National Coastal Mapping Program. The mission's intent is to acquire regional, high-resolution, high-accuracy elevation and imagery data along the sandy shorelines of the United States on a recurring basis.To obtain this data, JALBTCX uses an aircraft equipped with government-owned state-of-the-art airborne remote sensing platforms.These platforms are comprised of a lidar sensor with both topographic and bathymetric capabilities, and two additional aerial mapping cameras.The
Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Installs Wind LiDAR in New Jersey
New Jersey Wind Energy Area. The Atlantic Shores offshore wind project is expected to go online in 2026.Commenting on the installation of the LiDar, Jennifer Daniels, Development Director at Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, said: “As the holder of one of the largest offshore wind leases in the United States, Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind is glad our industry can help support this critical research,” said Image Credit: Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind“Measuring high-quality wind data is critical to accurately calculating how much energy our wind projects will produce, and we are happy
USVs: A Solution for Inspecting Dams and Guarding Waterways
Are a Warning,” suggested, “Two dams down, a few thousand to go.” It was not meant to be a sensational statement. Deteriorating infrastructure is an issue for most countries. Many nations have systems in place to evaluate and grade the state of their national infrastructure. In the United States, the nation’s civil engineers provide an assessment of the nation’s sixteen infrastructure categories using an A-to-F school report card format.Among these 16 categories, America’s 90,000-plus dams fared worst, attaining an overall grade of D. The condition of dams gets a great
The Emerging U.S. Offshore Wind Industry in a Post-COVID-19 World
on June 17, 2020 for the global release of a major new market study on the depth, breadth and growth prospects of the Offshore Wind Market -- https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UR5uY1boTOKdAAcAXDbR4gJust when it was looking like the offshore wind industry was finally about to take off in the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced one more significant layer of uncertainty upon an already very complicated playing field. There are currently 15 active offshore wind projects in the planning stages which, if completed, could add approximately 25 gigawatts of electricity to the power grid
