Samina Cabral

NOAA says that if the current population trends continue, the United States coastal population will grow from 123 million people to nearly 134 million people smugly ensconced in coastal communities by 2020.
The agency noted the coasts are already crowed and the projected increase in population will put more people at risk from extreme coastal weather and storms like Sandy. Get out! Get out while you still can! I hear the Midwest and Northeast are both nice and roomy.

However, don’t be surprised when a storm like Sandy affects you when you thought it wouldn’t because you don’t live on the Atlantic

Yesterday NASA officially announced that they have handed the keys to the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite over to NOAA.

Launched in October of 2011 by NASA, Suomi NPP is an environmental satellite that collects data for two reasons: to help predict weather more accurately, especially the awful stuff like hurricanes, and to study long-term climate change.

Suomi NPP, 512 miles above the surface, circles the planet in a north-south motion between the poles about fourteen times a day. The satellite observes any given point on the Earth’s surface twice a day: once in daylight and once at night. After completing an orbit the data is sent to a station in Svalbard, Norway and then sent to the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in Maryland.

The satellite is named in honor of the late Verner E. Suomi. He was a meteorologist at the University of Wisconsin and is considered to be the father of satellite meteorology. He passed away in 1995 at the age of 79.

Did you know that there are two songs that poetically exaggerate the lack of rain in southern California?

One was written by two British guys in 1972 and the chorus is: “It never rains in California, but girl don't they warn ya. It pours, man it pours." The other is a 90’s R&B hit by Tony! Toni! Tone! which immediately opens with the famous line: “It never rains in southern California.”

Besides being boring songs about other things, the former about how Hollywood is cruel town and the other about a relationship, they are factually inaccurate. It rains and sometimes it even snows in the Golden State!

Last year was the ninth warmest year since 1880 according to NASA scientists. The agency added: with the exception of 1988, the nine warmest years in the 132-year record all have occurred since 2000. 2010 and 2005 are ranked as the hottest years on record. “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is no longer a relevant song because of science!

This new data from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York and NOAA was presented today at a joint conference. Representatives remarked that their comparison is accurate but does differ slightly due to where on the planet measurements are taken or not taken.

Growing up in a California valley approximately 20 minutes from the Pacific Ocean meant we visited the beaches and harbors on school field trips a few times a year.

We sometimes whale watched and then continued to the three islet Anacapa Island 14 miles off the coast for a day trip. East Anacapa islet is a good island for elementary school kids and hikers looking for an introduction to the Channel Islands National Park system- an archipelago that includes four other islands.

There was a lot to see on Anacapa while hiking and therefore enough for a guide to talk about to keep us school kids from horsing around not that we didn’t try.

In addition to October being Vegetarian Awareness Month it’s also National Seafood Month, a NOAA-designated celebration of marine life, conservation, and awareness.

While the two themes aren’t exactly compatible because some vegans and vegetarians do not include fish in their diet, both are food-related. A month long look at the stuff we eat is a chance to think about the amount of food (and water) we waste and how our food is cultivated before it ends up on our table.

NOAA is celebrating an anniversary today: the first use of their satellite system to help save a life- well, three actually.

In a press release this morning NOAA relayed the tale of the first rescue aided by the Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking system or SARSAT, a network of satellites developed by NASA but now operated by NOAA at the United States Mission Control Center (USMCC) in Suitland, Maryland- a Census- designated place.

Thirty years ago and approximately 300 miles off the coast of New England three passengers aboard a catamaran activated their emergency beacon when 25 foot waves began to threaten and sink the vessel. A satellite picked up the beacon’s signal and the Coast Guard responded to the emergency pulling the three sailors to safety.

“The Lau Basin is one of Earth’s most geologically active areas, with ocean plates colliding and separating at some of the highest rates on the planet,” said Chief Scientist Joseph Resing, Ph.D., of NOAA’s Pacific Marine and Environmental Lab and the University of Washington’s Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean. “Our preliminary surveys between 2008 and 2011 revealed the Northeast Lau Basin as one of the most concentrated areas of active submarine volcanism and hot springs found anywhere on Earth.”

If you’d like to experience the Lau Basin and its submarine volcanoes with NOAA scientists you can do so from the comfort of your home with your computer or mobile device.

NOAA’s Marine Debris Program will distribute $250,000 in grants to assist the five states along the country’s west coast that are expected to be impacted by tsunami debris from last year’s disaster in Japan.

Funds will be used to remove stuff such as the 132-ton concrete slab teeming with life that broke off from a Japanese dock and washed up on an Oregonian shore almost a month ago.  

The Japanese government reported that the March 2011 tsunami washed away an approximate 5 million tons of debris into the Pacific and of that astronomical amount about 70 percent sank. NOAA and the Japanese were kind enough to do the math for us and estimate 1.5 million tons remain floating a-sea in the North Pacific in an area “roughly three times the size of the lower 48 states.” However, this is not a concentrated amount of stuff: it’s likely been scattered and it will arrive on coasts north of the Main Hawaiian Islands and east of Midway Atoll over many years.

Last week while we were chit-chatting away about ice cream and bald eagles in celebration of the July 4th holiday we completely missed taking a look at the International Whaling Commission’s (IWC) 64th annual meeting. The convention was a little less than a month long and concluded in Panama City, Panama on July 6th. 

The IWC speaks for the whales by implementating whale hunting regulations, protecting existing whale populations, and promoting herd growth.

The United States was one of eighty-nine countries present. NOAA, select staff from the State Department,  the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission, the Department of the Interior and private citizens were in attendance to discuss whale conservation and policy.

Remember when we told you the “s” in NASA stands for space and sea? Here is another example of NASA in the ocean: yesterday the 16th excursion of the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations or NEEMO began at NOAA’s Aquarius Reef Base (Aquarius) off the coast of Key Largo, Florida in the marine sanctuary.

The base is an undersea research habitat and an international group of four aquanauts (not to be confused with Disney’s anthropomorphic and adorably animated Octonauts who also live and work under the sea) will live 63 feet below the Atlantic Ocean’s surface for 12 days. This group is testing three areas for a future asteroid mission: communication delays, restraint and translation techniques, and optimum crew size.

Over the weekend the Sanctuary Classic kicked off with events on both coasts. The Florida Keys and California’s Channel Islands national marine sanctuaries welcomed visitors of all ages interested in some outdoor fun and learning about sustainable fishing and marine eco-system conservation. The Sanctuary Classic also includes a summer- long photo contest.

The contest is free and sponsored by NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and the Sportfishing Conservancy.

During National Safe Boating Week last month NOAA didn’t talk about the dangers of rip currents and that’s because rip current safety gets its own week in June. This safety week is also brought to you by the National Park Service and U.S Lifesaving Association because summer is about to hit full swing and everyone is heading to the water, whether its the lake or beach.

NOAA describes rip currents as: “narrow channels of fast-moving water that pull swimmers away from the shore. They can occur at any beach with breaking waves, including the Great Lakes. They are common along the U.S. coastline even when the skies are clear. “ At their strongest rip currents can attain speeds reaching 8 feet per second.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published a study on PLoS ONE that presented findings that will help understand the affects of low-levels of domoic acid (DA) - a neurotoxic amino acid produced by marine algae- found in marine life like clams and mussels.

High-levels of DA can cause amnesic shellfish poisoning in humans which has vastly different symptoms from paralytic shellfish poisoning. Amnesic shellfish poisoning can cause seizures, memory loss, and coma as opposed to abdominal pain and vomiting. Both forms can cause death but that is only in rare cases. Scientists don’t know what low-levels can do in humans over extended periods of time.