Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s Post

Scientists are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a method for automatically localizing and labeling specific species of coral. Learn how you can help below!🪸

Set out to predict future sea level rise 🌊 That’s the mission when researchers Martin Jakobsson and Nina Kirchner, among others, embark on an icebreaker expedition to one of the most remote fjords in northern Greenland, Victoria Fjord. By collecting field data from an environment that has not been studied before, they hope to be able to calibrate numerical models which can give a more accurate predictions on how melting glaciers will impact global sea levels. The expedition is coordinated by Polarforskningssekretariatet.

From my recent Marine Technology Society OCEANS Conference work: there is an inverse relationship between high-frequency noise and successful acoustic detections. There are many more variables involved, but noisier, warmer, stratified summer makes for a challenging environment when compared to quieter, colder winter months. I'll be further exploring this relationship by modeling sound traveling in these reefs. -F. McQuarrie, C. B. Woodson and C. R. Edwards, "Analyzing Tidal, Diurnal, Synoptic, and Seasonal Drivers of Acoustic Telemetry Efficiency on a Coastal Reef," OCEANS 2023 - MTS/IEEE U.S. Gulf Coast, Biloxi, MS, USA, 2023, pp. 1-8, doi: 10.23919/OCEANS52994.2023.10337065.

Vacuuming the ocean floor to restore reef-building corals in the Caribbean? 🤔 Margaret Miller, SECORE’s Research Director participated in the 'Closing the Coral Circle' workshop which brought together coral ecologists, restoration specialists, and technology experts. They were challenged to brainstorm how to overcome research gaps and what is needed to develop innovative technologies that could help to bridge the general lack of natural recruitment by reef-building coral populations in the Caribbean. Thought experiments were prompted by questions such as: „What if we had a robot that could vacuum sediments from the surface of the reef to provide better habitat quality for coral settlers and compress that sediment into artificial reef structures or seeding units?“ or „What if we had a magic wand that could detect and remove any and all toxins from coral reef waters?“ This ‘Closing the Coral Circle’ workshop was sponsored by Revive and Restore, NOAA: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration , and the Coral Restoration Foundation™, intending to turn the resulting ideas into new research directions and projects. What do you think? Keep the ideas coming 🧐 🤩 #SECORE #coralseeding #coralrestoration #SoutheastFloridaCoralReefRestorationHub

What can I learn about coral bleaching? Got five minutes for the Reef? Following National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s @noaa mass coral beaching announcement this week, there have been many questions about coral bleaching. Watch this video, where we partner with Australian Institute of Marine Science, to discuss the science of coral bleaching, and how it can be managed. For further information about coral bleaching, head to: https://bit.ly/441tIKs

Oceanic Masterpiece: Satellite Captures Vast Algae Bloom the Size of Germany in the South Atlantic

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝’𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩-𝐬𝐞𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐟 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭 Scientists have found the world’s largest deep-sea coral reef off the eastern coast of the United States. The massive 6.4 acre area stretches from Miami, Florida up to Charleston, South Carolina. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) this is an area larger than the state of Vermont. The findings were described in a study published January 12 in the journal Geomatics. Continue Reading Here: https://shorturl.at/bgoHN 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦: 𝘗𝘰𝘱𝘚𝘤𝘪 𝘐𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵: 𝘕𝘖𝘈𝘈 𝘖𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘦𝘱 2019

📢JUST ANNOUNCED: Flagship #OceanDecade initiative Seabed 2030 announces latest ocean floor mapping progress on #WorldHydrographyDay. The latest figure of 26.1% mapped is a testament to the continuous efforts and advancements in seafloor mapping technologies and activities. This global effort to uncover the Earth’s final frontier has also made remarkable marine discoveries possible, from the characterisation of the largest known deep-sea coral reef habitat off the southeast U.S. coast by NOAA: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration to the groundbreaking discovery of four underwater mountains by Schmidt Ocean Institute. Read more: https://ow.ly/vscr50SncSX

A great piece of news is the progress made up to this year; however, this same figure shows that there is still much to be done. Our oceans not only equate, in economic terms, to the 7th largest economy in the world, but their proper care and management are the necessary responses to maintaining a sustainable and enduring planet. The sea and its variables are fundamental to the environmental balance of different habitats. #OceanDecade #Ocean UNESCO Ocean Armada de Chile, Autoridad Marítima de Panamá, Cámara Marítima de Panamá, CAMPORT, Cámara Marítima y Portuaria de Chile, CÁMARA MINERA DE CHILE, International Global Salvage, FAO, Ministerio del Medio Ambiente, DIRECTEMAR, ARMADA DE CHILE, Cámara Minera de Panamá, Smithsonian Institution, International Maritime Organization, International Hydrographic Organization (IHO)

NOAA reports 17 right whale calves spotted so far in 2023-2024 season The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports that as many as 17 new North Atlantic right whale calves have been spotted since the start of the calving season, which runs from mid-November to mid-May. It's good news for US and Canadian lobster and snow crab harvesters, who face continuous scrutiny over the entanglement of endangered right whales. The 2024 calving season number is already greater than the 15 new calves spotted in the 2022 season and 12 seen during the 2023 season. However, NOAA emphasizes on its website that the numbers need to be much greater to save the species from extinction. Click below for the full story. NOAA: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration