Two new oceanographic vessels will join the NOAA fleet

NOAA is in the process of acquiring two new oceanographic ships as part of the agency’s fleet rebuilding effort. Once in service, the new ships will support a wide variety of missions, ranging from general oceanographic research and exploration to marine life, climate and ocean ecosystem studies. The first ship, to be named Oceanographer, will be homeported in Honolulu. The second ship, to be named Discoverer, will be assigned a homeport at a future date. February 11, 2020

NOAA launches major field campaign to improve weather and climate prediction

On January 7, NOAA launched a six-week scientific campaign from the island of Barbados in the Caribbean, using multiple human-piloted and autonomous vehicles, buoys, radar and computer modeling to investigate how the ocean, atmospher, and shallow clouds work together to create the weather and climate we live in. Called ATOMIC, or the Atlantic Tradewind Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Interaction Campaign, the mission is the U.S. January 7, 2020

NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow concludes busy field season

The 2019 field season was a busy one for NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow, which logged 23,500 nautical miles--more than enough to circumnavigate the earth. Along the way, the ship conducted 757 bottom trawl surveys, enough to trawl all the way from the ship's Newport, R.I. homeport to Detroit, Mich. The ship also measured oceanographic conditions at 935 sampling stations and surveyed previously unexplored areas of the ocean, some a mile deep, with remotely operated vehicles. December 20, 2019

Cmdr. Christian Sloan assumes command of NOAA Aircraft Operations Center

On Dec. 2, Capt. Timothy Gallagher turned over command of the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center (AOC) to Cmdr. Christian Sloan during a ceremony inside the center's hangar in Lakeland, Florida. The change-of-command ceremony was officiated by NOAA Office of Marine and Aviation Operations Deputy Director for Operations Rear Adm. (Lower Half) Nancy Hann, who also serves as deputy director of the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps.

December 2, 2019

NOAA divers help recovery of endangered abalone

On November 18, 2019, a team that included NOAA scientific divers released endangered white abalone into the wild off southern California, a key recovery strategy for the native species. The release was a major step towards bringing white abalone back from the brink of extinction. Learn more about the project in this NOAA Fisheries story.

November 19, 2019

Meet the Crew: Commander Sarah Duncan, NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson

Long before she was Commander Sarah Duncan, the commanding officer of NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson, she was just Sarah. She and her cousins, seated around the dining room table playing cribbage with her grandfather, hung onto his every word as he shared tales from his adventures at sea. September 26, 2019

NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer finds shipwreck in the Gulf of Mexico

On May 16, 2019, NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer discovered a shipwreck in the Gulf of Mexico while conducting an "engineering dive" to test new remotely operated vehicle (ROV) equipment. Researchers believe the wreck is likely a mid-19th century wooden sailing vessel. The find was made when ROV Deep Discoverer’s sonar picked up what appeared to be something in the shape of a shipwreck, and the team moved in to investigate. May 16, 2019

NOAA 'Hurricane Hunter' supports tornado study

One of NOAA's Lockheed WP-3D Orion aircraft is supporting a project to better understand the relationships between severe thunderstorms and tornado formation. The more than 50 researchers and students involved in the study are deploying a wide variety of tools, including the NOAA P-3 aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, and ground-based observation systems, to collect data on supercell thunderstorms across the Great Plains during 2019 and 2020. May 14, 2019