Meet the Pilots: Capt. Twining and Lt. Cmdr. Waddington
On August 5, 2018, NOAA Corps officers Capt. Kristie Twining and Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Waddington became the first all-female team to pilot a NOAA aircraft during a hurricane mission.
NOAA deploys aircraft to support weather satellite data validation project
NOAA deployed one of the agency's two Lockheed WP-3D Orion "hurricane hunter" aircraft (N42RF) to Shannon, Ireland on Jan. 23 to support an ongoing NOAA Satellite and Information Service project to measure ocean surface winds in winter storms over the North Atlantic. The project helps NOAA calibrate and validate data collected by weather satellite sensors. The project also helps scientists and engineers improve the quality and consistency of satellite-based weather data.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.
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.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.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.
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.
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.