Noaa

Nelson, Rubio Fight Back Over Proposed Cuts To Coast Guard, Noaa And Fema

... to hire 500 more Border Patrol agents and 1,000 more ICE agents and support staff. As the pilot of a WP-3 Orion hurricane hunting airplane, NOAA Capt. Michael Silah knows what it is like to navigate intense storms. Now, as head of NOAA's Aircraft Operations Center, which is moving from Mac Dill Air Force Base to Lakeland Linder Regional Airport, he is trying to navigate the latest political storm. Because the budget cuts are considered "pre-decisional," Silah, like others contacted for this story, won't address specifics. But he said the Aircraft Operations Center's $22 million annual budget, spent on flying planes into and around storms to help determine track and intensity, is money well spent. The center's hurricane tracking efforts have improved the forecast cone by 15 percent, Silah said. That could mean big savings considering it costs local, state and federal emergency ...

Climate Scientists Worry Noaa Cuts Will Hinder Alaska Weather Forecasting

... cuts reportedly under consideration for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And they say the proposed cuts also would hinder meteorologists’ ability to forecast weather in Alaska and worldwide. Listen now. President Trump has made it clear he has doubts about climate change. And he’s declared he’ll reduce non-defense-related federal spending. So recent reports about big cuts under consideration for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , or NOAA, have generated a lot of anxiety among scientists who depend on the agency’s satellites to study Arctic climate. “We are quite concerned about the possibility of losing an eye in the sky,” Mark Serreze said. Serreze is a senior research scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center. He said cuts like those reported last week in the Washington ...

Nasa, Noaa Satellites See Winter Storm Madness 'march' To The East

... and infrared imagery that showed the extent and the movement of the system. Forecasters at the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center (WPC) noted that the low pressure system crossing the Midwest states and Ohio Valley is expected to merge with another low off the southeast U. S. coast. WPC stated "This will allow for a strong nor'easter to develop near the coast and cause a late-season snowstorm from the central Appalachians to New England, including many of the big cities in the Northeast U. S.". An Infrared Look at the Storm. Infrared light provides scientists with temperature data and that's important when trying to understand the strength of storms. When it comes to snow storms, both ground temperature and cloud top temperatures are important. The higher the cloud tops the colder they are, and stronger the storm. Infrared data, ...

Trump’s Proposed Noaa Cuts Would Disarm Our Coasts In The Face Of Rising Seas, Scientists Say

... and its $73 million Sea Grant program. At a federal advisory committee meeting in Bethesda, Md. on Tuesday, the acting administrator of NOAA, Benjamin Friedman, did not dispute the Post’s reporting on the proposed budget, although he cautioned that the cuts were only proposed. “Let me just say that this is really preliminary information that is out there, this is part of the normal kind of budget deliberations that are ongoing; nothing is final,” Friedman said. “The president’s budget isn’t due to come out for a few weeks, and then of course it will be months until we get a final FY 18 budget, and then nothing will happen till Congress votes on an appropriation bill … until then we’re moving forward, and it really is business as usual at NOAA.”. President Trump promised to slash government spending and taxes, but also made costly promises for military and infrastructure funding. As preliminary budget proposals leak out, some government agencies are very, very worried. (Jenny Starrs, Danielle Kunitz/The Washington Post). In the meantime, however, the proposed coastal cuts have a lot in common. These are grants and ...

Here Are The Most Incredible Life Forms Noaa Found On Its Latest Deep Sea Dive

... places,” said NOAA team member and Lehigh University molecular ecologist Santiago Herrera told Gizmodo. “This expedition will contribute new information by exploring areas of the deep ocean in American Samoa for the first time.”. Yellow zoanthids at the base of a dead golden octocoral skeleton. (Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2017 American Samoa.). From February 16 to 26, and with the assistance of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), the scientists conducted several dives, uncovering an assortment of biological curiosities—from cosmic jellyfish and mollusks through to bipedal searobins and aquatic Venus flytraps. “We observed at least a dozen of potential new species of sea stars, sponges, feather sea stars, corals and mollusks, several of which we have collected,” said Herrera. “These collections will allow us to confirm new species designations, provide type specimens for descriptions and enable genetic analyses to ...

Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, Noaa National Marine Fisheries Service, U.s. Coast Guard Respond To Entangled Subadult Humpback Whale Off Maui

... that the whale was entangled in gear exiting both sides of the mouth and heading straight down to the ocean floor. Initial efforts to cut the gear were unsuccessful. Sunday, the animal was re-sighted in the same vicinity but headed south before letting the trailing gear settle on the ocean floor in about 60 feet of water off Kamaole Beach I. While underway, several tour operators monitored the animal, including Ocean Odyssey (Pacific Whale Foundation), Quicksilver, Redline Rafting, Blue Water Rafting, and Maui Diamond II. Sunday’s assessments by the response team revealed that the gear was heavy-gauge (~ 5/8-inch) electrical cable. The team used cable cutters to cut both cables leading to the whale’s mouth. It is estimated that around 500 feet of cable was removed from the animal with little gear remaining. The cable had already embedded itself too deeply at the back of the whale’s mouth to pull out remaining gear. However, this represents a significant improvement ...

Trump's Reckless Plan To Gut Noaa

... funding to maintain a well-operating and up-to-date fleet. Jeopardizing the next generation of satellites puts at risk the ability to manage accurate forecasts two decades from now. Some parts of NOAA are marked for elimination altogether, such as a program that helps localities protect against rising seas and one that supports coastal research at 33 universities. Direct cuts to the National Weather Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service would amount to just 5 percent, but that's enough to strain their operations and make improvements difficult. Arguing against budget cuts is a time-honored Washington tradition, and just about every department can argue that its spending is but a tiny fraction of the Pentagon's $600 billion budget. What makes the proposed cuts at NOAA especially pointless, however - besides the meager savings they would bring ...

Lakeland-bound Hurricane Hunters Have Strong Case Against Budget Cuts

... from what I've seen are extremely targeted and I don't think will impact aircraft operations," Capt. Michael Silah said Wednesday at the Sun 'n Fun Florida Air Museum during the Fourth Annual Mayor's Sun 'n Fun Breakfast. The Washington Post reported Friday that the Trump administration will seek to cut NOAA's funding by 17 percent based on a four-page memo obtained by the newspaper. NOAA is one of the government's leading climate science agencies. The proposed cuts would specifically target research funding and satellite programs within NOAA, the paper reported. Silah said the proposal is extremely preliminary and that budget wrangling can be a long, unsure process until the end. If cuts to NOAA do come, Silah said he is confident the aviation program will be able to make a strong case for its work that includes its hurricane hunting missions, coastal surveys, snow surveys and other weather and climate-related data collection and research. The Aircraft Operations Center has "the foremost flying laboratories in the world," he said. The ...

New Noaa Climate Change Study Finds More Warming Of Ocean

... journal Science Advances reveals that greenhouse gases buildup is warming the upper ocean four times faster during the years 1960 to 1990. Another concern highlighted by the paper is the warming of the deeper water column of oceans. The paper titled “Improved estimates of ocean heat content from 1960 to 2015” used the data provided by current and historical measurements from satellites, ships and self-propelled floats. By comparing the limited observations in the 1960 s and the measurements of satellites and more advanced devices in more recent decades, researchers from the NOAA, the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing have found that oceans may be storing as much as thirteen percent more heat that previous estimates. The team were able to correct past and more recent records by using ARGO observations with limited information. This new method of collecting ocean record gives a better 90 percent coverage of oceans by the 1960 s to 2015, and from the sea surface all the way down to a depth of 2,000 meters. According to Ecowatch , the paper has shown the slow warming of Earth’s ...

Noaa, Umbrella Agency For Hurricane Hunters In Lakeland, Bracing For Budget Cuts

... proposal is not final, nor official, but is raising eyebrows for those who work within the agency and those who rely on it. It’s unclear how it may impact the Hurricane Hunters, which are slated to move to Lakeland in just two months, but US Senator Bill Nelson plans to do everything possible to get in the way. “We’re not going to allow those cuts,” he told reporters Monday morning during a visit to the Strawberry Festival in Plant City. “Their mission is just incredible,” he said, explaining how their work is too important to start slashing the funding. The crew of about 100 people make up the Hurricane Hunters. They used to be housed at Mac Dill, but just signed a near seven-million dollar deal to move to Lakeland. Even if the Hurricane Hunters are spared under a new budget, NOAA is also over the National Weather Service and a network of satellites used to help forecasters make predictions and prepare people for extreme weather. Shrinking ...

Trump Pitches Tsunami Of Cuts To Noaa

... National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, first obtained by The Washington Post, shows elimination of such programs as Sea Grant, a major research and outreach effort that works in fields ranging from oil spill prevention to teacher training. The University of Washington receives about $35 million in program funding from NOAA each year. But cuts would be felt in such programs as Coastal Resiliency Grants, important to Native American tribes. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who worked to close a gap in coastal weather forecasting, said on Tuesday. "Now is not the time to cut ocean science, when we need it most. If these programs are eliminated, it could have devastating impacts on the progress we have made toward a healthy Puget Sound, and will hurt our coastal economies. "I am extremely concerned about the proposed elimination of the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund, the Ocean Acidification Program, the NOAA estuary research program, the tsunami preparedness grant funding, the Sea Grant program, and other severe cuts.". We're getting the first glimpses of ...

New Noaa Satellite Tracks Lightning In Real Time From Space

... using another name for the satellite. "For the American public, that will mean faster, more accurate weather forecasts and warnings," he said, as well as "more lives saved and better environmental intelligence for state and local officials and all decision makers.". Follow Stories Like This. Get the Monitor stories you care about delivered to your inbox. Sign Up. In addition to the lightning monitor, the satellite is outfitted with five other imaging and data-collection instruments. A Harris Corp. onboard camera can photograph inside the eye of a hurricane, a new perspective that promises forecasters the ability to measure the intensity and timeline of storms , The Christian Science Monitor previously reported. Another instrument monitors solar flares and space weather and fluctuations in radiation levels they cause. “ It’s a big deal ," Fred Johnson, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Melbourne, Fla., told USA Today. "It’s a big upgrade from what we’ve had in the past. This should ...