The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released an annual report outlining NOAA’s 2021 accomplishments in research and development and one of those is the Future Seas project.
The Future Seas project explored how climate change could impact West Coast fisheries using models and how fishing communities prepare for the effects of climate-driven changes, NOAA said in a March 28 news release.
According to the 2021 NOAA Science Report, the agency sought to improve capabilities in forecasting hurricanes, heavy rainfall, snowfall and other weather conditions by upgrading its weather model Global Forecast System. Upgrades to GFS include enhancements to vertical resolution and data assimilation system and updated model physics.
In May 2021, NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service publicly launched a web application tool, OceanView 1.0, that could help endangered species biologists, marine protected area managers and other experts evaluate changes in water bodies using onsite data, remote sensing visualizations, model output and coastal, ocean, coastal and inland water events.
The annual report also highlighted NOAA’s move to establish an integrated ocean observations team in 2021 to help coordinate the use of small uncrewed aircraft systems, floats, gliders and other observing platforms to gather data as part of efforts to improve the agency’s capability to predict the intensity of hurricanes.
Join GovCon Wire Events on Tuesday, April 5 for a fireside chat with Mary Erickson, NOAA’s acting assistant administrator for weather services and acting director of the National Weather Service, and hear about NOAA’s mission to support weather and climate forecasting and NWS’ efforts to improve satellite, aircraft and surface observations.
