RU COOL Marks 30th Anniversary at the Forefront of Climate Change Research and Ocean Discovery

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Rick Spinrad; President Jonathan Holloway; Distinguished Professor Scott Glenn, co-director of Rutgers Center for Ocean Observing Leadership; and Craig McLean (RC ’79), former assistant administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research at NOAA (left to right), toured the ocean glider maintenance room during a celebration marking the university’s excellence in ocean research and education over the last 30 years. Photo credit: Nick Romanenko.

Rutgers, NOAA, and glider maker mark RUCOOL milestone. For 30 years, Rutgers’ Center for Ocean Observing Leadership (RUCOOL) has taken the lead in pioneering research that has changed our understanding of the oceans and the way information is collected. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Rick Spinrad joined Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway and marine and coastal science researchers and …

Living at the Shore After Sandy: Should Residents Stay – or Go?

Kenneth Miller stands in front of a rebuilt home in Waretown, New Jersey, off Barnegat Bay. Shelley Kusnetz

New Jersey needs to plan for at least a 3-foot sea level rise by 2100, Rutgers researchers warn. Whether to buy or build a home at the Jersey Shore has become more complicated and personal for Kenneth Miller – a Rutgers expert in sea level change and global warming – since Superstorm Sandy struck New Jersey’s seaside communities a decade …

Using Lasers, a Van, and Engineering Models, Rutgers Team Maps Where the Flood Water Will Go

Rutgers engineering professor Jie Gong and his team drove through areas hit hard by Superstorm Sandy to collect 3-D images of hurricane damage to help plan a smart recovery.

A professor of engineering leads an effort to digitalize New Jersey communities to predict flooding and gauge storm damage risk. The forecast calls for a foot of rain. Floodwater will submerge roads and ruin structures. The question is which roads and structures. While flood maps have provided some answers, surveys are laborious and expensive, so they rarely have all the …

Rutgers Sandy Operation Helps Forecasters Predict Severe Storms, Saving Livelihood Worldwide

Travis Miles inspects a Rutgers ocean glider at the Marine Field Station on the Mullica Hill Estuary. Photo: Shelley Kusnetz

Researchers continue to advance hurricane science, leading to increased forecast accuracy and lead times. As Superstorm Sandy approached the New Jersey coastline, a single Rutgers glider deployed off Tuckerton by hurricane scientists at Rutgers University Center for Ocean Observing Leadership (RUCOOL), provided an ominous warning. The water mass known as the “Mid-Atlantic cold pool”– an area of cool water off the coast that traditionally …

How Rutgers Is Forging the Next Generation of Climate Change Problem Solvers

Larry Niles, an independent wildlife biologist, describes the ecosystem of the Cumberland County shore to Rutgers students, with the Delaware River behind him. The students are banding migratory shorebirds. Photo: Lisa Auermuller

Training program created in wake of Superstorm Sandy brings graduate students from varied disciplines together to solve real-world climate problems. As a child, Dan Blanco watched low-income neighborhoods in his native Chicago flood during storms while the more affluent enclaves did not. Now, he is pursuing a doctoral degree in atmospheric sciences at Rutgers so he can further explore – …

JC NERR Plays a Key Role in New Jersey Coastal Community Resilience Consortium

Killifish sampling in the Grassle Pocket Marsh

Task One: Complete Last December, the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve (JC NERR), along with multiple other NJ partners and institutions, were awarded a grant to fund the implementation of the newly-established New Jersey Coastal Community Resilience Consortium. In addition to the JC NERR, partners include Monmouth University, Stevens Institute of Technology, Stockton University, NJ Sea Grant Program, Montclair …

Living Shoreline Combats Coastal Erosion Caused by Sea Level Rise

Rutgers scientists teamed up with high school students to build a living shoreline, near the New Jersey Aquaculture Innovation Center in Cape May, that helps reduce wave energy as it comes onto the beach. Photo: Dena Seidel

Rutgers scientists and high school volunteers from Camden are using nature to mitigate the effects of coastal erosion in southern New Jersey. Together they built a living shoreline, near the New Jersey Aquaculture Innovation Center in Cape May, that uses marsh grasses and recycled oyster and clam shells. The shells, incorporated into modified concrete blocks called oyster castles, fit together like Legos to …

4-H Launches 2022 STEM Challenge Focused on Marine Science and Climate Change

Left to right: Josh Kohut of the Dept. of Marine and Coastal Sciences, and Janice McDonnell, Alesha Vega, Marissa Staffen, and Matt Newman of Rutgers Cooperative Extension-4-H Youth Development. They are standing behind an RU COOL ocean exploring glider.

15th annual youth-led initiative provides hands-on learning opportunities during 4-H STEM Month and throughout the year. October is 4-H STEM Month. Rutgers Cooperative Extension has teamed up with Cooperative Extension at Cornell University in New York to bring educators from across two states to the New York Aquarium for an immersive full-day professional development experience. They will be introduced to …

Scientists Believe Evolution Could Save Coral Reefs, If We Let It

coral

Research shows protecting “hot reefs” is key to saving coral reefs. Coral reefs can adapt to climate change if given the chance to evolve, according to a study led by Coral Reef Alliance, Rutgers University, the University of Washington and other institutions. The recent study, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, finds that coral reefs can evolve and adapt …

Understanding the Impact of Marine Viruses on the Ocean’s Carbon Cycle and Role in Climate Change

Sample collection in the Gulf of Naples.

By Carol Peters, EOAS Communications To address one of the most pressing issues impacting human civilization, pioneering work by EOAS faculty members Kay Bidle and Kimberlee Thamatrakoln is, for the first time, changing the ways scientists understand the impact marine viruses have on phytoplankton, the ocean’s role in the carbon cycle, and ultimately on Earth’s changing climate. Arriving on the …