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Sept 01, 2001
an online newsletter for and by NOAA employees



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Picture of the US with NOAA in Your Neighborhood written across it.


Washington

Picture of Mary Beth Nethercutt, Elliott Nethercutt and unidentified man.

Ms. Nethercutt and son with weather balloon.
Photos by Rose Reilly


John Livingston, Spokane’s meteorologist in charge, welcomes Mary Beth Nethercutt, NOAA’s new director of legislative affairs, and her son Elliott during their first visit to a National Weather Service forecast office. They were briefed on systems for watches and warnings, NWS’s key role in fire weather forecasting, and vital new components of modernization. They toured the operations area, climbed up a 45-foot Doppler Weather Radar tower, and later helped launch an upper air balloon. Data recording instruments track the balloon twice daily to record temperature, wind, dew point and other information critical to developing warnings and forecasts. Vickie Nadolski, NW region director, and Rob Sumpter, electronics technician, helped shape the day’s agenda.


Mississippi
NOAA’s just announced partnership with Jackson State University in Jackson brings $2.3 million for collaborative coastal research on ecosystems and risk analyses. The goal is to ultimately save lives and property along the Gulf Coast.

Picture of damaged homes along a coastline.
Picture of damaged trees on a hillside.

Under the three-year agreement, NOAA and the university will examine the risks to coastal ecosystems and economies from severe weather and other environmental hazards. Research will focus on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, a portion of the Gulf of Mexico region that experiences some of the nation’s severest weather risks and effects.

The university will work closely with NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service and other NOAA offices. Joe Stinus, head of NOAA’s National Coastal Data Development Center in Bay St. Louis, said that Mississippi’s Gulf Coast will continue to be the focal point of commerce, recreation and tourism, and a prime residential spot.

NOAA and the university will use NOAA’s satellite observations and meteorological modeling to evaluate the health of the Gulf Coast ecosystem, predict natural and human effects on living ecosystems, and minimize human and economic losses from severe environmental conditions. At both undergraduate and graduate levels, Jackson State is among the nation’s pacesetters in environmental science.


Central America

Delivering life-saving resources to five Central American countries, NOAASatellite picture of hurricane mitch. is nearing completion of a $16 million disaster recovery program focused on early warning and preparedness and coastal assistance. Scott Gudes, NOAA’s acting administrator, Margaret Davidson, acting director of the National Ocean Service, and retired general Jack Kelly, director of the National Weather Service, recently joined Nicaraguan representatives in Managua to mark the final phase of the recovery effort. All five countries were devastated in 1998 by Hurricane Mitch.

The deadliest Atlantic hurricane in over two centuries, Hurricane Mitch claimed 11,000 lives in Central America. In Nicaragua alone, two million people were directly affected. In El Salvador, 500,000 people were forced from their homes. In Guatemala, floods killed over 200 people.

Since weather data from Central America provides critical insight into a hurricane’s path and strength, all Americans will be better protected as a result of the improved forecasts. Key elements in improving early warning and preparedness include replacing and expanding damaged meteorological and hydrological stations, automating precipitation gauges for real-time data, and establishing a regional, seasonal climate prediction system. Key elements in improving coastal management include strengthening coastal capabilities to cope with a hurricane’s impact, installing tide gauge networks, and providing more information on water circulation and contaminants.

Hurricane Mitch Report: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/1998mitch.html
Satellite images: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ol/reports/mitch/mitch.html



Louisiana
Picture of the Louisiana Black Bayou. Sky is purple colored, black outlines of trees and rippled water.
Louisiana Department of Natural Resources

Restoring Black Bayou, a fisheries habitat project funded through the Breaux Act, is a decade-long campaign designed to protect and restore coastal Louisiana resources.


NOAA Fisheries and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources are collaborating on hydrological restoration that will affect 25,530 acres of wetland. The project will restore coastal marsh habitat and slow the conversion of wetlands to shallow open water. Wave action from boats has eroded the bank in five places. The breeches have allowed salt water into the project area, causing much of the natural wetland to revert to shallow open water area. By reestablishing historic tidal influence through the Black Bayou, this new project will limit intrusion of saltwater into surrounding marshes and canals.

An innovative component involves installation of a self-regulating “tide gate.” Not yet used in Louisiana’s wetlands, the gate is expected to help restore natural tidal flushing of the marsh and benefit estuarine plants, fish, shellfish, waterfowl and wildlife. A collapsed dam will be replaced and, over the next two years, NOAA Fisheries will plant about 55,000 wetland plants. “Restoration is about to begin and we will be able to apply what we’re learning here to other projects,” said Bill Hogarth, NOAA Fisheries acting assistant administrator.


     

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Date Last Updated: 09/01/01