Minds Behind OR&R: Meet Regional Resource Coordinator Rebecca Hoff

Posted Mon, 11/25/2019 - 13:58
By Megan Ewald, Office of Response and Restoration

This feature is part of a monthly series profiling scientists and technicians who provide exemplary contributions to the mission of NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R). This month’s featured scientist is Rebecca Hoff, a regional resource coordinator with OR&R’s Assessment and Restoration Division. 

Homewaters: Exploring Waterways that Inspire, from Alabama to Wisconsin

Posted Wed, 11/20/2019 - 11:24

Everyone at NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration plays a crucial role in our mission. For many of us, our journey into the marine world can be traced back to a special place that first sparked a love of water and wild places. In our new monthly series “Homewaters,” explore some of the waters that kindled a passion that would go on to last a lifetime.

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Working Together to Map the East Coast After Hurricane Sandy

Posted Fri, 11/15/2019 - 12:23

This week, we’re taking a closer look at what sensitivity mapping is, how it’s used, and why it’s so important. A snapshot of the resources in a specific area, sensitivity mapping can be a valuable tool both in and out of the spill response community. In this latest blog, learn more about an important partner in sensitivity mapping and the collaborative effort to map the East Coast after Hurricane Sandy. 

ESI Specialist Jill Petersen Looks Back on Career Built Around Sensitivity Mapping

Posted Thu, 11/14/2019 - 13:03

This week, we’re taking a closer look at what sensitivity mapping is, how it’s used, and why it’s so important. A snapshot of the resources in a specific area, sensitivity mapping can be a valuable tool both in and out of the spill response community. In this latest blog, learn more about where sensitivity mapping first got its start, and how mapping specialist Jill Petersen has seen it grow throughout her career. 

Using ESI Maps to Set Priorities in the Chaos of an Oil Spill

Posted Tue, 11/12/2019 - 16:41
By Megan Ewald and Tom Brosnan, Office of Response and Restoration

This week, we’re taking a closer look at what sensitivity mapping is, how it’s used, and why it’s so important. A snapshot of the resources in a specific area, sensitivity mapping can be a valuable tool both in and out of the spill response community. Our latest blog takes you through the process of using sensitivity mapping to prioritize response activities during an oil spill.

Incident Responses for October 2019

Posted Fri, 11/08/2019 - 11:56

Every month our Emergency Response Division provides scientific expertise and services to the U.S. Coast Guard on everything from running oil spill trajectories to model where the spill may spread, to possible effects on wildlife and fisheries and estimates on how long the oil may stay in the environment. This month OR&R responded to 23 incidents, including oil discharges, sunken vessels, and other pollution-related incidents. Here are some of October's notable incidents ...

Rivers of the 'Dammed,' Rising from the Grave

Posted Thu, 10/31/2019 - 15:32
By Megan Ewald, Office of Response and Restoration

*A Halloween Spooky Science Story 

Once there were six waterways cursed by pollution. 

But terrifying toxins and oozing oil spills were not the first dooms to befall these rivers, each of them had already been dammed. The dams had been constructed for a variety of important reasons, but as the years passed and they fell out of use, an evil crept over them.