An ‘Earth Day” in the life of NOAA
Herring caught during an acoustic trawl survey of Lynn Canal in Southeast Alaska, 2001-2004.
High Resolution (Credit: David Csepp)
Every hour of every day, NOAA is engaged in monitoring and preserving our planet. From satellites in space to observing systems in the deep ocean, NOAA provides science, service, and stewardship of our Earth.
A day in NOAA’s life could include:
Midnight: NOAA’s search and rescue satellite program conducts system communication tests with data recipients to ensure a steady stream of information.
2 a.m. Space weather forecasters in Colorado issue a warning of a solar storm that could affect global communications and airline travel.
4 a.m. Hurricane forecasters in Florida prepare to issue a warning to the residents of South Carolina as a storm in the Atlantic Ocean moves closer to the Carolina shore.
Technicians preparing a three-meter buoy for sub-surface instrumentation at the National Data Buoy Center.
High Resolution (Credit: Stuart Hayes)
6 a.m. A rapid response team that includes NOAA Fisheries scientists cuts fishing gear that was entangled on a young female Right whale off of the Georgia coast.
8 a.m. Scientists and crew aboard the NOAA R/V RONALD H BROWN climb into “Gumby” suits during a safety drill while the ship is on a research cruise in the Pacific Ocean.
10 a.m. A teacher in California starts a lesson using an interactive marine educational activity taught in Spanish through the NOAA Sanctuary’s Merito educational outreach program.
Noon: NOAA Administrator Conrad C. Lautenbacher addresses a business roundtable on the value of NOAA science and services and the benefits of the Global Earth Observing System of Systems.
2 p.m. The NOAA satellite command and data acquisition station in Alaska receives information from NOAA polar orbiting environmental satellites, which continuously monitor the Earth from space, to be used in weather prediction and environmental stewardship.
A researcher counts fish during an expedition to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument.
High Resolution (Credit: Claire Johnson)
4 p.m. NOAA scientists, flying in a P-3 aircraft, collect samples of air pollution in the Arctic to learn the source of the pollution as well its composition.
6 p.m. A NOAA Fisheries enforcement officer issues a citation and seizes the fishing catch of a fisher that has brought ashore a boat of salmon that is not currently an open fishery because of NOAA’s effort to rebuild the stock for better fishing in the future.
8 p.m.: NOAA “Beach Watch” volunteers complete their monthly sweep along the headlands shore of San Francisco Bay continuing to collect evident of an oil spill that occurred last year.
10 p.m. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issues a bulletin about a 6.5 magnitude earthquake that occurred in Indonesia that could produce local tsunamis.
Midnight: A student trying to complete a school assignment logs onto NOAA’s Ocean Explorer Web site to hear the sound of an iceberg as it scrapes along the bottom of the Southern Ocean.