NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory

NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory A NOAA Research laboratory studying hurricanes, physical oceanography, ocean chemistry & ecosystems. AOML is a federal research laboratory in Miami, Florida.

As a part of NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, we study hurricanes, coastal ecosystems, oceans and human health, climate, global carbon, and how the ocean changes over time. We partner with many NOAA offices and the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) led by the University of Miami, to support NOAA's mission and improve prediction and management services for the nation.

AOML in Action: August 2026 Recap Catch up on how scientists spent the past month tracking hurricane dynamics, surveying...
08/31/2026

AOML in Action: August 2026 Recap

Catch up on how scientists spent the past month tracking hurricane dynamics, surveying Caribbean coral reefs, and collecting ocean observations across the Atlantic!

PIRATA Northeast Extension scientists are back from a nearly one-month-long research cruise aboard the NOAA R/V Pisces f...
08/28/2026

PIRATA Northeast Extension scientists are back from a nearly one-month-long research cruise aboard the NOAA R/V Pisces from the Canary Islands to Barbados.

PIRATA stands for Prediction and Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic – try saying that five times fast!

It's a joint project between Brazil, France, and the U.S. that consists of a multinational observation network, established to improve our knowledge and understanding of ocean-atmosphere variability in the tropical Atlantic.

Scroll to see this year’s cruise by the numbers and click to learn more: https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/pirata-northeast-extension/

08/27/2026

The atmosphere and ocean are constantly exchanging carbon as part of the natural carbon cycle. Have you ever wondered how scientists track ocean carbon on a global scale?

Through the international Ships of Opportunity Program, NOAA AOML equips ships with sensors to monitor global ocean-atmosphere carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange.

What can we learn from this initiative:
- This enables scientists to see where the ocean absorbs CO2, and where it releases it back into the atmosphere.
- It also helps scientists see how ocean chemistry is changing over time - and what impacts that can have on essential ecosystems.

By partnering with commercial and research vessels along their daily routes, NOAA’s Ships of Opportunity Program gathers massive amounts of global ocean carbon data. This collaborative approach allows scientists to collect climate information efficiently, as highlighted in the video.

Click the link to learn more: https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/ships-of-opportunity/

As Florida's Coral Reefs face exacerbated environmental stressors including indications of bleaching, NOAA researchers a...
08/25/2026

As Florida's Coral Reefs face exacerbated environmental stressors including indications of bleaching, NOAA researchers are turning to a surprisingly resilient population: urban corals thriving on artificial seawalls beneath the busy waters of PortMiami.

This coral spawning season, AOML’s Coral Program deployed underwater cameras and analyzed over 700,000 images to pinpoint their unique spawning window. Identifying this event has historically been challenging because local light pollution has caused urban corals to alter their spawning periods.
Unlike reef corals, which spawn once a night for three nights, these urban corals appear to spawn for weeks, releasing fewer eggs and s***m during their spawning events and spawning sporadically through the night. This milestone opens some exciting doors, such as scaling the crossing of gametes from reef-derived corals with these resilient urban corals to increase the genetic diversity and the adaptive potential of Florida’s Coral Reef.

Learn more about urban coral populations in PortMiami: https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/urban-corals/

08/24/2026

How are emerging technologies paving the way for advanced hurricane forecasting?

The lead meteorologist of AOML’s Emerging Technology Team explains that small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUAS), like the Black Swift S0, fill gaps in the data that crewed aircraft cannot gather. One such place is at the air-sea interface where ocean heat can fuel storm development.

Learn more about the Emerging Technology Team at AOML and recent sUAS feats:

https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/s0-drone-demonstrates-new-dual-altitude-capability-in-hurricane-lala/

https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hurricane-airborne-observation-and-emerging-technologies/

Scientists with AOML's Coral Program travelled to the U.S. Virgin Islands last week to perform long-term assessments of ...
08/20/2026

Scientists with AOML's Coral Program travelled to the U.S. Virgin Islands last week to perform long-term assessments of crucial reef infrastructure as part of the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP).

As part of NCRMP, AOML leads the in-situ monitoring of environmental stressors like ocean acidification for the Atlantic Ocean. At key sites, they performed photomosaic surveys to capture complex changes to the reef framework, carbonate budget surveys, and swapped instruments that capture fluctuations in pH, temperature and other conditions on the reef.

NCRMP, an effort led by NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program, is one of the largest monitoring program globally designed to support the conservation of coral reef ecosystems. Scientists at AOML lead these efforts in the Caribbean and greater Atlantic region. Learn more about NCRMP and see past status reports at this link: https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/ncrmp/

08/18/2026

For the first time during an operational hurricane mission, NOAA and Black Swift Technologies demonstrated simultaneous dual-altitude drone flight capability, the latest advancement in the use of small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUAS) to collect critical atmospheric data in severe storms.

The novel feat, coined Mobile Ocean Towers, enables scientists to fly two Black Swift S0 sUAS simultaneously at different altitudes within a storm, in addition to the crewed Hurricane Hunter aircraft. By collecting data at multiple levels of the atmosphere, Mobile Ocean Towers provide a three-dimensional view of how storm dynamics change from the ocean surface to higher altitudes, offering insights into storm structure.

Deployments into Hurricane Lala were historic for yet another reason – a 136-minute record breaking S0 flight duration into a storm. A mini radar that helps control elevation during low altitude flights also made possible sustained flying at just 10 meters above sea level, revealing wave characteristics and critical data on ocean-atmosphere interactions.

Read all about it in a news feature at the link in bio!

A long-standing collaboration between NOAA AOML and India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences has reached a major new milestone...
08/14/2026

A long-standing collaboration between NOAA AOML and India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences has reached a major new milestone with advancements in the Interactive/Indian Ocean–Land–Atmosphere (IOLA) forecasting system.

The IOLA system represents the evolution of more than a decades-long partnership that began with the implementation of NOAA’s Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting model for tropical cyclone prediction over the Indian Seas. Building on that foundation, IOLA expands forecasting capabilities beyond tropical cyclones to encompass a broad spectrum of high-impact weather events, including monsoon rainfall, severe storms, and air-sea interaction processes across the Indian Ocean region.

Read all about it in a new story: https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/advancing-extreme-weather-forecast-models-through-international-collaborations/

08/12/2026

Go, go gadget superspeed Sami swap!

Sami-pH loggers are one of the ways that scientists keep tabs on the benthic pH at key coral reef monitoring sites throughout the Florida Keys. These instruments, consisting of micro pumps, injector valves, and reactor cells, are constantly measuring pH and changes in seawater chemistry across designated Mission: Iconic Reef sites in near-real time where major coral restoration efforts are underway. The Sami-pH logger intakes seawater which undergoes a chemical reaction when exposed to reagents inside the device. The resulting pH is quantified based on the color from the chemical reaction – a process known as colorimetric testing. Finally, the pH measurement is sent via a connected cable to the surface as part of AOML's spotter buoy systems and over satellite or cellular to the Coral Program’s environmental monitoring application.

Want to see the data for yourself? Click the link to explore near real-time and historic measurements of pH, water temperature, wave height, and more at four of the Mission: Iconic Reef sites in the Upper Florida Keys: https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mir/

Last week, scientists at AOML observed significant coral bleaching at Cheeca Rocks, a long-term environmental monitoring...
08/11/2026

Last week, scientists at AOML observed significant coral bleaching at Cheeca Rocks, a long-term environmental monitoring site and shallow inshore reef in the Florida Keys. As sea surface temperatures have remained above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) since early July, the team returned to Cheeca Rocks to perform photomosaic surveys capturing the impacts of exceedingly high temperatures on the vital reef framework.

Data from NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch indicates that Cheeca Rocks began experiencing heat stress even earlier than in 2023, a year when we documented complete bleaching and widespread mortality of soft corals. While temperatures have decreased slightly since the first observed signs of bleaching in early July, the reef continues to experience high stress. Given Cheeca’s economic, ecological, and scientific value, scientists with AOML’s Coral Program continue to monitor the situation closely.

See the data we’re collecting in near-real time and learn more about coral bleaching:
https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/threats-to-coral/
https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/mission-iconic-reefs-environmental-monitoring/

Stay tuned for updates on this account.

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4301 Rickenbacker Cswy
Key Biscayne, FL
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