Science

  • Currituck Marsh Focus for Resilience Project

    A recently announced project at Pine Island aims to study, protect and restore Currituck Sound marshes, a globally significant habitat that has been degraded by pollution and effects of climate change.

  • Better Beach Data Goal of DUNEX Project

    A pilot study underway at the Army’s coastal and hydraulics research facility at Duck Pier aims to improve the quality of beach data researchers collect during storms.

  • Researchers Automate Whale Data Collection

    Researchers have developed an automated method that uses artificial intelligence and computer models to determine the species of whales photographed using drones and measure their length.

  • Study: Climate Change Key in Cycle of Floods

    With six of seven of the highest rainfalls since 1898 occurring within the last 20 years, UNC researchers find that climate change may be stirring a feedback loop of flood-producing coastal storms.

  • Team Seeks Skittish Seabird Off NC Coast

    Researchers are looking for the mysterious black-capped petrel off Cape Hatteras, a threatened pelagic bird that breeds on Caribbean islands and travels far to forage.

  • New Tsunami Research Rides on Small Waves

    NOAA scientists studying meteotsunamis say learning more about these smaller tsunami-like waves that reach N.C. beaches generally unnoticed could help in forecasting storm surge and coastal flooding.

  • Study Eyes Tourism’s Effect On Groundwater

    Researchers studying groundwater quality on Bogue Banks, where there’s no central wastewater treatment plant, have shown correlations in nitrogen levels and seasonal population spikes.

  • Forum Links Coastal Scientists, Community

    Numerous factors play a part in oyster reef growth rates, according research shared during a recent symposium at the University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City.

  • Study: Expect Worsening Wastewater Woes

    Researchers say excessive rainfall, rising sea levels and other factors are compounding the problems that cause sewage spills, and towns may be overwhelmed trying to address more and more wastewater system failures.

  • Restoration Work A Test for Carbon Farming

    Researchers say a project in northeastern N.C. to restore pocosin wetlands that were drained for agriculture could become a model system for capturing CO2, the greenhouse gas most associated with climate change.