NCCOS awarded nearly $4.5 million in new research grants while maintaining sponsorship of 42 continuing projects during 2015 for a total of $8.2 million in funding for innovative research. All of the endeavorsaddress significant and complex coastal issues. The projects were selected using a rigorous, competitive, and peer-review process.

The cutting-edge research will provide critical coastal intelligence and predictive capabilities for integrating science and management in support of resilient and healthy coastal communities. These new projects continue to advance NOAA priorities in three areas: (1) improving observation, forecasting, and mitigation of harmful algal blooms and hypoxia, (2) supporting coastal communities facing changing sea levels, coastal flooding, anddetermining the economic value of natural infrastructure, and (3) expanding capacity for predicting ocean acidification impacts.

Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia ($2.1 million awarded)

• Integrating Cell and Toxin Cycles of Karlodinium veneficumwith Key Environmental Regulators:In SituStudies of Predictive Determinants for Bloom Toxicity (University of North Carolina Charlotte and University of Maryland, three-year award)
• Interannual Variability of PSP Toxicity in Eastern Maine: Testing the Leaky Gyre Hypothesis and Improving Regional Forecasts and Management (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, three-year award)
• Climate Change Impacts on the Physiology and Trophic Dynamics of Harmful Algal Species From Delaware's Inland Bays (University of Delaware, three-year award)
• Resolving the Effects of Resource Availability, Predation, and Competition on Brown Tide Dynamics via Metatranscriptomics (State University of New York at Stony Brook, three-year award)
• Clear and Present Danger: Monitoring and Management of Lipophilic Shellfish Toxins in Washington State (Washington Department of Health and NOAA Fisheries, three-year award)
• Training Course on the Identification of Harmful Algae in United States Marine Waters (Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, three-year award)
• Improving Tools for Monitoring Multiple HAB Toxins at the Land-Sea Interface in Coastal California (Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, three-year award)
• Expanding Harmful Algal Bloom Mitigation in the Gulf of Mexico with Operational Support and Training for the Imaging FlowCytobot Network (Texas A&M University College Station and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, three-year award)
• Seasonal Forecasting ofKarenia brevisBlooms in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico (University of South Florida, three-year award)
• The Dinoflagellate-Specific Algicide IRI-160AA: Isolation, Characterization and Potential Impacts on Ecologically Relevant Metazoan Species (University of Delaware, three-year award)
• Implementing theKarenia'tricorder' to Improve Red Tide Monitoring and Management in the Gulf of Mexico (University of South Florida and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, three-year award)
• Mechanisms Controlling Hypoxia – Glider Application to Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Zone Monitoring: Pilot Study and Transition to Operations (Texas A&M University at College Station, two-year award)

Coastal Community Resilience: Sea Levels, Flooding, and Natural Infrastructure ($1.1 million awarded)

• Understanding and Predicting Changes in Coastal Marsh Ecosystem Services: Realizing the Combined Effects of Sea-Level Rise, Tides, and Storm Surge on Marshes and Their Capacity to Protect Shorelines (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, three-year award)
• The Coastal Recovery from Storms Tool (CReST): A Model for Assessing the Impact of Sea Level Rise on Natural and Managed Beaches and Dunes (Oregon State University, three-year award)
• Sea-Level Rise Modeling as a Catalyst for Effective Ecological Management in West Hawai'i (The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, three-year award)
• Refining Ecosystem Model Inputs for Sea-Level Rise Vulnerability in the San Francisco Bay Estuary (Oregon State University, three-year award)
• A Multidisciplinary, Integrative Approach to Valuing Ecosystem Services from Natural Infrastructure (Cooperative Institute for Marine Resources Studies, three-year award)

Ocean Acidification ($1.3 million awarded)

• The Hydrological Switch: A Novel Mechanism Explains Eutrophication and Acidification of Estuaries (Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi, three-year award)
• Integrated Modeling of Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia to Support Ecosystem Prediction and Environmental Management in the California Current System (University of California at Los Angeles, three-year award)
• Interactions Between Ocean Acidification and Eutrophication in Estuaries: Modeling Opportunities and Limitations for Shellfish Restoration (University of Maryland at College Park, three-year award)

For more information, contact Rob.Magnien@noaa.gov.