Coastwatch Magazine: Marine and Environmental Sciences

image: broken road in Silas, NC, post-Helene.

1. The Catastrophic Power of Hurricane Helene

North Carolina’s New History of Record-Breaking Storms

Only six years separate Florence and Helene, but these “once-in-a-thousand-year” hurricanes have much in common. Along with other storms that have hit our state, Helene offers lessons — and a warning…

2. New Sea Level Rise Projections for North Carolina

The NC Coastal Resources Commission Science Panel’s Report

A new report predicts sea level rise in three North Carolina cities over the next century…

3. Sharks of North Carolina

A Quick Look

The sounds, estuaries, and ocean waters in and around North Carolina provide a variety of habitats for water-dwelling species, including an abundance of sharks...

4. Sea Science: You Say Starfish, I Say Sea Star

from the Winter 2019 issue

Even though they live in water, they don’t have scales, don’t swim, and aren’t “fish.”

image: Post-Helene Buncombe County, North Carolina. Credit: NCDOT/CC-A-2.0-Generic-license.

5. Accounting for the Unaccounted

Thousands Hoped for Any Word of Family and Friends After Hurricane Helene

Volunteer operators for a Community Emergency Response Team updated a database that provided local and state responders with GPS coordinates to check as they searched mountains, valleys, and riversides…

6. River of Time

The Stunning Old-Growth Forest in the Three Sisters Swamp

North Carolina’s famous Black River holds living bald cypresses that were saplings before Rome was an empire. After finding trees over 2,000 years old, researchers say the river might even nourish bald cypresses that sprouted three millennia ago…

7. 50-year Trend in Atlantic Hurricane Escalation

Warming Waters

“More than 90 percent of the warming we’re seeing from human-caused greenhouse gases goes into our oceans.”

image: blue land crab emerging from hole.

8. Blue Crab Lab: A Recipe for Survival

from the High Season 2003 issue

Before it lives up to its scientific name — Callinectes sapidus or tasty, beautiful swimmer — the blue crab goes through a couple of ugly larval stages…

9. A Brief History of Sea Level Rise in North Carolina

It Begins with the Birth of the Atlantic

The story of accelerating sea level rise and its human impact unfolds on the most recent edge of a 200-million-year-old timeline…

Close-up of a chicken's face inside a barn.

10. Mapping the Impacts of North Carolina’s Poultry Industry

A Novel Solution to a Lack of Public Data

I had only lived in North Carolina for a year and was on my new daily commute down I-95 from Fayetteville to Lumberton when the smell assaulted me…

Image: Oysters and silverware scattered on a table with lemon slices, bread, and cocktail sauce.

11. A Booming Industry – And a New Threat

North Carolina Oysters Face Unexplained “Mass Mortality Events”

A cutting-edge project is addressing “the biggest hindrance to sustainable oyster aquaculture development in the Southeast.”

12. Sea Science: Why Do Waves Come in Groups?

Ask a Scientist

Where do ocean waves come from? What determines the speed and size of a wave?

13. Hard-Working Hodson Retires June 30: “What You See is What You Get”

from the Early Summer 2006 issue

Ron Hodson arrived in North Carolina in April 1973, with a fresh doctorate and a reputation…

Skeleton of a carp fish isolated against a black background

14. Can Fish Bones Protect Us from the Sun?

Researchers Investigate a Sustainable Alternative to Harmful UV Filters in Sunscreens

Sunscreen shields us from harmful UV radiation, but some ingredients in traditional sunscreens are harmful to the environment and people…

15. Coastal Wild Edibles: Stalking the Wild Sea Lettuce

from the Summer 2011 issue

Increasing temperatures could mean losing seagrass, vegetation that NC fisheries require…

image: plastic particles under microscope.

16. A River of Plastics

Plastics Make Up an Overwhelming Majority of Marine Debris

New research reveals the Neuse River Basin annually delivers an estimated 230 billion particles of plastic to the Pamlico Sound…

17. Findings from the UN’s 2024 Emissions Gaps Report

Mind the Gap

As emissions reach all-time highs, far more stringent goals are necessary to keep global warming under a threshold that would make heightened climate impact unstoppable…

image: Kayelyn Simmons, former Knauss fellow, scuba-diving.

18. Coastal Currents: The Latest News and Opportunities

from the Winter 2025 issue

A fishing apprenticeship, fellowship opportunities, and more…

19. Naturalist’s Notebook: How Many Oceans?

What’s the answer to that question? One? Five? Seven?

20. Wingina, Wanchese and Manteo

A Lumbee Perspective on the Lost Colony

When an Indian emissary met the English ships in July 1584, things went so well that Wingina decided to try to adopt the strangers…

21. Coastal Landscapes: North Carolina Native Plant Picks

from the Winter 2022 issue

The Coastal Landscapes Initiative has released 12 award-winning videos about environmentally beneficial, cost efficient, and beautiful plants for home gardeners and professional landscapers…

22. Shark Update

Are Young Great Whites Swimming Coastal North Carolina Waters?

New research shows these sharks might not be spending their winters where we expected…

23. Managing Coastal Nitrogen Pollution

Lessons from New Bern

Engineered solutions help to maintain coastal resilience and protect local economies…

24. The 2024 NC Coastal Conference in Review

A Look Back at the Biggest NC Sea Grant Gathering to Date

The 2024 North Carolina Coastal Conference in November brought together over 330 coastal enthusiasts…

25. Environmental Sentinels

Microplastics and Metals in Oysters

“Our goal is to provide scientific data in context that can aid decision-making and dispel misinformation.”

Trees along Taylor's Creek in Beaufort, NC.

26. Don’t Cut Down That Tree!

Preserving a Protective Buffer Against High-Speed Winds

Keeping and maintaining certain strategic trees on your property can save money…

27. Natural Solutions and a Clean Water Future for the Cape Fear

from the Autumn 2022 issue

With more people living in the Cape Fear River Basin and climate change bringing heavier rains, a new project is forecasting the effects of stormwater runoff as well as how strategic buffers can lessen pollution…

28. The Undersea Vision of Fabien Cousteau

Building the “ISS of the Ocean”

PROTEUS™ — the undersea equivalent of the International Space Station — will speed scientific discovery and may even spur medical breakthroughs…

29. Conserving a Culture

Land Development, Climate Change, and the Gullah/Geechee Nation

“We teach our children the same traditional ways to go out in the water, and the same traditional ways to live from the land: only when things are in season.”

30. Ice to Ocean

From the Sources of Sea Level Rise to the Coast of NC

“New findings about ground elevations at the coast confirm that the battle between land and sea has become increasingly one-sided — and that an ecological transformation of coastal North Carolina has begun…

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1. The Catastrophic Power of Hurricane Helene