Category: Featured

The United States has experienced 23 extreme weather events so far this year, including hurricanes, that each carry losses exceeding $1 billion, according to NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. In response, experts from industry, government and academia are collaborating to produce forecasts of hurricane damage before they make landfall.   “In Florida, hurricanes are one […]

Estuaries are a defining feature of Florida’s coasts. These bodies of water are found where freshwater from rivers and streams meets and mixes with salt water from the ocean. Often called the “nurseries of the sea,” they provide habitat and clean water for humans and wildlife. To understand how these coastal zones are responding to sea […]

In June, a team of scientists and researchers from the University of Florida Center for Coastal Solutions (CCS), the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Villanova University and the University of North Carolina Wilmington traveled to St. Augustine, Florida, to survey eroding shorelines and develop new models to aid in their protection.  “We […]

Joe Marchionno vividly recalls the sense of wonder he felt as he got an up-close look at a bird for the first time while a colleague at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) attached a small band to the bird’s leg to track its movements. “One of the rewards of doing conservation work […]

Dear friends and colleagues,  Nearly 900 million people live in low-lying coastal zones around the world, in communities that are disproportionately affected by rising sea levels, ocean warming, increasingly extreme weather and other coastal hazards, according to UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres. This global population is a staggering 15-times more likely to die from flooding and […]

Earlier this summer, researchers from governmental, academic and nonprofit organizations gathered in the Florida Panhandle to compare notes on their latest research findings for the region. Their purpose? Building a collaborative network and identifying priority projects and funding opportunities to rehabilitate the region’s shorelines and reverse water quality declines.   Researchers at the University of Florida’s […]

Five years ago, Hurricane Michael caused massive damage to Tyndall Air Force Base when it carved through the Florida Panhandle. Today, the base is wielding nature’s power to increase the military installation’s resilience against future climate and extreme weather events.   As part of the base’s $5-billion rebuild program, researchers from the UF Center for […]

Failing septic systems are among the key culprits in harming water quality. To help reduce that risk, scientists at the UF Center for Coastal Solutions have developed a tool to identify systems that might release untreated wastewater to the ground and nearby waterways.   The Regional Septic Vulnerability Assessment identifies locations where septic systems are […]

Researcher and educator Nina Stark has crisscrossed the world to help coastal communities build more resilient infrastructure in the face of rising coastal hazards and climate change-related threats. Her expertise in marine geotechnics, the mechanics of seabed sediments, has taken her from the frigid and windy conditions of the Arctic to the sunny Florida coasts. […]

Florida has over 2.7 million septic systems and it’s estimated that cleaning them up will cost billions.  A new tool developed by CCS scientists is saving counties in Florida time and money to convert septic systems to sewer networks, while reducing environmental impacts that result when septic systems fail. The Septic to Sewer Optimization Tool […]