Hurricane Katrina brought national attention to the critical natural, economic and social resources of the Gulf of Mexico region. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), recognizing the relative lack of knowledge on Gulf ecosystems when compared to other US coasts, established the Northern Gulf Institute (NGI) as the 21st NOAA Cooperative Institute in October 2006. NOAA Cooperative Institutes are partnerships among academic institutions, NOAA research laboratories and other non-profit research organizations that conduct research in support of NOAA's Mission Goals and Strategic Plan. The Dauphin Island Sea Lab joins Mississippi State University, the University of Southern Mississippi, Louisiana State University and Florida State University in the NGI partnership. For NGI, the Northern Gulf is defined as the region extending from the Sabine River on the eastern border of Texas to the Suwannee River on the eastern side of the panhandle of Florida.

NGI is supporting collaborative research in four areas: ecosystem management, geospatial data integration and visualization in environmental science, climate change and climate variability effects on regional ecosystems and coastal hazards and resiliency.

Research in ecosystem management is providing data for better characterization of northern Gulf of Mexico coastal wetlands and fisheries habitats and investigating restoration strategies

Visualization projects are focused on developing and testing technologies to effectively integrate and present scientifically-based geospatial observations such as satellite, bathymetric, weather and GIS data.

Dr. Tina Miller-Way

NGI-supported climate change projects are developing and refining climate assessment and impact models.

NGI's focus on the integration of watershed, estuarine and coastal models will allow better identification of hazards to coastal communities and resources and to reveal ways to increase their resiliency.

NGI's mission also includes support for important national and regional initiatives including the President's Ocean Plan, the Gulf of Mexico Alliance (GOMA), and the Gulf Coast Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS). GOMA is a state-driven Gulf-wide organization (including the Mexican Gulf states) whose mission is increasing collaboration on regionally significant issues at the local, state, and federal levels. The GCOOS association integrates, shares data from, and distributes products from a network of monitoring platforms in the Gulf.

At DISL, Drs. John Dindo and Ken Heck currently have NGI projects. Dr. Dindo's project is designed to bring current DISL and NGI research to the Discovery Hall Program and the Estuarium. Dr. Tina Miller-Way and Mendel Graeber are working with John on this project. Dr. Heck's project is investigating the restoration of oyster reefs as a way to protect eroding shorelines, expand marsh grass coverage and encourage seagrass colonization. Master's degree candidate Steven Scyphers is researching the impact of these recreated reefs on nearshore fish communities.

To learn more about the Dauphin Island Sea Lab's projects and the Northern Gulf Institute, go to NGI's website - http://www.northerngulfinstitute.org.