Road Closed
High-tide Floods Surge as Climate Changes and Sea Level Rises

Over recent decades, coastal cities in the U.S. have experienced significant increases in floods that occur during high tide, which create dangerous driving conditions, road closures, groundwater contamination and other safety issues…

Bacteria in petri dish
University of Central Florida Probes What Makes bacteria ‘Flesh-Destroying’

University of Central Florida researchers have found a novel genetic marker to discriminate between strains of a common bacteria in coastal waters that can cause deadly disease to humans and strains that don’t make people sick…

Dr. Kristy Lewis
Researchers May Have Found Method To Kill Red Tide With Clay

Over the past two years, researchers with Mote Marine, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, UCF Coastal and other organizations have been working to develop ways to fight red tide. They may have witnessed the breakthrough they hoped for…

Researcher spraying clay mixture into water
Could Clay Kill Red Tide? Mote Scientists, Partners Think So

As red tide blooms take over the region’s bays and gulf waters, scientists are leading an initiative to develop new tools to decrease the toxins that are harming marine life and causing respiratory irritation for those visiting local beaches…

Researchers mix a clay and water solution to fight red tide
Mote Testing New Method To Kill Red Tide Algae Across The Suncoast

In response to the current algae bloom event, researchers from Mote, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and UCF, have come together to rapidly deploy and test the ability of clay dispersal to remove cells and toxins, a mitigation strategy used in other settings around the world to control other types of harmful algae blooms…

Flooded park bench
Humans Are Changing Coastlines and Causing More Flooding As a Result

Changes to coastlines and estuaries through methods like dredging and development are likely causing more nuisance flooding days in the United States and could exacerbate the effects of sea level rise, a new study finds…

Homes damages in hurricane
Assessing Social Equity in Disasters

Natural hazard impacts and resources allocated for risk reduction and disaster recovery are often inequitably distributed. New research is developing and applying methods to measure these inequities…

Michelle Shaffer measures changes in vegetation
Florida Algae Blooms May Harm Places Where Fish Find Food

Recent harmful algal blooms have taken a toll on the Indian River Lagoon ecosystem and its resident wildlife. UCF Ph.D. student, Michelle Shaffer, is analyzing the effects of seagrass loss in the lagoon on predator fish and their forage fish prey…

Dead fish from red tide
Red tide & Saharan dust: How are they linked?

Red tide blooms affect Florida beaches often, when most severe, it can cause respiratory issues, symptoms can be like the ones from COVID-19. So, with this year’s deep Saharan dust plumes and the pandemic, what are researchers doing to mitigate a big bloom?…

Great White Pelican
Rare Pelican Spotted in Cape Canaveral

Avid bird watchers from all over the country are making their way to Cape Canaveral to catch a glimpse of the extremely rare Great White Pelican that’s never been spotted there before…

Great White Pelicans
Nine Facts About Great White Pelicans

You’ve heard of great white shark sightings, but what about the great white pelican sightings? Here are nine facts about the rare bird…

Embry Riddle Map Oyster Reefs
Embry-Riddle, UCF Partner to Map Oyster Reefs Using UAS

Twenty-one oyster reefs near Edgewater, FL, are the focus of a new partnership between UCF Coastal and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to develop methodologies for remotely mapping regions that would otherwise be difficult, and expensive, to monitor on site…

Healthy Costs Cover
Healthy Coasts = Healthy Business

Florida attracted 126 million tourists last year, with many wanting to enjoy our historically healthy and beautiful coastline.  But recently, potential visitors have seen national media coverage focused on the health impacts of red tides, brown tides and blue-green algae…

Thomas Wahl Story
UCF Sea-level Rise Expert to Help United Nations with Climate Change Report

Thomas Wahl, an assistant professor in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, is helping the United Nations better understand and communicate climate change to the world…..

Salvador Almagro-Moreno TEDx Talk
The Toxic Consequences of Polluting Our Coasts – TEDx Talk

Dr. Salvador Almagro-Moreno of UCF Coastal and the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, explains in his TEDx talk how marine pathogens like Vibrio evolve, spread and are transmitted. His lab investigates why cholera, flesh-eating bacteria and toxic algae are critical topics in Florida….

TED Talk
The Future of Our Coastal Systems – TEDx Talk

Dr. Graham Worthy explores the communication challenges present in academia by examining the current struggles present in fixing Florida’s coastal systems…

Red tide will be a problem again someday
UCF Coastal Helping Manatee County Develop Playbook

Researchers from the University of Central Florida announced their plan to apply for a grant that would allow them to work on a project in Manatee County that analyzes actions that mitigate red tide and actions to take once red tide reappears…

Wetlands Help Protect Against Climate Change
How Wetlands Help Protect Against Climate Change

UCF is leading the charge for research on wetlands and climate change. Some of the findings are full of surprises — and might leave you full of optimism….

Surrendering to Rising Seas
Surrender to Rising Seas

Coastal communities struggling to adapt to climate change are beginning to do what was once unthinkable: retreat….

International Team of Researchers
Nuisance Flooding Linked to Slow-Moving Wave

Researchers have found a link between seasonal fluctuations in sea level to a long-time phenomenon. And this connection may lead to a new tool to help coastal communities, such as Miami, better anticipate and mitigate “nuisance flooding”impacts…

UCF Joins International Consortium
Joins Blue Community Consortium

The University of Central Florida recently became a member of the Blue Community Consortium, which aims to help develop sustainable and economically successful coastal communities worldwide….

The Cruelest Seas
Center Member Featured in Nature News

Compound flooding, a combination of sea level rise and storm events, are devastating people’s lives in our coastal communities….