An architectural rendering of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s future marine operations center at Naval Station Newport shows a new pier and other features. Ground was broken on the new facility on Monday. Illustration courtesy Burns & McDonnell/NOAA
May 6 (UPI) — Construction on a state-of-the-art, $147 million ocean and climate operations center has begun at Naval Station Newport in Rhode Island, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday.
The upcoming Marine Operations Center-Atlantic will be the new home of NOAA’s fleet of 15 research and survey ships and will include a new pier, a floating dock, space for vessel repairs, a building to be used for shoreside support, as well as new a warehouse, the agency said in a release.
Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said the effort is being funded through the Biden administration’s $891 billion Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022, and specifically its $537 billion Investing in America agenda.
That program, she said, has “made it possible for NOAA to construct this new facility and make advances in critical climate and ocean research, while also cementing NOAA’s relationships with the Navy and the community of Newport. This facility will support science and a healthy economy well into the future.”
NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad touted the new Operations Center as a showpiece for design that takes the changing climate into consideration and will serve as the homeport for the agency’s “newest, lower-emissions vessels, working towards the goal to minimize NOAA’s own impact on the environment.”
The agency says its fleet of vessels range from large oceanographic research ships capable of exploring the world’s deepest ocean to smaller craft responsible for charting the shallow bays and inlets of the United States.
Among the tasks they perform are fisheries surveys, nautical charting and ocean and climate studies. The ships are operated by NOAA Corps officers and civilian professional mariners.
Construction is expected to be completed in 2027.
