NOS Strategic Plan

Increase U.S. Coastal Resilience

U.S. coastal communities, home to over 128 million people, are increasingly affected by the accelerating pace of changes in the ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes. This number is growing and, as coastal development expands, these communities will be faced with multiple long-term chronic stressors like sea level rise, ocean warming, and marine debris, as well as near-term events such as from the impacts of hurricanes, oil and chemical spills, and harmful algal blooms. Threats and hazards from climate change are further exacerbated by aging, essential infrastructure, from roads and bridges to ports and centers of development — all with the potential to have outsized impacts on our daily lives when located in population and economic centers and/or recreation dependent locations.

To address these challenges, coastal decision-makers rely on our diverse products and services to assess risks, plan, and take action to increase resilience to these stressors and impacts. NOS will leverage our ability to meet our mission across timescales, enhance predictive capabilities, and focus on place-based partnerships and the unique needs of individual communities within our nation.

Make Equity Central to Our Mission

Equity principles underpin what NOS values and how we conduct our mission, guiding our actions today and into the future. We recognize that historically underserved populations have been underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields and disproportionately experience the brunt of impacts from environmental change and degradation.

To ensure our work benefits more communities across the Nation and serves all people fairly and responsibly, NOS will amplify our external-facing efforts to equitably develop and provide our data, products, and services. In parallel, we will look internally to build and sustain a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization accessible to all. To achieve this, NOS will continue to respond to the results of NOAA-led climate and equity assessments and will address barriers to achieving more equitable service delivery and to building a more diverse and inclusive organization.

Accelerate Growth of the Ocean Enterprise and the Blue Economy

The number of U.S. businesses in the fields of ocean measurement, observation, and forecasting increased by almost 60% between 2015 and 2020. This information-focused sector, the Ocean Enterprise, is already informing decision-making across Blue Economy sectors. This includes providing the information needed to help the nation create equitable solutions and ecological sustainability, as well as to develop insights and predictive capabilities that will provide opportunities for climate adaptation and prosperity for society in the face of rapidly changing conditions.

To accelerate the growth of the U.S. Ocean Enterprise, NOS will utilize our roles as ocean and coastal data collectors, product developers, data disseminators, predictive experts, and as public servants, to help revolutionize the way we interact with the ocean to meet societal needs.

Conserve, Restore, and Connect Healthy Coastal and Marine Ecosystems

Natural resources and their ecosystem services are essential to our lives and livelihoods. Our marine and coastal environments and their abundance of resources, both material and cultural, are foundational to our nation’s prosperity and to our heritage. Degradation and alteration of these environments, exacerbated by climate change, now threaten these places and their value across uses. NOS plays a critical role as a steward of the ocean and coasts and in connecting communities to these special places. NOS will apply our scientific understanding, resource management, and foundational observations to mitigate stressors, enhance degraded ecosystems, restore ecosystem services, increase accessibility to historically underserved communities, and provide products and services that facilitate sustainable and equitable use. Our work to conserve and restore these ecosystems will also enhance blue carbon sequestration, provide nature-based solutions to mitigate environmental threats, support fisheries, and sustain communities in the face of climate change.