NOAA timeline: 1980s

  • 1980

    The original Fishery Conservation and Management Act is renamed the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act in honor of Washington state Senator Warren Magnuson.
  • 1980
     Workers tend cages used to raise shellfish at Cherrystone Aqua-Farms, located off Cape Charles in Virginia.

    The National Aquaculture Act of 1980 establishes aquaculture as a national policy priority for the United States and creates the Interagency Working Group on Aquaculture.
  • 1980
     This gushing hydrothermal vent was captured on camera for the first time on May 1, 2016, during the Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas. The 30-meter-high underwater vent was spewing high-temperature liquid thick with metal particulates. The area around it is home to exotic species including Chorocaris shrimp, Munidopsis squat lobsters, Austinograea crabs, limpets, mussels and snails.

    NOAA establishes the National Undersea Research Program. During the 1980s, the discovery of vents and seeps surrounded by mineral deposits and exotic life that exist without sunlight revolutionizes modern scientific theory about the origin and sustenance of life on Earth.
  • 1980
     During the XIII Olympic Winter Games in February 1980 at Lake Placid, NY, the NWS Olympic Support Unit provided decision support weather services to the Games.
    Exhibit highlights NWS support of 1980 Winter Olympics

    The National Weather Service provides special forecasts for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY.
  • 1981

    Lacey Act Amendments make it illegal to trade in fish, wildlife, or plants taken in violation of any U.S. or tribal law, treaty, or regulation.
  • 1982
     Rising temperatures are changing processes that control the buildup and melt of snowpack, the growth or decline of glaciers, and the timing and quantity of streamflow in the Arctic.

    National Snow and Ice Data Center established in Boulder, CO .
  • 1983

    Formal procurement for NEXRAD, next generation radar, begins for Weather Service.
  • 1983

    President Reagan designates the fishery conservation zone as the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone.
  • 1984
     Several species of fish schooling above a coral reef.

    Honolulu Laboratory, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, develops marine ecosystem model, ECOPATH, to describe the ecosystem and energy budget for a coral reef ecosystem in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, used by ecosystem modelers throughout the marine community.
  • 1984
     Buoy.

    Tropical Ocean-Global Atmosphere program begins in response to the 1982 El Nino. Moored buoy arrays with ocean temperature sensors monitor changes in temperature of the tropical Pacific Ocean.
  • 1984

    Researchers at National Geodetic Survey expand Global Positioning System for surveying and kinematic positioning, revolutionizing surveying and the national transportation infrastructure.
  • 1985

    National Acid Precipitation Research Office established to coordinate the study of acid rain.
  • 1986

    NOAA begins placing fisheries observers (professionally trained biological scientists with a bachelor’s degree in natural sciences and rigorous training) on domestic fishing vessels. Today, the program supports nearly 900 observers and at-sea monitors.
  • 1986
     McMurdo is one of three stations in the Antarctic Ultraviolet (UV) Monitoring Network, established in 1987 by the National Science Foundation. NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory assumed operations of the network in 2010.

    NOAA's Aeronomy Laboratory begins investigation of the Antarctic ozone hole at McMurdo Base, Antarctica.
  • 1986
     Healthy coral found in the waters of American Samoa.

    NOAA designates Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of American Samoa. The seventh of the national marine sanctuaries, it is the first outside the mainland United States.
  • 1987

    NOAA GOES-7 satellite is launched.
  • 1989

    An eight-year national plan for the Modernization and Associated Restructuring of the National Weather Service is announced. The massive $4.5 billion overhaul of the agency will last a decade and change the way the agency operates, resulting in improved capabilities to protect lives and livelihoods. To modernize its operations, the NWS develops and implements five major technologies (ASOS, NEXRAD, satellites, supercomputers, and AWIPS).
  • 1989

    Climate and Global Change Program Office established to conduct research on global climate change phenomena; becomes the Office of Global Programs to provide scientific research on climate variability, predictions, and assessments.
  • 1989
     The GPS on Benchmarks project encourages people to visit the bench mark of their choice, such as the one shown here, collect GPS observations and send the information to NOAA.

    North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83) approved for federal surveying and mapping activities; first official horizontal reference point.
1970s 1990s