Cold Stunning Predictions Lead to Sea Turtle Rescue 

AI2ES Undergraduate Research Assistant Katie Colburn (left) is taking care of a cold-stunned green sea turtle rescued in the upper Laguna Madre near Corpus Christi, Texas. The turtles are then transported to recovery facilities by volunteers (photo below) prior to being released in the Gulf of Mexico once the waters are warmer.

Other AI2ES faculty, students, and researchers provided predictions of the onset and magnitude of the cold stunning event. The cold stunning predictions were issued between February 5 and February 20, 2021 until the end of the largest cold stunning event recorded in the United States. 

Inputs to the predictions came from the National Weather Service (National Digital Forecast Database) and from IBM Weather. The two graphs below share the predictions available on Saturday February 13, 2021 in the morning as the request was made to barge operators members of the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association (GICA) and others conducting coastal work in the Laguna Madre for a voluntary interruption of activities between Monday 00:00AM and Wednesday 10:00AM.