NOAA

In light of balloons of questionable origins recently floating over U.S. airspace, a Texas A&M expert clears the air on weather balloons.

Texas A&M-Galveston professor Jay Rooker will lead a $1.9 million effort to learn more about the Flower Garden Banks and the fish that inhabit the marine sanctuary.

Awarded nearly $800,000 in research funding, Colleen Petrik will co-lead a NOAA task force studying global fish populations in changing ocean environments.

Cadets will deploy drifter buoys from a training ship that will record ocean currents and provide climate-related data.