September 2026

The Eyes on the Ocean™ Newsletter is an informal way of keeping you up-to-date on U.S. IOOS® activities.

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This Seaglider deployed off Hawai'i Island will travel around the Pacific region, providing near real-time water column data such as subsurface temperature, depth, dissolved oxygen and fluormetric measurements down to 900 meters depth. A dive to 900m takes approximately 5 hours, with data transmitted via satellite after each dive. Find the data on the IOOS Glider DAC and PacIOOS Voyager (Observations, Remotely Operated Vehicles, UH: sg_148_018 and UH: sg_511_023). Credit: PacIOOS

This week, we’re coming to you from New Orleans, where IOOS Regional Association GCOOS is hosting the IOOS Fall Meeting. Our spring meetings are in Washington, D.C., close to NOAA headquarters. They often feature nationally focused speakers and discussions as part of the agenda. In contrast, our fall meetings are hosted by a Regional Association and offer attendees an opportunity to take a deeper dive into local priorities and projects as part of our overall agenda. This year, GCOOS is inviting us to get a closer look at what’s happening in the Gulf Coast region, and we look forward to updating you on our Fall Meeting outcomes in the near future!

One of the greatest strengths built into IOOS is its relationships with stakeholders regionally, nationally, and internationally, and sometimes big successes lead to big changes. We recently shared the news that the NERACOOS-led NSF Seafood Engine of New England, a project to strengthen fisheries and aquaculture through investment in technology and innovation, received a $15M grant from the National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines program. As the project ramps up, NERACOOS Executive Director Jake Kritzer will be stepping into the role of Seafood Engine Chief Executive Officer full time. Congratulations, Jake, and we’re glad you’re not going far!

We’re also happy to welcome NERACOOS Strategy Director Jackie Motyka as the new Executive Director of NERACOOS! Jackie has been with NERACOOS for more than 13 years and has been a vital part of its growth and successes. Congratulations, Jackie!

From the IOOS Office

  • The 2026 IOOS Modeling Community of Practice Workshop, held at the Reservoir Center in Washington, D.C., was a huge success! Participants gathered for three days of interactive discussions centered around bringing together the federal and nonfederal modeling community to share advancements, discuss challenges, and determine an actionable path forward to achieve shared goals. Many participants shared that they learned an immense amount about community modeling efforts, gathered a better understanding of the NOS modeling vision, and had meaningful, collaborative conversations that will enhance their current work. Outcomes and next steps from the workshop will ensure that the workshop momentum and collaboration continues and will be shared soon!
  • The IOOS Google Summer of Code program hosted its final project update in August; the summer coding period ends in early September for most projects. This year’s projects are all likely to receive passing marks and represent 1,840 Google-funded contributor hours to support ocean-related open source software development for NOAA’s National Ocean Service (IOOS, OCS, CO-OPS), NOAA Fisheries, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and a great learning opportunity for this year’s open source contributors across the globe. View all the updates here: June | July | August.
  • Registration is now open for the IOOS 2026 DMAC Code Sprint! The sprint will be held at Texas A&M University Mays Business School at CityCentre, in Houston, Texas, with an option for virtual participation. Submit your sprint ideas here. To review the current list of proposed projects, see here. IOOS Code Sprint Office Hours are at noon ET Mondays, every two weeks, and will continue until the event week. Please register by November 1, 2026 using this form.
  • NERACOOS is pleased to announce that Jackie Motyka is taking the helm as Executive Director, as Dr. Jake Kritzer steps into the position of CEO at the NSF Seafood Engine of New England.
    • Jackie, formerly Strategy Director, will now oversee the direction and implementation of IOOS from Long Island Sound through the Gulf of Maine. During her 13+ years with NERACOOS, she successfully led initiatives to advance integrated ocean observing in the Northeast, with a strong commitment to building effective partnerships in ocean science.
    • Jake served as Executive Director of NERACOOS since 2020, and has been integral in developing the Seafood Engine as lead PI. As CEO, he will lead the Engine’s regional coalition in leveraging advanced technologies that reduce the national seafood deficit and strengthen every level of the seafood supply chain — from bait to plate.

Observing Systems, Data, and Modeling

  • IOOS has published a new notebook to the IOOS CodeLab! Investigating PACE and OBIS as a data source for phytoplankton observations demonstrates how to gather NASA-PACE Chlorophyll-a satellite data using the Python earthaccess tool, and how to gather relevant OBIS occurrence data for known phytoplankton taxonomic groupings using pyobis. We then align the two data sources onto a consistent H3 grid to draw some simple comparisons between the two products. The notebook isn't intended to be a scientific resource but rather to inspire you all to use these data resources in your workflows.

  • A new study of the oceanographic high-frequency radar (HFR) network in GCOOS demonstrates that the modern coastal HFR systems in the IOOS HFR National Network provide a much clearer and more reliable picture of how water moves along the coast, improving the United States’ ability to monitor, predict and respond to ocean and coastal events. The HFR network helps track circulation patterns, pollutant transport, harmful algal blooms, oil spills, and conduct search-and-rescue operations more effectively.

  • The IOOS Compliance Checker (CC) web checker was recently updated to use a WebAssembly-based user interface. WebAssembly (WASM) is a framework that allows running Python code directly in a web browser. For CC, it eliminates the need to run a remote web service to test a user’s files, instead allowing both the files and code to run locally on the user’s machine, simplifying maintenance and support. The CC WASM site was developed by 2025 GSoC contributor Chiara Monteforte, an example of how the GSoC program advances IOOS’s mission.

  • In partnership with GLOS, the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians have deployed additional monitoring equipment to increase their capacity for manoomin monitoring and provide insights into resource questions. In 2025, LDF deployed two Sofar Smart moorings in lakes Little Trout and Big Crawling Stone. Both buoys were unique in that they were two of only a dozen that were equipped with dissolved oxygen sensors. This year, LDF Department of Natural Resources has continued to advocate for these platforms and getting the information they are collecting to users.

  • PacIOOS launched two autonomous Seagliders South-south-east of Hawaiʻi Island. This year, PacIOOS is also collaborating with the Naval Oceanographic Office who are piloting an additional two autonomous Slocum gliders in the same vicinity. The gliders will provide near real-time water column data such as subsurface temperature, depth, dissolved oxygen and fluormetric measurements down to 900 meters. Data are available from the IOOS Glider DAC and PacIOOS Voyager under Observations, Remotely Operated Vehicles, UH: sg_148_018 and UH: sg_511_023.

  • The Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) Shark Lab has successfully deployed the first-ever satellite-linked bathygraph tag on a whitetip shark. Tagged and released near Miloliʻi on Hawaiʻi Island’s leeward coast, the tag will share data about the shark’s movements and uplink ocean temperature/depth profiles collected as she moves. This is an important step in the Lab’s ongoing research into shark ecology while also providing information that can complement oceanographic and meteorological models and support management strategies for threatened marine species.

  • All three of AOOS’s Imaging Flow Cytobots (IFCBs) were deployed during the month of July, and so far four time series of data are available online: 

  • The new Particle Trajectory Tool, developed with funding support from the IOOS Ocean Technology Transition (OTT) Program, is a user-friendly, web-based particle tracking simulation and visualization application that shows how oil, sediment, plankton larvae, and other particles move in and around the Cook Inlet Region, based on NOAA’s Cook Inlet Ocean Forecast System. This tool was launched publicly in May 2026, and is accessible through the AOOS Website project page.

  • Just in time for the peak of hurricane season, the CARICOOS Rincón buoy has been refurbished and redeployed, providing valuable real-time ocean observations along Puerto Rico’s west coast. The buoy is also ready for the upcoming winter season, when cold fronts and weather systems can generate significant swells across the region.

  • In partnership with California State Parks and Surfline, new webcams were installed at San Elijo and Carpinteria State Beaches and are now available through the WebCOOS network. SCCOOS continues to work within their network to identify four more locations that align with Scripps Oceanography’s Coastal Processes Group (CPG). SCCOOS funds CPG for our California Coastal Flood Network.

  • A pilot HAB monitoring network for the lower Chesapeake Bay was put to the test by a recent Margalefidinium polykrikoides bloom. The project integrates cutting-edge monitoring technologies, such as low-cost digital PlanktoScopes, with existing regional data into a single, publicly accessible portal to enhance real-time detection and forecasting of harmful algal blooms. This collaborative effort aims to build a centralized regional data portal for the entire Bay to improve early warnings and forecasting for future harmful algal events.

IOOS Enterprise

  • The latest N-PACT newsletter is now available! It includes a save the date for the first in-person N-PAcT meeting happening next February!

  • In August, GLOS and Michigan Tech Great Lakes Research Center co-hosted underwater Glider Pilot training for the Great Lakes region, led by Teledyne Marine. The training addressed a pilot shortage that has limited deployment time for the region’s fleet of autonomous underwater gliders.

  • An in-person WebCOOS workshop was held in La Jolla in July to plan for data management and data processing suite applications, including beach attendance data, shoreline coastal erosion monitoring, nearshore wave climatology, wave run-up and overtopping, coastal flood monitoring, and nearshore bathymetry maps.

  • A comprehensive look at Puget Sound marine conditions for the year 2025 is now available. Physical, chemical, and biological information, ranging from large-scale climate variations to local biota monitoring, is summarized to provide a thorough overview of conditions in Puget Sound and the surrounding area during 2025. The report includes many contributions from NANOOS investigators. This report is published by UW’s Puget Sound Institute and Puget Sound Partnership as part of the Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program.

  • A new Alaska Ocean Acidification Network story, "Monitoring OA in Alaska,” is now live, showing the many ways carbon chemistry is measured around Alaska to better understand baseline conditions, local drivers and long-term change due to acidification.

Partners

  • NOAA-supported scientists announced today that this year’s Gulf of America hypoxic zone is approximately 1,332 square miles, making it the 2nd smallest zone on record in 40 years of measurement. 

  • The Ocean Enterprise Initiative is excited to announce the return of its signature Dialogues with Industry. This three-part global forum will address Accelerating Ocean Enterprise Growth in Future Key Markets – Developments, Disruptions, and Vision.

  • GOOS is currently seeking applications for Vice Chair Data & Information for its Observations Coordination Group (OCG). The role will work across the GOOS ocean observing networks and integrate with relevant strategies and systems under WMO and IOC. Closes September 20.

    • The GOOS Regional Forum XII Report is now available. The report presents a summary of discussions and decisions taken during the GOOS Regional Forum XII organised from 23 to 24 March 2026 in Hyderabad, India.

New Papers and Reports

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