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From the Director:

Dear IOOS Community,

This week, our thoughts are with the communities from Louisiana to New York who were impacted by Hurricane Ida and the remnants of the storm which brought deadly storm surge, knocked out power, spawned tornadoes, and caused historic flooding. As folks continue to assess damage & bounce back, NOAA, NOS, and IOOS are collecting and analyzing data to learn more about how the storm intensified so rapidly. The National Ocean Service is also coordinating activites to provide overflight aerial imagery, coastal flooding information, and deploying Navigation Response Teams to assist in hydrographic surveys and reopen ports.  You can read more about these activities below.

It is a good reminder to take steps to make sure you and your family are prepared for disasters such as hurricanes. This month is National Preparedness Month. Ready.gov is a resource that provides detailed guides, tools, and free preparedness materials to help you plan for a wide array of potential disasters and emergencies. Please take a few moments to read some tips on how best to prepare.

Wishing you all a relaxing and safe Labor Day weekend.

Thanks,
Carl

From the U.S. IOOS Office:

  • Welcome Back Becky Baltes! Becky Baltes has rejoined the IOOS team in a federal position as a physical scientist in the Regions, Budget and Planning Division. Becky's duties will include supporting strategic and long term planning, intra-office coordination and annual project management. She will also serve as the NOS representative to the NOAA Observing System Committee. Becky most recently worked as a contractor with NOAA's Technology, Planning and Integration for Observation (TPIO) program in NESDIS doing observing system portfolio management. Prior to that she worked here at IOOS managing the Coastal and Ocean Modeling Testbed and the National Underwater Glider Network. Becky's education is in physical oceanography and she served in the Navy as a surface warfare officer.  Becky lives in the NERACOOS Region with her family on Cape Cod.
  • News from the IOOS Association: 
    • IOOS Association Announces Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Fellowship: The IOOS Association seeks a one-year, fixed-term Fellow to work with the national network of RAs and the IOOS Office to amplify regional work and identify opportunities to improve IOOS' ability to serve and engage underserved communities. Click here for more information. To apply, submit a cover letter, resume and contact information for three references to josie@ioosassociation.org.  The position is open until September 10, 2021 or until filled.

Observation Subsystem and Sensor Technologies:

  • Surface Current Mapping: (IOOS Surface Currents Program Manager, Brian Zelenke, brian.zelenke@noaa.gov):
    • No update.
    • New Navy Gliders: The U.S. Navy has just announced they will provide 10 additional gliders in support of the NOAA-Navy Collaboration. GCOOS will deploy 5-6 gliders, MARACOOS will deploy 2, and SECOORA will deploy 1. Planning is currently underway.
    • Glider Data Supports Hurricane Ida Intensity Forecasting: Ida formed 8/26 and made landfall on the Louisiana coast on Sunday 8/29. Data from a Navy Glider (NG645) were assimilated into the RTOFS, and helped nudge the model to capture a salinity barrier layer, which affects hurricane intensity.  The storm tracked along the warmest axis of the extended loop current, then crossed the shelf where there is a salinity barrier layer and very warm waters (31 deg C) from surface to bottom.
    • Ocean Observatories Initiative News: Testing of New Glider Models Underway: Last fall, the Coastal Endurance team conducted an initial test run of a Slocum G3 glider to determine its capabilities and operational differences to the G2 glider, currently used by the Endurance and Coastal & Global Scale Nodes (CGSN) teams.  The test was prompted by glider vendor Teledyne’s announcement that it would no longer support the G2 glider past 2023. Both the Endurance and CGSN teams have since expanded testing. The Endurance team recently completed a two-month deployment of a G3 glider, with plans to deploy another later this summer. The CGSN team, which operates the Pioneer and two global arrays, is testing three G3 gliders. One is being tested for use as a coastal glider at the Pioneer Array and the other two are being configured for the Irminger Sea and Station Papa global sites. Read more here: https://oceanobservatories.org/2021/08/testing-of-new-glider-models-underway/ 
    • UG2 Updates:
      • UG2 Webinar Series: August 19th: Many thanks to Greg Ikeda and Dr. Eric Rehm of Sea-Bird Scientific for their presentations on Sensors and Sensor Technology Used on Underwater Gliders.  The presentations were clear and concise, touching on both technology and science.  Great questions from the audience led to good discussions as well.

        • October 21st: Next webinar continuing Industry series and glider operations (piloting)

      • UG2 Steering Committee: Met August 26th and a working group is being established to begin planning a 2022 UG2 Glider Workshop.  Decision og group will involve if the venue will be virtual and/or in-person.

  • Animal Telemetry Network (ATN) (National Coordinator Bill Woodward, Bill.Woodward@noaa.gov):     
     
    • Significant ATN Milestone Achieved: The ATN Data Assembly Center (DAC) has successfully developed the operational capability to automatically QC ocean profile data collected by animal-borne satellite tags, create properly encoded BUFR messages, push them to the NOAA Data Buoy Center (NDBC) where they, in turn, build the necessary WMO (World Meteorological Organization) GTS (Global Telecommunication System) bulletins and insert the data in R/T onto the GTS. Kevin O’Brien (NOAA/PMEL) confirmed that the NOAA OSMC (Observing System Monitoring Center) was able to easily access the test data from the GTS, sent by the ATN DAC on August 24, and download/decode it correctly. This exciting outcome is a huge example of successful national and international collaborators all working together over a two year period towards a common goal. It will be a significant national contribution to our international emerging GOOS Network, AniBOS (Animal Borne Ocean Sensors). A great deal of thanks goes to Dr. Dave Berry at NOC for his extraordinary help from the beginning in creating the BUFR template and shepherding it through the WMO approval process, to Dr. Megan McKinzie our ATN DAC Coordinator for her professional management and implementation of our ATN DAC, to Axiom Data Science, Kyle Wilcox in particular, for creating and implementing these capabilities in our ATN DAC, and to the whole NDBC team for their efforts and continued support to get this over the finish line.
  • Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON) (IOOS PO POC Gabrielle Canonico, Gabrielle.Canonico@noaa.gov):
    • USGS-Esri-MBON Partnership Presents Ecological Coastal Units: A new set of resources is now available that describe global shoreline characteristics.  Ecological Coastal Units (ECUs) were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in partnership with Esri and the Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON). These data were developed as part of a Group on Earth Observations (GEO) initiative called GEO Ecosystems (GEO ECO), and is associated with a GEO ECO task to develop global coastal ecosystems data: https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-living-atlas/mapping/ecus-available/ 
    • ‘Monitoring of Life in the Sea’ Article Published: The article Enhanced Monitoring of Life in the Sea is a Critical Component of Conservation Management and Sustainable Economic Growth is now available as an open access publication in Marine Policy (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2021.104699).  This publication represents one outcome of the Ocean Obs 19 conference where the biological observing community came together during multiple sessions and events to discuss progress and ways forward. It highlights the need for marine biological observations globally to inform science,  conservation and the blue economy and offers recommendations that can be implemented now to measure and forecast biological Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs).   

Data Management and Cyberinfrastructure (DMAC) Subsystem and Tools Built on IOOS data (DMAC System Architect Micah Wengren and IOOS Data Management leads: data.ioos@noaa.gov, or the 'ioos_tech' listserve: https://groups.google.com/g/ioos_tech):

  • August DMAC Tech Webinar: The August DMAC Tech Webinar featured Filipe Fernandes presenting on GitHub Actions: what they are and how to use them for testing, publishing docs, artifacts, or creating services. The slides for the presentation can be found at https://ocefpaf.github.io/dmac-webinars. 
  • OceanHackWeek Recap: OceanHackWeek (https://oceanhackweek.github.io) successfully concluded 4 days of collaborative data exploration, peer learning and software development on August 6th. Expanding on a successful transition to a virtual format in 2020, OceanHackWeek 2021 was a hybrid event designed to accommodate more diverse learning environment preferences, better address the spread of virtual participant time zones, and expand to a larger number of participants. 70 participants from 13 countries gathered in three coordinated sub-events: in person (19) at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine, the main (42) virtual event spanning time zones from the US West Coast to Israel, and a smaller (9) virtual event for Australia - India time zones. Participants were joined by 16 organizers and 13 additional presenters and helpers. Tutorials and projects spanned oceanographic sub-disciplines (turtle movement from drone video to surface currents from high-frequency radar), data sources (remote sensing, ocean and climate models, the Ocean Observatories Initiative, US IOOS, OBIS, etc.) and open-source programming languages (Python and R), supported by a common computational infrastructure on the cloud and coordination that enabled extensive project collaborations across the three sub-events. Presentations, tutorials and project presentations are openly accessible from the event web site (https://oceanhackweek.github.io/ohw-resources/) as computational notebooks (Jupyter or R Markdown), pdf presentations and video recordings on YouTube. This event was co-led by the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and the University of Washington, together with co-organizers from multiple institutions in the US and Australia. Funding support was provided by NSF, US IOOS (to NANOOS and NERACOOS), the Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry program and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
  • 2021 GPU NOAA AI Hackathon: The Hackathon Plankton automation team is making good progress in testing several Machine Learning algorithms to automate classification of Zooplankton data from SPC system and ZooScan as well from Microscope processing. This week the goal is to complete testing and evaluation and present a final working algorithm. Learn more here: https://www.gpuhackathons.org/event/noaa-gpu-hackathon-2021 
    • QARTOD Work Plan 2022-2026: We continue drafting the QARTOD 2022-2026 work plan and soliciting reviews and comments, including consideration of project QA/QC expansion to make QARTOD relevant to a broader range of communities. Your thoughts are welcomed, contact Mark to weigh in.
    • Ocean Best Practice System Update: OBPS is currently engaged in enhancing the repository discovery capabilities, by improving both metadata input fields and search options. For example, users will be able to constrain a search to include only documents which have been endorsed by an entity. Please go to https://www.oceanbestpractices.org/contact/ to send your suggestions or identify issues.

Modeling and Analysis Subsystem (IOOS PO and IOOS Coastal and Ocean Modeling Testbed (COMT) POC – Tracy Fanara, Tracy.Fanara@noaa.gov):   

  • COMT Kickoff Meeting - Sept 14-15, 2021: The Coastal and Ocean Modeling Testbed (2021-2024) Kickoff meeting is scheduled for September 14th and 15th. Please save the date. More information will be shared with PIs and Program Managers. 
  • A Vision for NOS Modeling - Protecting our coastal communities and the nation’s economy: The NOS Predictions and Modeling Vision has been published. Individuals and communities nation-wide, understand and use reliable, accurate, and accessible predictions of coastal conditions. The delivery of operational modeling products and services that meet users’ needs requires extensive stakeholder engagement, from research and development to operations and back again. NOS has a broad stakeholder base that craves reliable predictions of coastal conditions. The vision for the NOS modeling suite is to deliver nowcasts, forecasts, reanalysis, and decadal/ climate-scale projections, from regional models for the entire U.S. coastline. Global ocean, coastal/estuarine, and Great Lakes modeling capabilities must be integrated into the NOAA Unified Forecast System to provide improved weather, climate, hydrologic, and ecological predictions. Learn more and download the document here: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/tools/coastal-predictions/ 
  • Save the Date - Community Modeling Workshop - October 19-21, 2021: The Community Modeling Workshop has been scheduled for October 19-21, 2021. The tentative Workshop themes and outcomes are listed below, subject to updates from the Steering Committee:
    • Workshop Themes:
      • Enhancing communication and coordination between NOAA and external partners
      • Understanding NOAA’s priorities for collaborative coastal and ocean model development
      • Enhancing processes and paths for transitioning Research-to-Operations- to-Research (R2O2R)
    • Workshop Outcomes:
      • Enhance communication and collaboration between Federal and non-federal modeling communities. 
      • Identify recommendations that will increase the efficiency of transitioning modeling systems from research to operations. 
      • Ensure the concerns, needs, and aspirations in building a community of practice across government and non-government entities are understood. 
      • Understand the community models NOS will develop for the UFS next generation ocean and coastal components.

Interagency and International Collaboration/News:

  • UN Ocean Decade of Ocean Science For Sustainable Development Updates: 
    • Register Now - UN Decade A Predicted Ocean Laboratory - Sept 15-17, 2021: You are warmly invited to join the second Ocean Decade Laboratory from 15 to 17 September 2021 on the Ocean Decade Outcome: “A Predicted Ocean”. A virtual event platform will bring together diverse stakeholders on priority issues for the Ocean Decade with the aim of encouraging collaborative actions for the Ocean Decade. Understanding and predicting the ocean is paramount to developing important environmental and climate change strategies. A wide range of stakeholders will be encouraged to work together: The goal is to discover collaborative solutions and new ways to make the ocean more predictable for the benefit of societies worldwide as well as the ecosystem of the ocean itself. Learn more and register for the event here: https://www.oceandecade-conference.com/en/a-predicted-ocean.html 
      • OASIS for A Predicted Ocean, a UN Ocean Decade Laboratory Satellite Event: Meet online for the 1-hour UN Decade Predicted Ocean Laboratory satellite event to discuss how we can contribute to an “OASIS for a Predicted Ocean”. There will be a poster event 1-hour prior to and following the main 1-hour event. Find details and register here.
      • Attend the most conveniently timed event:
      • Poster & socializing 1-hour prior to and following both options. Please plan to log in early and linger afterward to socialize with friends and colleagues and view posters.
    • Call for Nominations to the Ocean Decade Advisory Board: The Decade Advisory Board will be a multi-stakeholder advisory body that will assist the Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO in performing its function as coordinator of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, 2021-2030 (the 'Ocean Decade'). The Board will report both to the IOC Governing Bodies and the IOC Executive Secretary. The Board’s advice to the IOC Governing Bodies will concern strategic elements of the Decade implementation, such as reviews of the Decade progress in moving towards the Decade societal outcomes and on the research work in the domains of Decade challenges, identifying gaps and opportunities, advising on data stewardship strategies, the development of resource mobilisation strategies, and supporting the development of a monitoring and evaluation framework of the Decade. The Board will also provide advice and operational support to the IOC Executive Secretary to facilitate the endorsement process of Decade Actions, specifically at the programme level. The Decade Advisory Board will comprise up to 15 expert members drawn from government, private sector, philanthropy, civil society, and the scientific community. They will serve in their individual capacity.  Five representatives of United Nations entities will also sit on the Board. Nominations are due 15 September 2021. 
  • SOST Coastal Resilience Workshop Summary Brief Now Available: On Tuesday June 15, 2021, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology (SOST) hosted a Coastal Resilience Workshop. This virtual event convened over 400 Federal agency representatives across 27 agencies to strengthen and build the Federal community required to address our most pressing coastal resilience needs. This workshop was motivated by the need to ensure the resilience of our coasts in the face of rapid environmental change and increasing risk from climate change to coastal systems and the services they provide. Our coasts are economic engines for the Nation; focal regions for development and growth; and home to lands, waters, and resources of unique national value. The workshop identified Federal interests, capabilities, and ongoing activities related to coastal resilience and focused on how to build sustained collaborations that increase the impact of each contributing agency. Read more and download the summary brief here.
  • Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) News:
    • OOI Data Users Town Hall Video Now Available: On 24 August, OOI Data Lead Jeff Glatstein, Axiom Data Science Designer Brian Stone, and Axiom Data Science Coder Luke Campbell gave a preview of upcoming additions to Data Explorer that will help users access glider data. The presenters sought input from OOI’s user community to improve the platform to ensure it meets data users’ needs when it goes live in September 2021. You can see the demonstration of the upcoming Data Explorer changes in the video here: https://oceanobservatories.org/2021/08/video-of-ooi-data-users-town-hall/ 
  • OCS Assists U.S. Coast Guard in Buoy Recovery: U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) - Sector New York requested survey support from OCS’s northeast navigation manager after a navigational buoy sank and efforts to drag for and recover the buoy were unsuccessful. The sunken buoy presented a potential danger to navigation because of its location — between the East River and Flushing Bay, an area frequented by fuel barges servicing the LaGuardia airport fuel pier. OCS’s navigation response branch deployed a mobile integrated survey team kit on a USCG boat out of Bayonne, New Jersey. The data collected from the survey showed that the buoy and its anchor block were displaced approximately 600 feet from their original location. The USCG successfully removed the buoy from the channel three days later, clearing the Flushing Bay entrance channel of the obstruction.
  • Navigation Response Teams Deployed in Louisiana: This week we saw Hurricane Ida make landfall as a Category 4 storm impacting Southeast Louisiana. One of the primary missions for Coast Survey is to help speed up the reopening of ports after natural disasters. Navigation Response Team - Stennis has arrived in Port Fourchon, Louisiana to assist with a channel survey in coordination with the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and then will move on to a full multibeam survey of the port itself. In addition, two additional teams have mobilized to survey Houma and Morgan City. https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/updates/gallery/ Learn more about the Navigation Response Teams here https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/customer-service/navigation-response.html 
  • National Geodetic Survey Emergency Response Imagery for Hurricane Ida Available Online: On August 30, the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) began collecting aerial images in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. Imagery is being collected in specific areas identified by NOAA in coordination with FEMA and other state and federal partners. Collected images are available to view online via the NGS aerial imagery viewer. View tips and a video on how to use the imagery viewer. Learn more here https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/aug21/ngs-storm-imagery-ida.html 
  • NGS Collects Hurricane Henri Emergency Response Imagery: NGS collected aerial images in the aftermath of Hurricane Henri. The flight incorporated a new camera system that provides twice the image resolution and area coverage as the previous system. The crew flew more than 470 square kilometers during 6.5 hours and collected 495 images. NGS collected imagery in areas identified by NOAA, in coordination with state partners. NOAA's aerial imagery aids safe navigation and captures damage to coastal areas caused by a storm. This imagery provides a cost-effective way to better understand the damage sustained to property and the environment.
  • New Current Meter in California’s Humboldt Bay: The Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS®) partners in Northern California have installed a new side-looking current meter in Humboldt Bay. The state’s second largest bay, Humboldt Bay can be treacherous to navigate. The new meter will support safe and efficient commercial and recreational navigation in and around the bay. It’s one of two operational current meters in the Humboldt Bay PORTS. Tidal current predictions for the new sensor will be integrated into CO-OPS current predictions. PORTS is a successful public-private partnership that provides an integrated system of sensors concentrated in seaports and supplies commercial vessel operators with reliable real-time information about environmental conditions.
  • PORTS® Enhancements Aid Mariners in Mobile Bay: CO-OPS worked with partners in the Gulf of Mexico to expand the Mobile Bay Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS®), improving the safety of marine navigation in the Alabama waterway. A new visibility sensor was installed in the middle of the bay near the entrance to Theodore Ship Channel, the third visibility sensor in the Mobile Bay system. An existing current meter was also relocated near the mouth of the Mobile River to better capture currents at the Mobile Harbor turning basin. This sensor supplements a current meter at the Three Mile Creek turning basin that has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from harbor pilots and the U.S. Navy in the region. These enhancements help mariners coming in and out of port navigate safely, protecting life and property and keeping commerce moving smoothly in the Port of Mobile.
  • Tagging White Sharks in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary: Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (SBNMS) scientists, with partners from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, tagged white sharks for the first time in the sanctuary. The sharks were feeding on the carcass of a humpback whale. This unique opportunity allowed scientists to tag five sharks with acoustic tags that emit a unique signal every 60-100 seconds. The signal can be picked up when a shark passes within a few hundred meters of the nearly 200 receivers throughout coastal Massachusetts waters or additional receivers along the eastern seaboard of the U.S. and Canada. The tags have a life span of approximately 10 years and will provide a wealth of data on the movement of these hard-to-study apex predators. NOAA and collaborators are investigating the cause of death for the humpback whale.
  • Grants & Funding Opportunities:
  • RFP: NC Sea Grant: Coastal Resilience Team Competition: North Carolina Sea Grant has launched the inaugural Coastal Resilience Team Competition. The program will provide up to $20,000 for student teams to conduct two-year projects that will lead to more resilient habitats and communities on the North Carolina coastal plain. Each team will include two to four members, including at least one graduate student, who will serve as the project lead, and at least one undergraduate, who will assist. The deadline to apply is 5 p.m. on October 29, 2021. For more information, access the full Request for Proposals. 
  • Matching Fund Opportunity for Ocean and Coastal Mapping and Request for Partnership Proposals: This notice establishes selection criteria and requirements for the NOAA Rear Admiral Richard T. Brennan Ocean Mapping Matching Fund program, to be known as the Brennan Matching Fund. The purpose of this notice is to encourage non-Federal entities to partner with the NOAA National Ocean Service ocean and coastal mapping programs on jointly funded ocean and coastal surveys and related activities of mutual interest. NOAA would receive and match partner funds and rely on its existing contract arrangements to conduct the surveying and mapping activities in FY 2023. Proposals must be received via email by 5 p.m. ET on October 29, 2021. Applicants must submit via email any accompanying geographic information system (GIS) files, which are due no later than November 5, 2021. Read the full Notice of Funding Opportunity here.
  • FY2022-2023 Margaret A. Davidson Fellowship Request for Proposals: NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management is pleased to announce the release of the FY 2022 - 2023 Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Fellowship request for proposals. This program offers graduate students admitted to or enrolled in a Master’s or Ph.D. program the opportunity to conduct estuarine research within a National Estuarine Research Reserve. The Davidson fellowship supports research projects that help scientists and communities understand the coastal challenges that will likely influence future policy and management strategies, and offers professional development opportunities geared to build the next generation of coastal professionals. NOAA is committed to reaching applicants from minority serving institutions, and to partnering with these universities for collaborative science initiatives and fellowship opportunities within the research reserves. NOAA will award one fellowship at each of the 29 reserves in the national system. Each two-year project will employ the tenets of collaborative research, including engaging end-users, incorporating multi-disciplinary perspectives, and ensuring outcomes are applicable to local coastal resource management needs and decision-making. The fellowship honors the legacy of Margaret A. Davidson, a true visionary and pioneer in the field of coastal resource management. Applications are due December 10th, 2021. A link to the request for proposals can be found here. Additional information about the program can be found on our website.
  • Understanding multi-stressor impacts on marine ecosystems under climate change: NOAA/NOS/National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)/Competitive Research Program (CRP), the NOAA Climate Program Office (CPO), and the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program (OAP), in partnership with the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) and the NOAA Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), are soliciting proposals to understand the combined impacts of multiple stressors on the function and health of marine ecosystems within the context of climate change. This information will be used to improve place-based management of marine protected areas and enable the proactive protection of these critical ecosystems under future climate scenarios. Applications are due January 18, 2022.  Click here for full details and how to apply. 
  • Integrated Research on Coastal and Ocean Acidification and Harmful Algal Blooms: and the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program (OAP) are soliciting proposals for research that must address the interaction between coastal and ocean acidification and harmful algal blooms. Funding is contingent upon the availability of Fiscal Year 2022 Federal appropriations. It is anticipated that up to approximately $1,500,000 may be available in Fiscal Year 2022 for the first year for all projects combined. If funds become available for this program, 3-5 targeted projects are expected to be funded at the level of $300,00 to $500,000 per year per proposal (including ship time). Projects are expected not to exceed 3 years in duration. NCCOS/CRP will not accept any proposals submitted with an annual budget that is greater than $500,000 for any year. It is anticipated that projects funded under this announcement will have a September 1, 2022 start date.  Applications close January 19, 2022.  View the funding opportunity here. 

Delivering the Benefits:

  • Introducing the California Current Acidification Network: Strong collaboration between industry members and scientists led to the development of the California Current Acidification Network (C-CAN) along the Pacific coast in 2010. The partnership continues on, leveraging SCCOOS, CeNCOOS, NANOOS, and NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program. Engaging industry members remains a top priority for C-CAN as they expand ocean acidification monitoring beyond measuring the chemistry of the seawater to include biological measurements as well. Now one of six different Coastal Acidification Networks representing different regions of the country, C-CAN is the only one initially driven by industry members.
  • La Push HAB Toxin Seasonal Monitoring Live: The UW-APL/NOAA Environmental Sample Processor (ESP) is back in the water off the coast of La Push, WA, for its seasonal deployment. The ESP is an autonomous underwater robotic biosensor for phytoplankton toxins and is an important contribution to Pacific Northwest HAB forecasting. Near-real time domoic acid data are available on NVS and on the Real-Time HABs page.
  • SATURN-02 back in the water in PNW: As part of CRITFC's long-term monitoring of the Columbia River estuary and plume, the CMOP plume buoy (SATURN-02) was deployed in late July. This restores seasonal monitoring of salinity, temperature, chlorophyll, turbidity, CDOM and dissolved oxygen at multiple depths from near-surface to near-seabed, as well as meteorological observations that began in 2011. The plume buoy provides information on the structure of the Columbia River plume, on ocean source waters for the estuary, and on shallow shelf water conditions. Observations so far in August show frequent hypoxic conditions at the seabed near the mouth of the Columbia River. Observations are available through NANOOS NVS. 
  • Rincon buoy back in the water! CARICOOS Rincon Buoy was recovered, refurbished, and has been redeployed. This buoy is a great tool for wave observations and surf forecasting. It is also useful for understanding the effects of waves on coral reefs, and coastal erosion. The Rincon Buoy webpage data is in demand — it received over 80K visits last year!
  • Continued Stakeholder Outreach in West Maui: After launching the new PacIOOS Wave Run-up Forecast for West Maui in June, the project team continues to meet with relevant stakeholders to introduce the forecast. The tool predicts high wave flooding for the upcoming six days along West Maui's shoreline to help increase preparedness and coastal resiliency. This month, a virtual meeting was held with departments from the County of Maui to discuss possible applications for county procedures. Additional presentations will be offered to interested stakeholders to ensure the relevance of the tool. Read more in PacIOOS’ latest newsletter!
  • Yukon River Chinook Run Timing Project, 2021 Post-Season Wrap-Up: The Yukon River Chinook salmon run arrived with close to average timing in 2021: The 50% point at Big Eddy drift was June 18th and the 50% point at Big Eddy set was June 22nd — both just slightly earlier than the pre-season forecast of June 23rd. An error of one to five days is within the historical performance of the pre-season forecast model. Read more on this wrap-up here!
  • New papers & reports:

Congressional:

  • No update.

Communications/Outreach/Education:

  • Public comment period now open for the “Common Strategy for Smart Great Lakes”: Today the Smart Great Lakes Initiative (SGLi) announced a 33-day public comment period for the proposed “Common Strategy for Smart Great Lakes.” Public review and comment is invited and will be accepted through Sept. 24, 2021. The document is available for review online. Please direct comments to Katie Rousseau, Great Lakes Observing System at katie@glos.org no later than Sept. 24, 2021
  • IOOS Enterprise in the News:
    • No update.

Upcoming Meetings with IOOS Participation (Please check links as we move forward as things may change quickly for planned events):

  • Polar Data Forum IV, 20 - 24 September 2021, The Hague and virtual: Polar Data Forum IV will be co-hosted online by the Royal Belgian institute of Natural Sciences and the European Polar Board (EPB) and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) in The Hague (NL) from September 20th to 24th, 2021. This event will be co-organized with the Second Southern Ocean Regional Workshop for the UN Ocean Decade and Hackathon and focus on the polar oceans. It will combine a two-day conference style meeting (September 23-24) in support of information exchange, with the remainder of the week using a “hackathon” approach that will build on the development work done in previous meetings and workshops (September 20-22). The forum registration deadline is September 10. More information and a link to the abstract submission system (abstracts due July 4) are available on the conference website: https://polar-data-forum.org/conference/abstracts/.  
  • MTS 14th Buoy Workshop, 25 - 27 October 2021, Wilmington, NC: The MTS 14th Buoy Workshop has been rescheduled for October 25 – 27, 2021 and will be held in Wilmington, North Carolina.  This year’s theme is Moored Systems for the Future. Areas and topics will include, but are not limited to: Ecosystems Monitoring, Long-Term Observing Systems, Reliability & Harsh Environments, Power Systems, Data, Sensors & Instrumentation, Mooring Design and Synergy.  Registration opens and the call for speakers begins April 15, 2021, and abstracts are due September 1, 2021. Please see the Buoy Workshop homepage for more information.
  • SECOORA Annual Meeting, 2 - 3 December, St. Petersburg, FL: Join SECOORA for an in-person meeting on December 2-3, 2021 hosted in St. Petersburg, FL. The meeting will focus on Harmful Algal Blooms, DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), and new SECOORA observing projects. The deadline to register is November 15, 2021.  Click here for more information and to register for the free meeting. 
  • AMS Annual Meeting, 23-27 January 2022, Houston Texas: Abstract submission for the 102nd American Meteorological Society’s Annual Meeting, 23–27 January 2022, Houston, Texas is open. Submissions close 1 September 2021. See https://annual.ametsoc.org/index.cfm/2022/call-for-papers/. Contact Tiffany Vance for more details.  
    • Sessions in the 38th Environmental Information Processing Systems (EIPT) Conference that might be of particular interest include:
      • Cloud Computing for Big Data in Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate (Joint with 21st Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Environmental Science, 12th Symposium on Advances in Modeling and Analysis Using Python, and  the Eighth Symposium on High Performance Computing for Weather, Water, and Climate)
      • Developing Cloud-based Tools for Data Analysis and Archiving  (Joint with 21st Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Environmental Science, 12th Symposium on Advances in Modeling and Analysis Using Python, and  the Eighth Symposium on High Performance Computing for Weather, Water, and Climate) 
      • FAIR and Open Data and Software within the Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences to Support  Replicable Research and Reusable Tools for Climate Analysis  (Joint with 25th Conference of  Atmospheric Librarians International and the 12th Symposium on Advances in Modeling and Analysis Using Python)
      • Meeting Data Stewardships Needs for Heterogeneous Earth and Atmospheric Science Data via the Exploitation of Emerging Technologies   (Joint with 25th Conference of Atmospheric Librarians International and the 21st Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Environmental Science).
      • Ocean Sciences Meeting 2022, Feb 27 - March 4, Honolulu, HI: This year’s theme emphasizes the importance of working together. “Come Together and Connect,” focuses on strengthening the ocean sciences community through discussing both basic and applied research while making scientific and social connections. https://www.aslo.org/osm2022/ 
        • Tiffany Vance and Tim Kearns [GLOS] are co-organizers for a session at the 2022 Ocean Sciences meeting entitled “IoT and Distributed Sensing in Ocean Science and Research” under the Ocean Technologies and Observatories topic.  
          • Description: Over the past century, a tremendous expansion in sampling and analysis of the ocean, made possible by persistent connectivity and automatic data processing, has facilitated broad progress in our understanding of ocean processes. Ship-based sampling, underwater gliders, Argo floats and moored platforms, to name a few, have all contributed to distributed monitoring of chemical, biological, and physical dynamics in the ocean.
          • Driven by advances in mobile, photovoltaic, and battery technology, along with the increasing availability of satellite communications, large-scale and persistent distributed sensing in our oceans and lakes has become increasingly tractable. Smart, connected devices, and the supporting processes to convert that data into information form the fabric of Marine IoT. Leveraging IoT technologies in the marine environment provides opportunities for new and innovative research, observing, and monitoring techniques that can provide end-users with the information they need faster than ever. Whether that’s through engaging interested members of the public through citizen science or incorporating smart technologies into research equipment, Marine IoT can provide important new data streams and connect us in ways that weren’t possible before. Further, developments in edge and cloud computing allow us to derive critical decision-support information from these new streams.
          • Join us to explore the role Marine IoT plays in understanding our oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes. In this session, we aim to elevate perspectives from both instrument development, deployment, and data utilization. Thus, we invite submissions pertaining to distributed sensing technologies (e.g. low-cost buoys and other marine IoT), strategies for maintaining distributed observations, approaches for real-time data dissemination, and research methods pertinent to usage of distributed IoT data sets, particularly with high spatiotemporal coverage.
          • All accepted sessions will be available to view at the 2022 Ocean Sciences Meeting website later this month.  Please promote your session to your colleagues to encourage abstract submissions. Abstract submissions will officially open later this summer and will close 15 September 2021. Abstracts will not be accepted after this date.  
        • Tiffany Vance is a co-organizer of a session at the 2022 Ocean Sciences meeting entitled “Democratizing Data: Environmental Data Access and its Future” in the  Education & Outreach topic.
          • Description: One of the tenets of big data is the idea of the (2, 4, or 7) V’s - Volume, Velocity, Variety, Variability, Veracity, Visualization, and Value. With the increase in the volume and velocity of data, access becomes ever more challenging. Users have access to more types of data and they can become overwhelmed by the possibilities. In the past, data access has been confusing but now there is more user engagement in building friendlier and more usable interfaces. Discovery is now more flexible and all encompassing - for example using schema.org to enable data discovery and via Google search. This increased use of data is not limited to scientists and other professionals. Citizens use data more than they realize (maps, elevation charts, tides, etc.) so they are constantly accessing data from a variety of sources.
          • There remains a broader community goal to have improved data access with the aim of democratizing data by removing gatekeepers so that data are unrestricted and available in a meaningful way to all. Improved access to data also supports data equity - “The term “data equity” captures a complex and multi-faceted set of ideas. It refers to the consideration, through an equity lens, of the ways in which data is collected, analyzed, interpreted, and distributed.” By making data more easily accessed and used we also make the ability to use data more equitable.
          • We want to gather a set of papers that bring together all aspects of the data access process with a focus on improving data access for a wide range of users. We propose the following structure:
            • data discoverability
            • data access
            • data and service equity
            • data usability
            • user interface/engagement/input
            • visualization tools
            • reproducibility and tracing - after access
          • All accepted sessions will be available to view at the 2022 Ocean Sciences Meeting website later this month.  Abstract submissions will officially open later this summer and will close 15 September 2021. Abstracts will not be accepted after this date.  

  •  

    Other Upcoming Meetings:

  • 3rd NOAA Workshop on Leveraging AI in Environmental Sciences, 13 - 17 September 2021, Boulder, CO and Virtual: This hybrid workshop is a continuation of the NOAA series of workshops on “Leveraging AI in Environmental Sciences.” The third event continues the successes of previous workshops and encourages participation by scientists, program managers, and leaders from the public, academic and private sectors who work in AI and environmental sciences. The theme for this year’s workshop is “Transforming Weather, Climate Services, and Blue Economy with Artificial Intelligence.” As a hybrid event, in-person capacity at Boulder will be limited in accordance with the most recent public health guideline while the virtual event will be open broadly to the public.  The call for abstracts is open until 6/18/21.  Find all the details here.
  • Ocean Decade Laboratories: The Ocean Decade Laboratories are a creative, interactive platform to support action for the Ocean Decade around the globe. Each Laboratory focuses on one of the seven Outcomes of the Ocean Decade. Laboratory participants leverage the opportunity for exchange, collaboration and the creation of sustainable partnerships. Each Laboratory will comprise a ‘core event’ where globally recognised experts, including representatives of the endorsed Decade Actions, will incite discussion and exploration of the issues surrounding each Decade Outcome, and a series of interactive ‘satellite activities’ that will be hosted by partners.
    • The first Laboratory for an “Inspiring and Engaging Ocean” was held on 7 - 8 July and attracted over 700 participants who heard an innovative and diverse range of views from scientists, archaeologists, writers, artists and more on tangible ways that we can protect the ocean for future generations by ensuring that it is a source of wonder and inspiration that is fully understood and valued by communities and individuals around the world.
    • Calls for satellite activities for upcoming Laboratories are now open and make sure you join the next Laboratory on A Prediction Ocean on the 15-17 September 2021!
    • Find out more about the Laboratories!
      • 15 – 17 September 2021 - A Predicted Ocea
      • 17 – 19 November 2021 - A Clean Ocean
      • 23 – 24 February 2022- A Productive Ocean 
  • OCEANS 2021 - San Diego - Porto , 20 – 23 September 2021 (In person and Virtual): Global thought leaders and innovators in the areas of marine technology, engineering, science, research, and education will gather together to learn and experience cutting-edge technologies in the field of marine science, hear from industry experts and engineers regarding the latest research and innovations, discuss current environmental issues and policies affecting the field, and collaboratively work together to move the fields of marine technology and engineering forward. Registration is now open from the event home page. 
  • OBPS Community Workshop: An Ocean of Values, 20 - 24 September 2021, virtual: The Fifth Annual OBPS Community Workshop, "An Ocean of Values", will be held from the 20th to the 24th of September.  All members of the ocean community - including educators, scientists, citizens, artists, conservationists, cultural ambassadors, policy makers, and ocean explorers - are invited to co-develop this workshop by proposing sessions, tracks, or other contributions by the end of June. As an overarching theme, participants will be asked to help understand how to better represent and safely archive the methods, policies, guides, or standard specifications that bring value to their communities. The workshop will be facilitating value mapping activities across all groups, so we can better connect "how" things are done to "why" they are done as well as why they matter. Early Information and pre-registration are available here.
  • Lakebed 2030, 29 Sept - 1 Oct 2021, virtual: Momentum continues to build behind Lakebed 2030, the initiative to map the Great Lakes at high-density. This past year, partners across sectors continued to connect around the goals of  mapping new areas, sharing data, and building a free, publicly accessible, highly detailed map. With only 5% of the lakefloor mapped at high-density, there is a lot of exciting work to be done. This year’s conference theme is “Let’s dive in!” and will help connect leaders dedicated to the Lakebed 2030 vision. Presentations will feature keynote speakers Geneviève Béchard and Nicole Raineault.  Conference organizers are seeking proposals for presentations and student lightning talks.  Abstracts are due by July 30, 2021.
  • CERF 2021, 1 – 4 & 8 – 11 November 2021, virtual: You and our colleagues will come together to network, celebrate our work, learn from each other, and grow within our amazing field as we endeavor to connect science and society in the collective goals of preserving coastal and estuarine habitats, resources, and heritage. Collaborate and discuss with more than 1,700 scientists and researchers from all over the world. Registration is now open from the event home page. 

     

  • 2021 Esri Ocean, Weather, and Climate GIS Forum,  3 – 4 November 2021: This forum brings together the growing community of weather, climate, and ocean science professionals to share advances in data collection, analysis, and our understanding of climate and ocean interactions. Join this community as it forges new and better concepts in ocean and atmospheric analytics and applications.
    • Call for Lightning Talks! 2021 Esri Ocean, Weather, and Climate GIS Forum November 3-4 2021: We are now accepting submissions for Lightning Talks. If you have used Esri GIS technology for collecting data, performing analysis, and advancing our understanding of climate and ocean interactions, we want to hear from you. Submit an abstract for the chance to share your extraordinary work with an audience of engaged peers. In these eight-minute presentations, you can earn recognition as a GIS thought leader and inspire the ocean, weather, and climate community to better conserve our natural world. The deadline for submissions is August 20, 2021 See the conference website for more details. 
      • Call for Maps! 2021 Esri Ocean, Weather, and Climate GIS Forum November 3-4: Contribute to the Virtual Map Gallery by showcasing your most successful GIS creations. Inspire your peers by illustrating how you are using Esri's powerful GIS capabilities to let others explore beautiful, innovative stories through your map. Deadline October 1, 2021.

         

  • 9th annual Ocean Tracking Network (OTN) Symposium, 15 - 16 November 2021, virtual: The 9th annual Ocean Tracking Network (OTN) Symposium will take place on November 15-16, 2021. This free online event will feature presentations, panels and workshops. The Symposium is an annual event that brings together researchers from across the globe to collaborate, develop strategies and seek new opportunities for the sustainable management of aquatic animals in changing ocean environments. It's open to Network members, early career researchers, and those interested in aquatic species research. Abstracts are currently being accepted through August 16. You can find further information on the symposium webpage. https://oceantrackingnetwork.org/2021-otn-symposium/ 
  • International Ocean Data Conference 2022: The Data We Need for the Ocean We Want, 14-16 February 2022, Sopot, Poland & virtual: The conference will be held as a hybrid event with a number of participants on-site while others will participate through video conference. The conference programme includes the following topic areas: Global Strategies and Policy, Implementing the Digital Commons, and Looking Forward. Learn more on the conference website. 
  • 5th International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5), 23 - 30 June 2022, Vancouver, Canada: From 23-30 June 2022, the world’s leading ocean conservation professionals will meet in Vancouver, Canada to chart a course towards protecting 30% of the global ocean by 2030. The call for proposals for the Congress program is open now until 20 September (23:59 PDT) 2021. For more information, see https://www.impac5.ca/congress-details/program/proposals/ 

  •  

    Webinars:

    • GOOS-OECD-MEDIN Webinar: Value chains in public marine data, A UK Study, 7 September 2021, 12:30 GMT: An original survey of UK marine data users, conducted by the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN), explores the pathways through which marine data are used and transformed into actionable information, in order to better value vital marine information. The results of this initial survey have just been published in a new paper, Value chains in public marine data. The webinar will provide an overview of this analysis, showing trends in current marine data use in the UK, the key benefits, and for the first time, identifying systematised value chains. Click here for more information and registration. 
    • Women in the Blue Economy in the Mediterranean, 22 September 2021, Online: Union for the Mediterranean(UfM) and EMUNI University will organize the webinar “Women in blue economy in the Mediterranean”, which will take place online on 22 September from 9:30 to 12:30 CET. The event will be dedicated to highlighting women’s contribution and engagement as a fundamental vector in key blue economy sectors in the Mediterranean region, as well as to discuss – within a solution-oriented approach – the challenges hindering the full expression of their opportunities. Click here for more information and registration. 
    • SERIES: EMB launches new webinar series: The European Marine Board is launching a new webinar series, #ThirdThursdayScience, which will focus on the science underpinning the research and policy recommendations in EMB publications. The free webinars will take place on the third Thursday of each month, and will run for one hour between 13:00 - 14:00 CEST. Webinars will also be live-streamed on YouTube and will be made available to re-watch later on the EMB YouTube Channel. Upcoming webinars:
      • 16 September: Involving Stakeholders in Co-creation of Ecosystem Services Research
      • 21 October: Deep Sea
    • SERIES: Mapping the Great Lakes: A virtual webinar series focused priorities for building a comprehensive detailed bathymetric map of the Great Lakes. The events will engage the audience with presentations and discussions from leading scientists and researchers on the technologies and issues impacting the Great Lakes ecosystems.  Click here for more info and registration. 
      • Sept 15: Archaeology/Geology, 12:30 – 2 PM EST
      • Sept 29 - Oct 1: Lakebed 2030 Conference, 1 – 5 PM EST
      • Nov. 18: Collaboration, 12:30 – 2 PM

Job & Internship Opportunities:

  • Food Web Laboratory Analyst, CIGLR: The Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR, ) at the University of Michigan is looking for a candidate to join our research team working on food web ecology in the Great Lakes. The Food Web Laboratory Analyst will perform field sampling and laboratory analyses related to zooplankton, larval fish and Mysis ecology in the Great Lakes. Routine tasks assigned to you will include: (1) assisting aboard research cruises (net tows, sample processing, acoustics instrumentation), (2) sorting organisms within samples, (3) performing quantification of zooplankton, mussel veligers, and larval fish; (4) processing fisheries acoustics data, and 5) data analysis. The application deadline is September 2, 2021. Click here for more info and how to apply. 
  • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Fellowship, IOOS Association: The IOOS Association seeks a one-year, fixed-term Fellow to work with the national network of RAs and the IOOS Office to amplify regional work and identify opportunities to improve IOOS' ability to serve and engage underserved communities. Click here for more information. To apply, submit a cover letter, resume and contact information for three references to josie@ioosassociation.org by September 10, 2021.
  • Consultant: Development of GOOS Ocean Decade Programmes, GOOS: The consultant will work closely with the GOOS Office Headquarters team within the IOC Secretariat to support the leadership of the three GOOS Ocean Decade Programmes in: connecting with partners, supporting communications, organizing governance and management meetings, liaising with the GOOS community, and developing project proposals. The application deadline is September 12, 2021.  Click here for more information and how to apply. 
  • Consultant to support the GOOS in communications and national focal point engagement, GOOS: The consultant will work closely with the GOOS Office Headquarters team (within the IOC Secretariat) to undertake two distinct tasks: providing communications support to the team, and fostering the links between GOOS and National Focal Points. The application deadline is September 12, 2021.  Click here for more information and how to apply. 
  • Research Project Manager, FutureMARES: This position is responsible for the day-to-day management of FutureMARES, a large project funded by the EU. NIOZ is the scientific coordinator and will take over full, administrative coordination in autumn 2021. The position runs for the full duration of FutureMARES plus 2 months (i.e. until 20 November 2024). The project FutureMARES is an EU-funded research project examining the relations between climate change, marine biodiversity and ecosystem services. The deadline for applications is 17 September 2021. Click here for more info and how to apply.
  • 18 SEAS postdoctoral research fellow positions, University of Bergen, Norway: Shaping European Research Leaders for Marine Sustainability (SEAS) is a postdoctoral research fellowship programme for 37 fellows launched and managed by the University of Bergen. In this first call, open 1 August – 31 October 2021, they invite talented experienced researchers to apply for 18 fellowships. Successful candidates will be employed in 3-year fixed-term full-time postdoctoral research fellow positions at UiB. Individual contracts may, under certain conditions, be extended by up to one year if funded from other sources than the SEAS programme. Click here for more info and how to apply.
  • HFR Technician Wanted: As the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) expands its oceanographic high-frequency radar (HFR) network, USM’s School of Ocean Science and Engineering - Marine Science is looking for another HFR technician to help with all of the sites.  Open until filled.  If you or anyone you know is interested, click here for more information and to apply.  Questions regarding this position may be directed to Kevin M. Martin, M.S. at kevin.m.martin@usm.edu.
  • Engagement & Research Associate, NERACOOS & New Hampshire Sea Grant: In partnership with New Hampshire Sea Grant, NERACOOS is co-hiring an Engagement and Research Associate. This position is based at NERACOOS. The successful candidate will work  with a regional team of engagement specialists, researchers, and stakeholders to identify shared goals, challenges, information gaps, and priorities that need to be addressed to enhance the blue economy of the Northeastern U.S., particularly as related to the development of ocean renewable energy (ORE). Application review begins on September 1.  Click here for more info and how to apply. 
  • Scientific Director of the Ocean Tracking Network (OTN) and Professor of Biology: The Faculty of Science at Dalhousie University invites applications for a tenured Full Professor of Biology to serve as the new Scientific Director of the Ocean Tracking Network (OTN, https://oceantrackingnetwork.org). The primary faculty appointment will be in the Department of Biology with potential cross-appointments in other departments across the university. The Scientific Director serves as the primary OTN grant holder and will provide leadership for OTN strategic planning and facilitate and grow scientific activities, leveraging the assets of the network and seeking mutually beneficial partnerships and synergies with other science networks and groups. The Scientific Director also leads the internal OTN management team, and oversees the management of 22+ permanent staff, as well as rotating interns and co-op students working on operations and maintenance activities. Using the OTN platform, the Scientific Director will provide leadership for the engagement of the Canadian and international scientific community in related research work and oversee the funding and science planning associated with these programs, together with OTN’s Executive Director. Open now: the review process will commence on 15 Sept 2021 and continue until the position is filled. Click here for more info and how to apply. 

Click here to view the IOOS Association Calendar

Do you have suggestions for new things you would like to see in the Eyes on the Ocean IOOS Bi-Weekly? Contact us at: eoto@noaa.gov.

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