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

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From the Director:

Dear IOOS Community,

Last week, NOAA released the 2021 NOAA Science Report, an annual report that highlights NOAA’s research and development achievements across all Line Organizations over the past year. In 2021, the scientific highlights, awards, bibliometrics, and educational spotlights demonstrate NOAA's commitment to advancing the opportunities for both ocean prosperity and protection with the new blue economy, the importance of sound climate science to inform society, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA). 

Some of the IOOS work featured in this report includes integrated ocean observing for improving NOAA’s hurricane intensity forecasts, improved respiratory illness hazard forecasts for Gulf of Mexico red tide, timely harmful algal bloom (HAB) bulletins for the Pacific Northwest, and development of the data-assimilating West Coast Operational Forecast System (WCOFS).

Copies of the report may be downloaded or viewed on the NOAA Science Council website at: https://sciencecouncil.noaa.gov/Council-Products/NOAA-Science-Report. 

Thanks,
Carl

From the U.S. IOOS Office:

  • IOOS Association Announces Retirement of Executive Director: The IOOS Association’s long-time Executive Director, Josie Quintrell, is retiring this fall, starting a leadership transition over the next few months. Josie’s decision to retire will bring to a close a remarkable career of 20 years in service to the IOOS Association and advancing national ocean observing strategies. The IOOS Association Board of Directors is leading a search for a new Executive Director. This is a tremendous opportunity to grow the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System.  The Executive Director position is now open. To learn more about the position and how to apply, click here.
  • U.S. IOOS to Mentor During Google's Summer of Code: IOOS will once again be a mentor organization for Google's Summer of Code. Established in 2005, the summer program invites new and beginner open-source contributors to propose programming projects to vetted open source organizations. Accepted projects will be announced in May and begin in June, following a short introductory period for contributors to get to know their mentors and the mentor organization. Participants can make direct contributions and enhancements to the software projects they work on and may continue to stay involved as regular contributors after their projects are completed. The three projects selected in 2021 had lasting impacts on U.S. IOOS Enterprise operations.
  • Save the Date - IOOS Advisory Committee Public Meeting: Please save the date for the next IOOS Advisory Committee Meeting. The meeting will be held May 11th and May 13th, 10am-5pm ET. The meeting will be held virtually and is open to the public.

Observation Subsystem and Sensor Technologies:

  • Surface Current Mapping:

    • New HFR Coming to Kennedy Space Center: Congratulations to SECOORA and the oceanographic high-frequency radar (HFR) team at Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (SkIO) for their successful collaboration with NASA to secure formal permission to install a Helzel Messtechnik WERA® HFR system at Kennedy Space Center (KSC)!  Once installed, this KSC HFR will pair with SkIO’s HFR now operating at the Canaveral National Seashore, to deliver near real-time surface current measurements along Florida’s Space Coast.  These HFR data will support national and local needs including U.S. Coast Guard search-and-rescue, NOAA hazardous materials spill emergency response, and at-sea equipment/personnel recoveries by NASA.

    • BayCurrents Added to National Ocean Service’s Mobile Page: NOAA’s National Ocean service has added BayCurrents to the list of apps on their Go Mobile with NOS page. BayCurrents is a free app that displays maps of high resolution surface currents within the San Francisco Bay using surface current data NOAA. The app was produced in collaboration with NOAA's Integrated Ocean Observing System and the Central & Northern California Ocean Observing System. The Go Mobile page provides a handy reference of all ocean- and coast-related mobile websites and free applications produced by or in partnership with NOAA.  More information about BayCurrents and its San Francisco Bay area surface current maps is available here.

  • Gliders: 

    • UG2 2022 Glider Workshop: The UG2 Workshop Steering Group continues to plan for this workshop scheduled for September 20–22, 2022.  This in-person event will be held at the Botanical Gardens on the campus of University of Washington in Seattle, WA.  The committee is currently locking down hotels and working on a call for abstracts and posters. 

    • UG2 Webinar: Next UG2 webinar - “UG2 Alaska and West Coast Glider Operations Webinar” - will be held April 21st, 2–3:30 Eastern Time. Please mark your calendars. Learn more and register for the webinar here: https://mailchi.mp/773a4d4869ce/aprilwebinar-agenda 

  • Buoys & Moorings:

    • Kalaeloa Barbers Point Buoy Now Provides Surface Current Data: In early March, the Kalaeloa Barbers Point wave buoy was replaced with a newer model, the Datawell Directional Waverider DRW4, which also has an integrated current meter. Moored approximately 1.7 miles offshore of Kalaeloa Harbor on the leeward coast of Oʻahu, this buoy has been providing wave height, period and direction as well as temperature.

    • New Buoys off the Coast of South Carolina Supporting Ship Operations and Harbor Pilots: Two new buoys deployed near the entrance to the Port of Charleston are supporting ship operations and harbor pilots with much needed data. The buoys are maintained by UNCW Coastal Ocean Research and Monitoring Program and funded by IOOS and SECOORA. Linked here is more on this story and a list of data provided by the colocated buoys. Data is updated every hour.

  • Marine Life

    • New Publication Highlights the Release of 20 Years of Juvenile White Shark Data through the ATN: Congratulations to ATN collaborating researchers John O’ Sullivan, Dr. Chris Lowe and team for the recent publication of the paper ‘A biologging database of juvenile white sharks from the northeast Pacific’ in Scientific Data (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-022-01235-3.pdf). This paper highlights 20 years of juvenile white shark tracking data that were collected from 70 tags deployed on 63 individuals in the Monterey Bay Aquarium led international research effort. These data are now free, open to all and available through the ATN data portal (Project White Shark, 10.24431/rw1k6c3).  

    • Regional Acoustic Telemetry Node Manager Training: Members of the Canadian Ocean Tracking Network (OTN) Data Centre, assisted by the Animal Telemetry Network (ATN) Data Coordinator, organized and convened a week long training event, March 21-25, 2022, aimed at introducing regional acoustic node managers and support staff (21 participants) from across the U.S. and abroad (Participant Map) to the node concept, and to OTN designed tools and data acquisition software. Day 1 covered the features, purpose and function of nodes (OTN Node Manager Training: An Introduction to Nodes - YouTube), while the Data Learner portion of the event (Days 2-5) provided hands-on, in-depth training designed to review OTN’s procedures to ensure submitted metadata/data are formatted correctly, free from errors and properly incorporated into the OTN Database Node structure. We also reviewed protocols for creating relevant data products including QC’d detection and aggregated Push reports that managers can securely share with data contributing members of their respective node (For more details see: Training Materials). For additional information about future training events or contributing data to a regional acoustic node, contact the Ocean Tracking Network Data Centre via email at otndc@dal.ca or the ATN DAC Data Coordinator, Dr. Megan McKinzie at mmckinzie@mbari.org. 

    • California Acoustic Telemetry Network Planning Meeting: A planning Meeting was held on March 21, 2022 with multiple partners to discuss establishing a California Acoustic Telemetry (CaAT) Network.  Building on the success and value of acoustic telemetry networks in other regions, e.g. the Atlantic Cooperative Telemetry (ACT) network, the FACT network and the emerging Pacific Islands Region Telemetry (PIRAT) network, the implementation of a California acoustic telemetry network is being proposed through a partnership including, among others,the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System’s (IOOS) U.S. Animal Telemetry Network (ATN) and Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON), the IOOS Regional Associations CeNCOOS and SCCOOS, the National Ocean Service (NOS) Office of the National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS), and the California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) Shark Lab. More information will be provided as the concept takes shape. 

Data Management and Cyberinfrastructure (DMAC) Subsystem and Tools Built on IOOS Data:

  • 2022 Marine Biological Data Mobilization Workshop: Understanding local changes in biodiversity for management and science, and how these changes happen in a context of regional or global change depends on observations being shared in standardized ways for integration across datasets, space, and time. In an effort to increase standardization and sharing, the Canadian Integrated Ocean Observing System, Hakai, Integrated Ocean Observing System, Marine Biodiversity Observation Network, Ocean Biodiversity Information System-USA, and Ocean Tracking Network held a workshop virtually March 14 and 15, 2022 to help data providers or managers align their data to the Darwin Core standard so it can be shared with global integrated data repositories Ocean Biodiversity Information System and Global Biodiversity Information Facility. This workshop was intended to advance interoperability for marine data as part of several Ocean Decade Programmes including Marine Life 2030, Challenger 150, Biomolecular Ocean Observing Network, Global Ocean Observing System, Ocean Best Practices, and others. The curriculum for this workshop was modeled using The Carpentries evidence-based best-practices of teaching, reusing materials from existing lessons, and similar workshops.
  • SAVE THE DATE! 2022 IOOS DMAC Meeting - June 14-16, 2022: We are pleased to announce that the 2022 DMAC Meeting will take place virtually on the afternoons (1:00 - 5:00 PM ET) from Tuesday, June 14 through Thursday, June 16. Please save these dates in your calendars.  We will reach out for agenda input for presentation and breakout discussion topics soon. Further information on event logistics will be coming out soon as well. Questions or suggestions about the agenda should go to data.ioos@noaa.gov. 
  • QARTOD:

    • Manual for Real-Time Quality Control of High Frequency Radar Surface Current Data Update: We continue working to update the QARTOD Manual for Real-Time Quality Control of High Frequency Radar Surface Current Data, which was first issued in 2016 (https://ioos.noaa.gov/ioos-in-action/manual-real-time-quality-control-high-frequency-radar-surface-current-data/). We plan to incorporate the QC work that’s recently been accomplished by several members of this community, add relevant definitions, verify & update web links, and include things that emerge during the community review. The completion milestone has been pushed to the end of June.

    • Ocean Best Practice System Update: The OBPS supports task teams which leverage the ongoing work of other organizations to develop best practices. A new task team has been formed, TT22-01: Coastal Observations in Under-Resourced Countries. The objective of the project is to develop a handbook of ocean best practices for observations of key physical and chemical parameters of the coastal ocean in under-resourced regions. More information about this task team can be found at https://www.oceanbestpractices.org/about/task-teams/. Consider suggesting your low-resource observation technique to this noble effort!

Modeling and Analysis Subsystem:   

  • No update.

Around the Regions:

  • GCOOS Joins New National Water Initiative: A new award from NOAA, establishes the Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology, or CIROH, headquartered at the Alabama Water Institute at the University of Alabama. CIROH is a consortium of 28 academic institutions, non-profit organizations and government and industry partners — including the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS) — bringing together a powerful team of hydrologic researchers across the United States and Canada. They will develop and deliver national hydrological analyses, forecast information, data, guidance and equitable decision-support services to inform essential emergency management and water resources decisions. Click here for more.
  • NOAA Nautical Charts now a layer in NVS: NOAA recently transitioned to the exclusive use of electronic charts, which NANOOS includes as a layer on NVS. To help users understand and navigate these updates, we have included a list of common symbols in the "Legend" panel, as well as a link to the official U.S. Chart No. 1 guide, which provides comprehensive information about chart symbols, abbreviations, etc.
  • "Southern Gulf of Mexico Marine Observations, Research and Technology: Opportunities for Gulf-Wide Synergies and Cooperation" webinar series continues: During this webinar series, Mexican consortia are presenting their activities over the past six years in conducting basic and applied research in the Gulf of Mexico, discussing ongoing research, the scientific and technological capabilities they have in place, recent synthesis publications, and ideas for future collaborations in this large marine ecosystem. The next in the webinar series, “Environmental Baseline and Marine Biogeochemistry” takes place at noon EST on Thursday, April 7, and the final webinar in the series “Renewable Energies and Technological Developments” takes place at noon EST on Thursday, April 21. Register here to receive a link to join the webinars or click here for the webinar archive.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility:

  • MTS DEIA Webinar Recording Now Available: On March 23rd, IOOS Association DEIA Fellow Ashley Peiffer participated in an MTS Webinar titled “Diversifying the Marine Technology Workforce. How Can I Help?” featuring early career ocean professionals. A recording of the webinar is now available on the MTS Website. 

Interagency and International Collaboration/News:

  • UN Decade of Ocean Science For Sustainable Development Updates:
     
    • Fifth Ocean Decade Laboratory – A Safe Ocean: The fifth Ocean Decade Laboratory was held 5 to 7 April on the topic of the Ocean Decade Outcome “A Safe Ocean”. It was hosted by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research in partnership with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. The ocean has tremendous power. It is capable of devastating coastal communities, ocean users, ecosystems, and economies. To mitigate the ocean’s hazards, make it safer and improve community resilience, more evenly distributed, higher-density ocean data and reliable forecasting systems as well as improved communication and governance are urgently needed. 
  • Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) News:
     
    • Apply now for OOI biogeochemical sensor data workshop: The NSF-funded OOI Biogeochemical Sensor Data Working Group was established in summer 2021 to develop guidelines and best practices for using OOI biogeochemical sensor data to broaden users and applications of these data, and build community capacity to produce analysis-ready data products. The Working Group has convened regular virtual meetings since July 2021, and members have developed a “cookbook” with explicit recommendations for end users working with data from four sensor sub-groups: dissolved oxygen, inorganic carbon parameters, bio-optics, and nitrate. The workshop will be held in Woods Hole on June 16-18, 2022 (the week before the Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry Summer Workshop), and applications are now being accepted for current and prospective OOI biogeochemical sensor data users to join the existing Working Group members to review and discuss the OOI biogeochemical sensor data cookbook and to explore scientific questions that can be explored with these data. Apply by April 15th. 
    • Back to the Northeast Pacific: In late March, the Coastal Endurance Array Team headed out to the northeast Pacific for the sixteenth time. Ten scientists and engineers departed aboard the R/V Sikuliaq for a two-week expedition to recover and redeploy ocean observing equipment at the Coastal Endurance Array. Located off the coasts of Oregon and Washington, the Coastal Endurance Array consists of two cross-shelf moored array lines, designed to observe cross-shelf and along-shelf variability in the region. One of the innovations for this expedition is to test newly hardened solar panel hardware able to withstand the intermittent visits of California Sea Lions that can weigh in at 1,000 pounds or more. Once safely resting on the mooring platforms, the sea lions often let their curiosity overtake them in an attempt to figure out how things work. Follow along with the Endurance 16 team as they share their journey in the link below. Read more here: https://www2.whoi.edu/site/ooi-expedition/
    • UW Students Catalog Visual Treasures from the Undersea World: Watch a squid change color or a spider crab move out of the way of the arm of a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), or have a closeup view as a deep sea skate gracefully swims over the seafloor at Axial Seamount. These are but some of the magical moments captured and cataloged by University of Washington (UW) students who have participated in the UW at-sea experiential learning program associated with the Ocean Observatories Initiative Regional Cabled Array’s (RCA) VISIONS cruises. Read more here: https://oceanobservatories.org/2022/03/uw-students-catalog-visual-treasures-from-the-undersea-world/ 
  • NOAA FY 2023 budget advances a Climate-Ready Nation, New Blue Economy and Equity: “The Biden-Harris Administration recently released its proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023, which includes strong support for NOAA‘s mission and goals. This level of funding signals the Administration's support of NOAA as the authority on climate data and information. The FY 2023 budget will allow NOAA to scale our efforts to deliver accurate climate products and services to all Americans by building on our research, forecasts, and observations," said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. Read more here: https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/noaa-fy-2023-budget-advances-climate-ready-nation-new-blue-economy-and-equity 
  • University of Alabama to Lead NOAA Institute to Advance Water and Flood Prediction: NOAA has selected the University of Alabama to host a new cooperative institute focused on accelerating research and enhancing collaboration. The goal of this new institute will be to improve the agency's ability to provide actionable water resource information for forecasts, watches, warnings and related products to protect life and property and strengthen the national economy. The new research venture is called the Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology, or CIROH. “The new cooperative institute will work with NOAA to research and develop state-of-the-science water analysis, forecasts and guidance and the equitable delivery of decision-support services,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. “This program will train the next generation of scientists focused on addressing water issues and emergencies on all time scales, helping NOAA build a Climate Ready Nation that is responsive and resilient in a changing world.” Read more here: https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/university-of-alabama-to-lead-noaa-institute-to-advance-water-and-flood-prediction 
  • Coast Survey’s mobile integrated survey team goes to Antarctica: From November 25, 2021 to February 11, 2022, the Office of Coast Survey, Navigation Response Branch team members Lt. j.g. Collin McMillan, Michael Bloom, and Annie Raymond traveled aboard the U.S. Coast Guard heavy icebreaker Polar Star on its 25th Operation Deep Freeze. The Polar Star’s primary mission involves cutting a channel through the ice and clearing the way for supply vessels to reach McMurdo Station, Antarctica. The Coast Survey team joined the regular mission in order to conduct a hydrographic survey of Winter Quarters Bay at McMurdo in support of the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Infrastructure Modernization for Science project. In particular, the foundation is looking into building a permanent pier structure in the bay. The current pier at McMurdo is made from ice and gravel in layer cake fashion and needs to be periodically rebuilt, as it is very susceptible to warming conditions and wave action. Read more here:  https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/updates/coast-surveys-mobile-integrated-survey-team-goes-to-antarctica/ 
  • CO-OPS Begins Columbia River Currents Survey: The National Current Observation Program began field operations for its tidal current survey in the Columbia River. The two-year study began with successful initial deployment of two horizontal acoustic doppler current profilers in Astoria, Oregon, and Cathlamet, Washington. The study will help NOAA update tidal current harmonics and improve navigation safety. The survey will extend from the mouth of the Columbia River to the Willamette River. As part of the survey, an additional 11 current meters and two real-time current buoy systems will be deployed later this summer. Measuring water currents in the Columbia River is extremely challenging due to dynamic water velocities and constantly moving sand waves.
  • Short-term Great Lakes Gauges Deliver Critical Data: NOAA’s Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) finished data processing and analysis for its short-term Great Lakes water level stations. The data was collected at 54 locations throughout the region over a period of four months (June through September) and will supplement existing data from 53 permanent water level stations. This data will support the upcoming International Great Lakes Datum update and the development of regional forecast models. Short-term, seasonal gauges like these help fill critical data gaps in NOAA’s National Water Level Observation Network and provide support to VDatum, the NOAA Coastal Storms Program, and partners at the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

Upcoming Meetings (Bolded meetings have direct IOOS involvement):

Please check links as we move forward as things may change quickly for planned events 

  • April 25 - 28: GLOSapalooza
    • GLOS Annual Meeting (open to all)
    • Seagull Launch Party (open to all, in-person only)
    • Building the Great Map—A Part of Lakebed 2030 (open to all)
    • IOOS Code Sprint (invite upon request)
  • Sept 20 - 22: UG2 2022 Glider Workshop

Webinars:

  • SERIES: BlueTech Global Connect
    • April 21: Autonomous BlueTech Taking on the Dirty, Dangerous and Dull in the Ocean Space
    • May 19: Space Applications
    • June 16: Building a Sustainable Future for our Ports & Harbors
  • SERIES: EMB Third Thursday Science
    • 21 April: Can early career scientists make a difference in achieving the Ocean we want? - Experiences from the EMB Young Ambassadors
    • 19 May: Critical research needs for informing environmental management of deep-sea mining

Grants and Funding Opportunities:

Job & Internship Opportunities:

  • NEW Program Director, Ocean Visions. Candidate review begins April 18. Open until filled.

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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