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:

Hello IOOS Community,

As we sign off for 2019, we bring you the holiday edition of the Eyes on the Ocean. Thank you to the elves for their creative writing. But first a few announcements from the IOOS Office and a little early holiday present to read by the fire.  

The Eyes on the Ocean bi-weekly will take a break until late January. We will begin using GovDelivery to send out this bi-weekly in the new year, so be on the lookout for the new format! I hope all of you will also take some time to rest and reflect on all the great work accomplished this year in IOOS. Wishing you season’s greetings and a very happy new year.

Best wishes,
Carl

Closing out 2019:

  • Welcome Mei-Ling Freeman: Mei-Ling has joined the IOOS Office on a detail as the acting NOS Coastal Modeling Portfolio Manager. Mei-Ling comes to us from the Office of Coast Survey (OCS), Marine Chart Division (MCD) where she is the Production portfolio Manager. Her major responsibilities in the role were to manage projects that improve the existing production process, as well as the quality of the enterprise geodatabase to support Electronic Navigation charts (ENC) production. Before joining MCD, she served as a software developer/project manager at the Coast Survey Development Lab, Office of Coast Survey, for 8 years working on a variety of projects such as developing data extraction programs and web applications, while at the same time managing the Nautical Chart production system for MCD. Prior to joining NOAA, she worked at the U.S. Census Bureau for 8 years. Welcome!
  • Some holiday reading - The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) releases the 2019 National Plan for Civil Earth Observations report: This report is a product of the U.S. Group on Earth Observations Subcommittee and the Committee on the Environment of the National Science and Technology Council. The 2019 National Plan for Civil Earth Observations includes goals, objectives, and actions that will support and balance the portfolio of Earth observations, engage the Earth observations enterprise, and improve the impact of Earth observations. 
  • U.S. IOOS Ocean Technology Transition Funding Opportunity: The U.S. IOOS Program, in conjunction with NOPP, is seeking to fund projects, subject to the availability of funds, which advance new or existing technology-based solutions that address long standing and emerging coastal observing, product development, and data management challenges. The projects will be focused on those technologies for which there are demonstrated operators who commit to integrated, long term use of those technologies and open data sharing. A Transition Manager for the project should be identified and a Transition Plan will be a Year One deliverable. Closes 1/13/2020. View the full notice here. 
  • IOOS Association and MARACOOS are Hiring - Program Assistant: MARACOOS seeks a full-time Program Assistant to assist the Director of Engagement & External Affairs with administration and communications for MARACOOS and provide administrative support to the Executive Director of the IOOS Association. The ideal candidate is someone with an interest in coastal and ocean science and information with strong communications and organizational skills, an ability to work independently and with diverse people, and a willingness to perform the range of tasks necessary to make an organization operate smoothly and efficiently. https://careers.udel.edu/cw/en-us/job/494608/program-assistant-maracoos 

“IOOS Data” (set to the music of “Silver Bells”)
In the ocean, on the water,
Lots of buoys do float,
In the air there’s a feeling of IOOS.
HF Radars, lots of sensors,
Gliders mile after mile,
And from every shore station you see.

Ob-serving, Ob-serving,
It’s IOOS time and we’re busy!
Mod-a-ling, Fore-cast-ing,
Soon it will be IOOS Data!

Strings of data, even sensors,
Readin’ salinity,
As the gliders in Great Lakes do measures.
Datasets bunch, numbers will crunch,
It’s the ocean’s big day,
And from each data portal you hear.

Ob-serving, Ob-serving,
It’s IOOS time and we’re busy!
Mod-a-ling, Fore-cast-ing,
Soon it will be IOOS Data!

Now two decades, many accolades,
Co-llab-orat-ing in style,
In the end partners are what make IOOS.
Waves a crashing, times a passing,
Greeting smile after smile,
We appreciate you every day!

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? Talk to us: eoto@noaa.gov!