July 2025

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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PacIOOS’ has launched a Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN) model for the Republic of Palau. The model shows a 14-day, hourly forecast for the region surrounding Palau at approximately 275-m resolution. The forecast is run daily and gets updated on the PacIOOS website around 8:15 AM Palau Time (UTC+9) every morning. This high-resolution wave model helps capture shallow water effects and nearshore coastal dynamics such as refracting, shoaling, and shadowing. You can access the model here.

In June, U.S. IOOS celebrated ocean data! The IOOS Association and all 11 Regional Associations came together on June 25 to amplify the value, utility, and impact of ocean data across the country. Did you know that the IOOS Regional Associations submit 13 million observations to the GTS — the primary data platform that supports weather forecasting and modeling — every year? The U.S. IOOS office got in on the fun, putting up this page spotlighting the reach of IOOS data. Check it out to see more about where our data goes and to access national and regional data portals.

Coming up later this month: the IOOS Advisory Committee will hold a public meeting on July 21 and 23. The meeting will be held virtually on July 21, 2025 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) and July 23, 2025 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. (EDT). The meeting will focus on working sessions to identify committee work plan topics and updates from NOAA and key partners. The latest version of the agenda and registration information will be posted on the commitee website.

And last but not least, the HFRNet transition is complete! The oceanographic high-frequency radar data assembly center (DAC) is now hosted at NOAA. There was a lot of hard work on many fronts to make this migration by the June 30 deadline, so a big congratulations to the whole team, including NOAA's U.S. IOOS Office, NESDIS Office of Common Services, and National Data Buoy Center; Scripps' Coastal Observing Research & Development Center (SIO-CORDC); and TetraTech companies RPS and Axiom for crossing the finish line. And we want to send thanks to SIO-CORDC for their efforts hosting this DAC since its inception in 2005. You can find ocean surface current velocity and wave data flow from our new HFRNet live at https://hfradar.ioos.us/hfrnet/.

From the
IOOS Office

  • The next IOOS Advisory Committee Public meeting will be held July 21 and July 23. The agenda will include discussions on the Committee’s potential work plan topics (including AI and Data Buys), as well as updates from the IOOS office and IOOS Association. More details can be found in the Federal Register Notice and on the IOOS Advisory Committee website.  

  • Welcome Minna Ho! Minna started with IOOS as part of the Lapenta Internship Program, which runs until August. She will be part of the IOOS / NOS Cloud Sandbox team, focused mainly on setting up model workflows and running models in the Sandboxes as well as improving user documentation. Minna is currently a PhD student studying physical oceanography at UCLA.

  • The IOOS Ocean Enterprise Program is happy to share that applications are open for StartBlue Ocean Enterprise Accelerator! The StartBlue Ocean Enterprise Accelerator, part of the NOAA Ocean Enterprise Accelerator program, is an immersive four month program designed to help U.S.-based (or U.S. subsidiary) ocean intelligence startups launch and scale to support the goals of the NOAA Ocean Enterprise Initiative. Applications are due by 7/31.

Observing Systems, Data, and Modeling

  • NOAA’s HFRNet is operational! A two-year project to transition ownership of the IOOS high-frequency radar data assembly center, HFRNet, from Scripps to NOAA is complete as of July 1. Many thanks to all involved in this transition, and users can find important information on the IOOS website (see “HFRNet Transition” tab).

  • Alaska fishermen gather year-round data: Since August 2022, participating trollers have conducted vertical profiles of the water column using hand-held Conductivity Temperature and Depth (CTDs) instruments attached to their gear. Regular measurements of temperature, salinity, and pressure help establish a baseline for seasonal cycles of ocean mixing. These processes affect how nutrients from the deep Pacific are brought to the surface and distributed around Southeast Alaska. Find out more here.

  • eMolt expands across the northeast U.S.: It’s been a busy few weeks for eMOLT (Environmental Monitors on Lobster Traps and Large Trawlers) as sensor installations expand under the MassTech expansion. Between the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation, Center for Coastal Studies, and Coonamessett Farm, twelve new systems were installed on vessels. One system was installed on the research dragger R/V Gemma, which is operated by the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA, and promises exciting new scientific collaborations. 

  • New wave buoy off Alabama: Dauphin Island Sea Lab has launched a new Sofar Spotter buoy as part of the Alabama Real-Time Coastal Observation System to help support National Weather Service Rip Current forecasting and general maritime safety. The wave buoy, funded by GCOOS, is about 10 miles south of Dauphin Island. It collects and reports significant wave height, mean wave direction, surface water temperature, and barometric pressure. 

  • SCCOOS is pleased to report the installation of an upgraded HF Radar Antenna at Point Fermin in San Pedro, CA, led by PI Matthew Ragan (USC).
  • The Palau Wave Forecast is live! PacIOOS’ Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN) model is a 14-day, hourly forecast for the region surrounding the Republic of Palau at approximately 275-m resolution.The forecast is run daily and gets updated on the PacIOOS website around 8:15 AM Palau Time (UTC+9) every morning. This high-resolution wave model helps capture shallow water effects and nearshore coastal dynamics such as refracting, shoaling, and shadowing.

  • All of the IOOS collections at NCEI, that’s one for each Regional Association and all of the Data Assembly Centers, now have Digital Object Identifiers! This will help make these data easier to find and cite, and it will enable better metrics tracking. You can find the DOIs on the NCEI Data Archiving Guidelines for IOOS website here.

  • Updates to GCOOS Autonomous Vehicle Dashboard: GCOOS has unveiled a new version of GANDALF, their autonomous vehicle tracking dashboard that helps pilots navigate their vehicles and visualizes ocean data the vehicles gather in real time and near-real-time. Key new features include significant improvements in rapid layer loading, new legends and three-day hind-, now- and forecast animations on the model outputs. 

  • GCOOS ERDDAP Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server, created by GCOOS Developer Bob Currier, bridges another gap between powerful oceanographic databases and less knowledgeable users. Now, researchers can ask their AI assistant questions like "Show me water temperatures in the Gulf of America from last summer" or "Find all the data from underwater gliders near Florida." The GCOOS ERDDAP MCP Server is open-source and available at https://github.com/robertdcurrier/erddap2mcp

  • Updated NVS Customization Capability “Share My View”: NANOOS is excited to announce an updated feature in NVS that allows users to “customize” the information presented within NVS. Set up the map view to display the region of interest, the assets and/or model overlay, etc. that you are interested in, then select the “Share My View” tool to create a unique link that stores this information to be retrieved at any time. 

     

  • Harmful Algal Blooms linked to deaths of northern fur seals in the southeast Bering Sea: New research establishes the first known link between the neurotoxin saxitoxin, accumulated during harmful algal blooms, and deaths of northern fur seals in the southeast Bering Sea. The study was published in the journal Marine Mammal Science. Read more here.

IOOS Enterprise

  • Did you miss MARACOOS’ “Storms that Changed Global Ocean Observing” webinar? Catch up here! And don’t miss the rest of their summer webinars — find the details in our webinar section! 
  • GCOOS Spring Members’ Meeting: On May 28, GCOOS welcomed nearly 100 participants to their virtual Members’ Meeting. Missed the meeting? Catch up here. https://gcoos.org/2025-spring-meet/
  • CeNCOOS is excited to share the summary from the first California Ocean Observing Systems Community Workshop. The workshop brought together researchers, data users, and community members for collaboration, knowledge sharing, and hands-on training.
  • SCCOOS, CeNCOOS, and NANOOS will be presenting at West Watch Webinar on July 15. West Watch is a monthly webinar series that brings together NOAA staff and partners from across the agency and region to share information across the West.
  • Dr. Ana Krelling and Dr. Kristen Sauby have joined NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) to support the archival of IOOS supported data. They will work closely with the DMAC community to ensure seamless data workflows.

Partners

  • The 2025 UN Ocean Conference was held 9-13 June in Nice, France. Over 15,000 participants, including 2,000 scientists and 60+ world leaders, discussed how to unlock sustainable ocean investment and reinforce the role of marine science in policymaking.
  • One Ocean Science Conference was held ahead of the UNOC and included talks from NANOOS Director Jan Newton on Backyard Buoys and ocean acidification and from SCCOOS Director Clarissa Anderson on HABs. https://one-ocean-science-2025.org/ 
  • Ocean solutions in action: 43 initiatives endorsed by the Ocean Decade: Fresh off the 2025 UN Ocean Conference, the Ocean Decade continues to demonstrate that global ambition can lead to real-world solutions, endorsing 43 ocean science initiatives. 
  • Blue IQ: NOAA’s new beach safety campaign: Do you know your “Blue IQ?” In NOAA’s newly released video series, ocean and coastal safety expert Bruckner Chase educates beachgoers about common threats in coastal waters. Check it out!

New Papers and Reports

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