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IOOS^® - EYES ON THE OCEAN^™

From the IOOS Program Office:

• Grand Slam – Senate Oceans Caucus Briefing: Thank you to the hard work by Senator Wicker’s staff and the IOOS Association for putting on an outstanding event. Thanks to my team who provided support for the event. We had standing room only crowd of over 90 Congressional staff and representatives from Federal agencies, academia, and the private sector in attendance.  Thank you to Molly McCammon, Executive Director for AOOS for moderating. VADM Manson Brown likened IOOS to critical infrastructure that is necessary for the safety and economic prosperity of the United States. Captain Kip Louttit, Executive Director, Marine Exchange of Southern California discussed the importance of the IOOS/NOAA/Industry partnership in the Under Keel Project that will not only enhance safety, but will increase efficiency in the Port of Long Beach. Dr. Michael Macrander, Shell Arctic Program stressed the importance of ocean observing in everything they do and talked about Shell’s strong environmental concerns and funding they have provided for environmental studies including the new Arctic Marine Biodivesity Network project. He noted VADM Brown’s comment on IOOS’ leveraging mandate and that Shell also depends on leveraging and is pleased to partner with IOOS in both the Arctic and Gulf of Mexico. For further information see the IOOS story XXXX and Story by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership

Observation Subsystem and Sensor Technologies:

• HF Radar/Radio: (IOOS national coordinator – Jack Harlan; Harlan@noaa.gov) – No update.
• AUV Jubilee begins this week: GCOOS is participating in a GOMRI led AUV Jubilee, which begins this week.  There will be daily video conference meetings at 1300 CDT (1400 EDT) from July 13-17, 1-646-568-7788 (US Toll) or 1-415-762-9988, Meeting ID: 639 792 6783.  Questions, contact Ryan Vandermeulen.  Glider data will be sent to the IOOS Glider DAC and you can also track missions on the GCOOS tracker.  There are already 5 missions underway and there will be at least 10 platforms out including 7 profiling gliders and some newer surface and hybrid platforms.
• IOOS’ Ocean Technology Transition project: A NOAA/OAR press release highlighted PMEL’s and the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ ocean acidification study at Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery in Seward, Alaska.  This project is part of the larger Pacific Region Ocean Acidification Network, funded by NOAA OAP and U.S. IOOS Ocean Technology Transition.  The article shows the ocean acidification monitoring systems funded by OAP and OTT.  The monitoring systems, dubbed “burkolators,” were developed by Dr. Burke Hales, Ph.D., at Oregon State University and measure ocean acidification variables, including calculated aragonite saturation.  In addition to being installed the  Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery in Alaska, the burkolators were also installed at Taylor Shellfish Hatchery in Washington, Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery in Oregon, Hog Island Oyster Co. in central California, and Carlsbad Aquafarm in southern California.
• NEW OTT project - Operational System for Acquiring and Disseminating Oceanographic and Behavioral Data Telemetered from Tagged Sharks covering the main Hawaiian Islands. The first of the FY15 projects was awarded through PacIOOS to the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (UH) for a two-year project. The project will initially focus on deploying environmental sensor tags on tiger sharks caught within the coverage footprint of the array but exploratory deployments will also be made with six gill and hammerhead sharks. Tiger sharks sample the water column between the surface and approximately 300 meters while six-gill sharks sample between 300 and 1000 meters. Data will be acquired via the Argos satellite system and through land-based relay receivers installed on several islands as part of this project. All relevant data will be relayed to the Global Telecommunications System (GTS) and similar databases. Previous results indicate that areal coverage will range from very nearshore out to several hundred miles from the Hawaiian Islands. New types of tags will be tested in the array as they become available from our industry partner.

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

(Contact Derrick or Rob to get on the list serve for changes - Derrick.Snowden@noaa.gov, Rob.Ragsdale@noaa.gov):

• QARTOD
  • Dissolved Nutrients manual: Continued receiving, reviewing, recording, and responding to comments from the second round of reviewers (RA’s, DMAC members, QARTOD Board of Advisors, and others).
  • Waves manual update: Continued to receive comments from the committee, address them, and edit the manual. Completed the draft and distributed it to RAs and others for the 2nd round of reviews.
  • Currents manual update: Began assembling the update committee.
  • HFR Currents manual: Planning has begun with outreach to Lucy Wyatt, Chris Paternostro, and Jack Harlan to begin planning for this manual.
• Animal Telemetry Network:
  • The CBIBS Data Acquisition software is now running on the Applied Science Associates cloud.  A new CBIBS database will support collection of Acoustic Tag data from the CBIBS system in support of the Mid-Atlantic Acoustic Tagging Observation System (MATOS).
  • GCOOS posted results of their May meeting on tagging - iTAG program.
  • PacIOOS reported that the successful deployment and recovery of the first oxygen sensing pop-up tags allowed for “next generation” development of fin-mounted tags with oxygen sensors and uplink software based on the data obtained from the pop-up tags. Two fin-mounted oxygen tags on tiger sharks were deployed and continue to regularly transmit oceanographic profiles. Additional near real-time shark tagging was conducted around Oahu, leveraging funds from State of Hawaii for tags off Maui.  Data is available on PacIOOS’ website.

Modeling and Analysis Subsystem:

(IOOS PO and IOOS Coastal and Ocean Modeling Testbed (COMT) POC – Becky Baltes (Becky.Baltes@noaa.gov):

• Join Us – COMT annual meeting: The COMT all hands meeting will be held July 30-31 at SURA in downtown DC.  If you are interested in hearing the latest updates for the COMT, please consider attending.  The agenda can be found here.
• Forecasting Potential Wave Inundation for Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands: PacIOOS offers a new tool that forecasts thepotential of high sea levels and wave inundation for the most populated segments of Kwajalein Atoll. The model is updated hourly and provides information up to six days prior to a potential inundation event. The Marshall Islands are vulnerable to flooding due to their low elevation. To increase community resilience and enhance preparedness in advance of potential flooding events, the forecast helps decision-makers, agency representatives, and community members to plan accordingly.

Interagency and International Collaboration/News:

• CO­-OPS Educates The Weather Channel About Rip Currents: National Ocean Service’s – Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-­OPS) paired up with the National Weather Service (NWS) to provide rip current information to The Weather Channel (TWC). The Weather Channel participants were interested in the latest information in rip current science, and the most recent messaging from NOAA on rip current safety. Greg Ducek and Audra Luscher from CO­-OPS and Wayne Presnell from the NWS gave excellent talks on the specifics of NOAA’s “Break the Grip of the Rip Campaign.” The Weather Channel invited Greg Ducek to conduct an interview about rip currents which aired over the July 4^th To see Greg’s interview see this link https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5uXRN5FECX1d181clpoOUZtSTQ.
• Visit with Canada’s Oceans Network Canada (ONC): Jan and I were hosted by Kate Moran and Scott Mclean of ONC and ONC’s Innovation Center. A world class observatory operation, successfully operating both the Neptune and Venus cabled observatories and are extending their efforts into Cambridge bay. Though the Innovation center, Scott and his team Smart Oceans Systems™ Western Economic Diversity and IBM are working to develop an observing system and predictions for public safety, marine safety and environmental protection. We see great collaborative potential between ONC and NANOOS as well as ONC and IOOS in the areas of data management visualization, the set up of their HF Radar Network, and acoustic hydrophones. Thank you for the warm hospitality.

Delivering Benefits:

• Smithsonian Move workshop: Hassan presented the IOOS’ ATN efforts at the Smithsonian Move (SI MOVE). The two day workshop brought together experts on animal movement from aerial, terrestrial and marine, across the Smithsonian along with strategic outside partners (OTN, IOOS ATN, etc.). The first day of the workshop focused on developing overarching research ideas and frameworks for SI MOVE. The second day was a series of breakout sessions focused on developing a strategy for SI MOVE.  Some preliminary outcome includes challenges with data sharing, data management, analytical and visualization tools for animal movement. Participants identified several opportunities for SI MOVE such as the Smithsonian platform for education and outreach, capacity building and training (aniMove), Smithsonian brand recognition and fundraising relationships (capitalize on partners in the Sky), Smithsonian sites (Forest GEO, Marine GEO, NEON..etc.), and the potential for long-term animal movement studies in these sites.
• NOAA’s National Ocean Service/IOOS/Industry Under Keel Project update: Through this effort, the Port of Long Beach and SCCOOS have installed two new wave buoys to complement the existing buoy. The buoys are operated by USACE, CA state, and SCRIPPS under the CDIP. The most recent deployment of the Long Beach Channel buoy, is an additional validation point to be used in the model development for the Ports Under Keel Clearance (UKC) Project which analyzes the safety for tanker transits with a deadweight over 175,000 DWT or with a draft over 55ft. Wave buoys are used both real-time for operations, and also for wave model validation. They contribute greatly towards operations for the tugs and barges, ferries, harbor pilots, the PROTIDE UKC Project, offshore oil terminal operations in El Segundo and the U.S. Coast Guard. Data from these buoys are available through the custom CDIP display for the Marine Exchange, the NOS PORTS website and NWS National Buoy Data Center (NDBC) website.
• Visit with NANOOS and NOAA Seattle: I had a wonderful pre July 4^th visit with NANOOS and UW/APL team. The morning started with a tour of the buoy lab to see firsthand the cooperation between NANOOS buoys ops and the ESP collaboration. Thanks to: John Mickett, Zoe Parsons, Hannah Glover, APL-UW; Stephanie Moore, Linda Rhodes (NWFSC) for this great effort. Nick Bond, Washington state climatologist talked about the current Pacific Anomaly aka “the Blob”, an update on the work that Samantha Siedlecki, JISAO is doing through J-SCOPE on the prediction of hypoxia and a demo of new capabilities by Emilio Mayorga and Troy Tanner. I was very excited to see the new partnership with the Washington State Department of Health to post their data that will be very helpful to the NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service’ NW Science Center in the area of pathogen monitoring. Check out the NANOOS BLOB TRACKER.

From there Jan and I met with PMEL’s Ocean Acidification team led by Dick Feeley. This is a partnership second to none and together we are helping the nation and the world understand the causes and effects of the changing ocean chemistry. We also met with NOAA’s regional coordinator and Western Regional Climate Services Direction and look forward to their project on cataloging of regional climate services. I ended by visit at the NW Fisheries Science Center, where we spent the morning talking about the extensive Harmful Algal Bloom that extends from Central California to Alaska and NOAA’s response, the work on they are going on bacteria and pathogens and looking for indicators such as SST to forecast outbreaks, and leading research on marine mammal toxin monitoring and human health interactions. Thank you to all for your time and BZ on your efforts. It was my pleasure to be in the company of such dedicated and brilliant scientists and engineers.

Congressional

• See above on the successful IOOS briefing.

Communications / Outreach / Education:

• Nicely done video about CBIBS and a peek into what it takes to keep the buoys up and running.

Upcoming Meetings with IOOS Participation:

• No update.

View the IOOS calendar: https://ioosassociation.org/