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IOOS^® - EYES ON THE OCEAN^™

From the IOOS Program Office:

• Ocean Enterprise Study trending:  We have received a good response on the "The Ocean Enterprise: A Study of US Business Activity in Ocean Measurement, Observation & Forecasting".  Additional press pickups:
  • Story dedicated to the results of the study – Marine Technology Reporter
  • Hydro International and Ocean News & Technology
• Spring IOOS Regional Association meeting: Thank you to the team at the IOOS Program Office, the IOOS RAs and the National Ocean Service Offices for an excellent meeting.  This year’s theme was increasing collaboration across the National Ocean Service (NOS).  We teamed IOOS RA and program office folks with leaders from NOS offices to talk about collaboration opportunities in Next Generation Navigation, Ecological Forecasting, Biological/Biodiversity, Response and Restoration and Marine Debris, Water Levels, and resiliency.  The agenda and participants list is available on the IOOS Association website here. Presentations will be posted at the link soon.
• Great Reading - IOOS RAs Publish Annual Reports:  NERACOOS, PacIOOS, and SECOORA (coming soon!).

Observation Subsystem and Sensor Technologies:

• HF Radar (IOOS national coordinator, Jack Harlan; Jack.Harlan@noaa.gov):
  • High Frequency Radar Quality Control Project in FY 15/16: IOOS directed SCCOOS funding for a High Frequency (HF) radar quality control (QC) development project. The project is developing  scientifically rigorous and automated methods for monitoring the quality of IOOS HF radar data.  Project leads—Libe Washburn and Brian Emery with UC Santa Barbara, released preliminary results. A summary of those are: 1) Development of “synthetic” radial comparison toolbox (previously referred to as pseudo-radial comparisons); 2) Access to all IOOS radials via the SCCOOS radial data storage server. Data syncs are running regularly to bring the data to a UCSB server for processing; 3) Comparisons for most SCCOOS and some CENCOOS HF sites; 4) Calculations for both measured pattern and ideal pattern radial data, when both are available. These comparisons could be very instructive for operators. Operational web sites showing interim results are available for baseline comparisons for UCSB and USC sites:http://euler.msi.ucsb.edu/realtime/comparisons/. http://euler.msi.ucsb.edu/realtime/comparisons/usc.html

• Glider Updates:
  • New and Improved Glider landing page: Check it out at gliders.ioos.us! Click on the map to see glider tracks and a count of glider days.  Please provide feedback to Becky Baltes, becky.baltes@noaa.gov.  
• NANOOS welcomes a new buoy - Se'lhaem in Bellingham Bay, WA: The Center for Coastal Margin Observation and Prediction, through its education partner University of Washington, deployed the buoy in partnership with Northwest Indian College and Western Washington University on February 11th. The buoy was named by the Lummi Indian Nation Department of Natural Resources, who helped site the buoy, for an island in the Nooksack River delta that is no longer there.  The University of Washington (Seattle, WA) recently deployed a new oceanographic observing buoy featuring Soundnine Inc.’s DANTE Buoy Controller System.  Data are available to the public in real-time through the NANOOS Visualization System (NVS) web app.
• New Water Level Station in Delaware River and Bay PORTS: NOAA’s Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) designated station at 8546252 Bridesburg, PA provisionally operational and data began displaying on the CO­OPS website. This is a replacement station for the Tacony­Palmyra Bridge water level station which was destroyed in a fire in 2013.  CO-OPS thanks partners Delaware River and Bay PORTS, and the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority.

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):

• IOOS Data Page Operational: Check out the new look for the IOOS data page that complements IOOS.noaa.gov.  IOOS.US!  Provide feedback to Becky Baltes and keep checking back as we build out new content.   
• QARTOD Update: lead Mark Bushnell - mark.bushnell@noaa.gov
  • QARTOD in Sea Technology: Mark Bushnell’s editorial on QARTOD was published in Sea Technology February 2016. www.sea-technology.com.  Thanks for the outreach.

Modeling and Analysis Subsystem:

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

• COMT Viewer has been added to ioos.us:  Share it! comt.ioos.us.
• Partner models under review to go operational within NOAA: CO-­OPS and the Office of Coast Survey met with Stevens Institute of Technology to talk about CO-­OPS ingesting the output of the New York Harbor Observing and Prediction System (NYHOPS). This model covers the NY/NJ harbor complex, the Hudson River up to Albany and Long Island and Rhode Island sounds, out to the south shore of Cape Cod.  If this project is successful, NOAA would turn off its New York model called New York and New Jersey Operational Forecast System (NYOFS) and be able to redirect attention to other areas of the United States that lack coverage.

Interagency and International Collaboration/News:

• New Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON) website:  The cross MBON (XMBON) team created a website at marinebon.org.  This site brings together the three MBON efforts funded by NASA, BOEM and NOAA.

Delivering Benefits:

• Ocean Sciences 2016: A great meeting where in addition to the outstanding paper and poster presentations, many, many side meetings took place.  I really enjoyed spending 4 days with the Ocean Science community.  For a full story on the meeting click here. Zdenka’s and Hassan’s presentations are available here.
• PacIOOS buoys/forecasts capture large swells: 2 large north swells generated exceptionally high waves across the Hawaiian Islands. The wave buoy off Waimea Bay measured 27.8 ft. significant wave height on Monday, February 21st -- a new record breaking height since the initial deployment of the buoy in 2001. The PacIOOS wave run-up forecast for O'ahu's North Shore suggested 2 potential flooding events due to the extremely large swells. Residents, businesses, and local officials prepared properties and infrastructure along the north facing shores, which indeed experienced inundation of houses and overtopping of streets. For users of Hale'iwa Harbor, PacIOOS also provides the Harbor Surge Forecast to provide advance notice of the potential for strong currents within the harbor that may cause damage to boats and infrastructure. http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/local-news/high-surf-warning-effect-until-tonight
• "Good chance lobster season will start ‘extremely early,’ researchers say:" http://www.pressherald.com/2016/03/03/warm-weather-will-prompt-early-lobster-season/  NERACOOS buoy data used in forecast.  Check out the GMRI Lobster Forecast page: http://www.gmri.org/our-work/research/projects/gulf-maine-lobster-forecasting.
• January 2016 Ocean Temperatures Warmest on Record:  For the past 14 years NERACOOS buoy A has been monitoring water temperature and other ocean conditions in Massachusetts Bay. The NERACOOS ocean climate tool shows that recent surface water temperatures have been well above the average temperatures for this time of year. This data is a local example of a global phenomenon recently reported by NOAA. A warmer than normal spring, with resulting higher ocean temperatures could lead to another “ocean heat wave” like we experienced in 2012.  The ocean heat wave of 2012 had significant impacts to the Maine lobster industry and was recently highlighted in a Portland Press Herald article.

Congressional

• BRIEFING: From Sea to Shining Sea: Our Oceans' Contribution to the National Economy:  The Co-Chairs of the bipartisan House and Senate Oceans Caucuses held the briefing, which attracted a full room to discuss the current value of the ocean economy along with it future potential.  The event was moderated by Tracy Rouleau, Deputy Chief Economist.  Presenters included: Jeff Adkins, Senior Economist, NOAA; Laurie Jugan, Program Coordinator, Mississippi Enterprise for Technology; Renee Orr, Chief, Office of Strategic Resources BOEM; Annette Moore, Deputy Program Manager, Office of Renewable Energy Programs, BOEM and Judy Kildow, Director, National Ocean Economics Program, Center for the Blue Economy, Middlebury Institute of International Studies.  Laurie Jugan provided feedback that Congressman Farr attended the entire presentation and Senator Whitehouse provided remarks.  Laurie, along with briefing the studies that have been conducted within Mississippi presented the results of the US IOOS/NOAA Ocean Enterprise Study.  Laurie discussed what is not included in the current list of Ocean Economy Sectors.  A call was made for continued work on Ocean Economy Satellite Account.

Communications / Outreach / Education:

• Paper Published on Surface Current Observations after Tsunami: Lead author Lindsey Benjamin, along with other PacIOOS-affiliated researchers from the University of Hawai'i, recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research "The 2011 Tohoku tsunami south of Oahu: High-frequency Doppler radio observations and model simulations of currents." The sea surface current observations on the south shore of O'ahu detected oscillatory radial currents following the arrival of the 2011 tsunami, generated by an 9.0 magnitude earthquake off Japan's coast. Scientists compared the observations on Penguin Bank with the modeled currents. View the abstract.
• NPR Diane Rehm: Environmental Outlook: Concerns About The Unique Warming Trends In The Pacific Ocean. Listen here.
  • Mark Eakin - Coordinator, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Watch program.
  • Nicholas Bond - Research Scientist, Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean, University of Washington
  • Francisco Chavez - Senior Scientist and Biological Oceanographer, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
  • Robert Kunzig - Senior Environment Editor, National Geographic Magazine

Upcoming Meetings with IOOS Participation:

• Oceanology International 2016:  OI 2016: Marine Technology and Services Sector Role in The ‘Blue Economy,’ program will be held 15 March 2016 and explore the latest trends in ocean observing, viewed through the lens of the ‘Blue Economy’.  By means of a series of presentations drawn from a record number of abstracts, this program will help attendees evaluate their own ocean science, technology, and economic activities through new perspectives and identify key trends that will influence future developments.  This conference includes distinguished keynotes, two focused panels and an international roster of speakers.  Like all OI conference sessions it is free-to-attend. Free online registration is available at the OI 2016 website.

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