Bi-Weekly IOOS® Z-GRAM – 4 September 2015

09/04/2015

ZGram picThe Z-Gram is an informal way of keeping you up-to-date on US IOOS® activities. Pass it on! Please reply with an e-mail with additional addresses or if you no longer want to receive the Z-Gram. Previous Updates

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IOOS® - EYES ON THE OCEAN

From the IOOS Program Office:

  • President Obama Announces New Investments to Enhance Safety and Security in the Changing Arctic: See White House fact sheet that talks about the importance of observations in the Arctic: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/09/01/fact-sheet-president-obama-announces-new-investments-enhance-safety-and
  • Did you vote today? Put a reminder on your calendar to vote each day for Dr. Richard Feely, esteemed NOAA scientist, OA researcher and proud IOOSian, who is up for a People's Choice Sammie Award for public service.  People’s Choice voting will close at 11:59 p.m. EST on September 30, 2015. http://servicetoamericamedals.org/
  • Welcome Aboard: Samantha Simmons (Asst. Scientific Program Director at the Marine Mammal Commission) joined the IOOS Program Office on a part-time 6 month detail. Sam will be working as the Animal Telemetry Network's Network Coordinator and taking advantage of her time in the office to follow up on the IOOC's BIO-TT recommendations and further the development of the Marine Mammal Health Monitoring and Analysis Platform in partnership with NMFS Office of Protected Resources.
  • IOOS Website Redesign Project Kickoff: On 26-28 August, members of Quick Left and Brand Architecture gathered with the IOOS Staff for a “Discovery Sprint”.  The discovery sprint is the initial step toward a redesign of the IOOS web site.  The web site look and feel and updated navigation is currently scheduled for release at the end of November.

Observation Subsystem and Sensor Technologies:

  • HF Radar/Radio: (IOOS national coordinator – Jack Harlan; Harlan@noaa.gov): No update.
  • Glider List Serve Active: In response to the Glider Data Assembly Center review, we initiated a glider data provider list serve to share updates and provide a forum for discussing glider data.  Rob Ragsdale sent the first email this week. If you did not receive it, but are interested in being added to the list, please contact Rob.
  • AOOS Increases Observing Activities in the Arctic: The glider was deployed in mid-July by the University of Alaska field team for the third year of a multiyear monitoring study funded by AOOS. Read more. The Chukchi Sea Ecosystem Mooring, funded by AOOS and the North Pacific Research Board, was serviced with new instruments and redeployed in late August. It will overwinter for the second year, providing a full suite of physical, chemical and biological measurements at multiple depths throughout the water column and across four seasons. The mooring is the only one of its kind in the Arctic and includes sensors monitoring temperature, salinity, pressure, ice draft, significant wave height and direction, currents, optical properties, and many more. The AOOS wave gauge mooring, deployed in the Beaufort Sea in 2014 by Dr. Jeremy Kasper at UAF, was retrieved in August. Data from the mooring will be used to provide additional information to the UAF Chukchi/Beaufort Sea circulation models, as well as to validate NOAA’s Wave Watch III forecast. Data recorded during late fall storms will be especially valuable and will assist with research on coastal erosion rates. Additional AOOS moorings will be deployed in the fall in the eastern Beaufort to provide new data on water levels.
  • Sea Level Trend Data Helps Coastal Communities Prepare for Future Storms: NOAA’s Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) added 13 National Water Level Observation Network (NWLON) stations to their Sea Level Trends Coastal planners and emergency managers can integrate this information into storm surge models to plan for future storms. The additional stations are located in Cutler, ME; Bergen Point, NY; Tolchester Beach, MD; Wachapreague, VA; Lake Worth Beach, FL; Mobile State Docks, AL; Bay Waveland, MS; New Canal, LA; Bob Hall Pier, TX; Arena Cove, CA; Hammond, OR; Port Moller, AK; and Prudhoe Bay, AK.

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
    • Updated manual for real-time quality control of in-situ surface wave observations posted: The refreshed manual was reviewed by many of the original 2013 committee members as well as the U.S. IOOS Regional Associations.  It is one of seven similar quality control manuals, each focused on different oceanographic variables.
    • Dissolved Nutrients Manual: In final review by the IOOC (Federal Agencies) and the international community. Do you want to review but did not get the email request? Please contact bushnell@noaa.gov.
      • AOOS Data Portal Additions: Additional ShoreZone imagery Thanks to the ShoreZone Alaska project, AOOS users can now “fly the coast” through a number of new regions including Prince William Sound, the Alaska Peninsula, Bristol Bay, Southeast, and the northwest Arctic. A variety of new Arctic data layers, provided to AOOS from Audubon Alaska and Oceana through the STAMP project. AOOS recently ingested the North American Mesoscale Forecast System model (NAM-12), which is a major regional weather forecast model run by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)

    Modeling and Analysis Subsystem:

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

    • No update.

    Interagency and International Collaboration/News:

    • Climate Resilience in Alaska Communities: Catalog of Federal Programs, published by the Coastal Erosion Working Group of the Arctic Executive Steering Committee – under the auspices of the White House. AOOS included.
    • The Great Lakes Acoustic Telemetry Observing System (GLATOS) is an OTN partner: GLATOS is collaborating with OTN to integrate Great Lakes acoustic telemetry data with the OTN data warehouse. GLATOS’ database will become an official OTN Partner Node, operating as an autonomous acoustic telemetry database, able to leverage OTN’s data management toolset and contribute to OTN’s global tracking database. Read More
    • NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Webinar Sept 9, 3pm (ET): Dr. Janet Reimer and Dr. Jan Newton (IOOS-NANOOS): Join Dr. Janet Reimer, who will speak about “Carbonate system data synthesis in the South Atlantic Bight 2005 through 2015,” and Dr. Jan Newton, who will discuss the “IOOS Pacific region Ocean Acidification (IPACOA) data portal”. This webinar series focuses on different data synthesis products or efforts and is a continuation of the conversation that was held during the OA Program's PI meeting this summer. Jan's abbreviated abstract: The IPACOA data portal is a collaborative project between the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) and the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program. Five IOOS regional associations participate: NANOOS, CeNCOOS, SCCOOS, AOOS, and PacIOOS covering area from the Pacific Northwest, Central and Northern California, Southern California, Alaska, to Hawaii and Pacific Islands. This collaboration was built using technology NANOOS had developed for its "Shellfish Growers" app, bringing their real-time data to a customized app. The IPACOA portal brings together not only the growers’ data, but also that from buoys offshore, and throughout the Pacific yielding the ability to compare conditions and also gain advances warning of coastal ocean conditions before they reach nearshore.

      Register for the Webinar:

      https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2777013797437977345.  After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

    Delivering Benefits:

    • Team DuraFET Awarded XPrize for the Development of pH Sensors for Ocean Acidification Monitoring.  Team DuraFET is comprised of experts from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Sea-Bird Scientific and Honeywell. For the last 7 years this team adapted a DuraFET pH sensor to work at high pressures in the deep ocean. Todd Martz, a SCCOOS Subject Matter Expert on Ocean Acidification, participated in this effort and said, “This sensor would not exist without a strong partnership between leaders from both industry and academia, so it is a satisfying feeling to see a working technology come out of the long days and nights spent in the lab by scientists at Honeywell, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, and a number of excellent graduate students at Scripps.” Team DuraFET will donate their $250,000 prize to the Argo ocean observing program, which will allow this program to broaden its’ mission to include ocean acidification.
    • Los Angeles’ Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant Diversion September 21-October 26: The City of Los Angeles will divert the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plants effluent from its 5-mile outfall to its auxiliary 1-mile outfall. The Hyperion Environmental Monitoring Division (EMD) has an effluent and receiving water monitoring plan that is compliant with the Regional Water Quality Board and EMD has reached out to the ocean observing community and is using their instrumentation and expertise to provide an accurate picture of the ecosystem during the project. Those assets and affiliates are; 1. SCCOOS High Frequency Radar derived surface currents as displayed on the SCCOOS website. 2. NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory Satellite images 3. UC Santa Barbara’s Current Drifters will provide current velocities 4. UC San Diego/SIO Wirewalkers that measure the vertical location of the plume 5. Continuous Surface Mapping using a data sonde at predetermined water quality stations 6. Profiling CTD for vertical profiling of the plume at predetermined water quality stations 7. SCCOOS Integrated Webpage will be used as a portal to determine daily operations.
    • IOOS and SECOORA Visit Coastal Carolina University: Executive Director of SECOORA Debra Hernandez and IOOS Director Zdenka Willis visited with Paul Gayes, Professor and Director for Center for Marine and Wetlands Studies. Coastal Carolina has built an impressive Marine Science program with 1000 undergraduates, and a recently approved PhD program which includes both masters and PhD students. Coastal Carolina has an exciting array of studies both regionally and internationally stretching into the Arctic. They are working with Clemson University on an “intelligent river” project that connects the observing from the rivers into the estuaries. Debra and I had the chance to give an IOOS and SECOORA presentation to faculty and students. We spoke with Susan Libes and her team on their studies of the water quality along coastal environments with continuous monitoring of ground water. They have observed some interesting hypoxia conditions through their monitoring program. Debra has already had follow up conversations on future collaborations with SECOORA. Thank you to Paul and his team for their hospitality.

    Congressional

    • No update.

    Communications / Outreach / Education:

    Upcoming Meetings with IOOS Participation:

    • Mark your calendars for Oceans ‘15 and associated events (October 19th – 23rd):
      • “Promoting Sustainable Usage of the Oceans” seminar planned at Johns Hopkins SAIS on Monday, Oct. 19th – for more info contact Michael Jones, The Maritime Alliance, mbjones@themaritimealliance.org
      • Exciting Events sponsored by US IOOS, The Maritime Alliance and MTS all focused on the Blue Economy, Blue Tech, Blue Voice and Blue STEM.
      • Tuesday, Oct 20th - Ignite! A lightning round of innovations, discoveries, and applications in Blue Tech – Moderated by Dr. Holly Bamford, Acting Assistant Secretary for Conservation and Management, NOAA – will feature the following talks:
        • Margaret Davidson, Acting Director of NOAA Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management - invited
        • Fred Whoriskey, Executive Director of Canada’s Ocean Tracking Network (OTN)
        • Gregory Dusek, Oceanographer in CO-OPs
        • Carol Janzen, Director of Operations and Development, AOOS
        • Edel O'Connor, National Coordinator, Advanced Marine Technology Programme Marine Institute
        • Jeremy Mathis, Director, NOAA Arctic Research Program (ARP)
        • Mario Tamburri, Research Professor, UMD UMCES, CBL
        • Laurie Jugan, Program Coordinator of Mississippi Marine Industries Science & Technology Cluster (MIST)
        • Ralph Rayner, Sector Director for Energy & Environment, BMT Group
        • David Murphy, Director of Science, Sea-Bird Electronics
      • Wednesday, Oct. 21st - Townhall - Blue Economy, Blue Tech, Blue Voice will be moderated by Sherri Goodman President and CEO of the Consortium for Ocean Leadership with a senior panel that includes:
        • Congressman Duncan Hunter (CA-50)
        • Michael Rodriguez, DA of MARAD (accepted pending approval)
        • Laurie Jugan, Program Coordinator of MIST
        • Harlan Doliner, Counsel and Board Chair of MOTN
        • Fred Terral, President, CEO and Executive Creative Director of Brand Architecture

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

    Contact

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