In this issue:  SECOORA Mini-Proposals Awarded | Conference and Workshop Updates | New SECOORA Data Source| DWH Strategy Document Released | Water Quality Newsletter| Ocean Leadership RFP | Coming Events

Congratulations to the following SECOORA mini-proposal awardees.  After a thorough review, these two proposals came out on top to receive funds available to support SECOORA Education and Outreach and Product Development efforts. 

Principal Investigator: Lisa Adams from Kennesaw State University
Stakeholders/Partners:  Valerie Paul, Ph.D., Director and Laura Diederick, Education Specialist, Smithsonian Marine Station
 

Monitoring the GTMNERR with the Advanced Basic Observational Buoy (ABOB) in Conjunction with the NERR System Wide Monitoring Program (SWAMP) with Real-Time Display in the NERR Education Center 

Principal Investigators: Dr. J David Lambert and Dr. Patrick T. Welsh, University of North Florida
Stakeholder/Partner: GTMNERR 

Renewable Ocean Energy Conference a Success

At the recent Renewable Ocean Energy & the Marine Environment conference SECOORA coordinated the "Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning" plenary session and also a "Managing Information to Support Decision Making" track.  SECOORA had a large presence at the meeting.  Members attending included Mitch Roffer, Cliff Merz, Dwayne Porter, Manhar Dhanak, and Billy Edge.  Debra Hernandez, SECOORA Executive Director said, "It was a great opportunity to network with leaders working in the alternative energy sector and to learn about cutting edge science and data management issues for this growing industry."

Update on Regional Coordination Workshop, co-hosted by IOOS® and NFRA

The Annual Workshop, held last week in Washington, D.C., included three complementary sessions focusing on 1) building federal and regional partnerships, 2) an ocean leader session, and 3) designing the path forward: An IOOS Coordinated Planning Session.  "Tuesday's sessions with the federal agencies that comprise the National Ocean Council and the Interagency Ocean Observing Subcommittee provided a wonderful opportunity to showcase the work being done by the Regional Associations (RAs) and fostered good dialogue between the RAs our federal partners.  I really think the awareness in D.C. of what the RAs are and can contribute was raised significantly," said Hernandez. 

The Department of Marine and Environmental System's Coastal Engineering Lab (CEL), within Florida Institute of Technology, has been operating and maintaining meteorological instrumentation since 1996 and oceanographic instrumentation since 1997 within and offshore Sebastian Inlet State Park (SISP).  The CEL SISP instrumentation is funded through the Sebastian Inlet District, who is tasked with maintaining the navigational channel, markers, and docks along the inlet.  The meteorological instrumentation was the first instrument platform installed by the CEL.  It was brought to real-time status in late 2007.  The data from these instruments are delivered to the inlet district in quarterly and annual reports and is used as a tool for determining the sediment budget on an annual basis for the inlet.  The addition of the water level sonde will further aid in the calibration of the sediment transport models and the real-time water temperature and conductivity will aid the fishermen.

SECOORA funding is being used to deploy a real-time data cable to the oceanographic instrumentation.  Once completed, the real-time meteorological data will be accompanied by waves and directional currents data.

December 13-14, 2010 Basic Observation Buoy Workshop, Jacksonville, FL

February 13-18, 2011 ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting, San Juan, Puerto Rico

February 28-March 3, 2011 Coastal Program Managers' Meeting, Washington, D.C.