SECOORA News 3/30/2012: Marine Weather Portal News, PI Updates, Member Spotlights

The Latest from SECOORA
March 30, 2012

Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association

SECOORA News

Marine Weather Portal Moves to SECOORA Web Site
Please visit http://secoora.org/data/applications to view the functionalities and marine weather data layers of the recently integrated Marine Weather Portal. This application compliments the data and maps portal by adding layers such as marine hazards, weather radars and links to National Weather Service marine forecasts. The Marine Weather Portal was developed by UNC Wilmington, Second Creek Consulting, the University of South Carolina, and the University of South Florida, in cooperation with NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS) and the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (SECOORA). Funding for the project was provided by NOAA's Integrated Ocean Observing System. The product was developed with input from NWS Eastern and Southern regions. SECOORA offers congratulations to the Principal Investigators on the development of the product and thanks them for choosing SECOORA to host the application.

PI News: USF Optical Oceanography - Ocean Color Index

With support from SECOORA via our NOAA IOOS award, the USF Optical Oceanography Lab has created and made available a customized color index (CI) data product online in near real-time for the eastern Gulf of Mexico and NW Atlantic. The product is nearly immune to sun glint contamination and therefore useful to trace differences in ocean color features in all seasons. The near real-time, Google-Earth compatible images are available online. Choose a date, time, and find the "CI L3D_RRC" image.

PI News: Long Bay HF Radar Stations Update - Data Now Available Online

Surface current data from the recently installed HF Radar stations in Long Bay are now available via the SECOORA data portal as well as the National HF Radar Network and the University of South Carolina. One station is located on the Hobcaw Barony in Georgetown, SC while the other station is located at Fort Caswell, NC on properties managed by the Belle W. Baruch Foundation and the North Carolina Baptist Assembly at Fort Caswell, respectively. Systems were installed by Prof. George Voulgaris and his team and have been operational over a month. More recently an engineer from the manufacturer Helzel Messtechnik GmbH visited the sites and together with Prof. George Voulgaris and his technical team inspected the installations and optimized the system
to provide greater coverage. Work is also underway to provide dynamic real-time displays and outreach information (posters) specifically designed for the site hosts (Hobcaw Barony, Belle W. Baruch Foundations and North Carolina Baptist Assembly at Fort Caswell) and their visitors.

HFR Coverage Area

SECOORA at 2012 Southeastern Coastal Wind Conference

Dan Ramage, Software Engineer, represented SECOORA at the 2012 Southeastern Coastal Wind conference held during March 8 -9, 2012 at Charlotte Convention Center, Charlotte, NC. SECOORA was one of the sponsors of the event. Day 1 of the conference included Market & Policy, Regional Highlights and Manufacturers & Supply tracks. Each track had expert speakers and panelists from Government, Private and Academic sectors. The Regional Highlights highlighted the wind energy research activities conducted in the Southeast Region. Day 2 had discussions on lowering energy costs, role of military in southeast in energy procurement and siting considerations, seminar for manufacturers and developers panel discussion. Presentations, videos, and the final attendee list have been posted online at http://www.secoastalwind.org/presentations.

NOAA in the Carolina's 2012 Meeting

Megan Lee represented SECOORA at the NOAA in the Carolina's 2012 Meeting held in Charleston, SC on May 15th -16th. The 2-day conference offered presentations and breakout sessions around the themes of Resiliency and Water Resources. Examples of presentation titles included: "Integrated Hazards Rick Management and Sea Level Rise" and "Coastal Urbanization and Climate Change: A Recipe for Disaster." In addition, there were presentations about ongoing projects including: a FEMA-EPA Community Resilience Pilot, SC Sea Grant Consortium's - Vulnerability and Consequences Adaptation Planning Scenarios (VCAPS) Project, and a CIFLOW update. A facilitated open forum concluded the 2-day meeting where participants were asked to identify NOAA services gaps and additional areas for collaboration around the themes of Water Resources and Resiliency.

SECOORA Annual Meeting - Register Today!

SECOORA's Annual Meetings will be held May 7-9, 2012 at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS). Please register via the SECOORA Web site and view the preliminary agenda for May 8th. The Board of Directors meeting agenda and PI meeting agenda are still in development. A block of rooms is being held at the Mayfair Hotel, 3000 Florida Avenue Miami, Florida 33133. For reservations please call 1.800.433.4555 by April 9, 2012 and ask for the SECOORA rate ($125/night).

SECOORA Member Spotlight

News from SECOORA member Rick Cole, President RDSEA International, Inc.

Image Credit: Rick Cole

2012 ONR/MTS Buoy Workshop a Huge Success in Canada

The 9th biannual ONR/MTS Buoy Workshop was held the week of March 5th, 2012 in the beautiful city of Victoria, capital of the Province of British Columbia, Canada. SECOORA member Rick Cole, president of RDSEA, co-chaired the workshop. Nearly one hundred attendees from around the world who are engaged in "buoy technology and engineering" attended and presented talks that made the workshop a huge success. This was the first ONR/MTS buoy technology meeting outside of US, just over the border from Seattle, WA. Speakers from Canada, Japan, Korea, Australia, the U.S. and others gave updates on the continued evolution of buoy systems, both shallow and deep. Site tours were conducted to the Institute of Ocean Sciences (IOS) buoy operations group Arctic research program, the University of Victoria's "VENUS" real-time underwater network, and a visit to Axys Technologies (Sidney, BC) who hosted the workshop. The attendees witnessed an array of buoy system designs and data gathered by various programs. The organizers are planning their next gathering for 2014.

RDSEA's Participation in RAMA network

Rick Cole is involved in the large multinational RAMA Program (The Research Moored Array for African-Asian-Australian Monsoon Analysis and Prediction), a new array of moored buoys in the Indian Ocean that provide critical climate and ocean data to help scientists predict the dramatic variations between seasonal monsoon rains and droughts. Rick will oversee the installation of new technology for NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) on board RV Baruna Jaya III, home ported in Jakarta, Indonesia. This will be Rick's forth trip out on the program, continuing the expansion of the RAMA array in the region.

RDSEA's partnership with EGS and CSA

Rick Cole has also recently accepted a position as Technical Director of a new start-up company EGS Metocean Sound Sciences, a joint venture between EGS Survey and CSA (www.egsmss.com) in partnership with RDSEA. With a worldwide footprint EGSMSS brings a fresh look to the concept of MetOcean measurements.

For more information, please visit www.rdsea.com and contact Rick Cole @ 727-385-3834.

Other News of Interest

2012 Ocean Education Partnership Grants Funding Opportunity.

The NOAA Office of Education (OEd) has issued a request for applications for projects designed to expand or develop professional development and other capacity-building activities for informal science educators and volunteers. A successful project will utilize the resources of multiple institutions to enhance the capacity of informal science educators and volunteers to engage visitors and promote public understanding and stewardship of coastal, marine, and/or freshwater environments. Eligible applicants are collaborative teams that include at least three non-profit U.S. aquariums, of which at least one must be accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Collaborative teams should involve applicants from multiple U.S. states and are strongly encouraged to include at least one aquarium that has not previously received a grant from NOAA's Office of Education. There is special interest in collaborative teams that include aquariums representing a wide range of annual operating budgets, total visitorship numbers, and/or physical sizes. View the details

Job Announcements

Environmental Communications Specialist, NOAA Office of Response and Restoration

I.M. Systems Group, Inc. (IMSG), a Federal Government Contractor located in Rockville, Maryland is currently seeking to hire an Environmental Communications Specialist to provide outreach and communications support to NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration's (http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/) Assessment and

Restoration Division (ARD). ARD's mission is to protect and restore coastal and marine resources injured by the release of oil or hazardous substances or direct physical impacts such as vessel groundings. This full-time position will be located in Silver Spring, Maryland. Routine domestic travel of up to approximately 25% will be required. View the details.

Staff Biologist, Mote Marine Lab

Applications are being accepted to fill a Staff Biologist Position shared between two research programs at Mote Marine Laboratory: the Marine Biomedical and Marine Immunology Programs. This position requires knowledge of an advanced type, including basic lab techniques, biochemistry, immunology, and physiology acquired through specialized college-level instruction and study, as well as advanced skills in the laboratory. View the details.

Coming Events

April 17-19, 2012 The 11th International Radiowave Workshop (ROW 2012) Workshop, Toulon, France

April 15-20, 2012 30th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

April 23-27, 2012 SPIE Ocean Sensing and Monitoring IV, Baltimore, MD

April 30-May 4, 2012 2012 National Water Quality Monitoring Conference, Portland, OR

April 30-May 3, 2012 AGU Science Policy Conference, Washington, DC

April 30-May 3, 2012 Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, TX

May 7-9, 2012 SECOORA Annual Meeting, Miami, FL

May 15-17, 2012 From Stem to Stern II, Clearwater Beach, FL

June 21-22, 2012 Sea Level Rise Summit: The Future of Florida and the Coast, Boca Raton, FL

June 24-28, 2012 National Marine Educators Conference, Anchorage, AK

July 8-13, 2012 EARTH Workshop, Wilmington, NC

October 14-19, 2012 OCEANS 2012 MTS/IEEE, Hampton Roads, Virginia

Send us your news!

If you have news to contribute, email [email protected]. Examples of newsworthy items include upcoming meetings, employment opportunity announcements, and major project news.

Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association
Are you interested in ocean observations, ecosystem management, marine operations, or coastal hazards? Then you should know about SECOORA, the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association. SECOORA is the regional solution to integrating coastal and ocean observing in the Southeast United States. Commitment to ocean observing technologies in our region is critical. Your input, guidance, support, and membership will insure that SECOORA continues to develop the products and services that you need. Join SECOORA and be a part of the Southeast's future. Contact Executive Director Debra Hernandez ([email protected]) for more information.