PacIOOS Governing Council Established

The PacIOOS Governing Council was recently established to provide overall guidance on the development of the observing system.  Members represent various sectors including transportation, tourism, resource management, local and national government and non-government organizations.  Click here for a list of current members.  

PacIOOS 5-year plan submitted to NOAA 

PacIOOS submitted a program proposal requesting

five additional years of funding through National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and its partner agencies.  The Governing Council approved the proposed plan, which focuses on water quality; coastal hazards and resiliency; coastal ocean-state and forecasting; marine ecosystem monitoring; and atmospheric, wave and circulation modeling.  The plan also addresses maintenance of existing assets, additional sensor deployment, data delivery strategies, and product development goals. 

Water Quality Sensors Deployed in Pacific Islands

Near shore water quality sensors that monitor temperature, salinity, depth (tidal fluctuations), chlorophyll, and turbidity, were deployed in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Republic of Palau, and American Samoa between May and September.  A sixth sensor will be installed in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands by January 2011.

Kalaeloa HFR Array

High Frequency Radio Installation on O'ahu

Three High Frequency Radio (HFR) arrays are now active on O'ahu, providing near-real-time surface current maps between Barbers Point and Koko Head. Captain Barry Compagnoni, former Commander, Sector Honolulu and Captain Port for the Hawaiian Islands explains, "This information will be incredibly valuable to Coast Guard search and rescue efforts.  The technology employed in PacIOOS provides a cost-effective and near-constant source of weather information that could potentially be integrated directly into Coast Guard search and rescue models."

The Hawai'i Data Viewer 

The Hawai'i Data Viewer is a map-based tool to show PacIOOS related data collection sites and provides access to the data from these sites.  The Data Viewer allows users to view surface currents, hazard information, waves and water level, water quality, weather information, bathymetry, nautical charts, the location of PacIOOS and partners' assets, and more.  We are in the process of finalizing the Data Viewer for the Insular Pacific.  

PacIOOS is the Pacific Islands regional component of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS).  Our mission is to provide timely, reliable, and accurate information on the open and coastal ocean waters of the Pacific Islands to ensure a healthy, clean, productive ocean and resilient coastal zone.  For more information on PacIOOS or to become a partner please visit www.pacioos.org or contact the PacIOOS Director, Chris Ostrander, at chriso@hawaii.edu.