Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association 
 IOOS Southeast

August 2013
Newsletter

Feature Story: Ocean Acidification in the Southeast, courtesy of Jennifer Bennett, NOAA Ocean Acidification Program

 

Ocean acidification (OA) is a global change in ocean chemistry resulting from the ocean's uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) which is increasing in the atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels, land use change, and cement production.  Increased levels of CO2 cause an increase in acidity (or decrease in pH) and an array of other chemical changes in the carbonate system of the ocean that can affect a variety of organisms, particularly those with calcium carbonate shells or skeletons (i.e. corals, shellfish, plankton). Learn more about OA research being conducted in the SECOORA region.

 

SECOORA News and Events 

 

SECOORA Elects New Officers: Congratulations to the following individuals who were recently elected to the SECOORA Executive Committee. 

 

Chair - George Maul, Florida Institute of Technology
V. Chair - Rick DeVoe, South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium
Treasurer - John Proni, Florida International University
Secretary - Conrad Lautenbacher, GeoOptics 
Past Chair - Dick Dodge, Nova Southeastern University

 

FY13 Funding: NOAA notified SECOORA of our $2,497,703 award for Year 3 of our IOOS Cooperative Agreement. SECOORA will continue to fund ocean observing, modeling, and data management infrastructure within the region. Follow the link for an overview of projects supported with IOOS funding.

 

SECOORA Meetings: Planning for both the December SECOORA Board meeting and 2014 SECOORA Annual Meeting is under way.

  • The Board will meet December 4-5, 2013 at the NOAA Coastal Services Center in Charleston, SC.
  • The 2014 SECOORA Annual Meeting will be held May 13-15, 2014 at the Hilton Savannah Desoto in Savannah, GA.
  • Volunteers to serve on Steering Committees for both the December Board meeting and the May Annual meeting are needed. Please contact Debra if you are interested.

Executive Director visits Florida: Debra will be in Florida the week of August 5 meeting with partners, stakeholders and SECOORA members. SECOORA will host an evening social from 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM at the Campus Grind, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg Campus, 121 7th Ave South, St Petersburg, FL 33701.

 

SECOORA at Conferences and Meetings 

Gordon Research Conference on Coastal Ocean Circulation: SECOORA Principal Investigators Nick Shay (University of Miami), Dana Savidge, (Skidaway Institute of Oceanography) and Ruoying He (North Carolina State University) were present at the 2013 Gordon Research Conference on Coastal Ocean Circulation held at the University of New England, June 9 - 14. The Gordon Research Conference brought together a diverse collection of physical oceanographers, including experimentalists, modelers, and theoreticians, who are at the forefront of their fields. To learn more about the conference, visit Coastal Ocean Circulation GRC.

 

Asia Oceanographic and Geosciences Society Meeting (AOGS): SECOORA Principal Investigators Nick Shay (University of Miami) and Ruoying He (North Carolina State University) attended the 2013 Asia Oceanographic and Geosciences Society Meeting (AOGS) held June 24 - 28 in Brisbane, AU. Nick Shay presented a paper titled "Systematically Merged Pacific Ocean Regional Temperature and Salinity (SPORTS) Climatology for Typhoon Intensity Forecasts" in theRecent Advances in the Science and Prediction of Tropical Cyclones session. Ruoying He presented "Interactions of Shelf Circulation and Western Boundary Currents: Idealized and Realistic Modeling Study" in the Ocean Sciences session.

 

EarthCube Real-Time data workshop: Vembu Subramanian, SECOORA RCOOS Manager, attended the EarthCube real-time data workshop held June 17-19 at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), Boulder, Co. The primary goal of the workshop was to explore the integration of real-time data into the EarthCube framework. There were six invited talks from geoscientists and technology experts introducing the various applications, data services and cyberinfrastructure needs and challenges for different earth sciences fields (monitoring, sensor-systems, visualization for mission guidance, collaboration tools, early warning systems etc.). During the meeting, the SECOORA website and Data Portal were highlighted.


News and Announcements from the Region

 

Announcements

  • Florida Sea Grant has published the guide to Estuary-Friendly Living(Sea Grant publication number SGEB 64) which outlines actions you can take to protect Florida's estuaries.
  • The Marine Debris Symposium will be held September 18-20, 2013 at the NOAA/NERRS Building on Piver's Island in Beaufort, NC. This event is free and open to the first 40 registered participants.
  • NOAA Hydrometeorology Testbed Southeast launched a 1�-year long pilot study in North Carolina to improve understanding and forecasting of dangerous storms that can lead to flooding and economic losses. From the coastline to the mountains, state-of-the-art NOAA instrumentation such as radars and rain gauges are being set up in numerous locations across the state that will provide forecasters and researchers with data that may improve forecasting and lead-time for high-impact weather events, such as tropical storms and summertime thunderstorms.
  • SECOORA supports the Governors' South Atlantic Alliance Coast and Ocean Portal: The Governors' South Atlantic Alliance (GSAA) launched the beta version of the GSAA Coast and Ocean Portal, available at http://gsaaportal.org. The Portal was developed by a diverse team of experts led by SECOORA.  It is an online toolkit and resource center that consolidates access to state, regional, and federal datasets into one location. The site was developed with information and tools relevant to coastal managers. The Portal has three main sections: Learn, Explore (data catalog), and Visualize (map viewer).  Initial themes highlighted in the Portal are sediment management (port expansion and beach nourishment) and habitat conservation.  In addition to consolidating relevant existing data, over 70 new data layers of offshore habitat, biological resources, and coastal uses have been made accessible through the portal.   

 New real-time observations in the region

  • Florida Atlantic University (FAU), Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI) has installed two real-time water quality monitoring stations in the Indian River Lagoon to support the long term multi-disciplinary ecosystem based approach to monitoring of the lagoon. HBOI will acquire and deliver high-accuracy and high-resolution physical, chemical and biological data in near real-time (e.g. air-temperature, wind speed and direction, relative humidity, salinity, chlorophyll, nitrates, phosphates, water temperature, turbidity). Work is underway to publish and provide access to the data via FAU and SECOORA websites. For more information please contact Project Manager Dr. Dennis Hansiak, ([email protected]) FAU, HBOI.

 

Dennis Hanisak and Ben Metzger with LOBO Sensor

Photo: Dennis Hansiak and Ben Metzger with a Satlantic Land/Ocean Biogeochemical Observatory (LOBO) sensor. Photo credit: Vembu Subramanian

 

Updates on Federal Activities

Regional Association Certification: The Integrated Coastal and Ocean System Act calls for the certification of regional information coordination entities. The IOOS Program Office published Certification regulation in the federal register. These regulations could impact how SECOORA and the other RAs operate. Comments are due by August 1, 2013. Please contact Debra ([email protected]) if you are interested in coordinating with staff on comments.

 

IOOS Federal Advisory Committee Vision Statement: The IOOS Federal Advisory Committee released their vision statement for IOOS. Check it out and let the Committee know what you think.

 

NOAA Storm Surge Road Map: Understanding and communicating storm surge risks requires the coordination of a wide range of scientists from across NOAA. Therefore, in 2009 NOAA established the Storm Surge Roadmap to provide a common direction for the agency and bring together its experts to work on top priorities, including models, products, and services for tropical and extratropical storms. The Roadmap is the first comprehensive NOAA strategy to holistically address storm surge needs. It brings together meteorologists, oceanographers, engineers, computer scientists, social scientists, and other experts to collaborate on improvements to NOAA's storm surge capabilities. SECOORA will share more details about the Roadmap as they are made available by NOAA.

 

NDBC Defers Buoy and C-Man Maintenance: The NOAA National Data Buoy Center has deferred annual maintenance for buoys and C-MAN stations until further notice. NDBC hopes to resume maintenance of the coastal and offshore weather buoys and C-MAN network next year, pending adequate funding in FY14. http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/ops.shtml

 

US IOOS QARTOD: Two US IOOS quality control procedures manuals have been published: one for Waves and one for Currents. These are the second and third publications from the US IOOS QARTOD project. The manuals can be downloaded at:  http://www.ioos.gov/qartod/welcome.html. Each manual provides a check list of Quality Control (QC) tests for data collected in real-time and includes control steps for the sensors which are critical to guaranteeing quality of the data. Suggestions for Quality Assurance (QA) best practices are provided in the appendix.

These publications represent a major step forward for US IOOS in documenting best practices for QA/QC for the ocean observing community. It was written in close collaboration with experts from the ocean observing community. A manual for Temperature and Salinity will be published later this year. Please contact Vembu (
[email protected]) for more information on QARTOD.

 

Job Opportunities

Applications are being accepted for the following position:

 

Meeting Announcements

OCEANS'13 San Diego MTS/IEEE

The OCEANS'13 San Diego MTS/IEEE Conference will be held September 23-26 at the Town and Country Resort Hotel in San Diego, CA. (http://www.oceans13mtsieeesandiego.org/).

ADCPs in Action Conference   

Teledyne RD Instruments ADCPs in Action Users' Conference returns to San Diego, September 29 - October 2, 2013.  The event will feature networking opportunities, three full days of peer presentations, product and software training, and more!  Web site: http://www.rdinstruments.com/AIA_abstract_submission.aspx 

 


FAU Sea Level Rise Summit

 

Florida Atlantic University will host its 2nd Annual Sea Level Rise Summit in Fort Lauderdale from October 16 -17. The Summit will address the issues and opportunities being faced in adapting to sea level rise and other climate change related impacts. Local, national and international experts will demonstrate best practices and state of the art research focusing on the built environment, economy and impacts on human health. The Summit agenda, registration information, and program details can be found at  http://www.ces.fau.edu/SLR2013/   

 

 

Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF)

 

CERF 2013 will be held in San Diego, CA, November 3-7 at the Mission Valley San Diego Town and Country Convention Center.  SECOORA and several members have submitted abstracts and will be attending the meeting.  Website: http://www.sgmeet.com/cerf2013/ 

 

 

 

Commitment to ocean observing technologies in our region is critical. Your input, guidance, support, and membership will insure that SECOORA, IOOS Southeast, continues to develop the products and services that you need. Join today and be a part of the Southeast's future. Contact Executive Director Debra Hernandez ([email protected]) for more information.
 
Featured Stories
Ocean Acidification
SECOORA News and Events
Conferences and Meeting
Regional News and Announcements
Upcoming Events

 

SECOORA Board Meeting, December 4-5, 2013 at NOAA's Coastal Services Center, Charleston, SC 

 
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