NOAA itself already supports 28 Deep Argo floats, which are being tested in the southwest Pacific and eastern Indian oceans. But Allen’s batch, which were designed by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, will be the first to meet the full standards set by Argo’s scientific board. Whereas shallow Argo floats are made out of metal tubes, Deep Argo floats are the shape and size of an exercise ball, with a pressure-resistant glass sphere at their core. Like their shallow peers, the floats change their buoyancy by pumping oil into or out of an attached bladder. Carrying sensors to measure temperature, salinity, and depth, the floats will descend almost to the sea floor and drift. Every 15 days, they will rise to the surface to transmit data via satellite before diving again, says Gregory Johnson, an oceanographer at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, Washington, who will lead the project.

After test runs, 25 of the floats will be deployed several years from now in deep international waters off the coast of Brazil using Allen’s private ship, the R/V Petrel. There, investigators hope to find missing heat from global warming. They want to build on what Kevin Trenberth, a climate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, says is Argo’s greatest contribution to science so far: an accurate gauge of how humans are warming the planet.

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The wave buoy provides accurate information on wave height, direction and period and also measures surface currents and sea surface temperature.

Wave buoy data benefit the entire community and are important to make well-informed and safe decisions. Real-time wave information improves surf and ocean observations, and enhances wave modeling and surf forecasting. All wave buoy data are available online free of charge.

The wave buoy off Pearl Harbor is the first PacIOOS wave buoy with the capability to measure surface currents at 10-minute intervals. Currents data, along with wave information, will help to enhance marine safety, navigation and harbor operations on O‘ahu’s South Shore, in particular in the waters around Pearl Harbor.

PacIOOS is a Regional Association in support of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS^®).

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Members of the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS) based at the John C. Stennis Space Center complex are working to change that by developing new programs aimed at training a workforce knowledgeable in the tools and technologies that are crucial for maritime operations and for gaining a better understanding of the oceanic and coastal environments in the Gulf of Mexico.

The programs and opportunities being developed by ocean experts Joe Swaykos, who is Chief Scientist of the NOAA National Data Buoy Center and Secretary of the GCOOS Board of Directors, and Dr. Monty Graham, a GCOOS member and Director of the University of Southern Mississippi’s (USM) new School of Ocean Science and Technology, will help train new generations of experts in the operation of ocean-based robot systems and increase internship and employment opportunities for students and graduates.

GCOOS is a Regional Association in support of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS^®).

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Over the last ten years, Meteosat-7 has been delivering observations of the Indian Ocean from geostationary orbit. This heritage mission has been provided by Meteosat first generation satellites ever since 1998. After the December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, Meteosat-7 became an essential part of the Tsunami warning system, acting as a relay spacecraft for the Tsunami warning buoys that were put in place.

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The new GCOOS Strategic Plan 2017-2022 was based in-part on the input given by more than 630 individuals from 297 distinct organizations since 2005 and developed by the GCOOS Board of Directors and staff members. The Plan was unveiled during GCOOS’s recent board meeting and focuses on four key areas identified as most important by stakeholders and includes several themes that cut across each focus area.

GCOOS is a Regional Association in support of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS^®).

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To view 2017-2022 Strategic Plan, click here.

The new website provides user-friendly tools and easy access to PacIOOS’ observations of waves, sea surface currents and water quality. Users can choose from a variety of formats to view and explore data, such as interactive graphs and map viewers. A large set of coastal, oceanic and atmospheric forecasts are also available for different parts of the U.S. Pacific Islands region, including forecasts of potential wave inundation, harbor surge, water temperature and wind speed.

PacIOOS is a Regional Association in support of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS^®).

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This huge movement of organisms – ranging from tiny cockatoo squids to microscopic crustaceans, shifting for food or favorable temperatures – was little known to science until relatively recently.

A new research mission is currently initiating a comprehensive health check of the deep oceans that future changes will be measured against. The consortium of scientists and divers, led by Nekton, is backed by XL Catlin, which has already funded a global analysis of shallow water coral reefs. The new mission is looking far deeper – onwards of 150m down, further than most research that is restricted by the limits of scuba divers.

The Nekton researchers are discovering a whole web of life that could be unknown to science as they attempt to broaden this knowledge. The Guardian joined the mission vessel Baseline Explorer in its survey off the coast of Bermuda, where various corals, sponges and sea slugs have been hauled up from the deep.

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The data from Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Block Island, and Long Island are being combined to produce hourly coastal ocean surface ‌current maps out to about 100 miles over the extent of the region. Brown’s team will also prepare and operate one of the MARACOOS ocean gliders – the UMass Dartmouth-owned underwater robot named Blue (after the whale). Ocean gliders collect a variety of water property data (including temperature, salinity, oxygen and plankton-related chlorophyll) by traversing from the ocean surface to the bottom and then back again along pre-programmed routes.

MARACOOS is a Regional Association in support of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS^®).

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CBIBS, a baywide network of 10 observation buoys that mark points along the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, merges cell phone and internet technology to record and transmit a wealth of real-time data, including wind speed, water and air temperature, wave height, salinity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and chlorophyll levels.

The CBNERR program at VIMS contributes significantly to the local observing system, compiling a network of data buoys, platforms, and programs into a web interface known as the Virginia Estuarine and Coastal Observing System, or VECOS. Managing VECOS is VIMS Professor Ken Moore.

VECOS data from the Virginia portion of Chesapeake Bay are then combined with CBIBS data from both Virginia and Maryland. These bay data are further integrated into MARACOOS — the Mid-Atlantic Regional Association Coastal Ocean Observing System, which stretches from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras — and then into the even broader U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System.

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Ocean acidification has become an increasing concern for Alaska. Scientists estimate that the ocean is 25% more acidic today than it was 300 years ago, largely due to increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil fuels and changes in land use. Almost half of the CO2 emitted remains in the atmosphere, with the land and ocean absorbing the rest. When the ocean absorbs CO2, its pH balance changes through a process called ocean acidification. Because cold water can absorb more CO2 than warm water, acidification can disproportionately impact coastal regions around Alaska.

Among the roles of the network is hosting a comprehensive website with resources for both researchers and the general public. The site includes information on monitoring projects around the state, current trends and forecasts, impacts to Alaska marine life, links to databases and journal articles, and a listing of experts and their specialties.

The network is coordinated by the Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS), with participation from government agencies, research institutions, non-profits, industry, and local communities.

AOOS is a Regional Association in support of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS^®).

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