We’re starting the year off with some great news for the ocean observing community: The reauthorization of the Coordinated Ocean Observations and Research Act was signed into law on Dec. 31!
This law provides the foundation coordinating the observing efforts of federal agencies and regional systems like GCOOS. It also establishes the standards and protocols for integrating federal and non-federal data to provide users with seamless access to the most important information. Importantly, it reauthorizes the Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System (IOOS) through fiscal year 2025, starting at $48 million and increasing by $2 million annually.
Speaking of funding, I’m also pleased to report that GCOOS submitted its five-year proposal to the IOOS program office just before the end of the year. We look forward to continuing to support our local data providers and also expanding to new partners providing critical ocean data for sound decision making. The proposal and the local data providers are heavily based on our Strategic Plan.
Looking ahead, don’t forget that GCOOS holds our annual board elections in March — so please start thinking about your nominations! We will have five seats open: two in the private sector, and one each in academic, government, and outreach/education sectors. Also: our next members’ meeting will take place in late April/early May. We’re planning for a virtual meeting.
Until next month,
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Dr. Barbara Kirkpatrick
Executive Director
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NMFS Southeast Region Update
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The Southeast Region of the National Marine Fisheries Service is seeking a new regional administrator to replace the retiring Dr. Roy Crabtree, who has led the office since 2003.
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Patrolling for Toxic Algae
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Autonomous sailing vessel Vela is on patrol searching the waters of Lake Okeechobee in Florida for harmful algal blooms as part of HALO. The “Harmful Algal Bloom Assessment of Lake Okeechobee” project is led by Dr. Jordan Beckler of Florida Atlantic University with GCOOS developing a web-based platform for visualizing bloom extent, intensities and the results of environmental characterization and modeling.
The HALO site is currently tracking an autonomous surface vehicle, Vela, launched by Navocean. Vela is the first autonomous sail-driven surface vehicle to be used for inland algae monitoring. It’s currently collecting air temperature, chlorophyll, CDOM, O2, Phycocyanin and turbidity data.
The $2.2 million grant for the project comes from the state of Florida following recommendations by its Blue-Green Algae Task Force.
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HABscope Volunteers Make Forecast Possible
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A red tide bloom in Southwest Florida is being met with a larger volunteer network of people armed with HABscopes to monitor it.
HABscope is the low-cost, portable microscope that GCOOS outfitted with a special adaptor and iPod used to take video of water samples. The videos of the water samples are sent to the cloud where automated software is used to “read” them and determine whether Karenia brevis cells — the alga that causes red tides in the Gulf — are present and at what concentrations. This information is combined with wind and other data to develop the Red Tide Respiratory Forecast, which is activated during red tides and tells beachgoers the level of respiratory risk at each individual beach.
The Forecast was developed by NOAA in partnership with GCOOS and other local and state partners. NASA provided the initial funding.
Since the current bloom began in December 2020, the Red Tide Respiratory Forecast has expanded to cover beaches throughout the extent of the bloom, ranging from Boca Grande Pass to Cape Romano south of Marco Island. Volunteers are also available north through Pinellas County, should the bloom expand or move north.
This expanded coverage is made possible in part thanks to more than 35 dedicated contributors to the HABscope team, including local, state, and non-profit organizations along with individual volunteers and businesses.
“The Red Tide Respiratory Forecast truly is a team effort,” said Grant Craig, who coordinates the Red Tide Respiratory Forecast Volunteer team for GCOOS. “This team makes it possible for us to provide reports from dozens of beaches, getting us closer to our goal of ‘every beach every day.’”
GCOOS is working with NOAA and other partners to further expand the forecast to northern Florida and to Texas thanks to grants from IOOS and the MERHAB program.
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Understanding Neighborhood Flooding Impacts
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The Gulf Research Program will host an upcoming Emerging ScienTalks: Webinar “Understanding Impacts of Neighborhood Flooding: A Case of the Pensacola Bay” from 1-2 p.m. ET on Jan. 21.
This monthly webinar series is designed to initiate conversations around societal and environmental problems in the Gulf while advancing scientific understanding. Early-Career Research Fellow, Dr. Kwame Owusu-Daaku from the University of West Florida investigates the urbanization of watersheds and neighborhood flooding. Participants will have the opportunity to look at current flood trends and projected future sea-level rise for the Pensacola Bay watershed. The webinar is designed for educators, parents and students.
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Virtual Shellfish Workshop
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The workshop will summarize the latest information on the ecological services provided by marine clams (e.g., Mercenaria spp.) and the quantification of those services. It will also identify where additional research is needed to maximize restoration benefits.
GCOOS’s Gulf of Mexico Coastal Acidification Network (GCAN) is on the Institute’s Shellfish Restoration Committee and helped to organize the event.
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Ocean Decade: U.S. Launch Meeting
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The U.S. National Committee for the Ocean Decade has announced the upcoming Ocean Decade U.S. Launch Meeting.
The 2-day virtual event will feature the first round of submissions of Ocean-Shots, concepts that aspire to create transformational change toward Decade Challenges. The program will include an Early Career Professionals Meet & Greet, Ocean-Shot ePoster Hall, and an Ocean Decade U.S. Nexus Exhibit Hall.
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Powering the Blue Economy: Ocean Observing Prize
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The first deadline is drawing near for the next competition in the Powering the Blue Economy™: Ocean Observing Prize designed to revolutionize our ability to collect the data needed to understand, map, and monitor the ocean.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Office at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) run the challenge, which is a series of competitions with cash awards — up to $2.4 million — to incentivize accelerated advancement of ideas from concept to demonstration. The first competition, the DISCOVER Competition, closed on Feb. 12, 2020.
The DEVELOP Competition is now open and focuses on a single theme, hurricane monitoring, and challenges contestants to develop their ideas into a functioning prototype through three contests:
- Design (currently open and closes Feb. 16, 2021)
- Build (April – Aug. 2021)
- Splash (Nov. 2021 – Feb. 2022)
Please note that DISCOVER competition participation does not guarantee eligibility. Past participation is not a requirement to compete in the DEVELOP Competition.
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Historical Maps Available Online
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Did you know that NOAA has been dedicated to mapping oceans, coasts and shorelines in the Gulf of Mexico for more than 200 years?
To make the charts and maps, NOAA developed new techniques and adapted many others from work across the world, says Tim Osborn, Central Gulf Coast Regional Navigation Manager, Office of Coast Survey, National Ocean Service. “It was shortly after the completion of the Lewis and Clark Expedition — the 'Corps of Discovery' — that President Thomas Jefferson chartered, in 1807, a Survey of the Coast. That work continues to this day.”
Historical maps and imagery are archived and available online on a site hosted by the Office of the Coast Survey.
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Nominees Sought for Hydrographic Services Review Panel
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The HSRP is a federal advisory committee that provides NOAA with independent advice on improving the quality, efficiency, and usefulness of NOAA's navigation-related products, data, and services, including nautical charts.
Nominations for the panel are now open and due no later than April 16 for four-year terms beginning in January 2022.
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Healthy Ecosystems & Living Resources
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Encouraging Citizen Scientists to Keep the Gulf Healthy
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Did you know that the new Paddle the Gulf website highlights activities that can bring out your inner citizen scientist even as you enjoy the Gulf of Mexico and its coastal rivers and streams? Citizen science is a way for everyone to help scientists collect information and answer real world questions.
The site has resources that can help you track marine debris, microplastics and even invasive species.
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Embrace the Gulf Continues
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The Embrace the Gulf campaign undertaken throughout 2020 by the Gulf of Mexico Alliance will continue in 2021 with ways you can take action. Throughout 2020, the campaign included a “message-a-day” about the Gulf sponsored by Clean Gulf Associates, which focused on the value, sustainability and productivity of the Gulf and attracted 24,000 social media fans, 50 proclamations from the five Gulf states and regional governments.
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Economic Impacts of Oyster Restoration
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Florida SeaGrant has released a five-page fact sheet that estimates the potential economic impacts associated with a successfully restored oyster reef in Apalachicola Bay, basing estimates on different hypothetical oyster harvest goals.
The oyster industry in the bay has faced dramatic declines that have threatened the industry and prompted the Secretary of Commerce to declare a fishery disaster in 2013.
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The Economics of Water Quality
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The Gulf of Mexico Alliance Water Resources Team is expanding its project to understand the economic impacts on water quality. The team’s earlier project looked at the economic impacts of toxic algae blooms in Florida and is now addressing harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the Mississippi Sound.
The project will investigate the linkages between the 2019 HAB event in the Mississippi Sound its economic impacts on tourism, fisheries, and aquaculture. The project will also measure the social impacts on local communities caused by this HAB event.
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In 2010, the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon resulted in the largest man-made disaster in U.S. history. Today, each Gulf state administers restoration funds and programs. Additionally, other agencies and organizations are also tasked with administering programs designed to restore Gulf habitats and better understand Gulf ecosystems.
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GCOOS maintains a jobs listing for positions and fellowships in the ocean observing community. Want to advertise a position? Email Laura Caldwell
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National Center for Atmospheric Research: Associate Scientist
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Alaska Fisheries Science Center: Research Fish Biologist
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National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Gulf Research Program: Board on Education and Engagement
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Mote Marine Laboratory: Senior Research Scientist in Shark or Manatee Biology, Staff Analytical Chemist, Exotoxicology Program; Coral Restoration Postdoctoral Researcher;
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Florida International University: Open-rank faculty position in Phycology
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Genwest Systems, Inc.: GIS Analyst
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The Water Institute of the Gulf: Data Architect for Environmental Resource
Postdoctoral Positions:
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NOAA: National Centers for Coastal Ocean Sciences, NRC Research Programs
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Fourqurean Laboratory at Florida International Laboratory: Data analysis and synthesis
Fellowships:
- Knauss Fellowships
- NOAA's William M Lapenta Student Internship
- NMFS - Sea Grant Joint Fellowship
- Gulf Research Science PolicoFellowship
- Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Fellowship
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GCOOS maintains a listing of funding opportunities. Have an opportunity you'd like to advertise? Email Laura Caldwell
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- FEMA Fiscal Year 2020 Hazard Mitigation Assistance Grants
- NFWF Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program
- Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium Pre-proposal for Research Funding
- RFP: The Restore Act Center for Excellence for Louisiana
- Gulf of Mexico Alliance Funding Calendar
- NOAA Sea Grant & Ocean Acidification Program: Shellfish Aquaculture Partnerships
- NOAA Marine Debris Program
- Gulf of Mexico Watershed Ecology and Training
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GCOOS is the Gulf of Mexico regional component of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) and the only certified system dedicated solely to the Gulf of Mexico. Our mission is to provide timely, reliable and accurate information on the open ocean and coastal ocean waters of the Gulf of Mexico to ensure a healthy, clean, productive ocean and resilient coastal zone.
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Dr. Barbara Kirkpatrick, Executive Director • Bill Lingsch, U.S. Glider User Group Coordinator • Dr. Chris Simoniello, Outreach & Education Coordinator • Dr. Kerri Whilden, Oceanographer • Felimon Gayanilo, Systems Architect, Co-Data Manager • Dr. Shinichi Kobara, Assistant Research Scientist, Product Developer • Bob Currier, Research Specialist, Product Developer, Co-Data Manager • Marion Stoessel, Senior Research Associate • Jennifer Vreeland-Dawson, Research Associate • Grant Craig, Program Coordinator • Stephanie Watson, CETACEAN Coordinator • Nadine Slimak, Public Relations & Content Marketing, Vetted Communications, LLC • Dr. Chuan-Yuan Hsu, Post Doctoral Research Associate • Robbie Iles, Graduate Research Assistant • Laura Caldwell, Program Assistant
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In Memoriam: Matt Howard, 1952-2018
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