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July 2014
CeNCOOS and SCCOOS Host a Marine Symposium at CalPoly
On July 1 CeNCOOS and SCCOOS hosted a Marine Symposium entitled, "Ocean Observations along California's Central Coast in a Changing Climate".
Even with an event so close to the 4th of July holiday, a broad audience of
the marine and coastal stakeholder community was in attendance and actively
engaged our panels in discussions regarding ocean observations and their practical
There were three moderated panel discussions and a reception on the Cal Poly Pier.
Panel 1 - Tracking Change in the Marine and Coastal Environment Moderated by Raphael Kudela (UC, Santa
Lesley Ewing (California Coastal Commission), Andrew DeVogelaere (Monterey Bay
National Marine Sanctuary), Liz Whiteman (California Ocean Science Trust), and
John Steinbeck (Tenara Environmental) answered questions raised about the
importance of in-situ measurements, climate change effects on our shoreline,
and possible investments to best understand and adapt to climate change.
Panel 2 - Federal and State Ocean Policy and Management with an introduction from Libe Washburn (UC,
Santa Barbara) and Moderated by Skyli McAfee (California Ocean Science Trust)
Congresswoman Lois Capps (California's 24th District), Congressman Sam Farr
(California's 20th District), and Deputy Secretary for Oceans and Coastal
Matters Cat Kuhlman (California Resources Agency) answered questions about
educating our leaders about the critical role ocean observations has on safety
and economic impacts, integrating priorities and funding, and political
tipping points that will demand more investments on ocean research.
Panel 3 - Informing Human uses of the Ocean Moderated by Dean Wendt (CalPoly)
Peter Hanson (Commercial Albacore Fisherman), Mark Jackson (National Weather Service-Oxnard, CA), Ray
Fields (The Abalone Farm, Inc.), and Sam Blakeslee (CalPoly) addressed questions about ocean observing data
as it applies to the myriad of ocean users, the affects of El Niño, future impacts of human uses of the ocean,
and how the Ocean Observing community can be best aligned to address growth in industry.
None of this would have been possible without the steadfast cooperation from the moderators, panelists,
and CalPoly, especially Dean Wendt. He made the Symposium a ¿turn-key¿ event and the California OOSes
are very grateful!
June 2014
SCCOOS Receives Coastal Champion Award from San Diego Coastkeeper
Every June San Diego Coastkeeper honors Coastal Champions, and this year SCCOOS
was awarded in the Blue Tech and ASBS (Areas of Special Biological
Significance) categories. This award resulted from an online tool
(sccoos.org/data/map/asbs.html), currently in beta mode, and was designed to
establish the infrastructure needs that is required for long term assessment
of ASBS performance and their related management decisions. The end-product
has been developed within a usable information system for a wide range of
users. For more information check out the blog on the Coastkeeper website.
May 2014 - San Diego Fires
Views from the recent fires in San Diego, the response and cooperation were an amazing thing to
witness. Check out the satellite imagery
on the SCCOOS site. Also, check out his MODIS image
at 250m resolution (you have to scroll down and to the right for San Diego), and another
for each day from a satellite overpass.
ENSO Alert System Status: El Niño Watch
Once a month NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, National Centers for Environmental Prediction, and the
National Weather Service release an El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion. An El Niño is
often characterized by warmer waters in the equatorial Pacific. Their most recent synopsis states:
"ENSO-neutral is expected to continue through the Northern Hemisphere spring 2014, with about a 65%
chance of El Niño developing during the summer or fall."
The Spray Glider Lab, headed by Dan Rudnick, has calculated a "SoCal Niño Index" using glider-measured
temperatures at 50 m along CalCOFI line 90 (line 90 is off of Dana Point), averaged over the inshore 200 km
and filtered with a 3-month running mean. For comparison the "Oceanic Niño Index" published by NOAA is
SST in the Niño 3.4 region (The Niño 3.4 region spans the east-central equatorial Pacific between 5N-5S,
170W-120W), with a 3-month running mean. The indices are remarkably correlated. NOAA predicts that El
Niño neutral conditions will continue through the summer.
June 5, 2014: Check out the Scripps Institution of Oceanography's article
El Niño Is Shaping Up in Southern California
April 1, 2014 - SCCOOS visits Tijuana River National Estuarine
Research Reserve and Carlsbad Aquafarm.
Carlsbad Aquafarm Visit
Carlsbad Aquafarm, located in Carlsbad, is Southern California's only shellfish aquafarm that grows mus- sels, oysters, clams, abalone, and culinary seaweed since 1990. In 2013, Carlsbad Aquafarm (CA) became an industry partner with SCCOOS and is about to receive a T/pCO2 analyzer that was developed Burke Hales at Oregon State University in order to monitor waters to provide observations of potential OA events. During this tour we were delighted to learn about CA's research and development, operations, and challenges - all set amongst the most beautiful land/seascape. It was everyone's first time meeting Norm Abel, the owner/operator, whom is already closely involved with other shellfish growers. Dennis Peterson, the Director of Science, led our tour through his labs as well as a boat tour of the lagoon. It is truly a gift to get the opportunity to collaborate with such great people at such a unique place. Check out Laura's blog about this visit.
Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve Visit
The Tijuana River Estuary is an expansive paradise of dune, beach, mesa, mudflat, salt marsh, riparian,
and coastal sage scrub-and is filled with unbelievable views everywhere you look. Jeff Crooks, Research
Coordinator, was generous with his time-giving us a thorough tour of the ENTIRE facility. Their research
and monitoring programs gather useful information that is adapted for the protection and management
of TRNERR and other estuaries. While their science-based education and outreach programs sustains
long-term stewardship. We learned so much and are very grateful for such a great tour!
March 1, 2014 - SCCOOS Near-Real Time Data in the SD Airport
San Diego International Airport has commissioned
Jason Bruges Studio to create
an exciting and innovative lounge for passengers as part of the airport's
Terminal 2 expansion and on-going arts program. The "AirSpace" or "New Media
Lounge", due to be opened Summer 2014, will be designed to reflect the
landscape, terrain, cliffs and coastal areas surrounding the airport. The studio
is working closely with SCCOOS to use our near-real time data combined with
biological data from Dept. of Fish & Wildlife, NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science
Center, and Scripps institution of Oceanography to provide perspective on themes
such as the environment and sustainability.
February 1, 2014 - Catalina Sea Ranch
The California Coastal Commission recently approved the state.s first aquaculture farm to be located in federal waters, Catalina Sea Ranch.
The location of the farm will be 8 miles offshore from Long Beach. The key to this approval was their willingness for a monitoring program. Alongside the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) and regional institutions and experts, SCCOOS will assist with executing a monitoring plan for evaluating any environmental and social impacts from the 100-acre shellfish ranch.
For more information regarding the proposed farm go to the Catalinia Sea Ranch Website.
November 1, 2013 - Sea Grant fellow
Laura Lilly is the new Sea Grant fellow for SCCOOS, CeNCOOS and NANOOS with the
West Coast Governors Alliance (WCGA) Regional Data Framework (RDF). This
one-year West Coast Oceanographic Data Integration Fellowship begins November
2013. Ms. Lilly will sit at the SCCOOS program office at Scripps Institution
of Oceanography in La Jolla, CA. She will focus on the identification of
priority regional management questions and information needs to be informed by
West Coast oceanographic data products and the development and distribution of
those products.
The fellowship was administered by California Sea Grant.
September 2013 - Gliderpalooza
In September, MARACOOS, on US IOOS' behalf, is coordinating the deployment of
8-11 gliders, from 3 of the IOOS RAs (NERACOOS, MARACOOS, SECOORA) and with
Canada's Ocean Tracking Network (OTN). The East Coast gliders will be deployed
for a number of varying missions, all will be collecting oceanographic data that
could be valuable for the forecasting of Hurricanes.
Glider data can...
1. Provide an extensive network through peak time for Fall storms and provide the NWS a temporary "surge" capacity
2. Provide a unique data set (real-time & hindcast) modelers can use for years
3. Provide uniform data over ecological scales
4. Provide a demo for the potential national glider network in the future
5. Provide insight into cold pool development
6. Provide information on fish and mammal migrations
Note, while this gliderpalooza is focused on the east coast. IOOS RAs and other
non-Federal partners in the Gulf of Mexico, West Coast, Alaska, and Hawaii are
also routinely deploying gliders.
All IOOS affiliated gliders are displayed on the
IOOS Glider Asset Map.
The Scripps Spray Glider Lab, headed by Dan Rudnick, has the longest running
sustained program of glider observations. Dan's gliders have been occupying 3
lines since 2006 off the Southern California coast. His gliders are displayed
on the SCCOOS website,
alongside his SoCal Nino Index product.
July 31, 2013 - IOOS Representatives, Lisa Hazard and Toby Garfield,
Testify Before the House Subcommittee on July 31, 2013
Lisa Hazard is the operations manager for the Coastal Observing Research and Development
Center (CORDC) and a SCCOOS affiliate at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Toby
Garfield is the director and a professor at the
Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies
at San Francisco State University and also a CeNCOOS (Central and Northern Coastal Ocean
Observing System) affiliate.
Both Lisa and Toby testified at a hearing before the House Subcommittee on the U.S. Coast
Guard and Maritime Transportation regarding, ¿How to Improve Efficiency, Safety, and Security
of Maritime Transportation: Better Use and Integration of Maritime Domain Awareness Data¿.
Testifying alongside were Bill Vass, President and CEO of Liquid Robotics Inc and Steve
Morrow, President and CEO of Insitu on behalf of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle
Systems International.
The greater ocean observing community owes a great deal of thanks to these participants for their
perspectives on collaboration, innovation, data integration, and current technologies.
The testimonies from this panel start 1 hour and 26 minutes into the hearing.
Left: Toby Garfield and Lisa Hazard. Middle-left: Lisa Hazard during her testimony.
Middle-right: Lisa hazard and Representative for
California's 3rd congressional district
John Garamendi. Right: Toby Garfield during his testimony.
July 2013
U.S. IOOS and its regional associations owe a great deal of gratitude to Lynne Talley, a distinguished professor with Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California, San Diego. She testified before the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular Affairs on June 13th. She spoke in support of two congressional bills reauthorizing expenditures on ocean observing systems; H.R. 1399 (reauthorizing Hydrographic Services Improvement Act of 1998) and H.R. 2219 (reauthorizing the Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 2009).
Along with oral testimony she submitted a written testimony that focused on the development of U.S. IOOS and gave example of its applications. Lynne spelled out the vision that first authorized the ICOOS Act of 2009, the continuation and expansion of U.S. IOOS, the development of new U.S.IOOS technologies, and the need for sustained long-term ocean observations.
Her passion and strong beliefs of the importance of integrating quality observations as part of the process of understanding and forecasting ocean conditions made a compelling presentation, THANK YOU LYNNE!!
1 June 2013 - SCCOOS published in June subscription of Sidelights Magazine
The magazine Sidlelights is published by the Council of American Master Mariners and is dedicated to supporting and strengthening the U.S. Merchant Marine and the position of the Master by fostering the exchange of maritime information.
SCCOOS¿s article focuses on leveraged products in Southern California that are made available for and have been of use to the Maritime Community.
11 April 2013 - SCCOOS Presents at NWS San Diego Forecasting Office Marine Weather Workshop
The National Weather Service San Diego forecasting office hosted a marine weather workshop. Marine partners from the Navy, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Surfline, and the Hydrologic Research Center were in attendance. Danielle Williams, program coordinator for SCCOOS, briefed the group about California Ocean Observing Systems focusing on their data, products, and website navigation. The Coastal Data and Information Program (CDIP), one of SCCOOS leveraged programs also presented at the workshop. Corey Olfe, a programmer for CDIP focused on the location of their high resolution wave buoys and how they feed into their experimental swell models. He showcased the different products and data that could aid in the NWS marine forecast.
Special thanks to Alex Tardy and Roger Pierce with NWS for the invitation to present.
Corey Olfe, CDIP programmer, explains the idiosyncrasies of the experimental swell
1 March 2013 - Beach Erosion in Southern
Wide beaches protect shoreline infrastructure and support recreation and tourism. Southern California beaches have been occasionally replenished with sand. In 2012, 1.5M cu yd of sand from offshore were placed on San Diego beaches at an estimated cost of 28M$ (Figure 1). A 50-yr, 200+M$ plan to nourish San Diego area beaches has been proposed. Potential impacts of beach nourishments (or a lack of beach nourishments) include effects on lobster and other biota, surfing, cliffs, tourism, Hwy 101, and the Amtrak rails. Our understanding of nearshore sand transport, and ability to estimate future waves and water levels, is so limited that the probability of negative environmental impacts from cannot be estimated reliably. How high on the beach does wave uprush reach, where does the nourishment sand go, and why does it go there? Our research objective is to understand the physics at work, and to thereby help answer relevant management questions.
Ongoing monitoring is building a database of sand level changes and waves at local beaches, including an El Nino and the recent 2012 nourishment at Solana-Cardiff beaches (Figure 2). Beach widths (Figure 3) were minimum in the recent El Nino at all sites, and maximum at the recently nourished sites. Monitoring is ongoing and beach widths are posted on SCCOOS project page.
Figure 2: (Left) Beach survey ¿focus¿ sites are within a larger area infrequently surveyed with airborne Lidar. (Right) Cardiff and Solana Beaches were nourished in 2012
Figure 3: Alongshore averaged beach width (mean removed) versus time. Each dot is one beach survey.
8 January 2013 - CalCOFI/CCE-LTER Seabirds 2012 Annual Report
Seabird studies are now an integral part of the California Cooperative Oceanic
Fisheries Investigation (CalCOFI), California Current Ecosystem - Long-term
Ecological Research (CCE-LTER), and Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing
System (SCCOOS) programs.
The seabird data is valuable for several reasons.
First, information on seabird distribution and abundance provides an upper
trophic level perspective which complements the lower trophic level plankton
and hydrographic data collected by others.
Second, estimates of seabird abundance, diversity and distribution contribute
to understanding the spatial ecology of the Southern California Bight, a region
characterized by substantial habitat heterogeneity and major oceanographic and
biogeographic boundaries associated with Point Conception.
Third, by extending our existing records (now 26 years and building;
1987-present) and coupling this information with long-term hydrographic and
plankton data, seabird data contributes to understanding the effects of natural
climate variability and anthropogenic effects on the southern sector of the
California Current ecosystem.
The principle Investigator on this project is William Sydeman at the Farallon
Institute for Advanced Ecosystem Research
The observer is Dawn Breese
The analyst is Marcel Losekoot
CalCOFI research is supported by contributions from the participating agencies:
The California State Department of Fish and Game, NOAA, National Marine
Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, and the University of
California, Integrative Oceanography Division at the Scripps Institution of
Oceanography, UCSD.
14 December 2012 - Southern California El Nino conditions are waning
The Scripps Spray glider lab, headed by Dan Rudnick, has calculated a "SoCal Niño Index" using
glider-measured temperatures at 50 m along CalCOFI line 90 (line 90 is off of Dana Point), aver-
aged over the inshore 200 km and filtered with a 3-month running mean.
For comparison the "Oceanic Niño Index" published by NOAA is SST in the Niño 3.4 region (The
Niño 3.4 region spans the east-central equatorial Pacific between 5N-5S, 170W-120W), with a 3-
month running mean. The indices are remarkably correlated.
An El Niño event is marked by warm water in the equatorial Pacific. Effects of El Niño are often
felt in California as changes the atmosphere and ocean, including increased rainfall and warmer
In October the index indicated that temperatures had been rising over the last few months, with
anomalies that were becoming positive. NOAA is now predicting El Niño conditions in the next
couple of months (temperature anomalies greater then 0.5C).
Presently the index shows that El Niño conditions are waning. NOAA is now predicting that neu-
tral conditions will continue through winter.
Please go to our El Niño product page for monthly updates
26 July 2012 - Green Foam is back at San Diego County beaches
The harmless, green foam has returned yet another year to San Diego County beaches. Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography have determined that the bright green color is caused by a bloom of phytoplankton, Tetraselmis spp. This green flagellate is roughly 10 micrometers in size, and has been found in concentrations as dense as 15 million cells per liter of seawater. The foam has become more prevalent this week, though it has been observed off and on since the first week of July. It's patchy distribution makes it visible only at some beaches and the foam becomes more apparent in the afternoon when the wind and waves mix the surface waters. Tetraselmis has bloomed each summer since 2009 with blooms lasting from one week to several months. There are no documented health hazards with swimming or fishing in areas of Tetraselmis blooms.
To learn more about algal bloom monitoring in San Diego County and the California region, visit the SCCOOS Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring Program website.
13 December 2011 - Statewide Mercury Program
The State Water Resources Control Board is developing a Statewide
Mercury Program to reduce mercury in California's waters. It is expected
that the following two elements will be part of the program:
To receive email announcements about the Statewide Mercury Program and
future opportunities to comment, please visit the homepage at
and then
follow the directions on the web page to subscribe to:
"Mercury - Objectives Policy" and/or
"Mercury - Statewide Control Program for Reservoirs"
Water Board staff will hold a series of public meetings to discuss these
projects and take public comment, beginning in early 2012. If you
subscribe to one of these lists, we'll send you the meeting information
and notice of project documents when we post them.
Who might be interested in the Statewide Mercury Program?
Please contact Carrie Austin,
firstname.lastname@example.com, for additional information.
12 October 2011 - South San Diego Water Quality Workshop
Photo Credit: www.cordc.ucsd.edu
Have you ever wondered when it's safe to surf or swim at south San Diego beaches?
Join SCCOOS, San Diego Coastkeeper, Surfrider Foundation, WiLDCOAST, and San Diego's Department of Environmental Health at the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve to learn about monitoring ocean water quality and beach closures. Free pizza and raffle!
Wednesday, October 12 @ 6-8pm
Tijuana Estuary Visitors Center
301 Caspian Way
Imperial Beach, CA 91932
Register online at: http://southsandiegowaterqualityworkshop2.eventbrite.com
26 September 2011 - Red Tide in San Diego County
Photo Credit: Christopher Wills, UCSD
This week red to brownish-red discolored waters became more evident as the bloom of Lingulodinium polyedrum continues along the coast of San Diego County. Areas where the red waters are observed during the day can bioluminesce at night, producing a striking blue color when agitated from breaking waves, swimming fishes and even the movement of your hands and feet.
Sampling efforts by SCCOOS Harmful Algal Bloom researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography have found cell abundances of this dinoflagellate to be over 1 million cells/liter and chlorophyll values at 43.92 mg/m3 at Scripps Pier in La Jolla (average values range from 0-1,000 cells/L of L. polyedrum and 2.49 mg/m3 for chlorophyll). This bloom began near the end of August and could last for several weeks to a couple of months.
To read more about Lingulodinium polyedrum and our monitoring efforts visit:
Will the water make me sick?
The water is not harmful to swim in though increased ear and sinus infections have been reported during blooms. This is most likely due to increased bacteria that are associated with increased amounts of organic material produced and degraded during bloom conditions. Swimmers may reduce their risk for infections by rinsing their ears and any wounds after exposure, drying their ear canals with an equal mixture of isopropyl alcohol and 2% acetic acid, and seeking prompt medical attention if any signs of infection develop.
Lingulodinium polyedrum is a known producer of yessotoxin, an algal toxin that can accumulate in filter feeding organisms such as mussels and some fishes, but no human deaths or poisoning have been reported due to yessotoxin. Keep in mind, you cannot drink enough seawater to make yourself sick from this toxin or other algal toxins currently found in California coastal waters.
Why do dinoflagellates bioluminesce?
One theory is that the bioluminescence both deters grazers of the dinoflagellates, and also attracts the predators of the grazers which are mostly visually oriented organisms such as fish (the so-called "burglar hypothesis"). Bioluminescence is a light produced through an enzymatic chemical reaction within the cells of Lingulodinium polyedrum.
Questions? Comments about the red tide? email: firstname.lastname@example.com
11 March 2011 - Millions of Dead Sardines In Redondo Beach
On Tuesday, March 8, 2011, King Harbor in the City of Redondo Beach experienced a massive fish kill (estimates are in the millions of fish killed), apparently mostly Pacific sardine. This event has received national and global attention. My research group at the University of Southern California has been actively working and monitoring King Harbor as a site of recurrent algal blooms since a massive fish kill occurred there in 2005. The exact cause of the 2005 event was never clearly determined, but it coincided with a large microalgal bloom. Thus, the buildup of algae and perhaps toxins produced by harmful algal species, were implicated as playing a role in the fish mortality.
In response to the 2005 mortality event, we established a monitoring program there in 2006 to characterize the algal species at the site, and subsequently a suite of instruments to measure water quality in 2007, and we have maintained those instruments and characterized the microalgae in the water through the present time. These instruments, and additional measurements made at the time of the event on March 8th and immediately following the mortality event, are summarized below:
Our sensor packages in the water recorded pertinent environmental parameters (temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and chlorophyll fluorescence which is a proxy for microalgal biomass) prior to and during the event. These instruments indicated a precipitous drop in dissolved oxygen coincident with the mortality event. Based on the information collected by the sensor packages, we conclude that depletion of dissolved oxygen was unquestionably the immediate cause of the mortality event.
Profiles of dissolved oxygen made in and around King Harbor on March 8 indicated exceptionally low dissolved oxygen concentrations within the harbor, with increasing concentrations of oxygen in the outer harbor region. Severely depleted levels of dissolved oxygen persist today (March 10) in parts of the harbor in the wake of the mortality event.
It is not clear at this time whether the oxygen depletion in King Harbor on the 8th occurred solely due to respiration by the very large population of sardines that entered the harbor days prior to the mortality event. It is possible that an influx of coastal water with a low concentration of oxygen may have occurred, contributing to the low oxygen conditions. We are continuing to examine this possibility.
Our continuously-recording instruments measured relatively low chlorophyll concentrations leading up to, during, and immediately following the event (<2 ug/l). Therefore, we have ruled out the possibility of a massive buildup of algal biomass as a factor contributing to the mortality event (high algal biomass was a presumed contributor to the 2005 mortality event).
In addition, analysis of water samples collected on the day of the event in King Harbor indicated very low microalgal biomass in general, and the virtual absence of potentially harmful or toxic algal species in the water.
Despite the lack of toxic algal species in the water at King Harbor during this event, analyses of the gut contents of fish collected on March 8th have tested strongly positive for domoic acid. Domoic acid is a powerful neurotoxin produced by a specific type of microalgae. The algae are strained from the water by plankton-eating fish such as sardines and anchovy, and the toxin is often found concentrated in the stomach contents of these fish during a toxic algal bloom. Domoic acid can cause a variety of neurological disorders, and death, of animals consuming fish contaminated with the neurotoxin. Research also indicates that domoic acid poisoning can cause abnormal swimming behavior in some fish. It is possible that high levels of domoic acid in the sardines in King Harbor may have exacerbated physiological stress of the fish brought on by oxygen depletion of the water, or may have been a contributing explanation for them congregating in the harbor at very high abundances, but this has not been confirmed.
We believe that the fish ingested the toxin offshore (before entering the harbor) because domoic acid was not detected in the water within King Harbor on the day of the event. Additionally, during our 5-year study we have not observed significant concentrations of domoic acid in King Harbor. We have confirmed that plankton collected from the coastal ocean approximately 20 km southwest of Redondo Beach on March 9 had very high concentrations of domoic acid in the plankton. That finding support the idea that the fish ingested the toxin in coastal waters before entering the harbor.
This is the present status of our knowledge on this event. My lab is continuing to analyze for other algal toxins in the fish collected at the time of the mortality event. We are also continuing to monitor the chemical conditions (especially dissolved oxygen) and biological conditions (algal abundance) within the harbor in order to characterize the recovery of the harbor, and/or any response of the microalgal community to the release of nutrients by the decomposing fish.
We are continuing to characterize the toxic bloom now taking place in the adjacent coastal ocean, and we are acquiring oceanographic information that will help determine if a pulse of low-oxygen water from the coastal ocean may have entered King Harbor and contributed to the fish mortality event.
7 December 2010 - South San Diego Water Quality Workshop
Have you ever wondered when it's safe to surf and swim at south San Diego beaches? Join SCCOOS, WiLDCOAST, San Diego Coastkeeper, and the County of San Diego's Department of Environmental Health at the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve on Tuesday, 7 December from 6-8pm to learn about monitoring ocean water quality and beach closures. Walk away with practical tools that will help you learn when the water is safe and how to safeguard your health. Free refreshments and raffle! Register online at: http://southsandiegowaterqualityworkshop.eventbrite.com
16 November 2010 - Pacific Coast Collaborative Supports Ocean Observing
On 16 November, the Governors of California, Oregon, and Washington along with the Premier of British Columbia signed a joint letter in favor of ongoing and enhanced funding and support for ocean observation systems. This letter was sent to President Obama, the Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper, the U.S. Secretaries of Interior, Commerce, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Canadian Cabinet offices, and to the full congressional delegations of California, Oregon, and Washington.
Click here to view the pdf.
October 2010California's Ocean" Podcast and Video
Photo Credit: Doug Wylie/WiLDCOAST
Watch the video, see it on YouTube, get the iPod video or listen to the audio.
Find out more at COSEE NOW Ocean Gazing.
Special thanks to:
Captains Rick Hurt and John Carlier, San Francisco Bar Pilots
Ben McCue, WiLDCOAST
Art Seavey, Monterey Abalone Company
Julie Thomas, SCCOOS
And Producer Ari Daniel Shapiro
11 August 2010 - Green Foam Arrives in San Diego County
The harmless, green foam that invaded Orange and LA County beaches in late July has extended down to San Diego County. Last week, researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography also found Tetraselmis, a microscopic green algae, in samples from Scripps Pier. The foam has persisted this week, though it's patchy distribution make it visible only at some beaches and the foam becomes more apparent in the afternoon when the wind and waves mix the surface waters. This green flagellate which is only 10 micrometers in size has been found in concentrations as dense as 15 million cells per liter of seawater. There are no documented health hazards with swimming or fishing in areas of Tetraselmis blooms.
To read more about this, click here
May 2010 - Patches of discolored reddish-brown waters have been seen along San Diego County beaches from
Oceanside to Imperial Beach over the past few weeks. Monitoring efforts show
that these dense blooms are caused primarily by a type of phytoplankton, a
dinoflagellate called Lingulodinium polyedrum. Cell counts show a population
increase from an average of 7,000 cells/liter to 200,000 cells/liter in the
patches, and a ten-fold increase in the chlorophyll content from the average
value of 2 mg/m3. Areas where the red waters are observed during the day can
have a drastically different look at night when these cells bioluminesce
producing a striking blue color when agitated from breaking waves, swimming
fishes and even the movement of your hands and feet. The water is not
harmful to swim in though we are currently testing for toxins that could
accumulate in filter feeding organisms such as mussels and some fishes.
This species has been associated with previous red tides in southern
California, and blooms of this current magnitude (chlorophyll greater than
20 mg/m3) have occurred in five years out of the last twenty five years.
This story was recently featured on CBS News 8
To read more about Lingulodinium polyedrum click here
To read more about monitoring efforts, click here
May 2010 - Scripps Institution of Oceanography will be hosting a workshop, Small Sea Changes: Big
California Impacts, presented in partnership with the Interagency Working Group on Ocean
Observations. This workshop will explore how monitoring and understanding the ocean delivers
economic and environmental benefits to industries, government, and the citizens of California.
For more information and to register for this free event,
please go here:
Big California Impacts
14 April 2010
- Members of Congress support increased funding for NOAA IOOS: 22 Senators and 28 Representatives
signed letters to the Senate and House Appropriations Committees supporting increased funding
for the NOAA Integrated Ocean Observing System in Fiscal Year 2011. Special thanks to Senator
Boxer and California Representatives Capps, Thompson, Speier, and Woolsey for signing on to
these letters.
Appropriations Letter from the House of Representatives>
Appropriations Letter from the Senate>
April 2010
- SCCOOS is hiring a Product Developer to assist in the design and implementation of our
data management system. The position will be based at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
The full job description can be found here.
March 2010
- The National Federation of Regional Associations for Ocean Observing released a document,
Providing Coastal Information in a Changing Climate, that provides an overview of coastal
ocean observing systems and their contributions to Marine Operations, Climate Variability and
Change, Ecosystems, Fisheries and Water Quality, Coastal Hazards, and Coastal and Marine
Spatial Planning.
NFRA Booklet
January 2010
- The Ocean Protection Council (OPC) Science Advisory Team issued a consensus statement on
ocean observing that highlights the scientific importance of ocean observing and the need for
continued monitoring of Californias ocean to better inform management decisions. Dr. Gary
Griggs presented the consensus statement at the OPC Meeting in March. The Council Members
then unanimously adopted a resolution, based on this statement, that recognized the many
benefits of a sustained ocean observing system including the improvement of safety and
efficiency of marine operations, prediction of weather and natural hazards as well as helping
to protect and restore healthy ecosystems. The resolution encourages continued development,
implementation and maintenance of an integrated observing system in California, as well as
increased funding for regional observations and Californias HF Radar Network.
OPC-SAT Accomplishments
Consensus Statement
November 2009
- Mike Chrisman, Secretary for Natural Resources
and chair of the California Ocean Protection
Council (OPC), has announced the next OPC meeting
will take place November 30, 2009, 10:00 a.m.-5:00
p.m. at Scripps Seaside Forum, Scripps Institution
of Oceanography, 8610 Kennel Way (formerly Discovery
Way), La Jolla, CA.
August 2009 - The Coastal Observing Research
and Development Center (CORDC), part of the
Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing
System (SCCOOS) is providing a portable application
programming interface (API) for access to
HF radar derived surface currents from the
National Network. The interface allows web
programmers to integrate a standard, interactive
Google Maps display into any web page: http://cordc.ucsd.edu/projects/mapping/api/.
Funding for development of
this application has been provided through
the NOAA IOOS program office and the California
State Coastal Conservancy. Visual display and
functionality are subject to expansion with
code revisions. The api is fully customizable
for any web template. This application can
be used freely; best efforts will be provided
for support without compromising priority tasks.
Please direct questions regarding the interface
to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Please include the following
citation on web displays using this application: "surface
current mapping visualization and api provided
by CORDC www.cordc.ucsd.edu and SCCOOS www.sccoos.org."
June 2009 - Weather Research & Forecasting
Model (WRF) wind and precipitation forecasts
provided by UCLA Department of Atmospheric
and Oceanic Sciences, Climate Sensitivity Research
Lounge can now be found at http://www.sccoos.org/data/winds/.
SCCOOS operations team has received many inquiries regarding the Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) wind and precipitation forecasts. The product has been offline due to a Navy contract procurement lag for available hardware. We plan to enable this product as soon as the model output is available.
26 May 2009 -
Due to the ongoing California state budget crisis, the upcoming Ocean Protection Council (OPC) meeting scheduled for 16 July in the Bay Area has been cancelled. Proposed projects, initiatives, and planned discussions will be carried over to the next meeting, as appropriate, scheduled to take place 13 November 2009 in San Diego. The specific location will be posted to the OPC Web site once details are available.
21 May 2009 -
A widespread domoic acid poisoning event is taking place as a result of a Pseudo-nitzschia bloom in the waters off southern California. Over the last few months Pseudo-nitzschia has been consistently detected in samples from the Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and Orange County regions. Domoic acid has been detected in low concentrations throughout the region from San Luis Obispo to San Diego, based on monitoring from piers. More extensive sampling in coastal waters in the San Pedro Shelf area during April and early May confirmed a domoic acid event with significant levels of domoic acid and Pseudo-nitzschia detected. There have been a substantial number of marine mammal and bird strandings and deaths in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas especially during the past few weeks, and approximately half of the marine mammal samples that have been analyzed were positive for domoic acid.
USC Webb Gliders have shown a subsurface chlorophyll maximum in the thermocline in San Pedro Bay south of Newport Beach and samples confirmed a large population of Pseudo-nitzschia and significant levels of domoic acid. More recently, the gliders have detected a subsurface chlorophyll maximum on the eastside of Catalina Island (no water samples have been obtained). Although the gliders do not measure domoic acid directly, barnacles taken from the gliders after a multi-week deployment showed high concentrations of domoic acid in their tissue. This is further evidence of the prevalence and persistence of domoic acid-producing Pseudo-nitzschia in the region.
This update comes from the efforts of the SCCOOS HAB monitoring team, the NOAA-funded MERHAB RADPALERT project at USC, the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing project at USC, the Orange County and Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, the Fort MacArthur Marine Mammal Care Center, the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center and the International Bird Rescue Research Center.
5 May 2009 - A number of bird and marine mammal strandings have occurred in the past week in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas with a possible link to domoic-acid (DA) poisoning. Significant numbers of the domoic-acid producing diatom Pseudo-nitzschia have been detected at SCCOOS Harmful Algal Bloom study sites at Stearn's Wharf, Newport Pier, and Scripps Pier over the past week. USC Webb Gliders running transects around Catalina Island also show a significant subsurface chlorophyll maximum. Additionally, low levels of domoic acid were detected in and around the Los Angeles Harbor at the end of April.
Scientists from USC will be coordinating with the Los Angeles and Orange County Sanitation Districts to collect seawater samples this week to verify the extent of this event. Further updates will follow as analysis is completed on seawater and marine mammal samples.
14 April 2009 - The next meeting of the California Ocean Protection Council will be held at the California Environmental Protection Agency, Coastal Hearing Room, 2nd Floor, 1001 I Street, Sacramento, CA on 23 April 2009. The meeting agenda is available online here. Additional supporting documents will be posted prior to the meeting date.
23 March 2009 - Want to know how we're using radio waves to monitor the oceans? We've put together a booklet about these questions and more. The booklet is a scenic tour of California's coastline with from an ocean scientist's perspective. We hope you'll take a look.Inside, you'll read about how surface currents are used to track oil spills. We'll demonstrate how and why monitoring platforms are staggared along the coast for optimal coverage. Finally, we'll review the many uses of surface current mapping, from fishing and wildlife preservation to beach contamination and other public health concerns.
11 March 2009 - CBS San Diego featured SCCOOS researcher Eric Terrill in a story about beach water quality testing in San Diego. You can view the video clip here.
December 2008 - SCCOOS is seeking to fill a Product
Developer position; details about the position
and how to apply can be found
December 2008 - Approximately 1,100 gallons of
crude oil was released from a hole in a pump
line in the Santa Barbara Channel. California's
Office of Spill Prevention & Response (OSPR)
contacted SCCOOS the following day to access
HF radar data for on-scene support. SCCOOS provided
HF radar derived surface current data that was
integrated by OSPR into their GIS-based support
products and provided to the first responders
assembled at the command center established in
Carpenteria. Online products of wind and ocean
wave conditions were also communicated to OSPR
to assist the marine operations. In parallel,
the NOAA HAZMAT Seattle office accessed the surface
current data for incorporation into their spill
trajectory models. The small spill was effectively
contained by 9 December. The spill occurred at
the same location as the historic 1969 spill
that released 4.2 million gallons of crude
oil into the ocean, and is often credited with
initiating the modern day environmental movement.
Earlier in the week, the same
coastal current information was used by NOAA
HAZMAT to assess risk of the 10,000 gallons of
jet fuel spilled south of San Clemente Island
by a US Navy vessel. Coastal currents are publicly
available in near-realtime off the coast of California
as a result of the State's Coastal Ocean Currents
Monitoring Program (COCMP).
18 November 2008 - 14 November:
Gov. Schwarzenegger Issues Executive Order Directing
State Agencies to Plan for Sea Level Rise and
Climate Impacts. For more information click
28 October
2008 - The Marine Life Management Act (MLMA)
Lessons Learned Study – Request for Proposals
(RFP) is now available; the RFP can be downloaded
from the California Ocean Protection Council website and
the Department of General Services website.
14 October 2008 (**VENUE
A Public
meeting on climate change adaptation for ocean
and coastal resources will be held
at Preservation
Park Ginn House, "Large Parlor" Room (1233
Preservation Park Way Oakland 94612),
30 October 2008 Oakland, CA from 1:30-3:30
pm. For more information,
click here.
29 September 2008
- Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) South Coast
Regional Stakeholder Group Meeting will be held
6 October 2008. For more information, click
29 September 2008 - Ocean.US
is closing down as of 30 September. The International
Working Group on Ocean Observations (IWGOO) will
oversee coordination of IOOS, and will be housed
at the Consortium for Ocean Leadership. For more
information, click
16 September 2008 - The Ocean
Protection Council 10-11 September meeting
review information is now available. New funding
guidelines and OPC program priority documents
are also posted for public comment. For more
information, click here.
9 September 2008 - 20 September
2008 is the 24th Annual California Coastal Cleanup
Day, organized by the California Coastal Commission.
To learn more about the event, and how you can
participate, click here.
18 August
2008 - The Ocean Protection Council has announced
that the next OPC meeting will be held over two
days:10 September 1-5 pm and 11 September 9 am-4
pm at the Oceano Hotel in Half Moon Bay, CA.
The meeting agenda and supporting documents will
be posted here 10
days prior to the meeting.
18 August 2008 - The draft Ocean
Protection Council Program Priorities are available
for review and public comment. Click here to
access the document. Click here for more information
about the program.
5 August 2008 - Two public meetings
to discuss the California Ocean Protection Council's
future program priorities will be held on 19
and 22 August. For more information, click
31 July 2008 - NOAA Announces
Funding to Support Ocean Observing in Southern
NOAA is awarding $853,785 to support
ocean observing efforts in Southern California.
For more information, click
July 2008 - West Coast Governors Launch
Ocean Action Plan
The Governors of California, Oregon and Washington
today joined together via satellite to launch
a plan to address challenging ocean and coastal
management issues along the West Coast. To learn
more about the West Coast Governors' actions
and to read the action plan in its entirety,
go to www.westcoastoceans.gov.
July 2008
- 2008 Headwaters to Ocean (H2O)
The 2008 "Headwaters to Ocean (H2O)" Conference
is being held 28-30 October at the Westin Long
Beach. The conference is organized by the California
Shore and Beach Preservation Association, California
Coastal Coalition, Southern California Wetlands
Recovery Project and Society
of Wetland Scientists (SWS) - Western Chapter. A call for presentations
is posted at here.
The deadline for submitting abstracts is Monday,18 August. Online registration
is available here.
Accomodations are available at
the Westin and the nearby Courtyard by Marriott.
The Courtyard is offering a government rate at
the prevailing per diem. For information about
the hotels, click
here. Presentations from
previous H2O conferences can be viewed here.
July 2008 - The California Ocean Protection Council
seeks the services of a consultant firm or team
to develop a report on how the ocean observing
system in California can better support ocean
management decisions made by resource and environmental
regulatory agency managers. For more information, download
this pdf.
July 2008 - The North Pacific Marine Science
Organization (PICES) announces its Seventeenth
Annual Meeting, to be held 23 October through
2 November 2008 at the Kempinski Hotel in Dalian,
People's Republic of China. For more
information, go to http://www.pices.int/meetings/annual/PICES17/background.aspx.
July 2008 - Ocean Protection Council
has issued an open invitation to a special meeting
scheduled for 24 July 2008 10:00 to 11:30 a.m.
This meeting is being held to discuss U.S. House
of Representatives bill
Oceans Conservation, Education, and National
Strategy for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 21).
The Council will hear a short briefing on the
contents and status of the bill and then will
consider voting to support the principles of
the bill.
This meeting will be held as
a teleconference. The public is invited to participate
in person at several locations:
The meeting's agenda is available
as a pdf here.
July 2008 - The Fifth Annual California Climate
Change Conference is inviting researchers to
submit proposals for posters. Download the
event's Call
for Posters as a pdf for more information.
June 2008 - SCCOOS supported an industry-led
oil spill response exercise conducted June 10-12
off the coast of San Diego. More than 200 participants
were involved in National Preparedness for Response
Exercise Program (NPREP) including representatives
from US Coast Guard Sector San Diego, US Navy,
Department of Interior, California Department
of Fish and Game, California Oil Spill Prevention
and Response, PacArea Strike Team, Incident Management
Assistance Team, San Diego Harbor Police, City
and County of San Diego Office of Emergency Services,
Port of San Diego, and others. The exercise focused
on effective communications and response in the
event of a marine oil spill. SCCOOS provided
near real-time surface current measurements to
feed into the NOAA HAZMAT operational models,
as well as particle tracking based on optimally
interpolated currents. The currents were measured
using the array of HF radar presently being installed
through California's Coastal Ocean Currents Monitoring
Program - a Prop 40/50 program managed by the
State Coastal Conservancy. The particle tracking
model indicated the speed and direction of surface
waters off the San Diego coast, and was found
to be consistent with a dye release conducted offshore as a surrogate for spilled oil. SCCOOS
effectively displayed transport and fate of the
simulated spilled oil. Shape files were also
created on an automated basis for the California
OSPR GIS specialist team so they could include
maps of ocean currents with their integrated
on-scene GIS products. As a result of the success
of the exercise, NOAA HAZMAT has invited SCCOOS
to participate in future California training
exercises to help raise awareness of surface
current mapping technology for oil spill response.
June 2008 - Public Workshops being held on MLPA Initiative South Coast Project
A series of workshops are being conducted in Southern California to introduce
the public to the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative's South
Coast Project. The MLPA South Coast Study Region encompasses state waters
from Point Conception in Santa Barbara County south to the California
border with Mexico, including offshore islands. The focus of the workshop
is to describe the MLPA planning process, generate nominations for a
regional stakeholder group, invite questions, and solicit input on the
The workshops will use an "open house" format where attendees may
choose to visit at any time during the three hours and walk through a
number of informational stations. Key information stations include an
overview of the MLPA Initiative process and timeline; the status of
marine protected areas in California; and how the public can get
involved. Staff will be available at each station so that attendees
may ask questions and provide feedback.
Workshops are scheduled for:
All workshop times are 5:30 to
8:30 p.m.
The MLPA Initiative is a public-private
partnership designed to help the State of California
implement the MLPA, which was enacted in 1999.
The MLPA directs the state to reexamine and redesign
California's system of marine protected areas
(MPAs) with the goal of increasing its coherence
and effectiveness at protecting the state's marine
life and habitats, marine ecosystems, and marine
natural heritage, as well as to improve recreational,
educational and study opportunities in marine
ecosystems that are subject to minimal human
disturbance. MPAs are discrete geographic marine
or estuarine areas designed to protect or conserve
marine life and habitat. A regional approach
is being used for the state's 1,100-mile coastline
which has been divided into five study regions.
The California Fish and Game Commission presently
is considering the plan for the north Central
Coast MPAs, while the MLPA Initiative moves to
the south coast study region. For additional
information about the MLPA Initiative, visit
26 June 2008 - The California
Ocean Protection Council (OPC) is seeking technical
help in developing and drafting climate change
adaptation polices related to coastal development,
infrastructure, habitats, and resources.
We are
looking for a consultant who will prepare written
summaries of expected climate change impacts
in the coastal region of California, drawing
from the current literature and certain ongoing
projects. The consultant will also be expected
to research adaptation strategies that have been
promoted in other states, regions, or nations,
and tailor these strategies to application in
California. This work will be completed in close
consultation with OPC staff and a team of coastal
managers in California.
The consultant must have previous
experience researching and developing climate
change-related adaptation policies for coastal
regions. The successful candidate will also have
experience (1) developing climate change adaptation
strategies at the statewide level (work on previous
coastal states adaptation plans is highly desirable)
and (2) writing policy documents for a general
audience including state managers, legislators,
and the public.
We would like to hire someone
as soon as possible and would expect the bulk
of the work to be completed by October or November
2008. If you are interested and possess the required
experience, please contact Chris Blackburn at
510-286-3709 or email@example.com before
July 8, 2008.
24 June 2008 - EPA Seeks Comment on Proposed NPDES Permits
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing two separate National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permits to cover discharges
incidental to the normal operation of commercial and recreational vessels,
such as engine cooling water and deck runoff (73, Federal Register, p.34296,
June 17). The first proposed NPDES vessel general permit (VGP) would cover
incidental discharges from all commercial and recreational vessels longer than
79 feet. The second proposed NPDES recreational general permit (RGP) would
cover vessels less than 79 feet long, and includes sailboats, motorboats, fishing
boats, and non-motorized small craft like canoes. Comments are due 1 August
2008. For more information, click
16 June 2008 -
The International Conference on Water Scarcity, Global Changes, and
Ground Water Management Response will be held December 1-5, 2008 at
University of California, Irvine. This conference is convened by
UNESCO, UC Irvine, and USGS. Abstracts are due on 30 June 2008. For
more information please visit: http://www.waterunifies.com
13 June 2008 -
The June update of the National Federation of
Regional Associations for Coastal and Ocean
Observing (NFRA) is now available. To view or
download, click here.
5 June 2008
- Though a partnership between SCCOOS and NAVAIR, the
SCCOOS COAMPS wind forecasts are back online:
27 May 2008
- A draft Summary of the Ecological Conditions
in the California Current LME for the first
quarter of 2008, developed by PaCOOS, is available here (pdf).
22 May 2008 - Heal the Bay has
released it's Annual Beach Report Card for 2007-08.
The full report, as well as press releases, can
be accessed here: www.healthebay.org
16 May 2008 - Senator
Boxer signs IOOS support letter
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer has signed a letter initiated by Senator Olympia Snow
(ME) to the Senate Appropriations Committee in support of a $96 million request
in FY 2009 for the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) and regional ocean
observing associations. The NOAA IOOS is a principal funder of SCCOOS, as the
regional component of IOOS for Southern California. The letter highlights the
importance and benefits of a truly integrated coastal ocean observing system
and the impacts of reduced funding on the development of IOOS and the regional
systems over the last several years. The letter can be viewed here.
May 2008 - ASBPA call for abstracts
The American Shore & Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) announces a
call for presentations for its 2008 National Coastal Conference: "Sustainable
Beaches," 15-17 October 2008, at the Chicago Mart-Plaza Hotel, Chicago,
Illinois. ASBPA is the nation's oldest organization promoting science-based policies
for the protection of beaches and shores. Presentations are invited on topics
related to the ASBPA missions, with preference given to presentations and posters
that fit within one of the four conference tracks: Global coastal issues; Coastal
protection & structures; Federal, state, and local coastal policy; Management,
monitoring and mitigation. Submissions may be oral PowerPoint presentations,
posters, or panels. One page abstracts are due 9 May 2008. For more information,
visit www.asbpa.org.
May 2008
- The
draft of the California Coastal Impact Assistance
Plan (CIAP) is now available for public comment.
The draft CIAP assists the state and the state's
17 coastal political subdivisions (CPS) in moderating
the impacts of Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil
and gas production. Under the Energy Policy Act
of 2005, California is one of six coastal states
that is eligible to receive funding by the federal
Minerals Management Service to support projects
and activities focused on conservation, protection,
or restoration of coastal areas, including wetlands;
mitigation of damage to fish, wildlife, or natural
resources; planning assistance and costs of complying
with CIAP legislation; implementation of a federally
approved marine, coastal, or comprehensive conservation
management plans; or mitigation of the impacts
of OCS activities through funding of onshore infrastructure
projects and public service needs. In total, California
and its 17 eligible CPSs will be granted approximately
$30 million through four federal funding cycles.
The draft plan is available here.
Comments on the draft CIAP Plan should be sent
to: Chris Potter, California Resources Agency,
1416 Ninth Street, Suite 1311, Sacramento CA 95814; firstname.lastname@example.com.
Comments must be received by May 30, 2008.
7 April 2008 - Making
Use of Ocean Observing Systems Workshop Report
The final report for the September 2007 workshop, Making Use of Ocean Observing
Systems: Applications to Marine Protected Areas
and Water Quality,
was released in March 2008 and is available
to download. The workshop was sponsored by
the Coastal States Organization, SCCOOS, CeNCOOS,
California Ocean Science Trust, and California
State Coastal Conservancy and focused on how
observing activities conducted by California's
regional coastal observing systems—SCCOOS
and CeNCOOS—can address water quality concerns
and monitoring needs of California's
newly established network of Marine Protected
Areas (MPAs). The State of California is committed
to continuing the process initiated at the
workshop and will be developing a cohesive
plan for how observing systems can meet management
Southern California participants in the workshop
included SCCOOS, USC, Southern California Coastal
Water Research Project (SCCWRP), Orange County
Sanitation District, California Sea Grant,
and UC Santa Barbara, as well as representatives
from the State Water Resources Control Board
and regional boards, the State of California
Resources Agency and Coastal Conservancy, NOAA,
other university and research institutions,
and regional organizations. To download the
report, click
26 March 2008 - Los
Angeles / Long Beach Harbors theme site
SCCOOS is pleased to annouce
the creation of its first "theme site."
Using data provided by CDIP, SCCOOS developers
have built a web portal that both integrates CDIP's
regional wave-model graphics and allows users to
gather Southern California wave data directly from
regional research buoys. Click
here to access the
18 March 2008 - HF
Radar Best Practices brochure now available
In an effort
to bring together the HF Radar technical community
from around the nation for discussions on field installations,
radar operation, software programming, and site integration,
a workshop was convened by the Radiowave Operators
Working Group (ROWG) in September 2007 at Scripps
Institution of Oceanography. The main goal of the
workshop was to garner input from participants into
a "Best Practices" document to highlight
the many aspects of HF radar operations. The Best
Practices brochure is now available and can be downloaded
as a pdf here.
The document covers siting requirements, communications,
supporting equipment, software settings, data management,
and quality assurance/quality control. Development
of the document was sponsored by the NOAA IOOS program
office and State of California.
17 March 2008 - Comment
period open for NOAA's IOOS strategic plan
On behalf of
the Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology-Interagency
Working Group on Ocean Observation's (JSOST-IWGOO),
NOAA's Integrated Ocean Observing System Program
(IOOS) Program has announced a 30-day public comment
period for the five-year IOOS Strategic Plan. The
five year plan will be used by the IWGOO to build
an implementation plan that will describe in more
detail the roles and responsibilities that will
be undertaken by the interagency members. To view
the IOOS Strategic Plan, click here.
17 March 2008 - National
IOOS legislation passes out of committee
The House Natural Resources
Committee passed out of committee H.R. 2342, a
bill that would formally authorize the National
Integrated Oceans Observing System. The program,
designed to continually monitor the global environment
and improve environmental forecasts, would provide
data from U.S. coastal waters and the Great Lakes
into the Global Earth Observation System of Systems.
The bill now awaits a final vote by the full House.
To view the legislation, click here.
February 2008 - Abstracts are now being accepted
for the OCEANS'08
MTS/IEEE Quebec conference, 14 to 18 September
2008. The conference website contains a complete
list of technical Areas of Interest for the Conference,
as well as an online
abstract submission form. The abstract
submission deadline is 15 May 2008. For general
information or regarding questions about the technical
program area, contact the Technical Program Chairs,
Joe Czika, email@example.com,
or Georges Fournier, firstname.lastname@example.com.
January 2008 - SCCOOS has developed a preliminary
Conceptual Design for the regional ocean observing
system, available for viewing here.
The SCCOOS Conceptual Design v1.0 reflects recent
assessments of user needs conducted as part of
the development of the proposal submitted in December
2007 to NOAA for continued support of SCCOOS as
the IOOS ocean observing system for our region.
(access the proposal here)
Each of the eleven Regional Associations
(RA) has prepared a Conceptual Design for their
RCOOS that describes RA priorities, structures
and needs for observations, models and data management.
Collectively, the Conceptual Designs indicate that
common observing system priorities across the regions
are safe maritime transportations, mitigation of
coastal hazards, and ecosystem health, while the
specific issues and the manner in which they are
addressed vary from region to region. The RAs will
continue to refine and update their Conceptual
Designs as development of their RCOOSs.
19 November 2007 - NOAA IOOS Program
Office has posted the NOAA IOOS Strategic Plan.
NOAA considers the Strategic Plan a living
document that it uses to outline FY08
activities and milestones. download as
a pdf here
November 2007 - Applications are open for the
California Sea Grant College State Fellowship
Program. The program is an opportunity for a
graduate student interested in marine resources
and policy to receive a nine-month paid fellowship
in the Ocean Resources Management Program of
the California Resources Agency located in Sacramento,
CA. The fellowship begins in January 2008. The
full request for applications and application
guidelines are due by 28 November 2007 and are
available on California Sea Grant's State Fellows
Program website here.
Contact Russ Moll at email@example.com or
858-534-4440 for more information or if you intend
to apply. For more information about the Ocean
Resources Management Program, click here.
October 2007 - West Coast Governors Draft Action
Plan Following the West Coast Governors' Agreement
on Ocean Health, the states of Washington, Oregon,
and California have released a draft plan containing
proposed actions relating to clean water, improved
habitat, ecosystem-based management, alternative
energy development, research and monitoring,
ocean literacy, and sustainable coastal communities.
The review and comment period is open until 1
December 2007. California's regional IOOS components,
SCCOOS and CeNCOOS are referenced in the draft
plan. To view the plan, click here.
For additional information about submitting comments,
view at here.
24 October 2007
- SCCOOS has created a fire
weather support page for
Southern California.
October 2007 - EPA Region 9 Request
for Proposals on West Coast Estuaries Initiative
for the California Coast. U.S.
EPA Region 9 is soliciting proposals for projects
that conserve, restore and protect the water
quality, habitat and environment of California
coastal waters, estuaries, bays and near shore
waters through comprehensive approaches to water
quality management. The emphasis is on supporting
implementation activities based on existing plans,
such as Comprehensive Conservation Management
Plans (Clean Water Act Section 320), State programs
such as the Integrated Regional Water Management
Plans, and local watershed plans. States, local
governments, public and private nonprofit institutions/organizations,
federally recognized Indian tribal governments,
U.S. territories or possessions, and interstate
agencies are eligible to apply. EPA anticipates
awarding approximately 2 to 5 assistance agreements
for the California Coast with awards ranging
from about $500,000 to no more than $1,000,000
each. The total amount anticipated to be awarded
under this announcement is $2.5 million. The
West Coast Estuaries Initiative for the California
Coast is a focused effort under EPA's Targeted
Watersheds Grant Program (TWG). Proposals must
be received by November 15, 2007. For more detailed
information including eligibility, submittal instructions
and selection criteria, please refer to: http://www.epa.gov/region09/funding/wcei.html.
October 2007 - SCCOOS participates in Southern
California Bight '08 Regional Monitoring Program kick-off
meeting The 2008 Bight Regional Monitoring
effort kicked-off on 19 September 2007 at a
meeting convened by the Southern California
Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) in
Costa Mesa, California. Over 130 attendees
participated in breakout group discussions
to identify interested organizations and develop
a set of preliminary monitoring questions within
the areas of coastal ecology, offshore water
quality, beach water quality, areas of special
biological significance, rocky habitat, and
wetlands. Planning committees will further
refine monitoring questions and work to develop
the study design for these issue areas. For
more information, contact SCCWRP at sccwrp.org or
4 October
2007 - Radiowave Operators
Working Group (ROWG) meets at Scripps Institution of Oceanography
A workshop was conducted 10-13 September 2007
at Scripps Institution of Oceanography for representatives
of the HF radar technical community from around
the nation. The main goal of the workshop was
to garner input from participants into a "Best
Practices" document highlighting the many aspects
of HF radar operation including siting requirements,
communications, supporting equipment, software
settings, data management, and quality assurance/quality
control. The workshop was supported through IOOS
funding as part of an effort to bring the HF
Radar technical community together for discussions
on field installations, radar operation, software
programming, and site integration.
October 2007 - West Coast Governors Release draft Action Plan
Following the West Coast Governors' Agreement
on Ocean Health, the states of Washington, Oregon,
and California are expected to release a draft
action plan the first week of October 2007. The
draft plan contains proposed actions relating
to clean water, improved habitat, ecosystem-based
management, alternative energy development, research
and monitoring, ocean literacy, and sustainable
coastal communities. The plan will be open for
public comment for the month of October. The
final plan is anticipated for release in December
2007. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Minerals Management Service, and NOAA are the
Federal co-leads for the action plan, with the
Northwest Fisheries Science Center serving as
the NOAA lead. NOAAÕs Coastal Services Center
and Northwest Fisheries Science Center are providing
staff support and technical assistance to both
Federal and State efforts. The draft plan will
be available online at www.westcoastoceans.gov.
For more information, contact email@example.com or email@example.com.
11 September 2007
- The Sixth National
Monitoring Conference - Monitoring:
Key to Understanding our Waters is being
held 18-22 May 2008 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Abstracts are due 24 September 2007. To view
a flyer of the conference announcement, click
Information also is available on the website.
There is interest in having the IOOS community
participate and/or help organize Session 2 on
observational systems and measurement technologies.
If you are interested in participating, contact
Dr. M.J.
September 2007 - The Multi-Agency Rocky Intertidal
Network (MARINe) Workshop is being held 19-20
October 2007, in Crissy Field, San Francisco,
hosted by the the Gulf of the Farallones Marine
Sanctuary. The workshop begins Friday 19 October
at 1:00 pm and ends Saturday, 20 October at
4:00. The keynote speaker is Bill Douros, Manager
for the Marine Sanctuaries off California. Additional
small group meetings are being planned. The MARINe
Database meeting will be on Friday morning 8:30-12:30;
the Rocky Intertidal Health meeting is planned
for Friday evening. For more information about
the workshop, contact Mary Elaine Helix, MARINe
Program Manager at firstname.lastname@example.com or
Jack Engle, MARINe Coordinator at firstname.lastname@example.com.
For more information about MARINe, click here.
September 2007 - The California Ocean Protection
Council (OPC) is soliciting nominations for the
new Science Advisory Team (OPC-SAT). The goal
of the OPC-SAT is to ensure that the best available
science is applied to policy decisions made by
the OPC. Members of the OPC-SAT will develop
recommendations on scientific issues and facilitate
discussion of research priorities. The deadline
for submission of nominations is September 14.
2007. More information about the OPC-SAT and
the nomination process can be found on the OPC
web site here.
- Network of Channel Islands federal waters marine
zones now in effect. NOAA has completed a network
of marine zones in the federal waters of Channel
Islands National Marine Sanctuary. The zones,
designed to protect marine habitats and sensitive
species, went into effect 29 July 2007 and complement
an existing network of marine zones established
in 2003 for the area by the State of California.
The federal action adds nine new marine zones,
eight of which are no-take marine reserves and
one limited take marine conservation area. Marine
reserves prohibit all extractive activities and
injury to sanctuary resources, and marine conservation
areas allow commercial and recreational lobster
fishing and recreational fishing for pelagic
species. NOAA's action creates a marine protected
area (MPA) network of about 318 square miles,
the largest network in the continental United
States. To read the press release, click
For more information and to view a map of the
marine zones network, click
here .
The California
Ocean Protection Council (OPC) is soliciting
nominations for members of the California Ocean
Protection Council Science Advisory Team (OPC-SAT).
The OPC-SAT provides a unique opportunity for
scientists to help incorporate the best available
science into statewide decisions made by the
OPC. The OPC is a high level council established
by the California Ocean Protection Act of 2004
to ensure that California maintains healthy,
resilient, and productive ocean and coastal ecosystems
for the benefit of current and future generations.
The council consists of the Secretary for Resources
Mike Chrisman (Chair); State Lands Commission
Chair, Lieutenant Gov. John Garamendi; Secretary
for Environmental Protection Linda Adams; two
public members, Susan Golding, CEO and president
of the Golding Group, and Geraldine Knatz, executive
director of the Port of Los Angeles; and two
non voting members, Sen. Darrell Steinberg and
Assemblyman Pedro Nava.
The OPCs principal mandates
are: (1) to establish policies to coordinate
the collection and sharing of scientific data
between agencies on coast and ocean resources,
and (2) to improve the effectiveness of state
efforts to protect ocean resources. In order
to carry out these provisions, the OPC developed
a Five-Year Strategic Plan that calls for the
establishment of a Science Advisory Team.
For more information about the nomination process,
As part of a series of public meetings on the
West Coast Governors' Agreement on Ocean Health,
a meeting will be held on 25 July 2007, in conjunction
with the Coastal Zone '07 conference in Portland,
OR. The meeting will include presentations and
question and answer sessions about the West Coast
Governors' Agreement on Ocean Health, as well
as opportunities to hear suggestions and priorities
for actions to implement the agreement. The WCGA
meeting is open to the public; you need not be
registered for the conference to attend. A public
workshop will be held in California in October
July 25, 2007, 3:30-5:30pm
Hilton Hotel, 921 SW Sixth Avenue, Portland,
For more information, visit westcoastoceans.gov.
- A special session on ocean observing will be
held at the PICES (North Pacific Marine Science
Organization) Annual Meeting 26 October - 5 November
2007, in Victoria, BC, Canada. Abstracts are
due 1 July 2007. Papers are welcome on: scientific
discoveries made possible by ocean observing
systems; observed climate impacts on ocean ecosystems
and fisheries; advanced ocean sensors; autonomous
platforms; data management and exchange; and
interoperability among ocean observatories. The
intention is to have a mixture of scientific
and technical talks on ocean observing systems.
For more information, see the PICES web site here.
MAY 2007 - The Coastal Response Research Center
has released its 2007 Annual Request for Proposals
(RFP). Applicants are required to submit a letter
of intent as a prerequisite to the proposal submission.
Priority topic areas for this year are: Biologically/Ecologically-Driven
Spill Response; Habitat Metrics; Submerged Oil;
and Human Dimensions. The full RFP is available
at the Center's website here.
Coastal Response Research Center was established
as a partnership between the National Oceanic
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), through the
Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R),
and the University of New Hampshire (UNH) in
2004. The Center is administered by and located
at the UNH campus in Durham, NH. The primary
purpose of the Center is to bring together the
resources of a research-oriented university and
the field expertise of OR&R to conduct and
oversee basic and applied research, conduct outreach,
and encourage strategic partnerships in
spill response, assessment and restoration. Contact
information and details on the Center's funded
research, workshops, and new initiatives can
be found on the Center's website here.
MAY 2007 - SCCOOS provides rapid response data
support for ocean outfall repairs. The Orange
County Sanitation District (OCSD) requested data
and product support from SCCOOS as part of a
monitoring contingency plan developed for a facilities
maintenance project that was conducted on Friday,
May 18, 2007. Repairs took place in the early
morning during low flows, and OCSD diverted and
stored incoming and treated wastewater within
the delivery and treatment systems during the
repair. SCCOOS provided local views of modeled
surf zone waves and currents, near real-time
meteorological observations, and surface currents
for use by OCSD and the Orange County Health
Care Agency. Programmers also initiated a plume
tracking simulation at the inshore location for
tracking surfacing discharge in the event a diversion
was necessary. For more information, click here.
MAY 2007 - Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI),
Inc., has selected UC San Diego to design and
construct information technology and networking
for the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI).
The initial $29 million Cyberinfrastructure (CI)
award is for six years, and total funding may
reach more than $42 million over the course of
the planned 11-year project. The University of
Washington was awarded $2.2 million for the first
year planning phase of the Regional Cabled Node
of the OOI off the Washington and Oregon coastlines.
For more information, click here.
- Scripps
Institution of Oceanography co-hosted a meeting
with NOAA on 6 April, to develop recommendations
for standard operating practices for surface
current mapping HF radar systems. The meeting
was attended by HF radar experts from around
the country as well as the principal operators
of the growing HF radar network which comprises
the State of California Coastal Ocean Currents
Monitoring Program (COCMP). The operators of
the network are the Southern California Coastal
Ocean Observing System (SCCOOS) and the Central
and Northern California California Ocean Observing
System (CeNCOOS). To learn more about COCMP,
see www.cocmp.org.
13 APRIL 2007 -The California
Coastal Coalition (CalCoast) will conduct its
Sacramento Forum: The Coast
and California's Watersheds: Investing in our
Natural Infrastructure,
24-25 April 2007. The focus of this
year's CalCoast/Wetlands Recovery Project Sacramento
Forum will be the status of bond proceeds, particularly
from Proposition 84, a major coastal, parks and
water bond initiative passed by voters in November
2006, and state budget and legislation that could
create funding for natural resources. The state's
FY 07-08 budget proposes drastic cuts in natural
resource funding (the Resources Agency budget
was cut by 35%) and overall, natural resource
programs only comprise budget roughly 1% of the
total budget. For more information, visit CalCoast
at www.calcoast.org.
13 APRIL 2007 - Registration
is now open for Coastal
Zone 07: Brewing Local Solutions to Your Coastal
Issues, being held
in Portland, Oregon, 22-26 July 2007.
The conference will feature oral and poster presentations
that use case studies, lessons learned, and success
stories about coastal environment issues. To
view the conference flyer, click
here. Conference
information and registration are available
2007 - The next meeting of the Ocean Protection
Council will be held 17 April 2007, at 12:00
noon, at the Beach Resort Monterey, in Monterey,
California. The meeting agenda and other information
are available at http://resources.ca.gov/copc/04-17-07_meeting.
- Public Workshops on California Marine Life
Protection Act Initiative
Public workshops are
being held in the North Central Coast on March
26 and March 27 to discuss the second phase of
the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.
The focus of the workshops is the MLPA North
Central Coast Study Region. The study region
is bounded in the north at Alder Creek (Mendocino
County) and in the south at Pigeon Point (San
Mateo County). The MLPA Initiative is a public-private
partnership designed to help the State of California
implement the Marine Life Protection Act. Each
workshop will begin with a brief presentation
to describe the second phase of the MLPA Initiative,
followed by discussions about the challenges,
opportunities, and expectations of the upcoming
process. More information and meeting details
are available here.
Questions may be directed to Melissa Miller-Henson
at 916.654.2506 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
- The California Ocean Protection Council's (COPC)
next meeting will be held 8 February 2007 in
Santa Monica at the Doubletree Guest Suites.
The meeting agenda may be accessed here.
This meeting may be viewed via live webcast here.
Additional information about the meeting may
be found on the COPC meeting site here.
GeoTools '07 Conference - The
early registration discount deadline is 8 January
2007, for the GeoTools '07 Conference, being
held 5-8 March 2007, in Myrtle Beach, South
Coastal GeoTools '07 is a conference for
coastal management professionals to share technical
knowledge and experiences, discover promising new
tools and techniques, and learn about available
training, data, and technology resources. Participants
in GeoTools '07 will share best practices
in the areas of geospatial data access, interoperability
standards, and application development, all in
an inspiring environment that encourages collaboration
and partnerships. For registration and important
dates, visit: http://www.csc.noaa.gov/geotools.
collaborates with City of Los Angeles to provide
environmental data support for the Hyperion
Discharge SCCOOS was contacted by the City of Los Angeles
City of Los Angeles Environmental Monitoring
Division to provide ocean data support for
a discharge scheduled for 28-30 November 2006
one mile off the coast of Santa Monica Bay.
Organizations coordinating the data support
for this event include City of Los Angeles
Environmental Monitoring Division, Scripps
Institution of Oceanography, University of
Southern California, Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
and University of California, Los Angeles.
current maps, derived from an array of HF radars,
are being used to assist in tracking the discharge
plume offshore of the beaches. The California
State Coastal Conservancy has funded the installation
of the HF radars array as part of the statewide
ocean currents monitoring program, COCMP, with
additional operational support received from
NOAA. Wave-driven currents within the surf
zone are being forecasted to provide estimates
of how far down-coast the sewage may move once
it reaches shore. The research vessel R/V Seaworld
will conduct boat-based tracking of the discharge
plume, in addition to phytoplankton and nutrient
sampling. Remote sensing data from satellites
(clouds permitting) will be made available
to optically track
the spatial extent of the discharge's surface
plume. Up-to-date wind and rain observations
and forecasts also are being conducted. A link
to this environmental data support on the
SCCOOS web site is available here.
To learn more about the Hyperion Treatment
Plant, click here.
NOVEMBER 2006 - Near-realtime data from the
SCCOOS San Diego Buoy, located off-shore
of Del Mar, California are now streaming to
the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) online
archive. Current observations include wind
speed, water temperature, and salinity. The
data are updated every 20 minutes on the NDBC
site and are available here.
The data are also available from the SCCOOS
website here.
NDBC is a
program within the National Weather Service
(NWS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA).
NOVEMBER 2006 - SCCOOS and CDIP representatives
attended the IOOS Regional Coordination
Workshop in Chicago, IL, on 7-9 November.
The workshop focused on coordination of
the efforts of regional ocean observing
associations, such as SCCOOS, with the
development of the federal Integrated Ocean
Observing System (IOOS). Among the participants
were the eleven Regional Associations,
NOAA, Ocean.US, Office of Naval Research,
Army Corps of Engineers, NSF, and SAIC.
A presentation was provided on SCCOOS's
coastal water quality monitoring program
to address public health. Check back for
workshop notes and publications.
OCTOBER 2006 - The next California Ocean
Protection Council meeting will be held 28
November at 9:30 a.m. in Room 4203 of the
State Capitol, Sacramento, California. The
meeting agenda will be available here by
November 18 and briefing documents will be
posted by the meeting date.
OCTOBER 2006 - A SCCOOS presentation was given
at the Mutli-Agency Rocky Inter-tidal Network
(MARINe) during its two-day workshop conducted
at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and
attendees explored opportunities to collaborate
and exchange data with SCCOOS. MARINe, a network
of scientists from 23 public agencies,
universities, and private and volunteer organizations,
monitors important shoreline resources,
provides needed data, and fosters a better
understanding of the dynamics of rocky intertidal
communities in the Southern California Bight.
Sites are monitored from San Luis Obispo
County to San Diego County on the mainland
and offshore Channel Islands. More information
about MARINe can be found here.
OCTOBER 2006 - Huntington Beach demonstration
underway and online
Huntington Beach 06, a significant nearshore
and surfzone demonstration project is underway. The demonstration is funded principally by the Coastal Conservancy's
Coastal Ocean Currents Monitoring Program, but has grown in scope through sponsored
research programs funded by the Orange County Sanitation District, Office of
Naval Research, USGS, and California Sea Grant. In addition, NOAA recently conducted
a high resolution bathymetry survey to support the efforts in the region. The
San Pedro bay area was selected because of its chronic water quality problems
and availability of historic data. The demonstration is looking at factors
affecting nearshore transport and mixing of pollutants and test models of simulated
pollutant dispersal.
of the study include surfzone currents, transport,
and modeling, AUV mapping, nearshore drifters,
and nearshore moorings. Augmenting components
are HF radar, remote sensing, offshelf gliders,
pier-based sensors, ROMS modeling, and underway
CTDs. Objectives of the demonstration are to
improve predictive capability for transport
in the nearshore region, improve pollutants
management, and foster generation of a variety
of products for coastal users.
Huntington Beach site was visited on 22 September
2006, by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, whose
46th District includes the Pacific coastline
of Orange County and Los Angeles from Huntington
Beach to the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the
Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. SCCOOS
representatives Dr. Robert Guza, Dr. Burt
Jones, Dr. Carter Ohlmann, George Robertson,
and SIO Government Relations staff Kathleen
Ritzman and Chris Cohen participated in the
site visit.
SCCOOS HB06 group web site is
now up and receiving data feed from the demonstration.
The site is useful as both a data portal and
for an overall descriptor of the activities
taking place. The site provides a project
description, description of activities, calendar,
and an interactive map of deployed assets (subsetted
into surfzone, nearshore region, and San Pedro
Bay region). Access the Huntington Beach demonstration
web site including a description of the program
and realtime data displays can be found here.
now online at the HB06 site are:
at California and the World Ocean '06
(CWO) Conference
importance of ocean observing in the state
was underscored at the California and the World
Conference '06 held 17-20 September 2006
in Long Beach, California, beginning with the
opening plenary featuring remarks by retired
Navy Vice Admiral and NOAA Administrator Conrad
Lautenbacher. SCCOOS was a co-sponsor of the
conference, provided numerous oral presentations
and posters, and featured a joint exhibit with
CeNCOOS highlighting the existing capabilities
and applications of California's ocean
observing systems.
Orcutt chaired a session on California's Ocean
Observatories, with talks given by Heather
Kerkering and Toby Garfield (CeNCOOS), Stephanie
Peck (SCCOOS), John Largier (Bodega Marine Lab),
and Jonathan Phinney (PacCOOS). A session on
Management Applications of Ocean Infrastructure
and Technology was chaired by Margaret Davidson
of NOAA and featured several presentations focusing
on coastal observations and management issues
in Huntington Beach, California's dispersed
oil monitoring plan, efforts of the Central Bight
Water Quality Group to integrate data with SCCOOS,
and the development of new products to address
shoreline water quality issues. To view these
presentations, click
here. Web
casts of several of the conference sessions
are available here.
interactive, joint SCCOOS and CeNCOOS exhibit
drew the attention of many conference attendees.
The exhibit featured SCCOOS and CeNCOOS activities,
research, and data products on a new display
system for high resolution scientific visualization.
The display consisted of 15 24" panels arranged
in a 5 wide and 3 tall grid. The cumulative resolution
of the display wall is nearly 30 million pixels
and was built by the Scripps Visualization Center
with support from the Center for Earth Observations
and Applications. For more information and to
view photos of the exhibit at the CWO '06
Conference exhibit, click
SEPTEMBER 2006 - Senior Advisory Committee holds inaugural
inaugural meeting of SCCOOS's Senior
Advisory Committee was held during the CWO '06
conference in Long Beach. The committee membership
includes representatives of 18 local, state,
and federal agencies and industry. At the meeting,
SAC members received an orientation folder, information
about their role and expected activities, and
had the opportunity to meet and talk with other
members and with the SCCOOS Board of Governors.
To view a list of Senior Advisory Committee members, click here.
AUGUST 2006 - Two SIO SCCOOS moorings were
deployed at Huntington Beach in support
of the HB06 field experiment. Data are
now flowing from the sensors aboard the
two moorings to the SCCOOS data system
at SIO via a wireless network link. A
public website serving the data will
be published in the near future.
AUGUST 2006 - Abstracts for the upcoming American
Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco
are due 7 September. We encourage SCCOOS PI's
and participants to participate if possible.
Some relevant sessions are listed here, although
there are many others more discipline specific
that can be viewed through the conference
website - here.
submission guidelines can be found here. If you are not an AGU member, you will need
a sponsor to submit as first author. Please
contact Carolyn Keen at firstname.lastname@example.com if
you need assistance with this.
AUGUST 2006 - Draft concurrent sessions are
now available for the upcoming California
and the World Ocean Conference '06, to
be held in Long Beach on 17-20 September.
A session on California's Ocean Observatories
will provide an overview of the various
observatories underway in California.
All draft sessions can be viewed here.
presentations about and/or related to
SCCOOS can be accessed here.
JULY 2006 - The National Weather Service is
sponsoring a Tsunami Workshop from 9:30 am
until 12:30 pm at the Town and Country Convention
Center in Mission Valley, San Diego. The workshop
is open to the public. For more information,
you can view the invitation here.
JUNE 2006 - California Ocean Protection Council
8 June meeting highlights are now available
JUNE 2006 - The Joint Ocean Commission's "From
Sea to Shining Sea: Priorities for Ocean Policy
Reform," a report to the United
States Senate, is now available online here.
JUNE 2006 - SCCOOS has compiled post-conference
materials for the 24-25 April 2006 Southern
California Marine Monitoring Conference IV. Click
here to access the event documents.
JUNE 2006 - Registration is now open
for the California and the World Ocean '06 Conference (CWO '06).
CWO '06 will be an opportunity
to hear from leaders and innovators working to
address ocean and coastal issues in California
and around the world. The conference will emphasize
the need to move from planning for future actions,
to taking action to protect our ocean and coast.
Online registration and updates can be found
on the CWO '06 Web site at resources.ca.gov/ocean/cwo06.
JUNE 2006 - The California Ocean Protection
Council's (COPC) next meeting will be held
in Monterey at the Hyatt Regency. The meeting
agenda can be accessed here [link to attached
agenda]. The COPC's Five-Year Strategic Plan
and briefing documents are available online
at http://resources.ca.gov/copc/6-8-06_meeting/.
MAY 2006 - Heal the Bay's Annual California
Beach Report Card for 2005-06 has been released,
and can be accessed here: http://www.healthebay.org/brc/annual/default.asp.
An article by the San Diego Union Tribune on
the report's assessment of San Diego beaches
is also available here
as a pdf.
MAY 2006 - The California Ocean Protection
Council (OPC) has announced the next OPC meeting
to be held 8 June 2006, 9a.m., Hyatt Regency
Monterey, 1 Old Golf Course Road, Monterey,
California. The meeting agenda and other
information will be available here
on May 26.
plants' toll on marine life has state panels
set to consider legislation
April 2006, San Diego Union Tribune
Each day, the
21 power plants along California's coast pull
in nearly 17 billion gallons of seawater.
The ocean water is used as a kind of radiator fluid to help cool the systems
that generate 40 percent of the state's electricity.
But the practice has killed billions of fish
eggs, larvae and other marine life. Such depletion
of the ocean food chain 80 square miles of coastal habitat are affected daily has
gone on for decades. On
Monday, the State Lands Commission will
consider a resolution to deny new leases for power
plants that use once-through cooling.
Three days later, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's year-old Ocean Protection Council
will examine the issue and possibly recommend
legislation to address environmentalists'
here to view the full story
APRIL 2006 - The Coastal Data Information
Program (CDIP) dedicated a web display program
to the Ocean Institute in Dana Point on 25
March 2006. This exhibit (which includes an
actual wave buoy) accesses data from the CDIP
buoy deployed approximately 4 miles west of
Dana Point. The exhibit will be used as an
educational tool for all generations to further
understanding of the principals of physical
oceanography. The web display may be accessed here.
APRIL 2006 - The Ocean Observation System
Coalition Legislative Update is now available
online. The Update includes recent information
on the Senate IOOS approps letter and
other legislative activity in support of IOOS. Click
here to download as a pdf.
APRIL 2006 - The California Ocean Protection
Council (OPC) has announced
the next OPC meeting to be held April
20, 2006, 8:30 a.m., Coastal Hearing
Room, CalEPA Building, 1001 I Street,
Sacramento, California. The meeting agenda
and other information will be available
here by
10 April.
APRIL 2006 - 53rd annual Eastern Pacific Ocean
Conference (EPOC) will held 27-30 Sept 2006
at Timberline Lodge, Oregon. For more information
about this event, click
APRIL 2006 - Time
Series of the Northeast Pacific: A symposium
to mark the 50th anniversary of Line-P will
be held 5-8 July 2006 at the Victoria Conference
Centre in Victoria, BC, Canada.For more information
about this event, including deadlines, click
MARCH 2006 - The public comment period on the
development of the Ocean Research Priorities
Plan (ORPP) is now OPEN. Interested
parties are encouraged to review the planning
document and provide input (click
here to do so). In
addition to the public comment period, the
National Science and Technology Council Joint
Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology
is holding a public
workshop on April 18-20, 2006 in Denver, CO,
to solicit input and guidance from the ocean
science communities on the development of the
for in the U.S. Ocean Action Plan, the ORPP,
in conjunction with a follow-on Implementation
Strategy, will describe a vision for U.S.
ocean science and technology, describe the
challenges to be addressed, identify key themes,
specify goals for each theme and a time frame
for their achievement, and address implications
for the use or prioritization of resources.
The draft Ocean Research Priorities Plan will
be formulated using the input from both the
workshop and the public comment period,
from the research community, ocean educators,
government representatives (federal, state,
tribal, and local), industry groups, international
representatives, non-governmental organizations,
and any individuals interested in helping guide
national ocean research are invited to attend
the workshop and contribute to the public comment.
Contact: Shelby E. Walker (email@example.com).
MARCH 2006 - State health officer advises consumers
not to eat some shellfish and viscera of sardines,
anchovies, and crab from southern California
coast. The official release can be viewed here
as a pdf.
MARCH 2006 - 17 US Senators send letter supporting
the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS)
to the Senate Appropriations Committee. The
letter can be accessed here
as a pdf.
MARCH 2006 - The UNOLS Scientific Committee
for Oceanographic Aircraft Research (SCOAR)
is hosting a conference on the use of airborne
platforms in oceanographic and marine meteorological
research, to held at the Moss Landing Marine
Laboratories 24-25 May 2006. More information
on the meeting can be accessed here.
MARCH 2006 - The Coastal Data
Information Program (CDIP) installed a wave buoy SW of the Coronado Islands.
This buoy is a great asset to the CDIP program, as it will be an excellent
indicator of south swell, resulting in improved nowcasts/forecasts models. The
data from this buoy are accessible at
MARCH 2006 - Potentially toxic Pseudo-nitzschia
bloom off of Scripps Pier on 13 and 16 March
2006. Phytoplankton samples from Scripps
Pier showed high numbers of the potentially
toxic marine diatom Pseudo-nitzschia australis.
SIO SCCOOS researchers observed cell numbers
of 7.0 x 104 cells l- Pseudo-nitzschia australis.
The researchers do not yet have assay results
for the toxin domoic acid (DA), which is
associated with this species. However, one
sea lion with possible domoic acid poisoning
was rescued in Encinitas on 18 March 2006 from
the Seaworld rescue team. On 9 March 2006,
a toxic Pseudo-nitzschia bloom was reported
from San Pedro Channel in Los Angeles, with
associated poisoning of 18 sea lions (Schnetzer & Caron,
USC). Toxic levels for California are~ 5
x 104 cells l-1 Pseudo-nitzschia australis,
the concentration at which mussels and fish
reach average toxin levels considered unfit
for human consumption (Silver, unpubl. data). Click
here to download the report as a pdf.
MARCH 2006 - The California Ocean Protection
Council looks forward to public participation
in its workshops next week on the OPC's
Draft Five-Year Strategic Plan (online
To submit written comments
on this draft, follow
the instructions here to
do so by March 29. The
Council will
be seeking public feedback on the mission
and role of the Ocean Protection Council
as described in Sections I and II, as well
as on the potential goals, objectives, and
actions that have been identified in Section
III. Tthe workshops have been structured
to maximize the opportunity for partcipants
to provide their thoughts and recommendations.
MARCH 2006 - National Federation of Regional
Associations (NFRA)
spring meeting will be held Thursday, March
9 and Friday March 10, 2006 at the CORE
Offices, 1201 New York Avenue Washington, DC.
The NFRA Spring March Meeting Agenda is now
available. Click
here to download the pdf.
2006 - Registration is now available for Southern
California Marine Monitoring Conference
IV to
be held 24-25 April 2006 at the Aquarium
of the Pacific in Long Beach. Co-hosts for
this event include: USC's Wrigley Institute
for Environmental Studies, SCCOOS and Catalina
Conservancy Divers. Click
here to view the full invitation (as
a pdf). Note:
Online registration was closed 17 April.
Late registration will be permitted on an
as available basis the day of the event
at a cost of $50. To find out how to register
for this event, click
FEBRUARY 2006 - The California Ocean Protection
Council invites applications for the position
of Executive Policy Officer for the California
Ocean Protection Council (OPC). The Executive
Policy Officer of the California OPC will
report to the Council Chair and will be the
primary policy analyst for the OPC. The Executive
Policy Officer assumes the lead role for strategic
planning and implementation of the OPCs
policies, initiatives, and programs as well
as coordination among all State entities
associated with the purview. Please view
the job announcement pdf on the OPC website
for more information: click
FEBRUARY 2006 - The California Ocean Protection
Council (OPC)
has issued an open invitation to its
Science Focus Session on the
OPC Strategic Plan on
Wednesday, March 1, 2006 from
in the auditorium (first floor)
of the San Jose State Building (address:
100 Paseo de San Antonio
San Jose, California).
The OPC staff is soliciting early input on the issues and goals that should
drive the OPCs strategic initiatives for the next five years as well as feedback
on the proposed strategic plan framework (pdf).
The OPC
encourages interested parties—who are unable
to participate in the meeting—to submit written comments (see
instructions here).
This session will focus on the Draft Strategic Plan Outline: Mission and Goals
The OPC has adopted the California Ocean and
Coastal Information, Research, and Outreach
Strategy that will be integrated into its strategic
plan. For more information, visit http://resources.ca.gov/copc/strategic_plan.html.
FEBRUARY 2006 - As
co-chairs of California and the World Ocean
Conference 2006 (CWO '06), Secretary
for Resources Mike Chrisman, State Controller
Steve Westly, and Secretary for Environmental
Protection Alan Lloyd invite you to submit
an abstract for an oral or poster presentation.
This international conference, organized
by the California Resources Agency, the
California Environmental Protection Agency,
and the Coastal Conservancy Association,
will be held September 17-20, 2006 at the
Hyatt Regency, Long Beach, California,
U.S.A. For more information, click
SCCOOS planning meeting was held at UCLA.
Minutes and other meeting materials will
soon be made available at this site. The
agenda, and other pre-meeting information
can be accessed here.
FEBRUARY 2006 - The Ocean Observatories Initiative
is included as a new start in the President's
FY07 budget, with a total of $309.5M
over the life of the program. The MRE-FC
budget can be accessed here
FEBRUARY 2006 - SouthEast Atlantic Coastal
Ocean Observing System (SEACOOS) has
announced it will host a Southeast
Regional Data Management Workshop, March
9-10, 2006 in Chapel Hill, NC entitled
Data Sharing and Data Quality
of Ocean Currents and Temperature towards
an Operational Data Management System
for the Southeast Region.
main goal for this two-day workshop is to discuss
data sharing, translation, and quality assurance
of ocean currents and ocean temperature in
context of a Regional Assocation (RA). The
focus will be on data formats, processes, and
tools to share data. This
workshop is part of a larger effort to move
towards building data management infrastructure
for the future Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing
Regional Association (
This event is hosted by the Data
Management Coordinating Committee (DMCC)
of the SouthEast Atlantic Coastal Ocean Observing
System (
Travel is paid for the first forty registrants. You can register
FEBRUARY 2006 - In
late January of 2006, a potential harmful
algal bloom (HAB) was visible in La Jolla
and Del Mar
coastal waters. The Scripps Pier Chlorophyll
Program and Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB)
researchers have produced a brief report on
this bloom. To access the
report, click here: Documenting
a dinoflagellate bloom off Scripps pier - a
report from the Pier Chlorophyll Program. Chlorophyll
and HAB data will soon be available at the SCCOOS
web site.
Systems Group, Inc. (IMSG) (www.imsg.com)
is looking for a motivated individual to join the
Coastal Management Services branch of the NOAA
Coastal Services Center (Center), a federal facility
in Charleston, South Carolina. Click here for the
full job description.
JANUARY 2006 - The
California Ocean Protection Council announces
initiatives on ecosystem-based management.
For more information visit www-csgc.ucsd.edu and www.usc.edu/org/seagrant.
JANUARY 2006 - The
California Sea Grant College Program is now
soliciting preliminary proposals for projects
to begin February 1, 2007. Faculty and academic
staff members from universities throughout
California are invited to apply. For more information,
access the California Sea Grant website here.
JANUARY 2006 - The
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies
is hosting its second Forum on
Earth Observations 15-16 Feb.
15-16 in La Jolla, California.
The Forum is a premier event for networking
within a diverse community of Earth observations
providers and users. This two-day event will
convene business, academic, non-government
and government leaders to address key issues
in the planning and implementation of a global
Earth observation system. For more information,
access the Forum website here.
DECEMBER 2005 updated
25 JANUARY 2006 - The
next SCCOOS planning meeting will be held
at UCLA's Institute of the Environment on
13 and 14 February (Monday and Tuesday) 2006.
The format and agenda are under development,
but please hold the date.
summary of the draft agenda:
JANUARY 2006 - Eric Terrill
presented at the JOSS sponsored Public
Health Risks: Coastal Observations For Decision
Making in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Attendees at the workshop included a nationwide
gathering of health officers and beach managers,
representatives from NIH, NIEHS, NSF, NOAA,
and USGS, as well as Paul diGiacomo (JPL),
Steve Weisberg (SCCWRP),
Mark Gold, (Heal the Bay) and
Larry Honeybourne (Orange County Department of Environmental Health) from the
Southern California region. Eric's presentation
can be accessed here
(pdf). An
agenda can be accessed here
(pdf). A
poster presented by SCCOOS can be accessed here
JANUARY 2006 - The NFRA Spring March Meeting
will be held 9-10 March 2006 in the Washington
DC CORE Offices. It is recommended participants
planning to attend the meeting consider
making travel reservations as soon as possible. Cick
here for a list of area hotels.
agenda items include: Adoption of NFRA
by-laws; Communication Plan; Ocean.US Certification
Criteria Review (very important! Draft
is expected soon); IOOS DMAC and NFRA; Update
on the Ad Hoc Ocean Coalition's
Legislative Efforts; and other relevant
JANUARY 2006 - The Science Advisor/Executive
Director will serve as lead scientific
staff to the OPC by coordinating all scientific
aspects of the planning and implementation
of COPA. The position will also serve as the
lead administrator for the CalOST and will
provide creative leadership to the trust in
its efforts to apply the best science available
to California ocean management. The Executive
Director/Science Advisor will manage the creation
and ongoing activities of the Science Advisory
Team to meet the science-based management requirements
of COPA.
OPC Science Advisory Team (SAT) will be established
to develop scientific recommendations on issues
identified by the OPC through soliciting expert
testimony and synthesizing information for
the generation of policy by OPC. It will seek
to implement the California
Ocean and Coastal Information, Research, and
Outreach Strategy and
to ensure that projects brought before the
OPC meet scientific standards and established
OPC funding guidelines. The SAT will provide
technical advice on applicable agenda items;
and perform other duties as requested by the
OPC. The OPC Science Advisor will perform
the following duties under direction of the
OPC Executive Officer and Chair and in conjunction
with Council Secretary:
Desired Qualifications. M.S. or PhD in ocean/coastal
related field. Five years or more experience
in managing organizations and applying science
to resource management. Experience in fundraising
and budget management is desirable.
Application Instructions. Please mail a cover
letter and resume/CV addressed to Brian Baird,
Assistant Secretary for Ocean and Coastal Policy,
1416 Ninth Street, Suite 1311, Sacramento, CA
95814. Email submissions to firstname.lastname@example.com will be accepted, but please follow with hard
Santa Monica Bay Observatory/San Pedro Channel
Data meeting will be held at USC on Wednesday
February 15 from 1-6:00 pm. The goal of
the meeting is to bring together scientists interested
in sharing research and exploring potential
collaborations in biogeochemical/ecological
timeseries research in the waters off Los Angeles--in
particular those involved with the Santa Monica
Bay Observatory (SMBO) and the San Pedro
Ocean Timeseries (SPOT) programs. For more
information, to RSVP (the meeting is open,
but RSVP's are requested), or if you are interested
in presenting, please contact Niki Gruber
at firstname.lastname@example.com.
JANUARY 2006 - Dolores Wesson, outreach coordinator
for NOAA's Coastal Storms Southern California
pilot, and Senior Analyst for PaCOOS, will
present an overview of SCCOOS at the The
Third Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts,
and Islands held at UNESCO in Paris, France
23-28 January, 2006. The conference aims to
mobilize high-level policy attention, topical
working groups, analytical papers and other
contributions to provide a review of progress
achieved and obstacles faced in the implementation
of international targets on oceans, coasts,
and small island developing States. www.globaloceans.org/paris3/index.html
JANUARY 2006 - SCCOOS briefed Katie Whelan,
Special Advisor to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger,
and Carolyn Henrich, Legislative
Director for Education at UCOP's Office
of Federal Government Relations, to discuss
the State and Federal partnerships that
support the development of ocean observing
activities in the State. Of particular
interest was leveraging SCCOOS NOAA COTS
funding with the State Wide California
Coastal Ocean Currents Monitoring program
that is managed by the State Coastal
JANUARY 2006 - The California Ocean
Protection Council (OPC) will meet 13 January
to consider ecosystem protection, invasive
species, and coastal ocean floor mapping projects.
The meeting from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. will be
held at the Administration Building, Board
of Supervisors Hearing Room, Santa Barbara,
Calif. A live broadcast of the meeting will
be shown on the council's
Web site.
of these projects and programs are innovative
approaches that continue support for ecosystem
based management of California's
ocean and coastal resources," said Secretary
for Resources and Council Chair Mike Chrisman. "Both
the U.S. and Pew ocean commissions have emphasized
that ocean protection must address relationships
among all parts of the ecosystem, including
humans and their environments. The proposals
be looking at can help California take bold
new steps in protecting our spectacular coastline."
The council will consider four projects and
one grant program:
The five-member
California Ocean Protection Council was formed
as part of the implementation of the 2004 California
Ocean Protection Act. Secretary for Resources
Mike Chrisman serves as council chair. To view
the live Web cast and access the meeting's
agenda and briefing documents please visit
the Ocean Protection Council's Web site at: resources.ca.gov/copc.
JANUARY 2006 - The Aquarium of the Pacific's
Marine Conservation Research Institute (MCRI)
has issued an open invitation to its 3rd Southern
California Marine Monitoring Conference. Co-Hosted
by the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental
Studies, SCCOOS and Catalina Conservancy Divers,
this event will take place 24-25 April 2006
at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.
Additional information will be posted as it
comes available. Click here for the flyer.
JANUARY 2006 - The results of the SCCOOS
Data Provider and Users Group Meeting held
at the Headwaters to Ocean's Conference in
Huntington Beach 27 October 2005 are now available
online here.
The stakeholders from marine and coastal
industries, state and local government, and
coastal resource organizations who participated
in the meeting provided SCCOOS representatives
with product development feedback. A list of
meeting participants is available here.
SCCOOS extends its
gratitude to those who participated.
- SCCOOS has been invited to provide comments
to help establish a framework for monitoring
Harmful Algae Blooms (HABs) along the entire
west coast. A public workshop will be held
in 2006. To view the PaCOOS report "Observation
System for Early Warning of HAB Events" as a
pdf, click here.
- The next SCCOOS planning meeting will be held
at UCLA's Institute of the Environment on 13
and 14 February (Monday and Tuesday) 2006. The format and agenda are
under development, but please hold the date.
- Julie Thomas attended the Oceanside Beach and
Harbors Advisory Committee Meeting. Presentations
included SCCOOS instrumentation location and types, and CDIP/SCBPS
projects that affect Oceanside mariners and coastal zone management.
As one of CDIP's wave monitoring buoys is located 4 miles west of
Oceanside, the wave data is critical to local boating operations.
The SCBPS project has collected nine LIDAR surveys over the past 5
years, covering the Oceanside littoral cell. All of the wave and LIDAR
data are available at cdip.ucsd.edu.
The Advisory Committee, headed by Don Hadley,
Oceanside Harbor Master, is very supportive of
future SCCOOS efforts. They are looking forward
to potentially housing a SCCOOS shore station
and CODAR site.
updated 4 JANUARY 2006 - Mike Chrisman, Chair
of the California Ocean Protection Council,
has issued an invitation to the next meeting
of the council on Jan. 13, 2006, 10 a.m., Administration
Building, Board of Supervisors Hearing Room
- 4th Floor, 105 E. Anapamu Str., Santa Barbara,
California. The meeting agenda is now available
online here.
- The UCOP Office of Research and the UC Marine
Council are pleased to announce the availability
of research funding through the Coastal Environmental
Quality Initiative (CEQI) for AY 2006-2007.
Proposals are being solicited in the following categories: 1) Multicampus
Research Projects; 2) Graduate Student Fellowships;
and 3) Workshops, Conferences or Planning Meetings.
With this competition, UCOP is
pleased to introduce a new paperless, on-line application
processing system. The Call for Proposals, guidelines
and application processes can be found at the program
website: www.ucop.edu/research/coastal
Submission Deadlines: Pre-proposals for Multi-campus Research and Graduate
Student Projects must be submitted by 1 March
2006. All full proposals are due by 1 May 2006. In addition, please
be reminded that when Program funds are available,
the Rapid Response Program provides funding of up to $5,000, on a short
turnaround basis and outside the normal proposal submission cycle, for
research-related events such as workshops, conferences and symposia.
DECEMBER 2005 - Mike Chrisman,
Secretary for Resources Chair for the California
Ocean Protection Council has issued
an open invitiation for "California and the World
Ocean '06." The conference will
take place 17-20 September in Long Beach, California.
With this event, California will bring together
representatives from all states, including
35 coastal states, academia, government, industry,
and the public to positively influence the
course of ocean and coastal protection.
The California Ocean
Protection Council will open this conference
with a new vision for action to protect and manage
ocean and coastal resources. The conference will
focus on evaluating achievements since the release
of the U.S.
Ocean Commission report, and on the necessary
steps for moving forward. A CWO '06 Web site with
more information will be announced soon. In the
interium, questions should be directed to Marilyn
Hauck (email or phone:
- CalCOFI has issued a Call for Papers for
its 2005 Conference. The 5-7 December 2005 conference
will take place at Scripps' Sumner Auditorium.
More information is available on
the event website.
NOVEMBER 2005 - On November 15, California Ocean Protection
Council Chair, Secretary for Resources Mike Chrisman submitted the
California Ocean and Coastal Information, Research, and Outreach Strategy
(IRO Strategy) to the White House Committee on Ocean Policy. In a
letter accompanying the IRO Strategy, Chair Chrisman asked that the
IRO Strategy priorities be included in the national Ocean Research
Priorities Plan that is currently being developed.
Admiral James Watkins and the Honorable
Leon Panetta, leaders of the new bipartisan
Joint Ocean Commission Initiative (JOCI), followed
submission with a letter commending the California Ocean and Coastal
Information, Research, and Outreach Strategy. JOCI lauded California's "progressive
efforts to protect, restore, and maintain its coasts and oceans." They
urged the federal government to include these priorities
in the national Ocean Research Priorities Plan
and to use the IRO Strategy as a model in reforming
ocean policy.
Please see resources.ca.gov/copc or
links below to access the letters and reports referenced
NOVEMBER 2005 - Underwater gliders
designed to autonomously sample the ocean for
durations of weeks to months continue to operate
in Southern California. Fabricated and operated
by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Spray glider provides
SCCOOS the ability to continuously monitor the ocean in an efficient
manner. The data will be used to improve ocean model forecasts for
the region. As of November 10th, a Spray glider continues to operate
off the coast of Santa Barbara and is returning to shore for eventual
recovery. Having conducted over 310 dives, the vehicle flew offshore
approximately 180 miles before returning back to the coast.
- The First IOOS Development Plan was approved
by the Interagency Committee on Ocean Science
and Resource Management (co-chaired by OSTP
and CEQ) at its meeting on 3 November. It is
now the official federally sanctioned plan for the initial IOOS. The
plan can be found on the Ocean.US web site at http://www.ocean.us/ioosplan.jsp.
- Quality Assurance of Real-Time Data (QARTOD)
Workshop held at Scripps. This is an IOOS community
effort to address the challenges related to
the distribution and description of real-time
ocean data. One of the primary challenges facing
the ocean community is the fast and accurate
assessment of the quality of data streaming from the IOOS partner
systems. The third QARTOD Workshop continued the development of
quality descriptions for waves, in-situ currents, remote currents
and CTDs. Additonal information is available at qartod.org.
- Ocean color products from the 300m resolution
Ocean Color Monitor (OCM) sensor aboard Oceansat
were made available once again 1 November
2005. The data complements 1km resolution
ocean color products and sea surface temperature (SST)
obtained by the MODIS sensor aboard Aqua.
Recent imagery from both OCM and MODIS may be seen under
the Satellite
Imagery link in the Data Access & Information
section of the SCCOOS site.
2005 - The
in Southern California (Grant # 04-078) 2005
Annual Report and 2006 Annual Work Plan is
now online. download
as a pdf
OCTOBER 2005 - NOAA's Center for
Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research (CSCSOR) has
announced the re-issue of the solicitation
of proposals for the FY 2006 Ecological Forecasting
Program. This program was originally solicited
in the Federal Register on June 30, 2005, as
part of the June, 2005 NOAA Omnibus solicitation.
The original deadline for receipt of proposals
was 3 p.m., EST, on October 25, 2005. The ECOFORE
component of that Omnibus solicitation did not
include commercial organizations as eligible
applicants. NOAA has determined that expanding
the pool of potential applicants to include commercial
organizations would enhance the program's ability
to make financial assistance awards to recipients
with the highest level of expertise in atmospheric
forecasting. The new deadline for the receipt
of proposals is 3 p.m., EST, on November 18,
2005, for both electronic and paper applications.
For more information, click
OCTOBER 2005 - The ORION Project Office is encouraging
participation in its ORION Design & Implementation
Workshop (Salt Lake City, 27-30 March 2006).
Workshop participants will have the opportunity to
provide input to the final design of the Ocean Observatories
Initiative infrastructure. Download
the poster/invitation as a pdf.
workshop will present to the ocean research community
the preliminary design of the global, regional and
coastal ocean research observatory networks to be
implemented under the ORION Program. The preliminary
design is being developed based on the ideas submitted
in the recent Request for Assistance Proposals, previous
workshop reports and advice from ORION's scientific,
technical and engineering advisory committees. The
workshop will also provide an opportunity for collaborative
groups to begin developing integrated research projects.
This effort will lead to the realization of the Ocean
Observatories Initiative, the National Science Foundation's
ambitious plan to develop and deploy observatory infrastructure
in the oceans to enable novel research and expand educational
opportunities. We strongly encourage participation
in implementing these community facilities.
For more information, please visit
the ORION website oremail firstname.lastname@example.com.
OCTOBER 2005 - SCCOOS is hosting a working
group meeting for data providers and users at
the 2005
H20 Conference in Huntington Beach.
The 27 October 2005 meeting will be held at the
Huntington Beach Waterfront HIlton at 5:30 pm
in Salon A (agenda as a pdf). This
overview of SCCOOS, will include moderated discussion
on optimal monitoring activities and data products,
as well as an individual question and answer
session with SCCOOS data managers. Working group
categories include: water quality, marine life
resources, and coastal mazards. RSVP: firstname.lastname@example.com.
Download the invitation as a pdf.
OCTOBER 2005 - SCCOOS sponsored and had a
booth at the American Shoreline & Beach Preservation Association
conference in San Francisco on October
10-12, 2005. Attendees from Scripps were
Holly Celico, Debbie Duckworth, David Castel
and Julie Thomas.
The highlight of the Conference was attendance by Orville Magoon
and Dr. Ropbert Wiegel as honorary co-chairs.
Dr. Scott Ashford's graduate student from UCSD, Adam Young, presented
his theory on coastal seacliff morphology.
His research indicates that a majority of
the sand on the beach comes from the cliffs. His data are collected
both from a horizontal-looking ground-based LIDAR
and the Scripps Southern California Beach
Processes Study airborne LIDAR. This theory
captured the attention of many researchers who, up until now, have
concluded that streams and rivers were the
main source of sediment on the beaches.
Supervisor Pam Slater-Price represented
San Diego, with an excellent presentation
on "A Regional Perspective on Managing
Beach Water Quality." Additional attendees
included City Officials from SANDAG, Carlsbad
and Oceanside.
county's shifting sands
October 2005,
San Diego Union Tribune
UCSD scientists have completed two studies showing
that cliff erosion produces far more sand for local beaches
than previously estimated. A six-year study by engineering professor Scott Ashford and graduate
student Adam Young found that bluff erosion accounted for 68 percent
of the fresh sand that nature provides to the county's eroding beaches.
here to view the full story
OCTOBER 2005 - The Ocean Protection Council (OPC)
met at Scripps Institution of Oceanography on Friday, 23 Sept.
2005. Below is a summary of the actions taken
by the council at this meeting.
Meeting Highlights
SEPTEMBER 2005 - SCCOOS is a sponsor of the American
Shore and Beach Preservation Association fall conference (link) and will
be on hand as an exhibitor for the 10-12 October
2005 event at Fisherman's Wharf.
council targets state waters: Panel's mandate
to protect, manage
September 2005, San Diego Union Tribune
The five-member Ocean Protection Council will
meet tomorrow at Scripps Institution of Oceanography
to address a wide-ranging agenda: It will review
the state's ability to respond to offshore oil
spills, adopt guidelines on how it will award
grant requests, review the $26.2 million it has
gathered from various sources to fund special
projects, and begin drafting a "long-term
here to view the full story
SEPTEMBER 2005 - Senate Votes to Approve $109
Million for IOOS
On 15 September
2005, the full Senate passed H.R. 2862, the
Fiscal Year 2006 Appropriations for Commerce and Justice, Science
and related agencies. The measure was approved by a vote of 91 yeas,
4 nays. The Senate bill retained $109,680,000 for Integrated Coastal
and Ocean Observations as recommended by the CJS Appropriation Subcommittee.
SEPTEMBER 2005 - Mark Moline
has convened a special session for the 2006 AGU
Ocean Sciences Meeting. The session, entitled
"New Results From Science Programs Employing
Autonomous and Lagrangian Platforms," will
accept abstracts through 20 October 2005.
Description: Results
from early science programs employing autonomous
and Lagrangian platforms and sensors (ALPS) are now becoming
available, making this an excellent time to
review how these technologies have been applied
to address compelling science questions and present advances
in understanding that have resulted from these
programs. This session solicits contributions
focused on the ALPS theme with a particular
emphasis on science applications and results.
Many ALPS technologies have matured and transitioned
from specialized engineering/science teams into
the larger oceanographic community. The resulting
broad user base has driven diverse applications
in physical, chemical and biological studies
focused on a wide range of scales. This class
of instruments facilitates sampling at relevant
temporal and spatial scales while providing
the continuous presence needed to capture multiple
realizations of episodic events and characterize
longer-term seasonal and interannual changes.
Profiling floats, autonomous underwater vehicles
and gliders offer a combination of high-resolution
spatial coverage, vertical sampling through
the water column and extended (days to years)
deployments that cannot be easily achieved with other technologies.
Novel applications of these new observational
capabilities exploit the combination of spatial
coverage and continuous presence to advance
our understanding of physical, chemical and biological
SEPTEMBER 2005 - The IMT Lab in the Marine
Physical Laboratory has installed an underwater
junction box approximately 50m NW of the SIO
Pier. The box is mounted approximately 1m above
the bottom and has a multi-conductor armored
cable that terminates at a patch panel in the
Dry Lab on the pier end. This installation
is to facilitate both the quick deployment
of instruments in the nearshore as well as
support the long-term deployment of sensors.
The junction box houses wet-pluggable Impulse
bulkhead connectors allowing access to Ethernet,
12 and 24 volt regulated power, 50 ohm coax
conductors, and 4 sets of shielded, twisted
pairs for serial or other data requirements.
To use or inquire about this facility, contact
Dale Stokes (firstname.lastname@example.com).
SEPTEMBER 2005 - The Wrigley Marine Science Center,
located at Two Harbors on Catalina Island, celebrated
its 40th anniversary on Saturday, 27 August 2005.
The day also marked the 10th anniversary of USC's
Wrigley Institute of Environmental Sciences. Over
800 guests, including members of the Wrigley family,
were on hand to celebrate the occasion. The event
included demonstrations, presentations by researchers
and displays representing the various efforts
of USC and the Wrigley Institute in Marine Sciences.
Burt Jones and Matthew Ragan (USC) manned the
SCCOOS booth, which attracted many visitors, and
provided an opportunity to individually discuss
SCCOOS efforts in the Southern California coastal
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