New PacIOOS Website Launched!

PacIOOS is excited to announce the launch of its new website: www.pacioos.org.  In addition to pages addressing the needs of various user groups, pages have been created specifically for each of the PacIOOS subregions.  "Conditions at a Glance" are now available for each island group, allowing visitors to quickly locate up-to-date information on waves, tides, weather, and more.  

Be sure to use the "Feedback" button on the right side of each page to tell us what you think.

Japanese Tsunami Visible Across the Pacific

On Friday, March 11, 2011, a 9.0 earthquake 80 miles east of Sendai, Honshu, Japan generated the Honshu tsunami that devastated coastal communities in Japan.  Surging waves were felt throughout the Pacific, including Hawai'i and the West Coast of the U.S., damaging harbors and causing evacuations of coastal residents.  Visit the PacIOOS Map View for detailed surge run-up heights from this and past tsunami events.

NOAA's Center for Tsunami Research has created animations of the tsunami propagation and models of maximum wave heights throughout the Pacific.  The models are intended to estimate wave arrival time, wave height, and inundation area when a tsunami is generated.

PacIOOS Seeks Future Funding

PacIOOS submitted three proposals for the continued development of the program.  The first is a 5-year grant request to NOAA for the continued core funding of PacIOOS' observing efforts.  The second proposal, to the NOAA Coastal Storms Program, is for the capitalization and operation of two Waverider buoys in the Mariana Archipelago for 3 years.  The third proposal, in partnership with the State of Hawai'i Office of Planning, proposes to grow the existing PacIOOS data management and visualization activities to support the development of a process that will guide future coastal and marine spatial planning in the State of Hawai'i.  

Integrated Coral Observing Network Station in Laolao Bay, CNMI

Efforts continue toward the installation of a NOAA-funded Integrated Coral Observing Network (ICON) station in Laolao Bay, Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). NOAA's Coral Health and Monitoring Program's ICON project is aimed at establishing a global, high quality, in situ coral reef monitoring network and integrating near real-time, in situ satellite, radar, and other data for ecological forecasting in coral reef ecosystems.  PacIOOS is partnering with CNMI's Marine Monitoring Team and ICON to provide additional water quality and telemetry capabilities to this station.  Follow the progress on this and other activities in Laolao Bay here.

Acoustic Tracking of Sharks in Palau

PacIOOS purchased 4 receivers and 4 tags to deploy within the existing shark tracking array in Palau in partnership with the Coral Reef Research Foundation in Palau and the Australian Institute of Marine Science at the University of Western Australia.  The existing system is deployed at some of the most popular dive sites in Palau to look a the ecology and movement patterns of sharks.  This is a collaborative effort between the government of Palau and one of the local tourist operators.  The government has declared its waters a national sanctuary, forbidding the capture of sharks by commercial fishermen. Despite this initiative, illegal fishing continues, much of it targeting shark fin.  The government and local tour operators hope the monitoring will increase understanding of the ecology of these animals and help measure the effectiveness of the sanctuary.  The additional receivers and tags will broaden the spatial extent of sampling efforts.  Putting a bigger array in place in Palau will also help monitor other animals, such as manta rays and dugong, a large marine mammal related to manatees.

The City and County of Honolulu (CCH) and PacIOOS are partnering to further the data management operations at PacIOOS and improve access to oceanographic data collected around O'ahu. Annual funding, at $50,000 per year for five years, has been provided to PacIOOS to manage, store, and distribute CCH oceanographic data collected by contractors (University of Hawai'i, Sea Engineering, and others) as well as by their regular water quality survey personnel.  PacIOOS will also integrate CCH data into existing products and servers for public access.

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