PacIOOS deployed a second wave buoy in Kāneʻohe Bay, Oʻahu, at the end of August. The buoy was installed as part of Hawaiʻi Natural Energy Institute's ( HNEI) efforts to test in-water wave energy conversion devices at the U.S. Navy Wave Energy Test Site ( WETS) in Kāneʻohe Bay. Significant wave height and energy period derived from the wave buoys are essential parameters to evaluate the power performance of wave energy conversion devices. To ensure continuous data availability, the Kāneʻohe WETS wave buoy was installed to provide measurement redundancy.

The Kāneʻohe WETS wave buoy measures wave height, period, direction, and sea surface temperature in 30 minute intervals. All data is available on the PacIOOS website and on PacIOOS Voyager.  Data are managed by the Coastal Data Information Program ( CDIP ) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Long-term partnerships with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and CDIP enable data streaming.

The IUCN World Conservation Congress is right around the corner, and PacIOOS is looking forward to many engaging discussions and exchanges with existing and new partners from the Pacific Islands region and from around the world. This will be the first time the IUCN Congress will be held in the United States. From September 1-10, 2016, more than 6,000 delegates will convene at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center in Honolulu, to address this year's theme "Planet at the Crossroads". To learn more about PacIOOS' Water Quality Partnership Program and how data collection informs conservation projects, visit our poster on September 3, at 7 p.m. We also invite you to explore the IOOS EDS Model Viewer with us on September 7, at 12:30 p.m., at the Tech Corner in the U.S. Pavilion. All presentations and demonstrations in the Exhibition area (including pavilions and booths) are open to the public from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., each day between September 2 and 9.

Welcome to our new PacIOOS Governing Council members! Ms. Moriana Phillip from the Marshall Islands Environmental Protection Authority will serve as the representative for the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Mr. Xavier E. Matsutaro from the Palau Office of Climate Change is our new member to represent the Republic of Palau. Dr. Michael Seki, Director of NOAA's Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, was elected as one of the five Regional representatives. Mr. Vas Podorean, Liquid Robotics, Inc., and Mr. McGrew Rice, Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, were reelected to continue to serve as Hawaiʻi and Regional representatives, respectively. 

Members of the Governing Council are elected by Memorandum of Agreement ( MOA) signatories and serve for three-year terms.  The PacIOOS Governing Council consists of five regional members, six Hawaiʻi members, one member each for Guam, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Republic of Palau, and one ex-officio member from the fiscal sponsor organization.

Throughout the month of August, PacIOOS staff presented at the "Sundays at the Bay" outreach seminar series, hosted by the Hanauma Bay Education Program of the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant. Participants learned about various parts of the PacIOOS program, including shark tracking research, nearshore water quality monitoring, sea level rise and wave inundation forecast tools, as well as wave buoy observations and related wave energy projects conducted by the Hawaiʻi Natural Energy Institute ( HNEI).  Follow the Hanauma Bay Education Program on Facebook to find out more about the seminar series. 

Dr. Carl Meyer, Assistant Researcher at the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology, uses technology to reveal the hidden lives of sharks and fishes. With a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Philosophy in biological sciences from the University of Plymouth (England), Carl discovered his interest in electronic tagging (telemetry) when he pursued his Ph.D. in zoology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Remotely tracking sharks and fishes allows researchers to see behaviors that are normally hidden from our view. For example, Carl, co-PI Dr. Kim Holland, and a team of graduate students recently completed a shark tracking project that revealed how often large sharks visit ocean recreation sites around Maui and Oʻahu. All tiger shark tracks are available to the public on PacIOOS' online mapping platform.