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PacIOOS Instruments and Tools
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Wave buoy data can be accessed on PacIOOS Voyager (above), or on the PacIOOS website. |
Saipan Wave Buoy Redeployed
PacIOOS' wave buoy off Tanapag, Saipan, located in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands was successfully redeployed in November. Real-time information on wave height, direction, period, and sea surface temperature are provided online, both on the PacIOOS website and PacIOOS Voyager. PacIOOS also maintains two additional wave buoys in the Western North Pacific: Ipan and Ritidian Point off Guam.
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.
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Governing Council members from across the Pacific came together in Honolulu. |
PacIOOS Governing Council Meeting
Members of the
PacIOOS Governing Council
gathered for their annual meeting at the beginning of November. Following detailed program updates, discussions focused on the draft outline of PacIOOS' revised Strategic Plan. Governing Council members from across the U.S. Pacific Islands region represent various sectors and
provide valuable feedback to help guide the future direction of the program.
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Reef off Maui, Hawai'i. Credit: Catlin Seaview |
Climate Thresholds for Coastal Management
PacIOOS collaborated with NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) to virtually convene resource managers and scientists from the Pacific Islands region to discuss climate related thresholds in coral reefs and other nearshore habitats, such as wetlands and anchialine pools. Participants described resources and habitats at risk, and explored
research products and tools that could assist to identify approaching thresholds. Integrating climate thresholds into coastal management approaches may assist on-the-ground managers and decision-makers to help mitigate impacts.
Results from a series of regional webinars will help inform an upcoming Request for Proposals from NCCOS.
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Deployment of water temperature data loggers in Pago Bay, Guam. Credit: Atsushi Fujimura. |
Partnering with University of Guam EPSCoR
The University of Guam (UOG) received an Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) grant from the National Science Foundation. The 5-year grant focuses on studying the effects of climate change on coral reefs, specifically on a genetic basis. Staff from the University of Hawaiʻi School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) Department of Oceanography, in partnership with
PacIOOS, supported the deployment and retrieval of
46 instruments on
the reef flat, fore reef, and channel of Pago Bay in August and November, respectively. Instruments measured currents, temperature, conductivity, pressure, nitrate, pH, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, and turbidity in order to characterize the general physical oceanography circulation patterns of the bay. PacIOOS also maintains a nearshore sensor in Pago Bay to collect a long-term time series of data.
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Historical and future wave and wind conditions are available for the Pacific Islands region. Credit: USGS.
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Future Wave and Wind Projections
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) computed historical and future wave and wind conditions under the influence of two climate scenarios to support coastal managers in their planning and decision-making. The historical time period spans the years 1976-2005, whereas the two future scenarios encompass the middle of the 21
st
century (years 2026-2045) and the end of the century (years 2081-2100). Projections are based on winds from four different atmosphere-ocean coupled general circulation models (AOGCMs) or Global Climate Models (GCMs) and the WaveWatchIII numerical wave. Along with the full report, time-series of wave and wind parameters for the Pacific Islands region, Alaska's coast as well as the U.S. East and West Coast can be viewed online or are available for download. The Pacific Islands study region includes 25 island locations in the tropical Pacific.
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Kelley Anderson Tagarino with Sylvia Earl in American Samoa. |
Building Capacity in American Samoa
Kelley Anderson Tagarino is the Extension Faculty for the Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program in American Samoa, and part of her time is dedicated to serve as the PacIOOS liaison. Kelley maintains the PacIOOS nearshore sensor in Pago Pago harbor, which includes monthly cleaning of the instrument and downloading of the data. She also facilitates stakeholder feedback and needs assessments, conducts outreach, and assists in coordinating maintenance and retrieval of the PacIOOS wave buoy off Aunu'u. Both, the water quality sensor and the wave buoy, provide one-of-a-kind data sets for American Samoa and regional data users.
Kelley completed her Master's of Science in Oceanography at the University of South Florida with a focus on tropical nearshore ecology. For the past seven years, Kelley has taken advantage of the nearshore fringing reefs in American Samoa--a great natural laboratory to teach American Samoa's youth about marine and environmental sciences. Kelley is very passionate about building capacity and fostering young leaders who can "bridge the gap" between traditional Samoan culture and modern world issues.
It is incredibly rewarding for Kelley to see her past students pursuing higher level science degrees and returning home to improve their islands for the current and future generations.
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