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PacIOOS wave buoy off Ipan; Insert shows coral found on mooring line. Credit: Dan Fitzgerald. |
Wave Buoy Swap with a Surprise
PacIOOS successfully replaced the wave buoy off Ipan, along the eastern coast of Guam. Due to a limited battery lifespan, all of PacIOOS' wave buoys are routinely swapped out to ensure continuous operation. The warm waters of Guam fostered extensive growth on the mooring line, even a bit of coral on the rubber cord section. PacIOOS maintains two other wave buoys in the Mariana Islands: Ritidian Point, Guam and Tanapag, Saipan.
Data management for the wave buoys is made possible through long-term partnerships with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Coastal Data Information Program (
CDIP
).
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Part of Kewalo Basin Harbor. |
Water Quality Monitoring in Kewalo Basin
As part of the PacIOOS Water Quality Sensor Partnership Program, the Friends of Kewalos (FOK) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to receive a PacIOOS nearshore sensor for one-year. The non-profit organization, whose mission is to protect, preserve, and mālama Kewalo Basin Park on Oʻahu's South Shore, will use the sensor to monitor water quality conditions before and during a construction project in Kewalo Basin Harbor. The planned Kewalo Basin Pier Repair-Improvement and Boat Slip Addition could potentially stir up bottom sediments and alter the water quality conditions within the basin and the channel entrance.
Such impacts could also affect nearshore and offshore ocean users.
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Aloha to The Nature Conservancy
We are excited to welcome The Nature Conservancy's Hawaiʻi Program (The Conservancy) as our newest PacIOOS Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) partner. The Conservancy is a private non-profit conservation organization dedicated to the preservation of the lands and waters upon which all life depends. In Hawaiʻi, The Conservancy manages 43,000 acres in 12 preserves and works in 20 coastal communities to help protect the near-shore reefs and waters of the main Hawaiian Islands. The Conservancy also co-owns and co-manages the Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. PacIOOS is looking forward to collaborating with The Conservancy to advance resource management projects and data collection in Hawaiʻi and Palmyra.
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Credit: Young Brothers Ltd. |
Shipping Support from Young Brothers Ltd.
Young Brothers Community Support Program will assist PacIOOS' wave buoy operations team by providing gratis shipment of equipment to neighbor islands. For 2018, Young Brothers offered to ship a small vessel, wave buoys, mooring lines, and anchor weights to the islands of Maui and Kauaʻi. This will allow the PacIOOS team to replace and maintain existing wave buoys.
PacIOOS greatly appreciates the kind donation -
Mahalo
Young Brothers!
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Meeting participants at this yearʻs IOOS Fall Meeting. Credit: Abbey Wakely.
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Leadership from the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (
IOOS
) Program Office, directors of IOOS' eleven regional associations (RA), IOOS Association (
IOOSA
) staff and board members, and IOOS partners gathered for the annual Fall meeting in Seattle, WA. Discussion topics included sustaining existing observations, next steps to implement the national coastal mooring strategy, gaps in the observing infrastructure, updating the IOOS Strategic Plan, transitions in modeling, engaging with the Alliance for Coastal Technologies (
ACT
), and more. RA directors also took this opportunity to gather for a one-day Directors' Meeting to discuss opportunities and challenges and to share lessons learned.
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Sea Surface Temperature from the Regional Ocean Modeling System in the Samoa region. |
Ocean Technology Transition Project Funding
The University of California Santa Cruz along with the University of Hawaiʻi and Rutgers University are collaborating with CeNCOOS, MARACOOS, and PacIOOS on a 3-year project to advance the Regional Ocean Modeling System's (ROMS) observation diagnostic tool. Funded by
IOOS' Ocean Technology Transition (OTT) Project
, this tool will help assess the impacts of IOOS' observational data on ocean forecasting models.
Ocean observations, including satellite measurements and in-situ data collection, serve as validating points to establish and refine ocean forecasts. With the ability to analyze the efficiency of such observations, IOOS will be able to enhance its investment prioritization and overall operational efficiency. PacIOOS co-investigator Brian Powell will develop the use of real-time radial data from high frequency radio, and develop metrics to assess the observation's impact on the forecasting skill. For PacIOOS, the tool will be applied to the Hawaiʻi, Guam, and American Samoa regions.
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Coastal Data to Inform Communities and Resource Managers
Dr. Steve Colbert, Associate Professor in the Marine Science Department at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, recently joined PacIOOS as a co-investigator to manage the PacIOOS water quality buoy program on Hawaiʻi Island. With the support of his students, Steve maintains the water quality buoy in Hilo Bay, and explores suitable sites to deploy another water quality buoy on the leeward side of Hawaiʻi Island. He and his team also provide on-site management for the
sea surface current measurements in Hilo Bay. Steve truly enjoys working with and training his students to allow for hands-on experiences that will foster the marine technology workforce. Through collaborations with community groups, resource managers, and PacIOOS, Steve is eager to find solutions to address challenges in a constantly changing coastal marine environment.
Steve's long-term interest is to develop a climatology of the coastal ocean in Hawaiʻi. This would help understand the distribution of different ecosystems, inform resource managers and fisheries, and help plan for the impacts of climate change. Data collected through PacIOOS will be essential to develop this type of compilation. In his spare time, Steve helps to coach his son's baseball team, and he enjoys cooking for his family.
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