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PacIOOS Tools and Instruments
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U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Sequoia crew with the recovered wave buoy. Credit: USCG |
Successful Recovery 800NM Offshore
In October 2018, PacIOOS' wave buoy off Tanapag, Saipan, broke free from its mooring in 20-25ft seas during Super Typhoon Yutu. Rough storm and ocean conditions prevented a speedy recovery, allowing the buoy to drift west in the Philippine Sea. After 46 days at sea, the buoy had already traveled 800 nautical miles offshore making a recovery extremely unlikely. By coincidence, the crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Sequoia, stationed in Guam, was on patrol nearby the drifting buoy and temporarily diverted from its course to successfully recover the buoy during challenging ocean conditions. PacIOOS sends a huge MAHALO to the U.S. Coast Guard District 14 and the Sequoia crew for their efforts and support. Read the full story and find out how valuable the buoy is to a diverse range of stakeholders throughout the region.
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Staff from the Conservation Society of Pohnpei and PacIOOS deploy the water quality sensor. |
Measuring Water Quality in Dausokele Estuary, Pohnpei
The Conservation Society of Pohnpei (CSP) has installed sediment traps along the Nanpil River to reduce the impacts of land-based sedimentation in the Dausokele estuary. In order to evaluate the effectiveness and to better understand the variations in water quality, PacIOOS provided CSP with a nearshore sensor to monitor water quality and sediment run-off as part of the PacIOOS Water Quality Sensor Partnership Program (WQSPP). This sensor is located east of the Pohnpei International Airport runway and collects temperature, salinity, depth, turbidity, and chlorophyll at 15-minute intervals. The data will be used in conjunction with the long-term PacIOOS station on the upper Nanpil River estuary to inform the decision-making process for development regulations.
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Dynamic plots of water quality data can be found on the PacIOOS website and PacIOOS Voyager. |
New Data Archive for Water Quality Sensor Partnership Program
The PacIOOS Water Quality Sensor Partnership Program (WQSPP) provides participating partners with a nearshore sensor for 1-2 year timeframes to collect accurate and reliable water quality data. Information from four previous and ongoing projects are now accessible online and on PacIOOS' data servers. Deployments at Palmyra Atoll and Kephara off Pohnpei, FSM, have been completed and all associated data, along with project-specific information, can be found on the PacIOOS website within the Nearshore Sensor Archive and similarly on PacIOOS Voyager. Preliminary archival data from ongoing deployments in Kewalo Basin and Kāhala, Oʻahu, are also available. If your organization is interested to participate in the WQSPP, please contact us at
[email protected]
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Workshop participants exchanged the latest research on infragravity waves. Credit: USACE |
Delving into Infragravity Waves
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) organized a two-day Infragravity Waves (IG) workshop at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego to discuss the latest IG wave research, and improve USACE's understanding and prediction of IG waves and their associated effects. Assaf Azouri, PacIOOS researcher under the supervision of co-investigator Professor Douglas Luther, was one of the invited experts to present on observational data and numerical modeling of IG waves for the complex and variable coastlines along the North Shore of Oʻahu and West Maui. Workshop participants developed strategic plans with one, three, and five-year goals to guide future development and research needs.
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Recommendations included to tailor ecosystem moorings to regional needs and applications. |
National Coastal Ecosystem Moorings Workshop Report
The final report of the National Coastal Ecosystem Moorings Workshop has been released. More than 30 representatives from federal government, IOOS regional associations, academia, and private industry came together in March 2018 to discuss topics such as ecosystem moorings use requirements, current and emerging sensor technologies, and technical needs. Key recommendations included a tiered approach to collect variables dependent upon regional needs and applications. It was also suggested that a discussion forum be established to share lessons learned, exchange information, and build towards standardization. The workshop was hosted and organized by the Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) and funded by U.S. IOOS. PacIOOS and ACT co-investigator Professor Margaret McManus served as the chair of the steering committee.
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PacIOOS provides ocean circulation forecasts for Hawaiʻi and other parts of the Pacific Islands. |
10-Year Reanalysis of Hawaiian Islands Ocean Forecast System
Since 2009, PacIOOS has been generating daily forecasts of the ocean state around the main Hawaiian Islands through the Regional Ocean Modeling System (
ROMS). To optimize the forecast, ocean and atmospheric near real-time observations are incorporated daily to create the most realistic dynamical state from which to forecast. Some observational data are accessible with a delay, preventing them from entering the daily assimilations. Going back and assimilating all available data is called a
reanalysis.
In a
recent study, published in the Journal
Geoscientific Model Development and authored by Dale Partridge, Tobias Friedrich, and PacIOOS co-investigator Professor Brian Powell, researchers used advanced techniques to reanalyze 10-years worth of ocean circulation data around Hawaiʻi. Observational information, such as surface current observations, satellite, sea gliders, ARGO floats, and other data, play a vital role to improve modeled forecasting capacities. This
reanalysis provides a consistent dataset for further studies of the ocean dynamics around Hawaiʻi and demonstrates the interplay, value, and need of observational and forecasting data.
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Hands-on Support for PacIOOS Operations
As part of the Department of Defense Military to Civilian Transition Program, Tucker Hull is spending six months with PacIOOS as a full-time intern with the goal to gain on-the-job skills and experience in the oceanographic community. After receiving his Bachelor of Science in Oceanography from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2014, Tucker was commissioned with the U.S. Marine Corps and has spent the past four years as an Infantry Officer stationed in Kāneʻohe, Oʻahu.
Tucker is supporting three projects: 1) the
PacIOOS wave buoy program, 2) the
PacIOOS nearshore sensor group, and 3) the Sea Water Air Conditioning project; all under the supervision of Professor and PacIOOS co-investigator Margaret McManus. Tucker assists with the preparation, maintenance, deployment, and recovery of instrumentation, including buoys, moorings, acoustic releases, and sensors. Being involved in three different projects allows him to gain a broad understanding of different kinds of oceanographic operations and introduces him to the complexity and varied array of tasks. Tucker enjoys working in the field, whether it's on land, in the water, or out on a boat. In his spare time you will find him--no surprise--outside, either hiking, surfing, or playing lacrosse and rugby.
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