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PacIOOS Tools and Instruments
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PacIOOS water quality buoy in Pelekane Bay, Hawaiʻi Island. Credit: J. Terhune.
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New Pelekane Bay Water Quality Buoy
PacIOOS deployed a new water quality buoy in Pelekane Bay, on the west side of Hawaiʻi Island. The new buoy collects salinity, temperature, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, and chlorophyll measurements in 15-min intervals. All data are freely available online.
Pelekane Bay, home to Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site, experiences high turbidity levels due to overgrazing within the watershed and reduced wave activity after the construction of Kawaihae Harbor. Automated, real-time water quality measurements will enhance monitoring efforts and provide baseline data. The water quality buoy will support efforts from the South Kohala Coastal Partnership and other initiatives that are aiming to reduce sediment runoff in the South Kohala watersheds to protect nearby coral reef ecosystems. Pelakane Bay also lies within NOAA's West Hawaiʻi Habitat Blueprint Focus Area.
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PacIOOS wave buoy deployment off Waimea in glassy conditions. Credit: J. Gilmore. |
Waimea Wave Buoy Back Online
The PacIOOS wave buoy off Waimea, Oʻahu, is now back in the water. Real-time data of wave height, direction, and period, as well as sea surface temperature, can be accessed online. Damage to the mooring line caused the buoy to break free last month. PacIOOS is now testing a modified mooring line composition to evaluate the longevity of this new set-up. Ocean users are reminded to carefully navigate around wave buoys, refrain from tying to the equipment, and avoid fishing near the buoys to minimize entanglement in the mooring line. The Waimea wave buoy showed signs of a boat collision, which can cause the buoy to sink.
PacIOOS' wave buoy team also swapped the mooring and wave buoy off Majuro in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Regular maintenance of the PacIOOS wave buoys includes battery changes, recalibration, and mooring line replacements to keep the buoys operational. 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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Researchers tag a tiger shark off Oʻahu's South Shore. Credit: M. Royer. |
Tiger Sharks' Preferred Habitat
Shark researchers from the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) recently published in Nature Scientific Reports "Habitat geography around Hawaii's oceanic islands influences tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) spatial behaviour and shark bite risk at ocean recreation sites." To better understand tiger shark movement and habitat use patterns, the team of researchers used satellite and acoustic tags to track 41 tiger sharks off Maui and Oʻahu. Study findings revealed that tiger sharks prefer insular shelf habitat, which extends from the shoreline up to a depth of 600ft. The Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources and PacIOOS provided funding for the study. The publication is freely available online, and all shark tracks related to this study can be accessed on the PacIOOS website along with more recent tracks.
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Students learn about careers in ocean sciences. Credit: Ms. Saeki and Ms. Drown. |
When I grow up, I want to be...
... an oceanographer! A career in ocean sciences was the focus of PacIOOS' presentation at Wilson Elementary School and Fern Elementary School Career Days. In a series of sessions, approximately 50 students between Kindergarten and 5th grade learned about opportunities in the field of ocean science. PacIOOS staff Gordon Walker also shared specific tasks involved to maintain nearshore sensors to measure water quality. In hands-on activities, students checked out diving equipment, got to wear some of the gear, and learned how secci disks are used to measure water clarity.
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Families explore PacIOOS' activities at the Bishop Museum. |
Falling in Love with Science
The Bishop Museum hosted a Science Discovery Day "Fall in Love with Science" as part of the Hi-Sci Festival, a month-long celebration of science. The community outreach event attracted more than 4,000 families and community members who participated in interactive science exhibits and hands-on educational activities. With love and passion for ocean sciences, PacIOOS hosted a nearshore water quality booth alongside its NOAA partners. Young and old learned about PacIOOS' nearshore sensors and got their hands wet while exploring turbidity and salinity experiments. Many thanks to PacIOOS volunteers Celeste Guiles and Shirin Wyckoff for supporting the event!
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Experts gather for the workshop at the University of Washington in Seattle. Credit: M. McManus. |
National Coastal Ecosystem Moorings Workshop
More than 30 experts from government, academia, and private industry came together in Seattle, Washington, for the inaugural National Coastal Ecosystem Moorings Workshop. Organized and hosted by the Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) and sponsored by NOAA/U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), participants discussed configurations of ecosystem moorings, use requirements, current and emerging sensors, technical needs, deployment and maintenance, and the integration with other observing systems.
Expanding the suite of existing water column ecosystem moorings in the coastal regions of the United States is one of the recommendations of the
National Strategy for a Sustained Network of Coastal Moorings. Outcomes from this workshop will be discussed at
OceanObs'19 and a report with workshop recommendations will be made available online in the near future. PacIOOS co-investigator Professor Margaret McManus serves as the chair of the workshop steering committee.
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Meeting participants engage in discussions at the IOOS Spring Meeting. Credit: K. Liming.
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Annual IOOS Spring Meeting
The U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Program Office, the IOOS Association, and representatives from all regional associations met in Washington, D.C. for the annual Spring Meeting. Participants discussed the Blue Economy, how to measure IOOS' impacts, and the status and lessons learned from the past hurricane season. Updates from the data management team, the IOOS Program Office, and the Alliance for Coastal Technologies were also shared with the group. NOAA's Acting Administrator Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet met with the group and NOAA's National Ocean Service and National Weather Service leadership provided opening remarks.
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Analyzing Wave Observations
Olivia Hughes is a freshman undergraduate student majoring in Global Environmental Science (GES) at the University of Hawaiʻi School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST). Under the supervision of Professor Margaret McManus, Olivia uses Matlab to plot and analyze data collected by the PacIOOS wave buoys. Recognizing and predicting wave patterns will provide invaluable information to enhance safety, marine operations, and coastal resiliency.
Fascinated by the environment, Olivia is planning to take the sustainability track of the GES major to learn more about the development of sustainable energy sources, for both small and large-scale systems. Her lifetime goal is for the entire world to run on clean and sustainable energy sources. When she is not crunching numbers or studying, you can find Olivia painting or dancing hula.
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