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Director's Article 
 
 FINALLY!

I can now say with complete confidence and authority, that the Ocean Observing and Monitoring Division (OOMD) will become an independent Program, i.e, Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing (GOMO) program, reporting directly to OAR, effective in mid-April. I first shared this news (prematurely) in August 2018. It's a relief that approvals are finally granted and that OAR, CPO, and GOMO staff are all engaged in bringing GOMO to life.

As mentioned earlier, this "promotion" reflects the maturity and importance of ocean observing as a research enterprise nurtured under the Climate Program Office (and before that other programs in OAR) for more than 20 years. The dedication and hard work of the many OOMD PIs led to this recognition.

Several changes have been undertaken and/or are underway in support of the transition. The Climate Monitoring program is now being managed by the Climate Program Office. We are recruiting for several positions (advertisements are distributed as they are issued). We recently welcomed two new Sea Grant Fellows to our office (see article below) and hope to soon announce more additional staff. Note that our office location and contact information will remain the same. Only the program name will change. You should expect to see GOMO appear more regularly in the public (as it did at the Ocean Sciences Meeting). A new website is in active development and will be rolled out in April. Please start referring to GOMO, so we can put OOMD (and COD and OCO) to rest.

My special thanks to CMDR Tony Perry, Jessica Snowden, Colm Sweeney, and Kelley Suhre for serving as acting Deputy Directors during the last 18 months of planning for the transition. Their leadership has contributed strongly towards improved planning and execution of our program!
 
David Legler, Director - Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing Program 

Celebrate Women's History Month with us this March by following and sharing NOAA Research's "Day in the Life" digital campaign. Women across NOAA who are doing groundbreaking research will be highlighted on OAR's Scientist Profiles page and on
social media with the hashtags #dayinthelife and #womenofNOAA - be sure to follow @NOAAResearch on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to follow and share!
 
April 21-24, 2020 in College Park, MD 
*Abstract submission deadline: February 3rd | Registration deadline: March 13th*
 

ProgramUpdatesProgram Updates

Welcome new fellows, Cheyenne and Ann!

Cheyenne Stienbarger defended her Master's thesis at the University of North Carolina - Wilmington in December 2019. She is originally from Salem, Missouri and received her B.S. in Biology and Environmental Science from Evangel University. Her research primarily focused on the effects of microplastics across multiple life stages of the commercially valuable black sea bass. Cheyenne enjoys drinking iced coffee, exploring new cultures, and playing with animals of all kinds - especially her golden retriever (Aspen) and leopard gecko (Voldemort). Cheyenne will be helping with the TPOS 2020 Project and a Marine Extremes workshop. 

 

Ann-Christine Zinkann defended her dissertation at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Marine Biology in December 2019. Her research focused on Arctic food webs using stable isotope analysis and food web modelling. Ann is originally from Germany and spends most of her free time dancing (ballroom and latin), being outside and scouring shops for German chocolate. Ann will be helping with the development of our Arctic Program, JCOMM/GOOS, and UN Decade efforts.


The Future of Argo Town Hall was held on Tuesday, Feb. 18th, in a crowded room with standing room only. Emily Smith moderated the panel, which included Dean Roemmich, Nathalie Zilberman, Stephen Riser, and Susan Wijffels. The town hall covered the history of the program, developments in the deep and biogeochemical Argo missions, and goals for the future of the program. There was rich discussion following the presentations, engaging the community in Argo and beyond.  
 
 
The Tropical Pacific Observing System (TPOS) 2020 Project  is set to transition from "design phase" to "implementation phase" at the end of 2020. In an effort to highlight the progress to date and build community around TPOS 2020, several people within OAR, including GOMO, CPO, and PMEL, worked together to create a TPOS 2020-specific session and a Wednesday evening networking event. The networking event was for anyone involved with TPOS - either working with NOAA, internationally, or funded on TPOS projects. These efforts were highly successful, with over 40 people attending the evening event (including many early career) and a robust oral and poster scientific sessions at the conference. This success and awareness building will help carry momentum of the project into the next phase. 

The Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing Program (GOMO), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) and the International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP) hosted the 'GLODAP 2020 Data Meeting' at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA on February 16, 2020, ahead of the Ocean Sciences Meeting. The goal of the meeting was to evaluate the status of data acquisition, flow, and quality control for the production of GLODAP 3 and beyond. This 1-day meeting covered the following topics:
* The current state of the GLODAP (and GO-SHIP) data, from in situ measurements to final products
* Formalizing the data flow for 2020 and beyond
* Development of a software data system, modeled after SOCAT, to normalize the submission of GO-SHIP quality data.

The Global Ocean Data Analysis Project (GLODAP) is a uniformly calibrated open ocean data product of inorganic and carbon-relevant variables. The latest version, GLODAPv2_2019, includes data from >1.1 million individual seawater samples collected from 840 cruises covering the global oceans from 1972 through 2017. GLODAP is a core Global Ocean Observing System data product for biogeochemistry endorsed by the Global Ocean Observing System GOOS.  

Extensive quality control and subsequent calibration were carried out for salinity, oxygen, nutrient, carbon dioxide, total alkalinity, pH and chlorofluorocarbon data. Following calibration, the data were used to produce global climatology maps for the parameters. In addition to the data products and the mapped distributions, all of the original data files without alteration other than formatting and unification of units are made freely available along with the metadata. An on-line cruise summary table provides data access and additional information including references to publications that have used data from specific cruises. 
CallOne
Job Announcement: PMEL Principal Investigator, BGC Argo   
 
NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) in Seattle WA is seeking a Principal Investigator focusing on Biogeochemical Argo.  The position could afford other opportunities for multi-disciplinary oceanographic research (e.g., involving biogeochemistry) involving GO-SHIP or possibly other oceanographic observation programs. The position will be open until April 1, 2020, or 100 applications are received, whichever comes first.  
 
Job Announcement - Research Physical Scientist, ZP-1301-4 (Direct Hire) 
NSFCall for Applications: NF-POGO Centre of Excellence 2020-2021
 
The application window is now open for the next Nippon Foundation-POGO Centre of Excellence ( NF-POGO CofE), which provides world class education and training in the field of observational oceanography. This is an intensive training course for young professionals at the post-graduate level, ten months in duration, with an intake of ten trainees per year. The course is sponsored by the Nippon Foundation and hosted by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research. It is conducted at AWI's site on the offshore island of Helgoland with focus on open-ocean sciences and also at AWI's site on the UNESCO reserve Waddensea island of Sylt where shelf/basin interactions are topics of study.
 
The call for applications will be open until March 15 2020. Successful candidates will be informed by end of June 2020, with training scheduled to begin in the second half of October. You can read more about what the training involves and submit an application here:  https://www.awi.de/en/about-us/sites/helgoland/visiting-scientists/centre-of-excellence-nf-pogo.html 
ICYMICall for Applications: IMBeR's ClimEco7 Summer School

ClimEco7 is the seventh in a series of "Climate and Ecosystems" biennial summer schools organised by IMBeR, the Integrated Marine Biosphere Research project. ClimEco summer schools are designed for 60-70 post-graduate students and early career researchers and are led by an interdisciplinary group of scientists which includes leaders in their respective fields. ClimEco7 will be held at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada from 17-21 August 2020 . The application deadline is March 9 2020. Learn more and apply here!
SpotlightCall For Senior Management Meeting Spotlight Presentations

Are you looking for a way to build excitement and support for your research? Consider signing up to deliver a Spotlight Presentation at an upcoming Senior Management Meeting! Every Monday, our leadership in Silver Spring attend the NOAA Research Senior Management Meeting. During each meeting there is an opportunity for scientists and program managers to showcase their research with a 10-15 minute, high level presentation, which can be delivered virtually from the field. The NOAA Research Communications team offers help with a guided practice session. Please contact your program manager and/or our Communications Specialist, Jessica Mkitarian to sign up!
PublicationsRecent Publications 
 
Johns, E. M., Lumpkin, R., Putnam, N. F., SMith, R. H., et al. Jiang, L., Carter, B.R., Feely, R.A. et al. The establishment of a pelagic Sargassum population in the tropical Atlantic: Biological consequences of a basin-scale long distance dispersal event. Progress in Oceanography, Volume 182, 2020, 102269, ISSN 0079-6611,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2020.102269. 

As always, for the GOMO Community, by the GOMO Community. 

Do you have news to share with the GOMO Community, or beyond? 
Contact Jessica Mkitarian: jessica.mkitarian@noaa.gov or  (301) 427-2472.