From all of us on the PacIOOS team, we wish you a happy, healthy and restful holiday season!

We remain so grateful for our community of amazing partners and for the trust of our users. From our field technicians, to our data management team, to our leadership, we continue to do our best to ensure that we keep our systems up and running, despite many varied logistical challenges faced this year.

The team worked hard to implement and secure funding for projects that will expand the benefit of PacIOOS in the Insular Pacific and grow partnerships to help build capacity in the region for ocean observing. We also secured a new five-year cooperative agreement for our core funding from IOOS to sustain and improve our existing system.

We continue to strive toward empowering ocean users and stakeholders throughout the Pacific Islands by providing accurate and reliable coastal and ocean information, tools, and services that are easy to access and use. This year has included work behind the scenes on upgrades to our data server systems, collaborating with researchers to make their data available (for example, new tsunami hazard maps for Guam), developing new user-driven tools such as the new wave run-up forecast for West Maui, and connecting with our partners and users, who we love to hear from. So please continue to reach out with questions, ideas or feedback.

Mahalo, Fa’afetai, Kommol, Kulo, Kalanghan, Kinisou, Kammagar, Sulang, Si Yu’us ma’ase, Thank you!

Your PacIOOS Team
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Above are few highlights from the year (left to right, top to bottom):

  • PacIOOS entered a new 5-year cooperative agreement with the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System. Input from our partners, users, and supporters will help guide operations in the upcoming years and identify priority projects and collaborations. [Photo: Young Marshallese surfer. Photo credit: Grant Bilyard]
  • New high-resolution tsunami hazard maps were developed for the Agat Coast and Agat Marina on the southwest shore of the island of Guam providing info on surge, drawdown, and currents for potential advisory and warning-level tsunamis. 
  • PacIOOS wave buoy off Hilo, Hawai‘i was redeployed to provide real-time information of wave height, direction and period, as well as water temperature. [Photo credit: PacIOOS/Kimball Millikan]
  • Researchers from the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology Shark Research Lab tagged three female 9-10 foot tiger sharks around O‘ahu. All tiger shark tracks are archived on the PacIOOS website. [Photo credit: Julia Hartl]
  • PacIOOS offers a new, high resolution Wave Run-up Forecast for West Maui that predicts high wave flooding to help increase preparedness and coastal resiliency. 
  • In collaboration with the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Health Clean Water Branch, PacIOOS deployed three nearshore sensors at Keʻehi Lagoon, Oʻahu to help assess water quality in the lagoon and determine whether state water quality standards are being met. 
  • A new project page is available on the PacIOOS website, featuring anthropogenic and environmental drivers that influence the status of coral reefs and the potential for degradation in American Samoa. [Photo credit: NOAA PIFSC]
  • The Conservation Society of Pohnpei, Marine and Environmental Research Institute of Pohnpei, Micronesia Conservation Trust, and PacIOOS retrieved rain gauge data from Nahnalaud, the highest peak of Pohnpei. This effort contributes to existing watershed and coral reef monitoring programs. [Photo credit: CSP]