Milestone achieved in Oceans Observation

On September 18, 2005, there was apparently a milestone for the Global Ocean Observing System GOOS with the deployment of their 1250th drifting buoy.

Bush Administration Response to U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy

This document is a 39 page response by the Bush Administration to the IOOS implementation and other recommendations by the US Commission on Ocean Policy.

NOAA IOOS Crosscut

This document NOAA spellos out its plan in FY 2006 to continue work on the IOOS.

Water Quality Monitoring at the FKNMS

The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) has a Water Quality Protection Program (WQPP), which seeks to integrate data from a variety of sources for purposes of helping FKNMS management:


Purpose:

To recommend priority corrective action and compliance schedules addressing point and non-point sources of pollution; to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Sanctuary. This includes restoration and maintenance of a balanced, indigenous population of corals, shellfish, fish, and wildlife, and recreational activities in and on the water.

Recognizing the critical role of water quality in maintaining Sanctuary resources, Congress directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the state of Florida, represented by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), to develop a Water Quality Protection Program for the Sanctuary. This is the first such program ever developed for a marine sanctuary and consists of four inter-related components: Corrective Action, Monitoring, Research/ Special Studies, and Public Education/Outreach.

PacIOOS

A symposium on September 8, 2005 focused on American Samoa’s participation in the evolution of a Pacific Islands Integrated Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS). PacIOOS is one of eleven regional coastal observing systems being developed to facilitate the use of ocean observations to support ecosystem and natural resource management, transportation, economic development, hazards risk management and public health and safety. The interagency U.S. IOOS Program represents a U.S. national contribution to the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS).

The Beginnings of the IOOS

A nice little document discusses the early beginnings of the IOOS. Here's the first paragraph from the Prologue:

In August 1998, Congressmen Curt Weldon (R-PA) and James Saxton (R-NJ), Chairs of the Subcommittee on Military Research and Development and the Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans, respectively, sent a letter to John Dalton, the Secretary of the Navy, and D. James Baker, Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, in their capacity as Chair and Vice Chair, respectively, of the National Ocean Research Leadership Council (NORLC) of the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP). These letters requested the NORLC to "propose a plan to achieve a truly integrated ocean observing system."

Dr. Richard Spinrad's IOOS presentation

Dr. Richard W. Spinrad, the U.S. Representative to the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, as well as the Asssistant Administrator for NOAA's National Ocean Survey, has presented a vision statement and other overview slides (a PPT file) of an Integrated Ocean Observing System.

Group on Earth Observations

The Group on Earth Observations states that on July 31, 2003, 33 nations plus the European Commission adopted a Declaration that signified political commitment to move toward development of a comprehensive, coordinated, and sustained Earth observation system. The list now includes 58 nations.

This site keeps track of a variety of progress steps toward that goal, including the 10-year implementation plan.

List of *OOS Networks

Just to give you an idea of how other regions are handling their Ocean Observing Systems, here's a provisional list of various *OOS networks:

Integrated Ocean Observing System (U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy)
National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP)
Ocean Research Interactive Observatory Networks (ORION)
Pacific Coast Ocean Observing System (PACOOS)
Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System (GoMOOS)
Open IOOS
Southeastern United States Ocean Observing System (SEACOOS)
Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS)
Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS)
Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System (CeNCOOS)
Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS)
North-East Pacific Time-Series Undersea Networked Experiments (NEPTUNE)
Pacific Ocean Oberving System (PacOOS)
Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System (SCCOOS)

Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System

The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS) is concerned with sustained observations and/or products and services based on such observations from the estuaries and Exclusive Economic Zone of the Gulf of Mexico. Observations and products from this group might be of help in understanding coral reef dynamics within the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

NASA's Plans for Earth Science Challenged at Hearing

The American Institute of Physics (AIP) has issued a status report on NASA's Earth Science Plan (the Plan might indirectly affect how we gain satellite data for mapping and monitoring coral reefs):

Members of the science community and leaders of the House Science Committee warned NASA at an April 28 hearing that efforts to cut Earth science funding and missions at the space agency would not be taken lightly. The AIP report discusses the context and content of a just-released interim report by a National Research Council (NRC) committee which states that the vitality of NASA's Earth science and application programs "has been placed at substantial risk by a rapidly shrinking budget that no longer supports already-approved missions and programs of high scientific and societal relevance."

"It sounds like the real problem," Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI) remarked, "is that NASA is low on money because it's been given new missions and wasn't given the money to do them, so it's cutting and scraping...to get rid of what it can." He warned NASA Associate Administrator for Science Alphonso Diaz, that "we regard this as a very big change" that should not be undertaken without the involvement of the research community and the consent of Congress.

SCCOOS

The Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System (SCCOOS), appears to have a well-managed observing system network, and is worth looking at as we move towards building our own. They certainly have a nicely organized project, which is also reflected in their well-organized Web page.

NASA's Earth Science Program

Dr. Tomothy Killeen, Director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research and President-Elect of the American Geophysical Union, has given a nice presentation before the House Science Committee, April 28, 2005, especially outlining the role of NASA's Earth Science Program (ESP) in the Earth Observing System and in gathering environmental data. How well the ESP operates might indirectly affect how we gather satellite data for coral reef mapping and monitoring.

Jim

Strategic Plan for IEOS

The final Stratetic Plan for the U.S. Integrated Earth Observing System has just been released.

Other links of use along these lines include,

United States Group on Earth Observations

NOAA's Earth Observing System Page

You may also be interested to read the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's announcement of the plan, see .

The Global Observing Systems Information Center

The Global Observing Systems Information Center has a nice interface for determining what observing systems are where, and what they're measuring. Hopefully all of ours systems will soon be listed.

Jim

Indian Ocean Integration

Keith Alverson, of the Global Ocean Observing System of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, in his recent article in Nature, says the world should create an integrated, global system to warn of and prepare for a range of ocean-disasters, including cyclones and giant waves created by hurricanes.

In our efforts to create a coral data integration system for the Indian Ocean, we should make sure we collaborate with those who are constructing the tsunami warning system. As he says, "The best way to ensure that a tsunami warning system remains fully operational for decades to come is to embed it in broader efforts to observe the ocean."

NOAA's Tim Keeney Testifies

Resources Fisheries and Conservation Subcommittee (Chair Wayne Gilchrest, R-MD) held a March 1, 2005, hearing on the reauthorization of the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 (CRCA). Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere Tim Keeney, in his presentation, mentioned NOAA's efforts at integrating coral reef data:

"Partnering with other federal agencies, as well as state and territorial governments, NOAA has helped build a national integrated coral reef monitoring system. Integrated monitoring programs measure and evaluate the condition of the ecosystem over time, help assess the efficacy of management actions, and provide comparable data sets and products that can be used to adapt these measures."

NOAA Observing Systems Architecture

There's a nice little overview of NOAA's Observing Systems Architecture, including lots of links, in case you're interested.

U.S. Commerce Chief Gutierrez Presents U.S. Plan at Earth Observation Summit

U.S. Commerce Chief Gutierrez and Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere (and NOAA Administrator) Retired Vice Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher attended the Global Earth Observation Summit February 16 in Brussels, Belgium, and presented the United States’ plan for an integrated U.S. Earth Observation system during the summit’s keynote speech. A description of his speech can be seen at this link.

Hopefully, our coral integration efforts will be in line with the Secretary's vision.

IOOS-Industry Day

I would suggest that some of us from each principal agency and academic institution consider attending this meeting, posted at http://67.94.7.39/index.php?p=43

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IOOS-Industry Day

Ocean.US announces the opportunity to attend a briefing for interested organizations concerning plans to design, develop, fabricate, install and operate the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS).

At the Industry Day, to be held 18 March 2005 in the Hall of Flags at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Building in Washington, D.C., all interested parties are invited to provide input, ideas, concepts and suggestions toward ensuring effective IOOS development. Admission is controlled and the material to be presented will be unclassified.

Attendance at the Industry Day is by pre-registration only. For further information, visit the meeting website. Include names of all attendees (3 maximum). Attendance is limited to three per company/organization.

Suggested attendees: Senior Technologist, Business Development, Government Relations. Upon receipt of the completed IOOS Registration Package, potential attendees will receive a confirmation notice and other relevant information. Interested parties are reminded that no one will be admitted to the industry brief without this confirmation. Requests to attend this briefing must be received no later than 1600 EDT Friday 11 March 2005. Only individuals who have submitted their registration and clearance information by 1600 EDT on 11 March 2005 and have received approval will be allowed to attend the IOOS Industry Day on 18 March 2005.

SEACOOS remote sensing site

The SEACOOS remote sensing site integrates a wide range of the observations collected under the SEACOOS program, in one mapserver site:

http://seacoos.org/Data%20Access%20and%20Mapping/BetaMap

The web page allows you to actually measure temperature, chlorophyll from satellite (or temperatures from buoys) and build time series, which are returned as ASCII and also graphs.

Much or our satellite data are available via opendap through here or our web site (http://imars.usf.edu)

Frank

SEACOOS

The SEACOOS Web site has a good model for us to consider in building coral data integrating efforts for each of our regions. As part of the analysis phase before extensive building of applications and Webs, this site should be considered in the way of structure and reporting of data and information products. The ocean circulation model, for instance, is a nice piece of work.

MPA Technology Needs Assessment report

Here's the link for the MPA Technology Needs Assessment report, put together by the NOAA Coastal Services Center. This should serve as a Big Step Forward for the development of any requirements analysis for use of all our data.

Chesapeake Bio Lab and IOOS?

From this article, you'd think the Chesapeake Biological Lab was overseeing the IOOS for NOAA. What's the scoop? Has anybody heard about this?

OPeNDAP Architecture

You can find out more information on the OPeNDAP architecture for sharing data by clicking here. Louis Florit and Mike Jankulak are currently in the process of setting up our IMN database to make all our near real-time as well as archived data available via the CHAMP/IMN site, and we will also place an OPeNDAP interface outside the database to enable Russell Moffitt to access the data for use by Ocean Atlas so that you can graph the data, etc. using those cool routines. Also, we'll be asking Gensym to construct a bridge for OPeNDAP for G2 or us.

Take care...Jim

IOOS and Coral Observing Funds

NOAA ADMINISTRATOR ANNOUNCES FISCAL YEAR 2006 BUDGET REQUEST

* The FY 2006 request includes significant resources for NOAA's ocean and coastal programs and fisheries and protected species activities in support of the president's U.S. Ocean Action Plan. More than $1 billion is requested for these ongoing programs, including $61.2 million to address regional ecosystem research priorities at NOAA's Sea Grants, $22.7 million in support of the NOAA Ocean Exploration program, $32.5 million for building a fourth new fisheries research vessel and $25.4 million for fisheries stock assessment.

* The FY 2006 request also includes increases of $1.5 million for the NOAA Coral Program and $1.5 million for the Coastal Global Ocean Observing System.

See more at http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2386.htm

Jim

We talked about "forward-chaining" vs. "backward chaining" expert systems. Here's a little more explanation.

Forward chaining--data-driven inference strategy in which the system begins with known data and works forward to see if any conclusions can be drawn.

Backward chaining--goal-driven inference strategy in which the system works backward from the goal to find supporting data; working "backward" through a chain of rules in an attempt to find a verifiable set of condition clauses.

Also, here's a little table that should help:

cheers...Jim

Welcome!

This blog attempts to bring together coral researchers and Marine Protected Area personnel to discuss what data need to be integrated for themselves, as well as for the public, and how to go about it. These objectives follow upon the well established goal by the international research community to integrate various types of coral reef-related data, and more specifically, follow upon the goals set forth by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy for the implementation of an Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), the Integrated Global Observing Strategy (Coral Reef Subtheme), and the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program. You must be registered to post to this list, but if you produce and use coral data, we want to hear from you.

Cheers,
Jim Hendee, Ph.D.
Coral Health and Monitoring Program
Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Miami, Florida 33149-1026
USA