Status and Plans for the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS)

1. Status and Plans for theGulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS) Ann E. Jochens GCOOS Regional Coordinator Texas A&M University College Station, Texas GCOOS Parties and Stakeholder Council Joint Meeting New Orleans, Louisiana 6 March 2007

2. Outline • Integration of observing system elements • Integration of existing sub-systems • Building new sub-systems • Committee/Council Activities and Action Plans • Education and Outreach Coordinator • Development of stakeholder priorities • Status of potential pilot projects

3. Integration of Existing Sub-systems Goal: Bringing new extant real-time data sets to the NOAA National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) for quality control and open distribution.

4. Building New Sub-system Elements 1 NOAA Call for Letters of Intent: Regional Integrated Ocean Observing System Development • Submitted on 31 January 2007; 14 March expected reply • Integration of and Regional Enhancements to the GCOOS (Ann Jochens) • GCOOS-RA Pilot Project: Proof of Concept for a 3-D Operational Ocean Current Forecast Model of the Gulf of Mexico (Cort Cooper) • Standardization of Local Data Network Nodes in the GCOOS-RA (Matt Howard) • Decision Support Tools for Improving Resiliency to Inundation {GCOOS-RA part of the Super-Regional effort} (Matt Howard)

5. Building New Sub-system Elements 2 National Water Quality Monitoring Network for U.S. Coastal Waters and their Tributaries: Announcement of Pilot Studies and Request for Statement of Interest • GCOOS-RA partnered with the Gulf of Mexico Alliance (GOMA); GOMA is lead • Up to 4 sites from watersheds to oceanic slopes • GCOOS-RA to provide relevant inventory and gap analysis information, expertise on DMAC and ocean observing systems, and report review • Submitted to NWQM Council by GOMA on 23 February 2007

6. Building New Sub-system Elements 3 Possible Partnership on a Homeland Security Center of Excellence • For study of natural disasters, coastal infrastructure, and emergency management • Major partners are University of Washington, Texas A&M University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology • Center would be housed at the University of Washington

7. Observing Systems Committee(Stephan Howden, chair) • Encourage communication among sub-systems • Prepare the GCOOS Observing System Plan • Recommend to the Board GCOOS sub-elements for funding as opportunities arise • Review and comment on relevant GCOOS planning and implementation documents • Recommend to the Board actions relative to the identification of historical data sets and their digital accessibility and archival

8. Products and Services Committee(Russell Beard, chair) • Produce a prioritized list of products and services recommended to date and in future • Develop strategy to build inventory of existing products to meet prioritized list & permit a gap analysis to be performed • Suggest methods to • obtain initial user requirements and user feedback on P&S • analyze that input and feedback, • identify a process for refining the products and services • obtain economic benefit information for products and services • determine costs of products and services • Recommend to the Board GCOOS sub-elements for funding as opportunities arise • Review and comment on relevant GCOOS planning and implementation documents

9. Data Management and Communications Committee(Steve Beaudet, chair) • Develop a GCOOS DMAC implementation plan to include standards & protocols for use by all sub-systems • Demonstrate interoperability by pushing GCOOS data and model output from GCOOS providers to OPENIOOS • Recommend to the Board GCOOS sub-elements for funding as opportunities arise • Review and comment on relevant GCOOS planning and implementation documents • Data Management Initiatives • Catalogue • GCOOS Data Portal

10. Education and Outreach Council(Mike Spranger, chair) • Hire E/O Coordinator • Develop the GCOOS Education and Outreach Plan • Complete a needs assessment • Develop an annotated catalog of GCOOS current and future products and users • Guide the development of generic GCOOS moveable exhibits and materials • Work with the Gulf of Mexico Alliance Education and Outreach Coordinator to plan state-wide or regional training workshops • Provide relevant, updated materials for inclusion on the educational component of the GCOOS web site

11. GCOOS Education and Outreach Coordinator • Funds identified in summer 2006 for one+ years from existing GCOOS-RA funding • NOAA approval received 11 January 2007 • Award to USM for E/O Coordinator subcontract completed 29 January • Applications solicited; closed 23 February • Search Committee in review process • Target decision for mid- to late-March 2007 • Hire no later than mid- to late-April 2007

12. Stakeholder Priorities Are Key • Inputs to Planning • General Community • Stakeholder Council guidance • Stakeholder Sector Workshops • Identify priority observations and products • Identify high priority pilot projects • Provide estimates of annual economic benefits • Standing Task Team: Public Health • Pilot Projects & Priorities

13. Status of Pilot Projects:Moving Forward 1 • Water quality measurements for human pathogens (Bart Bibler) • Florida system well-underway to being established • Discussions with other states initiated • Improving forecasts of hurricane severity (Cort Cooper) • Assessment of existing activities completed • Letter of support for NOAA research project • Letter of endorsement for research concept stated in HiFi project

14. Status of Pilot Projects:Moving Forward 2 • Pilot GCOOS Operations Center (Raymond Toll) • Community comments received and incorporated • Data Portal proposed to NOAA • Forecasts of three-dimensional surface currents (Cort Cooper) • Community comments received and incorporated • Proposed to NOAA

15. Status of Pilot Projects:Prospectii in Preparation • Instrument tankers (Mark Luther) • Probability maps of bottom hazards and maps of hydrocarbon seeps (Alfredo Prelat) • Measurement and products archive (Worth Nowlin) • Maps of marine mammals and endangered turtles (Deferred)

16. GCOOS Office Contact Information Worth D. Nowlin, Jr. Ann E. Jochens Project Principal Investigator Regional Coordinator wnowlin@tamu.edu ajochens@tamu.edu (979) 845-3900 (979) 845-6714 Matthew K. Howard Susan R. Martin DMAC Coordinator Research Associate and Webmistress mhoward@tamu.edu srmartin@tamu.edu (979) 862-4169 (979) 845-3900 Website: http://www.gcoos.org Mailing address : Department of Oceanography        3146 TAMU        College Station, TX 77843-3146 Fax number: (979) 847-8879