There’s certainly been a lot happening around the Gulf’s ocean observing community this summer!

We’ve been tracking not just a record number of gliders, but also a record number of types of autonomous platforms on our dashboard, GANDALF. Many of these instruments are providing data that will help with hurricane intensification modeling — which remains crucial to protect lives and property. NOAA’s updated forecast still calls for a more active than normal hurricane season and as we head into the busiest time of the year for tropical action in the Gulf, it’s important for us all to remember to keep our guards up despite the slow start to the season!

We’ve gotten the report from the annual hypoxia cruise undertaken by Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and while the good news is that the zone is smaller than predicted, it’s still larger than the targets set by the EPA.

Internally, we also have some changes to report. For one, we’re still seeking a scientific computing specialist who can support and help us grow our DMAC team. The second is happy-sad news — happy for Marion Stoessel, who is retiring from her position in the Department of Oceanography at Texas A&M University, and sad for us as she will no longer be with us full time. We congratulate Marion on this milestone and wish her all the best in the next chapter!

Marion Stoessel, a valued member of the GCOOS Data Management and Cyberinfrastructure team, is retiring from her position as a long-time Senior Research Associate in the Department of Oceanography at Texas A&M University. Marion is one of GCOOS’s key data wranglers (and we’re hoping to entice her back on a contract basis!)

“Marion has long been a key member of the GCOOS team and her contributions have been vital to our mission and service,” said GCOOS Executive Director, Dr. Jorge Brenner. “We certainly wish Marion all the best as she heads into the next chapter of her life.”

Since receiving her Master’s degree in physical oceanography from the University of Hamburg, Germany, Marion has wrangled a plethora of data, ranging from satellite remote sensing projects for NASA to ocean circulation modeling studies for the Equatorial Atlantic, Southern Ocean, Arabian Sea, and Global Circulation Model. Her vast experience in data processing and evaluation have been instrumental in advancing GCOOS DM contributions to national and global efforts.

In addition to her efforts processing and helping to publish the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management WRF data (see related story below), she has been a key player in the development of the U.S. Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON). Working with the South Florida MBON project team, led by Dr. Frank Muller-Karger of the University of South Florida, she has successfully aligned biological data to Darwin Core data schema and produced netCDF formated files — critical steps needed to enable a consistent way for people to download subsets of datasets in common file formats for a variety of applications. Her expertise has helped advance the standardization of data protocols being developed by the Data Management Working Group of MBON.

The work to standardize the flow of biological data is allowing years of sampling data from programs like the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Flower Garden Banks NMS Long-Term Monitoring of Fish and Benthic Communities Program, Dry Tortugas Reef Fish monitoring program, Coral Reef Evaluation and Monitoring Project, and Juvenile Sportfish Monitoring Project, to be readily accessible to anybody who wants it. Her ground-breaking work is creating a bridge to connect these rich data sets with the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS), a global clearinghouse on marine biodiversity for science, conservation and sustainable development.

Thanks to Marion’s tireless efforts and attention to detail, you can access these valuable data sets, including 1973-2007 fish trawl information from Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas from the Comparative Assessment of Gulf Estuarine Systems (CAGES) study, on the GCOOS ERDDAP data services and the metocean historical collections of CTD datasets from cruises aboard the R/V Walton Smith between 2006 and 2022 at https://gcoos5.geos.tamu.edu/erddap). “This is a relevant milestone and the effort puts GCOOS at the forefront of biological data systematization in the Gulf of Mexico region,” Brenner said.

The GCOOS fall meeting is scheduled to take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28, in person (Covid levels permitting) in Gulfport, Mississippi. Members and nonmembers are welcome to attend. While we’re still planning the day’s program, please register now so we can ensure you receive the block room rate and so we can keep you updated with all the details as they become available!

Read the full details and apply for the position here.

GCOOS hosts and maintains meteorological data from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and has recently made some updates. The latest changes include publication of the 2010-2014 Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) files. Says BOEM: “BOEM’s Air Quality Modeling in the Gulf of Mexico Region study (OCS Study BOEM 2019-057) prepared offshore modeled meteorological files for use in the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions (CAMx), the American Meteorological Society/Environmental Protection Agency Regulatory Model (AERMOD), and California Puff Model (CALPUFF). The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine provided an independent technical review of the study and WRF data. These datasets support air quality modeling efforts for the Gulf of Mexico.”

“It took six weeks of intensive work and 2,000 lines of code to create the GANDALF Seaglider-to-GDAC toolkit,” he said. “In a nutshell, the code takes data created by a Seaglider and rebuilds it in a way that it can be sent to the GTS and ingested into the hurricane forecast models. This is a huge win for GANDALF.”

GANDALF is currently tracking 14 vehicles — not just in the Gulf but along the U.S. East Coast and now, north of the Arctic Circle, where the University of Alaska Fairbanks deployed Slocum glider Loki in the Chukchi Sea on Aug. 3 in support of Arctic marine mammal observing.

Of course, as we move further into hurricane season, all eyes will remain on the Gulf. Earlier this month, NOAA issued its annual mid-season hurricane update, indicating that atmospheric and oceanic conditions still favor an above-normal 2022 season.

Educators: If you're interested in sharing information about uncrewed systems with your students, check out this video "Satellites of the Sea," from NOAA.

Don’t forget to register for September’s Underwater Glider User Group workshop in Seattle.

HABscope 2.0 — the low-cost microscopy system (GCOOS patent pending) developed by GCOOS to support the Red Tide Respiratory Forecast — continues to make news. Check out this story in the Guardian focused on the volunteer team who help make the forecast happen!

The Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has announced $200,000 in planning grant awards for two historically Black universities as part of a partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to understand how data on social determinants of health can transform public health data systems in the Gulf of Mexico region.

The initiative — Improving Public Health Data Systems to Address Health Equity Challenges for At-Risk Communities in the U.S. Gulf Coast — is supporting efforts by historically Black colleges and universities to investigate new approaches to data collection for the development of strategies to address the health equity challenges of communities disproportionately experiencing the impacts of climate change. The initiative is funded by the RWJF.

Gulf Dead Zone 8^th Smallest in 36 Years

The low oxygen conditions in the Gulf’s most productive waters stresses organisms and may even cause their deaths, threatening living resources. Various models use Mississippi’s May nitrogen load as the main driving force to predict how large the zone will be in late July.

This year’s forecast predicted the zone to be 15,200 square kilometers (about 5,881 square miles). Instead, the zone is the eighth smallest — 8,480 square kilometers (3,275 square miles) — recorded over the 36 years that LUMCON/LSU have been mapping it. The dead zone is about the size of New Jersey, yet still larger than the environmental goal for the Mississippi River/Hypoxia Task Force Action Plan, which is 5,000 square kilometers over a five-year running average.

The smaller size is attributed to dramatically lower flows of nutrient-laden waters from the Mississippi along with calmer winds in the two weeks prior to the mapping cruise as well as during the cruise. It’s important to note, however, that despite the “small” size of this year’s dead zone, nutrient loading in the Mississippi River remains as high as when the hypoxia action plan was developed in 2008.

A beach renourishment project is being credited for the recent nesting of a Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle on Babe’s Beach. Kemp’s Ridleys are the world’s rarest and most endangered sea turtle species and this is the first record of a turtle nesting there. That’s because the beach is newly created through annual dredging of Galveston Channel. While the placement of dredged sand along Babe’s Beach creates more beaches for Galveston residents and beachgoers, the creation of a nesting habitat for the sea turtles was an unintentional benefit, according to Chris Frabotta, Army Corps of Engineers Operations Chief for the Galveston District.

"The Kemp's Ridley sea turtle is one of the most endangered sea turtle species in the world, so every egg matters," Dr. Christopher Marshall, a professor of marine biology at Texas A&M University at Galveston told ABC13.

NOAA/NOS/NCCOS is soliciting proposals for the NOAA RESTORE Science Program for projects that allow researchers, resource managers and stakeholder partnerships to execute a previously planned, collaborative research project, develop findings and products, transfer them to an identified resource manager or management body, and apply them to a specific Gulf of Mexico natural resource management decision. The collaborative, previously planned projects should inform a specific management decision impacting natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico.

NOAA Fisheries has opened a call for funding for projects that prioritize habitat restoration actions that rebuild productive and sustainable fisheries, contribute to the recovery and conservation of threatened and endangered species, use natural infrastructure to reduce damage from flooding and storms, promote resilient ecosystems and communities, and yield socioeconomic benefits. This funding opportunity will invest in projects that have the greatest potential to provide holistic benefits, through habitat-based approaches that strengthen both ecosystem and community resilience.

NOAA Fisheries is calling for applications for the new American Fisheries Advisory Committee. The Committee was established by the American Fisheries Advisory Committee Act in May 2022 to make recommendations for Saltonstall-Kennedy priorities and grant award funding.

The Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary has released 2020-2021 Long-Term Monitoring Reports Available for both Stetson Bank and East and West Flower Garden Banks.

The reports contain descriptions of the methods used, analyses of field data collected, summaries of field notes, details of challenges faced, and significant observations made.

The Gulf of Mexico Climate and Resilience Community of Practice brings together extension, outreach and education professionals and community officials in the Gulf to learn how coastal communities can adapt to sea-level rise, precipitation changes and other climate-related issues.

Coming together helps ensure that local communities are equipped with reliable information and have science-based guidance regarding risks to communities and ways they can adapt to long-term changes in climate.

This year, eastern U.S. and Gulf state communities will continue to experience a more than 150% increase in high-tide flooding compared to 2000, limited only by periodic weather and climate events.

High-tide flooding, often referred to as “king tides,” “nuisance,” or “sunny day” flooding, is becoming increasingly common due to sea level rise. High-tide flooding is the overflow or excess accumulation of ocean water at high tide that covers low-lying areas, and typically occurs when tides reach anywhere from 1.75 to 2 feet above the daily average and start spilling onto streets or bubbling up from storm drains.

According to the latest outlook, Eagle Point, Galveston Bay, Texas, is projected to have 40-55 flood days; Pensacola, Florida, is expected to have three to seven.

The Gulf Research Program has announced $4.6 million in awards to support three project teams undertaking research to improve the forecasting of sea level rise along the Gulf Coast of the United States. The three-year initiative will focus on the oceanic component of sea level variation along the Gulf Coast and awards were made to Thomas Frederikse, University of California, Los Angeles; David Rounce, Carnegie Mellon University; Ping Chang, Texas A&M University.

After months of collaboration, the NOAA Gulf of Mexico Regional Collaboration Team, working with Mort Crim Communications, Inc., today released the "NOAA in the Gulf of Mexico" video. The project, led by Team Coordinator Kristen Laursen of the Gulf of Mexico Regional Collaboration Team, included months of collaborating and compiling images from across NOAA and partners to capture the agency’s work in science, service and stewardship.

Contributors included Hannah Brown (NOAA RESTORE Science Program), Jessica White (NOAA Office of Response and Restoration), Sharon Mesick (NOAA NCEI), and GCOOS Outreach and Education Manager, Dr. Chris Simoniello. The video is one of eight that are part of NOAA’s Virtual Summer Film Festival, with one new video being released each Wednesday Aug. 3-Sept. 21. Watch today's release below!

The IOOS Association has announced that Molly McCammon of the Alaska Ocean Observing System is the 2022 recipient of the Caraid Award, recognizing her outstanding contributions to observing, understanding and protection of our oceans and coasts through vision, leadership, friendship, and collaboration.

Congratulations Molly!

GCOOS maintains a listing of funding opportunities. Have an opportunity you'd like to advertise? Email Laura Caldwell

19-21: 2022 SE CASC Science Symposium; Sharing Science to Support Climate Adaptation

19-22: MTS Buoy Workshop, The University of North Carolina, Wilmington

21-22: Texas Bays and Estuaries Meeting, University of Texas Marine Science Institute

20-22: Seattle Glider Workshop, University of Washington Botanical Gardens

28: GCOOS Fall Meeting, Gulfport, Mississippi

23-28: U.S. Symposium on Harmful Algae, Albany, New York

4-8: Restore America's Estuaries, Coastal and Estuarine Summit, New Orleans, Louisiana

12-16: AGU Fall Meeting, Chicago, Illinois

Have meeting or workshop info you want to share? Email Laura Caldwell.

Dr. Jorge Brenner, Executive Director • Dr. Barbara Kirkpatrick, Senior Advisor • Bill Lingsch, U.S. Glider User Group Coordinator • Dr. Chris Simoniello, Outreach & Education Coordinator • Felimon Gayanilo, Systems Architect, Co-Data Manager • Bob Currier, Research Specialist, Product Developer, Co-Data Manager • Marion Stoessel, Senior Research Associate • Jennifer Vreeland-Dawson, Research Associate • Grant Craig, Program Coordinator • Laura Caldwell, Program Assistant • Nadine Slimak, Public Relations & Content Marketing, Vetted Communications

In Memoriam: Matt Howard, 1952-2018