September 2020 Issue
Director's Article
Upcoming Events & Program Updates
Eight Drifting Buoys Deployed in front of Hurricane Teddy
Monitoring Arctic Change in 2020
15th Annual US-Indonesia (NOAA-BMKG) Partnership Workshop a Virtual Success
NOAA Climate & Global Change Postdoc Program Recruitment Announcement
NOAA Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) NOFO Released
Join the Underwater Glider Network User Group (UG2)
News from Around NOAA
ICYMI: Arctic Edition
New Publications
Director's Article

Congratulations on completing FY20! As we look back on a year of twists and turns, we are finding a new normal as we start FY21.

I am pleased to report that NOAA sponsored research cruises are getting under way, and doing so without incident. Over the past 2 months we have assisted in preparations for two Arctic cruises that have gotten underway (one is still at sea). Moreover, an Atlantic cruise on the Ron Brown will be underway soon. These have required enormous planning and coordination, and sacrifice by crews sheltering in place for days and weeks in advance of the cruise. We are working towards more cruises getting underway in the coming months. Our thanks to the chief scientists and crews making unparalleled sacrifices to sustain ocean observing.

Over the past 2 months, I have noticed that a number of workshops and meetings, postponed due to the pandemic, are now appearing on my calendar. Three overlapping workshops last week convinced me that

  1. virtual meetings notably increase the number of participants and delivery of information (the jury is still out on whether virtual meetings are providing value to all participants);
  2. preparation is still important, yet more difficult given the level of overscheduling many of us are encountering; and
  3. de-conflicting overlapping workshops is still important!

Finally, we are thrilled to welcome new members of our team (see announcements below).


-David Legler
Upcoming Events & Program Updates



Welcome LCDR Jeff Pereira!
Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey Pereira joins GOMO as our new Operations Manager. He serves as the vessel coordinator to schedule the deployment of vital ocean climate platforms on NOAA’s, University’s, and Private charter vessels.

LCDR Pereira’s most recent sea assignment was as Executive Officer on NOAA Ship Pisces. As Executive Officer, he was responsible for formulation, execution and maintenance of the vessel’s 1.2 million dollar budget; supervised 12 employees; and managed the vessel's staffing. In addition to sea experience aboard several NOAA ships including the Rainier, Henry Bigelow and Nancy Foster, LCDR Pereira has experience working as NOAA Corps Chief Recruiting Officer and as Oceanographer for the National Hurricane Center’s Storm Surge Unit.

LCDR Pereira graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2004 with Bachelor of Science degrees in Aircraft Engineering Technology and Applied Meteorology with a concentration in Research. He also received a Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Systems from Pennsylvania State University in 2013. LCDR Pereira is a recipient of the Department of Commerce’s Gold and Bronze Medal. His NOAA Corps decorations include Achievement Medal (4), Director’s Ribbon (2), Unit Citation (2), and National Response Service Ribbon. Lieutenant Commander Pereira is from Pawtucket, RI. He is the proud father of two daughters named Kaylee and Zoey who currently reside in Plainfield, IL.
Welcome Emily Smith!
Dr. Emily Smith joins GOMO as a new federal employee. Emily will manage the Argo Program and GOMO ocean glider research.

Emily is from South Louisiana where she developed her love of the ocean. Before coming to NOAA as a Knauss Fellow in 2015, Emily shared her love for the ocean and science with others as a middle school science teacher in Tennessee. Emily holds a Master's in Secondary Education (Environmental Science) from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and a PhD in Oceanography from Louisiana State University.

In her previous role at GOMO as a UCAR Program Specialist, Emily managed Sea Level, and more recently Argo and Gliders. For the past few years, she has led the development of a series of workshops focused on women in the sciences and training for leadership skills. Emily is a proud dog mom and loves to cook.
Congratulations Kathy Tedesco!
GOMO Program Manager, Dr. Kathy Tedesco was selected to serve as Co-Chair of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) Carbon Cycle Interagency Working Group (CCIWG). The CCIWG coordinates and facilitates carbon cycle science across the federal government and provides leadership on carbon cycle science priorities for USGCRP. Because the carbon cycle is associated with a wide range of global change research needs, the CCIWG works closely with other USGCRP Interagency Working Groups and engages with U.S. and international partners. Dr. Tedesco has served on the CCIWG since 2002 and will bring almost twenty years of experience in global carbon cycle research and observations to the position. 


Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing News
On Saturday, September 19, 2020 eight drifting buoys were deployed in front of Hurricane Teddy. The photo above shows loading of eight hurricane drifters onto the US Air Force C-130 Cargo airplane for deployments. A variety of drifter types were deployed and will measure sea surface temperature (SST), wave spectra, sea level pressure (SLP) and upper ocean heat content, with the ultimate goal of improving hurricane intensity forecasts. This field deployment was swiftly made possible due to the coordinated efforts of the Global Drifter Program (GOMO, AOML, and Scripps LDL) and the 53rd Squadron Hurricane Hunters. This deployment and research is part of a greater effort among the Global Drifter Program and partners to improve hurricane intensity forecasting with in situ ocean observations (Extreme Events-Ocean Observations Task Team). Read more here.
From spring to early fall in a typical year, NOAA and research partners conduct several important scientific surveys in the U.S. waters of the Bering and Chukchi Seas. But this was no usual year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While NOAA has had to cancel many of its planned research surveys in Alaska, it has been able to conduct a number of scaled-back research surveys in 2020. One such survey was conducted on board NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson and collected critical data supporting a long time series involving many scientific partners.

“What is really remarkable about this survey is that scientists and crew are stepping forward to collect data for fellow scientists who aren’t able to get out this year,” said Phyllis Stabeno, NOAA PMEL oceanographer. “It’s a great example of teamwork at its best.”

After a successful return, research vessel the Norseman II set out to evaluate ecosystem status and change at the Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) time-series sites. The Norseman will also deploy a mooring and sediment trap in the northern Bering Sea, and turn around the Chukchi Ecosystem Observatory mooring array in the NE Chukchi Sea. The cruise departed in early October from Nome, Alaska with a limited scientific team participating for the planned water column and sediment sampling on the five DBO transect lines in the northern Bering and Chukchi Seas. Read the full story on NOAA Research or PMEL's website.
NOAA Climate & Global Change Postdoc Program Recruitment Announcement
The UCAR Cooperative Programs for the Advancement of Earth System Science (CPAESS) is pleased to announce that the NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellowship Program is seeking applications for the 2021 appointments. The fellowship program has an outstanding reputation for attracting the best and the brightest PhDs in the sciences relevant to the NOAA Climate and Global Change Program. The application deadline for Postdocs and hosting institutions is January 8, 2021. Please visit the site for more information.
NOAA Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) NOFO Released
NOAA has released its latest Notice of Federal Opportunity (NOFO) under the Small Business Innovation Research Program. Grants provided under this program benefit small businesses in the execution of NOAA's mission.

US small businesses are encouraged to take a look and consider submitting a proposal:

For more information visit the NOAA SBIR Program website.
Join the Underwater Glider Network User Group (UG2)
Based on feedback over the last several years, the US Glider Community is working on some exciting initiatives which will be rolled out over the next couple of months. To stay informed of these initiatives, individuals in the underwater glider community are encouraged to join the Underwater Glider User Group (UG2). When you click the link below, you can also choose to join the UG2 Glider Hotline. This is a listserv members use to engage with other members and ask questions, get help, or share ideas. If you join the Hotline, you can opt-out at anytime.  

Join here: http://eepurl.com/gYzHrr  
News from Around NOAA
ICYMI: Arctic Edition




  • "After the Ice" a three-part series filmed by Eli Kintisch and funded by SEARCH premiered on PBS. This effort provided the content for last year's Arctic Report Card chapter on the changing Bering Sea and the associated video. See it on PBS.
Recent Publications
Meinen, C. S., Perez, R. C., Dong, S., Piola, A. R., & Campos, E. (2020). Observed ocean bottom temperature variability at four sites in the Northwestern Argentine basin: Evidence of decadal deep/abyssal warming amidst hourly to interannual variability during 2009–2019. Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2020GL089093. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL089093

Follow this research in the news:
We hope your virtual renditions of Happy Birthday are as coordinated as ours! Thanks for being a part of the GOMO Community. 

Do you have news to share with the GOMO Community, or beyond? 
Contact Jessica Mkitarian: [email protected] or (301) 427-2472.
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