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Highlighted in this issue are two examples of ocean observing pilot studies. Over the past 5 years, our program has increased support for such studies focusing on the Tropical Pacific, Boundary Currents, and emerging capabilities to measure wave properties. Such technologies can originate from labs, academia, and/or the private sector. What happens beyond such pilot and demonstration activities? This issue was raised more generally at OceanObs'19: how do agencies like NOAA harness the incredible range of innovative energy within all these sectors for the benefit of our missions and NOAA's mission? NOAA leadership has developed a future vision for unmanned systems - I strongly encourage your review and feedback on this strategy (see below). We are scoping our role in technology development and will continue to engage our community in our future plans!
The holiday season is here! From all of us at OOMD, we wish you and your families a wonderful Thanksgiving. May it be filled with the spirit of thanks, service to others, and making new memories.
David Legler, Director - Ocean Observing and Monitoring Division
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December 3, 2019 via webcast from Madrid, Spain
December 9-13, 2019 in San Francisco, CA
*Arctic Report Card Press Panel: Tuesday, Dec. 10th*
*OceanObs'19 Town Hall: Friday, Dec. 13th*
February 19-21, 2020 in San Diego, CA
*Proposals for Press Conferences: Jan. 10th. Please contact
Jessica to submit a proposal*
April 21-24, 2020 in College Park, MD
*Abstract submission deadline: February 3rd | Registration deadline: March 13th*
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 Program Updates
Welcome Brittany Croll!
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Brittany is joining us after serving as the NOAA OAR Program Coordination Officer (PCO) for the past two years. As PCO, Brittany was the primary liaison between OAR leadership and NOAA leadership working across NOAA Line Offices and Program Offices to facilitate coordination on OAR issues. Brittany joined NOAA in 2010 and spent six years working in NOAA Fisheries on the natural resource damage assessment for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. She began working in OAR in 2016 in the Office of International Activities with WMO and JCOMM as the main components of her portfolio. Prior to NOAA, she had a four year Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) fellowship with EPA's Office of Water. She has a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies from Franklin and Marshall College, a Master's degree in Global Environmental Policy from American University, and a Master's degree from Johns Hopkins University in Energy Policy and Climate.
Brittany spends her leisure time with her dog, Leela, cat, Treme, and horse, Harlow. She enjoys being outdoors (mountains, beaches and everywhere in between!), CrossFit, running, cycling, horseback riding, yoga, SCUBA diving, going to concerts, and traveling. She also volunteers with a therapeutic horseback riding program which uses equine- assisted activities to enrich the lives of individuals with disabilities.
Brittany's portfolio in OOMD will include support of NOAA's Arctic coordination/strategy, GOOS, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations, and Line/Program Office coordination on cross-cutting issues like ecosystem forecasting, capitalizing on her experience working with a variety of internal and external partners to help promote and advance OOMD's priorities.
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Arctic Researchers, including ARP PI Matt Shupe are pictured here raising an 11-meter high meteorological tower that transmits data to the MOSAiC team!
MOSAiC
The
MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) expedition is getting international attention as
the first ever year-round expedition into the central Arctic exploring the Arctic climate system. T
he German research icebreaker Polarstern set sail from Tromsø, Norway in September to spend a year drifting through the Arctic Ocean - trapped in ice. More than 400 scientists from 19 countries are taking part in this expedition, including some of our own NOAA Arctic scientists!
Follow the cruise by signing up for MOSAiC Mondays newsletters and reading the CIRES MOSAiC blog!
Arctic HABs Research in The Nome Nugget
Research from the Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) cruise has been picked up by The
Nome Nugget
newspaper. PI Don Anderson was quoted in
the article
describing the findings of harmful algal bloom toxins in clams in the Chukchi Sea. Specifically, s
axitoxin, a biological toxin that is produced by an algae called Alexandrium catenella, was detected in high concentrations during the August DBO cruise this year as well as in 2018. More research is being conducted with a scientific paper in the works. Read the full article here.
Arctic Report Card Update
The 2019 Arctic Report Card will be released during the AGU Fall Meeting Press Panel on Dec. 10th at 11:00am PST. Rear Adm. Gallaudet will deliver opening remarks and editor Matthew Druckenmiller, ARP PI Don Perovich, and Bering Sea Elders group representative, Mellisa Johnson will speak on the panel, which will be live streamed. The Arctic Report Card is produced by more than 80 scientists, including scientists at NOAA, other federal agencies, academia and from 11 other countries. We hope you attend or tune in!
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TPOS Saildrone Mission Updates
Four Saildrone science vehicles were launched from Hawaii on June 8, 2019 to begin a six-month research mission to study air-sea interaction in the central equatorial Pacific Ocean as part of a broader effort to rethink the Tropical Pacific Observing System.
November 4 Update: As the Saildrones continue their northward transit to intercept the Intertropical Convergenze Zone (ITCZ) in the eastern tropical Pacific, there have been a few visitors from the animal kingdom along the way! Likely due to bio-fouling (i.e., barnacle growth) on the side of the vehicles, as seen in the photo, there has been an increased presence of fish around the drones. In particular, a large dorado (or mahi-mahi) was recently seen cruising alongside Saildrone vehicle 1066. Given that the length of the drone is approximately 7 meters (i.e., ~23 feet) long, it is safe to say that is one big fish! With these food sources available, it is unsurprising that many birds have also been attracted to the Saildrones. Unfortunately, this added weight has resulted in slower navigation speeds. Nonetheless, the drones continue to sail on!
Saildrones are unmanned surface vehicles (USV) developed by Saildrone, Inc. and NOAA/PMEL that use wind and solar energy to transit the ocean and power a variety of mounted scientific instruments.
Follow along on the Saildrone blog!
Thanks to Adi Hanein at PMEL for filling us in on this mission update.
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8 Ways to Visualize Argo Data
The international Argo Program held its 20th Data Management Team Meeting in October in Villefranche-sur-mer. For the first time, this annual meeting included a focus on data visualization tools to help a variety of audiences connect Argo to our global weather and climate. Now you can e
xplore 8 different data visualization platforms that use Argo data all in one place. Pictured above is the Earth Null School, a tool that
was created to connect global science and data to every day people and students, and now features Argo data!
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The last hurricane glider for the 2019 season was deployed
in the Gulf stream o
n November 20th. There are two active gliders in the Gulf Stream right now and can be tracked in real time. These gliders have provided information throughout the hurricane season that have been ingested to the hurricane models when there was an active storm nearby. The data have also been used as a part of a larger data set to help understand the along-stream transport of the Gulf Stream.
These gliders measures temperature, salinity, velocity, chlorophyll fluorescence and dissolved oxygen.
You can track data from the gliders in real time here.
This deployment is part of a new project from PI Robert Todd at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).
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OOMD Scientists Recognized as 2019's Highly Cited Researchers
Three NOAA OOMD research scientists, Richard Feely (PMEL), Michael McPhaden (PMEL) and Colm Sweeney (OOMD/GMD) have been recognized as the world's most influential researchers of the past decade, demonstrated by the production of multiple highly-cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year in Web of Science. Only 12 research scientist at NOAA were recognized for this achievement this year.
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Call for 2020 SCOR Visiting Scholars Program
The application period is now open for the 2020 Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) Visiting Scholars Program. Awards for these scholarships are very competitive. For the 2019 program, 30 applications were received and only 6 scholarships were awarded. The program, started in 2009, has awarded scholarships to scientists at all career levels, from PhD students to retired professors, but because the purpose of the program is teaching and mentoring, extensive experience in working with students gives applicants a higher chance of success. See
here for a list of past SCOR Visiting Scholars.
Applications are due by December 1, 2019 and selections will be made by the SCOR Committee on Capacity Building by January 1, 2020. For more information, view the
application forms and instructions.
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Spanish Webinar: Heartwired to Love the Ocean
Goodwin Simon Strategic Research and Wonder will host a messaging webinar in Spanish on
Heartwired to Love the Ocean
, a messaging guide for ocean advocates that was highlighted at Capitol Hill Oceans Week this year.
The webinar will take place
Tuesday, January 21st from 9-10 a.m. PT / 12-1 p.m. ET. Please share this opportunity with
anyone in your network who may be interested. For questions about the webinar, please contact Corinne Hoag with Wonder Strategies for Good and you can register here.
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Call For Senior Management Meeting Spotlight Presentations
Are you looking for a way to build excitement and support for your research? Consider signing up to deliver a Spotlight Presentation at an upcoming Senior Management Meeting! Every Monday, our leadership in Silver Spring attend the NOAA Research Senior Management Meeting. During each meeting there is an opportunity for scientists and program managers to showcase their research with a 10-15 minute, high level presentation, which can be delivered virtually from the field. The NOAA Research Communications team offers help with a guided practice session. Please contact your program manager and/or our Communications Specialist,
Jessica Mkitarian to sign up!
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ICYMI: OOMD Team Updates
In Case You Missed It: OOMD Program Manager
Emily Smith recently returned from the Women in Sciences Leadership Workshop. In its second year, this workshop doubled in size, with over 100 participants! Emily has been at the helm as a founder and champion of women in sciences. She also organized an event at OceanObs'19, Breaking Waves, Breaking Barriers, which included a panel of international female leaders and a networking event. To learn more about her role, I asked her a few questions...
What led you to organize and create these events?
Passion for women. Growing up and watching my mom get passed over for promotions because she was a woman and "only" had a master's degree gave me a drive to defend and fight for women. I feel this especially for women in the STEM fields.
For the Leadership Workshop, this simply came from a lack of training available to me. I worked with the Earth Science Women's Network (ESWN) after finding that they offered trainings in the past. They were more than happy to help if I could find some funds. I knocked on doors until I secured funding from NOAA/OAR Diversity and Inclusion group. When they funded us for the second year, I wanted to do more. Again, I worked with ESWN and wrote a grant to NSF for funding for travel for participants since this was not something offered in the first year. I'm happy to say that the first year we had 50 women attend. The second year we had over 100 and supported hotel rooms for 57 women and travel for 18, including two international women.
The event at OceanObs'19 was a team effort where I was able to take over the lead after one of our team members had to step back. We had many phone calls and brainstorming of how we could have women be at the forefront, but in our own way, and not the traditional panel. We were also very sensitive to not have all white females on the panel, but to have a true international representation.
How did you find resources and people to help you?
I found ESWN by simply scouring the Internet looking for leadership training. Finding nothing for the science agency world, I stumbled across an old agenda from ESWN about a training they held for NOAA over a decade ago. The ESWN board members were very supportive and I could have not been successful without them.
My connections for the OceansObs'19 event came from life. One team member I had met in Palau at a capacity building workshop in 2015, and the other two were attendees at the first women's leadership workshop.
What has impacted you the most, or what are some key takeaways?
It always amazes me as to the impact that this is having for other women. After the first year where we had more than 100 women apply for 50 spots, it was overwhelmingly clear what a need there is for this type of training. This year we had over 200 women apply for 100 spots. Women in the sciences are craving training to help them be better leaders and co-workers. And as long as there is a need, I will try to find a way to meet that need.
Thanks Emily, and congratulations on your success leading these efforts to promote women in science and #womenofnoaa!
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Recent Publications
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As always, for the OOMD Community, by the OOMD Community.
Do you have news to share with the OOMD Community, or beyond?
Contact Jessica Mkitarian: jessica.mkitarian@noaa.gov or
(301) 427-2472.
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