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AOOS Board Meeting, Anchorage
Tuesday 10 November, 9a-5p
recently featured
- (July 2009) Mysterious blob off Arctic coast has researchers wondering
- (July 2009) Harbor observation station launched in Seward
- (April 2009) Active volcano threatens: UAF team responds
Brought to you by NOAA National Ocean Service
Coastal Processes and Erosion Responses Seminar and Workshop
Coastal managers from Alaska will join AOOS representatives to discuss information and data products that are needed by coastal managers to address the critical issues surrounding climate change and coastal communities. Attendees will also learn more about sea level rise, inundation, and coastal erosion and engineering responses to these issues.
SEMINAR | Dr. Orson Smith, PE, UAA Professor of Civil Engineering, will lead the seminar in response to requests from coastal managers for information on coastal science and coastal engineering.
Start: 8:30am Tuesday, October 6
End: noon Wednesday, October 7
WORKSHOP | Immediately following the seminar will be a workshop to identify the data needs of coastal managers addressing coastal processes that could be provided by AOOS.
Start: 1pm on Wednesday, October 7
End: Noon Thursday, October 8
More Information
- Event Flyer (.doc) and Invitational Letter (.doc)
- Registration Form (.doc)
- Event Location at the University of Alaska Anchorage (PDF)
Sound Predictions 2009 Comes to a Close ... but it's Not Over
Read the Summer 2009 Newsletter featuring the Field Experiment
Although the “official” Prince William Sound Field Experiment -- known as Sound Predictions 2009 -– is completed, in reality the project is far from over. Not only are two drifters still floating out in the Gulf of Alaska, but the AOOS field team, the data team in Fairbanks, and modelers in California will spend the next several months analyzing the data acquired during this unprecedented field exercise.
The team will be preparing journal papers and symposium presentations, and meeting with stakeholder groups to help decide what pieces of the Prince William Sound observing system structure are critical to meeting future needs. Stay tuned.
Latest Ocean Observing News
Spotlight on Orcas
Prince William Sound is home to approximately 30-200 “resident” fish eating killer whales, and seven “transient” marine mammal eating whales (with occasional transients visiting from the Gulf of Alaska). There are also more than 600 killer whales in the Gulf of Alaska that can be seen in or near the Sound. Right: Orca in Prince William Sound. (Craig Matkin)
Orcas are considered a sentinel species, and their health reflects the health of an ecosystem. Craig Matkin and Eva Saulitis of the North Gulf Oceanic Society have studied the orcas of the Sound since the mids1980s. The population of transient whales ( the AT1 pod) in the Sound has decreased by two thirds since 1989.
What do orcas sound like? Eva Saulitis knows; she did her Master’s thesis at the University of Alaska Fairbanks on the vocalizations and foraging behavior of the AT1 transient whales of Prince William Sound.
- Hear transient whales from the AT1 pod in Prince William Sound, recorded by Eva Saulitis
- Listen to resident whales from the AB pod in Prince William Sound, recorded by Eva Saulitis
The Alaska Ocean Observing System
is building a network of observation platforms and forecast models.
The goal of this network is to provide information products and tools to improve our understanding of Alaska’s ocean ecosystem and
allow us to make better decisions about our use of the marine environment.
AOOS is affiliated with the Integrated Ocean Observing System and the
University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.
UAF is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and educational institution.
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