News from the Region

• News and Stories from Alaska
  
• AOOS Winter Newsletter
  

 

Arctic Research Assets Map Update Brings New Capabilities

A new version of the Arctic Research Assets Map has been released! The map, which shows locations of instruments and monitoring, has expanded to include assets in western Alaska and Canada. It also has new capabilities to help users personalize their view.

• Read the entire story  
• Visit the new map

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A Partnership to Predict Salmon Run Timing

Over the past year, AOOS, NOAA’s Auke Bay Lab and Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADFG) have partnered to help share data to further explore the ability of this relation to provide fisheries biologists with the best possible oceanographic information to manage the run.
Read the entire story

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New Met Station & Webcams Stream Kodiak Data

Heading to the Kodiak Harbor? Check the conditions at the new weather station before you go. The second node of the Alaska Harbor Observation Network (AHON) was deployed on the western tip of Gull Island in October. The station currently measures wind speed and direction, air temperature, relative humidity and solar radiation. The sensor feed can be found at the AOOS real-time sensor map, or the AHON Data Viewer website with updates every two minutes, along with hourly weather summaries. Read the entire story.

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Alaska Region Launches Upgraded Real-Time Sensor Map

The Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS) released a new version of the AOOS real-time sensor map. New capabilities include the ability to see the latest observations from multiple sensors housed on a single platform at the same time, bookmark a specific view to return to or send to a friend, and view wind vectors on the main map, showing wind direction and magnitude.  AOOS will soon add wave vectors as well.  Users can also view a visual representation of relative differences in temperature, precipitation, or other parameters of their choosing across stations. Read the entire story.

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IOOS Glider Breaks Records in Alaska

A glider funded by the Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS), a regional entity of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), broke records in the Chukchi Sea. IOOS partners recently learned that last summer’s nine week continuous sampling of ocean properties is the longest such glider mission carried out in Arctic waters. Scientists equipped the glider with high-capacity lithium batteries, enabling it to stay in the water for more than two months while continuously collecting and transmitting real-time data. The mission collected more than 11,000 vertical profiles of pressure, temperature, and salinity covering 1,000 kilometers of ocean.  The mission completed a second year of studies on the hydrographic properties of Arctic waters, led by the University of Alaska Fairbanks and funded by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Conoco Phillips, and Shell Oil.

The glider data provides detailed biochemical and physical ocean data previously unavailable. Combining this glider’s data with high frequency radar and data collected by autonomous underwater vehicles creates a unique view of the ocean, featuring complexities that are improving scientific knowledge of how this area is functioning.

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First Ocean Acidification Buoys Deployed in Alaskan Waters

The first ocean acidification buoys were deployed in Alaska near Resurrection Bay and in the eastern Bering Sea.  They are the first in a series of buoys that will help scientists monitor ocean pH levels and better understand how oceans are being affected by climate change.  A third subsurface monitoring ocean acidification mooring is currently deployed in the Chukchi Sea and will be serviced this October.

Read the entire story

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Cook Inlet Buoy Takes a Swim

The wave buoy off the coast of Anchor Point sponsored by partners of Alaska Ocean Observing System took an unexpected swim in mid October, and is not currently producing data. Around 1am on October 12th, the buoy broke free from its tether by what could have been a fishing net or other floating debris. The cause is uncertain.

Fortunately, the buoy’s signal continued to transmit. Read the entire story...

New Ocean Observing Tools Provide Additional Data and Information in Alaska

Read about the new long-range high frequency radar system recently installed in Alaska

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AOOS partners launch new buoy in Cook Inlet

Monday, May 9th marked the successful launch of a new wave buoy off the coast of Anchor Point in Cook Inlet. The buoy transmits real-time information on wave height and direction, as well as sea surface temperature

Information from the buoy will be used to assist a wide array of marine operations. Cook Inlet receives high vessel traffic, as 95% of Alaska’s goods arrive by barge through the inlet on the way to the Port of Anchorage. Additionally, an active sport fishing fleet departing from Homer and Anchor Point has desired a buoy for many years. Circulation patterns are complicated in the inlet, which also experiences high winds, seasonal sea ice, and tides up to 36 feet in places. Further Details

View the real-time data by visiting: AOOS data portal (enter the Real-time Sensor Map and zoom into Cook Inlet)

About the Alaska Region (AOOS)

The mission of AOOS is to address regional and national needs for ocean information, gather specific data on key coastal and ocean variables, and ensure timely and sustained dissemination and availability of these data.  AOOS works to support national defense; marine commerce; navigation safety; weather, climate, and marine forecasting; energy siting and production; economic development; ecosystem-based marine and coastal resource management; public safety; and public outreach training and education in the region.

Activities that AOOS undertakes are as follows:

• Maintain data management services, data products, and archive
• SnoTel climate sensor network weather stations maintenance
• AIS/weather shore stations pilot
• High-Frequency Radar planning
• Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) wind modeling
• Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) circulation modeling
• Hydrologic modeling for Prince William Sound
• Wave buoy maintenance
• Electronic sea ice atlas
• Seward Line transect monitoring
• Ocean acidification monitoring
• Tide station conductivity pilot
• Marine animal tagging data acquisition
• Oceanographic measurements in Cook Inlet
• Education & outreach activities
• Alaska oceans and coasts report planning

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Resources

Fact Sheet, 2012 (pdf)

One-Pager, 2011:
IOOS in Action: Alaska (pdf)

Media

3 Short videos showcasing the dramatic changes in Alaska's marine ecosystems
Part 1: Faces of Climate Change
Part 2: Faces of Climate Change - Life on the Ice
Part 3: Faces of Climate Change - Disappearing Sea Ice