The Eyes on the Ocean™ Newsletter

• For the 2025 hurricane season, IOOS and partners flew 81 glider missions for a total of 4118 days to deliver 91918 temperature and salinity profiles to IOOS’ Glider DAC. NOAA’s NDBC delivered the data to NOAA models to help reduce error in hurricane intensity forecasts. Gliders were deployed across coastal regions of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of America, and international waters. Four gliders were in Hurricane Erin’s path; one passed through the storm’s eye.
• Researchers, including investigators from MARACOOS, undertook a 10-year study using IOOS HFR data showing that Mid-Atlantic currents draw in plankton, creating marine feeding spots near the continental shelf break and Cape Cod. These circulation patterns, strongest in spring/summer and increasing since 2017, highlight their role in supporting marine life. Read more in their paper, “Attractive Lagrangian Features in the Mid-Atlantic Bight: Using Lagrangian Coherent Structures to Describe Seasonal and Interannual Changes in Circulation” here.
• The first WebCOOS (Webcam Coastal Observation System) camera in the CeNCOOS region has been installed at Galilee Harbor in Sausalito, California! At Galilee Harbor, the new camera will help track flooding, king tide events, and wave surge in the San Francisco Bay, providing valuable real-time data for both community members and coastal decision-makers.
• On September 30, the U.S. Animal Telemetry Network in collaboration with U.S. MBON successfully published 288 satellite animal tracking datasets, representing approximately 49,000 species occurrences. These datasets were published to the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) USA Node’s Integrated Publishing Toolkit and subsequently registered with both OBIS and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Documentation detailing the publication process is available here. The published data collection can be accessed via the following links: OBIS | GBIF.
• In September, GCOOS and SECOORA shared the cost for the installation of a new Sofar spotter buoy with the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. The buoy nicknamed “Kevin” was deployed in the Sanctuary’s West Bank. Its sensors are collecting data on wave height, wind speed, temperatures from the surface and reef cap depth, as well as dissolved oxygen data from the midwater column and at reef cap depth. This buoy provides important real-time information for FGBNMS staff and visitors to assess offshore conditions and the data can be tracked historically to see changes over time.
• Congratulations to GCOOS Oceanographer Dr. Uchenna Nwankwo and the Texas A&M University team (TAMU-GERG) for restoring the CODAR SeaSonde® high-frequency radar (HFR) station “SSDE” at Surfside Beach, Texas! The station, previously struck by a hurricane and then vandalized/stolen in 2024, measures surface current velocity up to 100 nautical miles offshore. This data is vital for coastal community safety during severe weather and oil spills, and is also used by fisheries, boaters, and swimmers. SSDE data is now available to the public via the IOOS HFR National Network and GCOOS’s regional data portal.
• The OSU glider team, led by NANOOS PI Jack Barth in consultation with the Quianault Indian Nation’s Joe Schumacker, successfully deployed and recovered glider 592 off Westport, WA for the Washington coast mapping effort. The first batch of near real-time data is flowing to the IOOS GliderDAC and plots are available on NVS. Jack relates that at the end of this strong upwelling season, there was hypoxic water in the bottom third of the water column (about 20-40m above the bottom). By the end of the glider mission, nearshore waters had returned to normal oxygen levels partially due to storms.
• The Synchro Team recently deployed an upgraded coastal observation mooring (“OA2”) off Point Año Nuevo which:
  • Collects real-time ocean and weather data, including sea surface temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, pH, and both seawater and atmospheric CO₂
  • Tracks tagged white sharks and standard meteorological conditions (eg., wind, air temperature, barometric pressure)

The team is also testing a new feature: the Sofar Ocean Spotter controller, which can measure swell and has the ability to integrate future Bristlemouth-enabled sensors for testing.

• SCCOOS has deployed a recently developed Spray2 underwater glider with a pH sensor for an extended mission on line 90 of the California Underwater Glider Network. The Spray2 underwater glider is licensed to MRV Systems, and is a bit larger going from a 110 lb autonomous vehicle to 154 lbs providing more space for instruments! The objective of the mission is to occupy the inshore half of line 90 at least three months. Read this spotlight if you want to take a deeper dive and learn more about the people managing the California Underwater Glider Network and the insight these data gives us.

• The PacIOOS operational wave forecast is back online. The system combines wind forecasts from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction with PacIOOS weather data to deliver high-resolution wave predictions for the Main Hawaiian Islands, CNMI, Guam, American Samoa, and Palau every day, rain or shine.
• GCOOS has launched an upgraded data portal for BSEE Notice to Lessees and Operators, incorporating feedback from BSEE and platform operators. New features include: integration of IOOS HFRs and gliders, visualization of the latest HyCOM model, representation of Argo floats, and selective plotting of active/inactive stations. The portal collects data from 49 active offshore stations, retaining records from all previously active stations, with over 670 million ocean current and 12 million seawater temperature data points. The map dynamically animates station locations as new data is received. Access the portal here; direct feature requests to data@gcoos.org.
• Following an Alexandrium bloom detected in the southeast Bering Sea in July and a multi-species die-off event observed on St. George Island in August, tests of seabird, marine mammal, shellfish, and fish samples revealed elevated levels of paralytic shellfish toxins. The Alaska Harmful Algal Bloom Network confirmed the bloom in late September. Response is ongoing.
• The PacIOOS PIRAT Network and the HIMB Shark Lab recorded the first-ever tiger shark round trip migration between Hawaii and Mexico. A mature female tagged in Kāneʻohe in 2016 was detected at the Revillagigedo Islands and Cabo Pulmo, Mexico, less than a year later, via equipment maintained by Pelagios Kakunjá. After three years, the shark returned to Hawaii and was detected consistently until early 2024. This discovery highlights the critical importance of data sharing initiatives like the PIRAT Network and Migramar in advancing understanding of highly migratory species. PIRAT checks for cross-matches every 4 months.