News About NERACOOS (Northeast Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems)

Representatives from institutions and organizations around the Gulf of Maine and southern New England bight are meeting to discuss the establishment of Northeast Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS). The purpose of NERACOOS is to develop a vision for an integrated observing system for the Northeast region and to coordinate the existing and new elements of the current coastal ocean observing programs into a coherent system at all levels: 1) data acquisition (what products do users most need, what are their data requirements, and in what platforms and technologies should we be investing to obtain the data: 2) data and information sharing (how can da ta from diverse, distributed sources be shared to enable the creation of products users need?); research-and-operations level (how should research, including both technology and predictive capacity, be coordinated and integrated so that it applies to the needs of the observing system?); and at the institutional level (how are priorities for coastal ocean observations set, and how should investments to meet those priorities be directed?).

The intention is for NERACOOS to represent the region in the Integrated Ocean Observing System (http://www.ocean.us/) NERACOOS would be the agent through which funding from IOOS for the regional observing systems would be distributed.

The PI’s on the proposal that funds the process of establishing NERACOOS as a regional entity are: Evan Richert (Univ. Southern Maine), Philip Bogden (GoMOOS), Janet Campbell (UNH), David Mountain (National Mar. Fisheries Service, NOAA), Neal Pettigrew (Univ. of Maine) and Robert Weller (now John Trowbridge, both at WHOI). An Advisory Committee was established to guide the creation of the Regional Association. Its members are drawn from public and private organizations with a region-wide presence. The advisory committee has met four times since February, 2006. RARGOM has four representatives of its membership on the committee: Jeffrey Runge (Univ. Maine), Gordon Wallace (Univ. Mass Boston), Robert Beardsley (WHOI) and Peter Smith (Canada Fisheries and Oceans).

The process is now at the point of discussing governance structure. An investigation and informal survey of advisory committee membership on potential governance options has been conducted. A strawman governing structure was proposed at the last advisory committee meeting held at the University of Rhode Island on January 17, 2007. RARGOM membership is encouraged to review these materials and contact one of the RARGOM members with comments and recommendations that they can bring to the next advisory committee meeting on April 25, 2007.

On January 16, just before the advisory committee meeting, a number of representatives from the university and research community met at the University of Rhode Island to discuss next steps, particularly in response for a proposal opportunity, for which the deadline for submission of a planning letter is January 31. The PI team on the existing NERACOOS planning grant (Philip Bogden, Janet Campbell, David Mountain, Neal Pettigrew, Evan Richert & John Trowbridge) agreed to take on the task of coordinating a NERACOOS response to NOAA's recently released RFP for IOOS.&nb sp; The PI team plans to communicate with the region's stakeholders through the NERACOOS Advisory Committee. For this purpose, the PI’s are asking for input from the advisory committee, in consultation with their respective constitutents) on the following draft plan. This input will be used to develop a draft letter of intent, which is due at NOAA on January 31.

The draft plan adopted by the PI team at the January 16-17 NERACOOS meeting is as follows. The proposal will focus on (1) use of existing or slightly enhanced infrastructure to demonstrate proof of concept on end-to-end observing systems for one or more of the theme areas identified early in the NERACOOS process (harmful algal blooms, water quality, inundation, and living marine resources), and (2) use of observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs) to design an observing system that meets end-to-end objectives in all of these theme areas. The proposal will address focus area 1 described in the RFP. Any comments or suggestions on this draft plan or other items will be useful.

Please send any input to one of the RARGOM representatives listed above. Their contact information is on the Advisory Committee Participants list