Southern California Region (SCCOOS)
Map of the Southern California Region
The Southern California Regional Coastal Ocean Observing System (SCCOOS) provides coverage from Point Conception south to the Mexico border.
Priorities
The principal goal of the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System (SCCOOS) is to provide observations and data products to a diverse stakeholder community of managers and planners, operational decision makers, scientists, and the general public. As the regional observing system for Southern California, SCCOOS has developed the capabilities to support short-term decision-making and long-term assessment by implementing and leveraging biological, chemical, and physical observations, many of which are available in near real-time.
SCCOOS has aligned its organizational priorities and objectives with the focus areas designated by the National Federation of Regional Associations for Ocean Observing:
- Ecosystems and Climate Trends: To monitor climate trends and environmental effects on the Southern California Bight by collecting physical, chemical, and biological time series.
- Water Quality: To provide monitoring, tracking, and prediction tools for harmful algal blooms, outfall and stormwater plumes, and surfzone contaminants.
- Marine Operations: To advance integrated, customized products that are critical for safe and efficient navigation, search and rescue, and oil spill response.
- Coastal Hazards: To promote safe recreational use of beaches and provide warnings of wave and tide-induced coastal inundation.
- Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning: To work collaboratively to pursue a comprehensive, adaptive, integrated, ecosystem-based, and transparent spatial planning process.
SCCOOS continues its work with local, state, and federal agencies, resource managers, industry, policy-makers, educators, scientists, non-governmental organizations, and the public to make ocean and coastal data and information more widely available in a variety of formats. These efforts will ensure that products are useful and easy to access, while preserving the necessary detail to support the scientific and educational communities. SCCOOS continues to explore new visualizations and technologies to make data and products more comprehensible and widely available. In order to achieve an effective outreach and education strategy that fully engages a wide range of audiences, SCCOOS focuses on developing projects through partnerships on the local, regional, and national levels. SCCOOS collaborates with the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System (CeNCOOS) on statewide issues and formed a Joint Strategic Advisory Committee, of users and stakeholders across the state, to create a unified and coordinated approach to ocean observing in California. SCCOOS is also committed to contributing to larger ocean observing collaborations regionally, nationally, and internationally.
News from the Region
NOAA Grant to Advance Harmful Algal Bloom Warnings to Protect Public and Animal Health in Coastal California
Read more about the NOAA Press Release
Red Tide in San Diego County and Harmful Algal Bloom Sampling Efforts by the Southern California Region (SCCOOS), September 2011
Aerial photograph of a dense bloom of Lingulodinium polyedrum off southern California in the summer of 2005. The dark red discoloration of the water is why this is often called a "Red Tide." Photo credit: Eddie Kisfaludy.
During the last week of September, red to brownish-red discolored waters became more evident as the bloom of Lingulodinium polyedrum continues along the coast of San Diego County. Areas where the red waters are observed during the day can bioluminesce at night, producing a striking blue color when agitated from breaking waves, swimming fishes, and even the movement of your hands and feet.
Sampling efforts by SCCOOS Harmful Algal Bloom researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography have found cell abundances of this dinoflagellate to be over 1 million cells/liter and chlorophyll values at 43.92 mg/m3 at Scripps Pier in La Jolla (average values range from 0-1,000 cells/L of L. polyedrum and 2.49 mg/m3 for chlorophyll). This bloom began near the end of August and could last for several weeks to a couple of months.
Further information is available at:
Harmful Algae & Red Tide Regional Monitoring Program of the Southern California Region (SCCOOS)
Visit Southern California Region's Website:
Southern California Data Portal and Asset Viewer:
http://www.sccoos.org/interactive-map/
Among the data, tools, and products made available by the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System are:
- Time series from automated and manual shore stations featuring temperature, salinity, chlorophyll, turbidity at regular intervals in the nearshore coastal ocean
- Information on harmful algae & red tides including comparable data at five regional stations that provide timely updates on Harmful Algal Bloom events.
- Meteorological observations, data from ships and gliders, wave conditions, surface current maps, and model outputs
- Visualizations for near real-time applications, including ports and harbors, ship tracking, and Tijuana River plume tracking
SCOOS News & Events
http://www.sccoos.org/news.html
Contact Information
Julie Thomas, Executive Director
jot@cdip.ucsd.edu
Resources
Fact Sheet, 2012 (pdf)
One-Pager, 2011:
IOOS in Action: California (pdf)