CARICOOS-Virgin Islands

Three graduate students have been identified as recipients of the 2020 IOOS/CARICOOS/OCOVI Vembu Subramanian Award

The goal of the Vembu Subramanian Award is to advance the IOOS priorities – coastal preparedness, response, recovery, and resiliency; advancing coastal intelligence; and place-based conservation in the spirit of Vembu Subramanian’s devotion to humanity, appreciation of nature and love of science.  The award honors the memory of the late Vembu Subramanian, noted oceanographer and… Read More

Outlook of 2020 Sargassum blooms in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico* January 31st, 2020, by University of South Florida Optical Oceanography Lab

The situation in January 2020 has changed dramatically from December 2019. Although the Sargassum amount in the Central West Atlantic (CWA, i.e., the region east of the Lesser Antilles in the maps here) is still low as compared to some bloom years in history (2015, 2018, 2019), there isconsiderable increase from December 2019. In the… Read More

A Major Swell Event to Impact the Caribbean

A very large wave event with deep water wave heights of 10-13 feet and wave periods of 14-16 seconds will be affecting our region starting Saturday night, peaking Sunday morning, and continuing to generate large waves through Monday. This event could generate breaking waves of 15-20 feet or more as well as coastal erosion and… Read More

CARICOOS Board of Directors fully engaged in securing continued support for meeting high priority coastal data and product needs.

On November 7, 2019 the CARICOOS Board of Directors met with the system’s technical and administrative leadership to discuss and agree on approaches to follow towards a comprehensive stakeholder need assessment and prioritization process. Said need assessment is essential for the design of the proposal requesting support for the upcoming five-year funding cycle.  CARICOOS’s Board,… Read More

2019 Underwater Gliders Successfully Recovered

As during previous seasons since 2014,  autonomous underwater vehicles, also known as gliders, were deployed in the Caribbean Sea and in the Atlantic Ocean to collect data on ocean properties for use in the improvement of hurricane intensity forecasts. During the mission the NOAA AOML gliders were capable to successfully occupy  transects in eastern Caribbean… Read More

Outlook of 2019 Sargassum blooms in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico – December 1, 2019

The maps above show Sargassum abundance, with warm colors representing high abundance. November 2019 continued the situation of October 2019. Very little Sargassum was found in the Gulfof Mexico (GOM), Florida straits, Caribbean Sea (CS), and Central West Atlantic (CWA). In all regionscombined, the Sargassum amount reduced to ~0.5 million metric tons in November 2019… Read More

Sargassum outlook update, by USF Optical Oceanography Lab-September 30, 2019 update

The maps below show Sargassum abundance, with warm colors representing high abundance. During September 2019, Sargassum amount has decreased significantly from August 2019 in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), Florida straits, Caribbean Sea (CS), and Central West Atlantic (CWA). The reductions are more than our August 2019 prediction, at rates higher than previous bloom years…. Read More

U.S. IOOS allocates funds for CARICOOS that will support continuation of its ongoing operations, expand surface current observations, enhance the hurricane glider program, issue Sargasso inundation forecasts and asses its impact on coastal ecosystems

Every year, each of the eleven IOOS Regional Associations submits their revised work to the U.S. IOOS Office. The latter includes specific actions, new product developments, and partnerships that will be carried out to accomplish the mission of providing unquestionably high-priority decision-supporting information for enhancing safety and efficiency in our coasts as well as proper… Read More

Sargassum outlook – August 2019 update

The maps below show Sargassum abundance, with warm colors representing high abundance. During August 2019, while there are still large amounts of Sargassum in the Central West Atlantic (CWA) and Caribbean Sea (CS), these amounts are lower than in July 2019. The amounts in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and Florida Straits have also reduced…. Read More

Sargassum outlook update, by USF Optical Oceanography Lab – July 2019 update

The maps below show Sargassum abundance, with warm colors representing high abundance. The July 2019 situation is similar to June 2019 for all regions. Specifically, the following regions continued to experience large amounts of Sargassum: Central West Atlantic (CWA), entire Caribbean Sea (CS), eastern Gulf of Mexico (GoM), northern Florida Straits, and waters off east… Read More