Forecasting Models

CARICOOS SUPPORTS A MULTIDISCIPLINARY EFFORT AIMED TO DEVELOP AN AIR QUALITY WARNING SYSTEM

A multidisciplinary team of universities, agencies and non-governmental organizations located in the Caribbean region and led by UPR-Medical Sciences (PI: Pablo Méndez-Lázaro), UPR-Río Piedras, University of South Florida, ACAR and PR-CLIMAH scientists are characterizing the periodic transatlantic dispersal of the Sahara dust and its impacts on the health of the people in Puerto Rico using Earth observation data from… Read More

Outlook of 2020 Sargassum blooms in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico* February 29th, 2020, by University of South Florida Optical Oceanography Lab

The maps below show Sargassum abundance, with warm colors representing high abundance. In February 2020, the Sargassum amount continued to increase across the central Atlantic. Although the bloom magnitude is still lower than in some previous bloom years (2015, 2018, 2019), it is higher than in other years, and considerable amount of Sargassum is observed… Read More Photo by Pixabay

NOAA CoastWatch Ocean Satellite Data Course

The NOAA CoastWatch Program in collaboration with CARICOOS and with the Department of Marine Sciences of UPR-Mayaguez hosted the NOAA CoastWatch Ocean Satellite Data Course during February 5- 7, 2020 at the Hyatt Place Hotel in San Juan, PR. Instructors from CoastWatch Regional Nodes across the Nation shared their expertise towards the discovery, access and… 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

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

In 2018, the Caribbean Sea (CS) has experienced a record-high and prolonged Sargassum bloom. The maps below show Sargassum abundance, with warm colors representing high abundance. In Feb 2019, similar amounts as in Feb 2018 appeared in the eastern CS, but amounts in the Central West Atlantic (CWA) were lower. Meanwhile, large amounts of Sargassum… Read More

Sargassum outlook update, by USF Optical Oceanography Lab – December 2018

The maps below show Sargassum abundance, with warm colors representing high abundance. In December 2018, the bloom intensity in the Caribbean Sea (CS) continued to decrease slightly from November, but the amount of Sargassum in the Central West Atlantic (CWA) increased slightly from November, which also represented a historical record for the month of November…. Read More

US Caribbean region receives $2.7 million for Coastal Ocean Observing

The NOAA U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) awarded CARICOOS $2.7 million to maintain and enhance ocean and coastal observations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. CARICOOS is one of eleven coastal ocean observation systems and regional associations that together with federal agencies constitute the national coastal component of the Integrated Oceanic Observing… Read More

Ocean Gliders: Improving Atlantic Hurricane Season Forecasts

  A fleet of 14 torpedo-shaped ocean gliders, remotely-operated powered autonomous underwater vehicles which can measure subsurface ocean properties, were recently deployed in the CARICOOS region to collect important data in the Caribbean Sea and tropical Atlantic Ocean that could prove useful to improve hurricane forecasting. Researchers and technical personnel from NOAA-Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological… Read More

Misterios del Sargazo

¿Qué es el Sargazo? Existen varias especies del algas pardas o marrones que se catalogan como Sargazo. Dos estas (Sargassum natans o Sargassum fluitans) tienen vesículas llenas de gas, viven flotando en el mar y son arrastradas por las corrientes y el viento. ¿De dónde viene el sargazo? Hace más de 500 años ya Cristobal… Read More

Gliding through the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea during the hurricane season

The Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) Physical Oceanography Division and the Caribbean Coastal Ocean Observing System (CARICOOS) deployed two underwater gliders in the Caribbean Sea and one in the Atlantic Ocean. These autonomous underwater vehicles will dive to depths of up to 1,000 meters and travel hundreds of kilometers across the Atlantic Ocean and… Read More Gliders1