Coral Disease continues spreading across St. Thomas Reefs

Special contribution from Sonora Meiling,sonora.meiling@students.uvi.edu A deadly coral disease, identified on the coral reefs of St. Thomas in January 2019, continues to spread across the island. First seen at Flat Cay, just south of the St. Thomas airport, what researchers at the University of the Virgin Islands believe to be stony coral tissue loss disease… 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

Improving accessibility and visualization of Puerto Rico coral reef data

The visualization of biological datasets is paramount to better understand global change related to variable oceanographic conditions. In this regard, the NOAA Coral Reef Connservation Program (CRCP) funded Puerto Rico Coral Reef Monitoring Program (PRCRMP) of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER), becomes an essential tool. The PRCRMP includes benthic and fish observations… Read More

CARICOOS workshop at the Tri Beta Society of UPR Cayey

Continuing efforts to increase our stakeholder’s understanding of the correct use of coastal weather data, CARICOOS hosted a Waves Workshop for the Honorary Society of Biology BBB (Tri-Beta) of UPR Cayey campus which included a detailed description of the services, tools, and products available on the CARICOOS.org website. During the workshop, we focused on coastal… Read More

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

Glider School

CARICOOS technical team received a hands-on-learning training from NOAA-AOML personnel on how to refurbished and prepare underwater gliders. These will be deployed during the upcoming hurricane season to collect oceanographic data which will contribute to hurricane intensity forecasting studies (Photos by Efra Figueroa).

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

CARICOOS extends its collaboration with the Jobos Bay NERRS

Following up on over a decade of collaboration with the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (JBNERR), CARICOOS has commenced an effort focused on understanding the connectivity/steep biogeochemical gradients observed between mangrove lagoons, coastal waters and the open ocean using a flow-thru system that allows sampling surface waters throughout Jobos Bay. The results from the… 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