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

How waves propagate in coral reefs?

CARICOOS and UPRM scientists, in partnership with the US Geological Survey and the Tres Palmas Marine Reserve Management Board, installed several wave gauges across the seabed in Tres Palmas to measure the extreme wave event of January 19-20, 2020. The USGS is partnering with the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez (UPR-M) to better understand how waves… 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

High school students learn about waves and the correct use of wave data and forecasts

In collaboration with Puerto Rico Sea Grant (PRSG) CARICOOS has developed a “Waves Workshop” focused on educating K12 students and teachers on wave concepts and terminology. Sea Grant curriculum specialist, Delmis Alicea, PhD., has been advising CARICOOS staff on the importance of educational strategies and of assessing the learning progress following the Department of Education… 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

CARICOOS continues its collaboration with the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (JBNERR)

Continuing a collaboration that began back in the earlier stages of CARICOOS, its chemical oceanography team commenced a series of field campaigns focused on documenting the spatial variability of critical chemical and physical properties in Jobos Bay. During earlier efforts, CARICOOS analyzed water chemistry data from all the fixed water quality stations throughout the Jobos… Read More