One of the major challenges in understanding changes in coastal processes in western Alaska is the lack of measured ocean data in the region. This project leveraged existing human resources, and physical and computational infrastructure to collect and disseminate oceanographic observations in the Bering Sea. From instrument restoration, transport and deployment, through data streaming, recovery and dissemination, this project considered the end to end supports necessary to gather, promote, and serve oceanographic data along Alaska’s Western coast. Real‐time sea‐state conditions were transmitted via both high and low bandwidth sites, directly benefited emergency managers and local communities, particularly in dealing with small craft hazards and predicting storm surges and coastal erosion. In addition to these immediate benefits, the data produced provide a wealth of information through which public and private planners and scientists could identify long‐term trends, aid in planning safe transit, coastal development, and community safety efforts.
Web-based tool: The map connects to over 1,300 stations across the state, providing the latest information on air and water temperature, wind, waves, snow depth, and much more. The new version of the map includes the following features:
Individual stations are clustered to reduce clutter when zoomed outIndividual stations and sensors can be selected when zoomed inClick to see the past week’s worth of data, and options for downloading recent data and finding source informationDynamic graphs provide overview statistics for individual sensors or regionsChoose your base layer, including NOAA charts and topographyToggle between metric and English unitsOverlay real-time sensors with other data such as model forecasts or GIS layers through the AOOS Ocean Data Explorer. Click “Catalog” at the top of the screen to browse all AOOS data resources