SCCOOS Establishes 2 new weBCOOS Sites

Webcam Coastal Observation System (WebCOOS) is led nationally by the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), funded by NOAA, in partnership with Regional Associations (RAs) of IOOS, and collaborators across the country. Science 2017 WebCOOS has provided continuous, real-time views of coastal conditions that support mariners, coastal managers, researchers, and communities. Initially with OTT funding and continued with IRA funding, each of the 11 RAs will install 6 cameras in their region. 

In partnership with California State Parks and Surfline, cameras were installed at San Elijo and Carpinteria State Beaches. SCCOOS continues conversations with our network to find our remaining 4 locations that align with Scripps Oceanography’s Coastal Processes Group (CPG). SCCOOS funds CPG for our California Coastal Flood Network.

In addition, SCCOOS hosted our national team for a workshop on July 21 & 22 focusing on a plan for data management and data processing suite applications. This includes beach attendance data, shoreline coastal erosion monitoring, nearshore wave climatology, wave run-up and overtopping, coastal flood monitoring, and nearshore bathymetry maps. Check out our workshop report to learn more.

Ocean Data Day

On June 25th each year the 11 Regional Associations of IOOS and IOOS Association highlights the societal benefits that sustained ocean observations provide. This year's theme Coastal Data for a Strong Economy, highlights how ocean data powers economic activity. Check out our posts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

StartBlue Ocean Enterprise Accelerator Selects a New Cohort

SCCOOS is a proud StartBlue partner! Their Ocean Enterprise Accelerator’s 5th cohort has been selected that includes innovative, impact-driven ocean intelligence startups that are ready to accelerate their commercialization journey. Companies in the launch and scale cohorts are seeking solutions for ocean observation, measurement, and forecasting that deliver operational ocean information products and services.

StartBlue’s impact to date has an impressive impact that reaches far and wide

September 14-18 marks the beginning of the program with an in-person week of events including networking mixers Sept. 15th and 17th at Martin Johnson House on Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s campus. Reach out to startblue@ucsd.edu if you are interested in attending. Check out their latest press release to learn more about their program and the startups.

Latest California HAB Bulletin Released

The May-June 2026 CA Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Bulletin is now available! This latest edition includes a comprehensive summary of model output, real-time observations, and public health advisories to keep you informed about HAB activity along the California coast. Click the HAB Bulletin link for more info, including a detailed summary, data, figures, and analysis. 

May and June 2026 were marked by increased Pseudo-nitzschia activity in Central California, consistent with C-HARM predictions of high probabilities of Pseudo-nitzschia abundance and domoic acid (DA) concentrations exceeding alert thresholds in that region. Cal Poly Pier and Santa Cruz Wharf emerged as the two regional hotspots.

Clarissa Anderson was recently promoted to Research Scientist, a tenured research appointment at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. In addition to 15% research, she is the Director CIMEAS, a consortium of 9 academic institutions led by UC San Diego focused on marine, earth, and atmospheric systems. To ensure that SCCOOS is tapping into a vast network of science, Clarissa is involved with many committees, working groups, and science teams.  

Pictured clockwise from top left: SIO's Ocean Time Series Group mini-mooring with temperature data, SCCOOS Project Scientist Kasia Kenitz, PhD. maintaining our Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB) on Del Mar Mooring with a plankton image insert, Spray Glider launch with a map of the California Underwater Glider Network image, topside observer on CalCOFI cruise looking for Seabirds with a Southern California MOCI plot, High Frequency Radar station at San Nicolas Island with surface current map insert, and CSU Long Beach acoustic receiver buoys with a shark tagging image.

Managing Southern California’s ocean observing system is a team effort that includes 36 principal investigators across 16 institutions. Their technical teams tirelessly work to keep operating and adapting to the needs of our network of end-users. Below are recent investments we’ve made.

Moorings
Mooring infrastructure is critical for HAB, ocean acidification and hypoxia (OAH), and water quality monitoring. SCCOOS carved out funding from Inflation Reduction Act funds to install mini-moorings to do just that. This effort is led by the Ocean Time-Series Group at SIO, and has produced 2 mini-moorings - off the coast of Del Mar and Santa Monica. They observe pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature, and salinity at locations off southern California, and capture along-coast changes in conditions and variability. These data support aquaculture, wastewater treatment activities, HAB detection and forecasting, help researchers better understand what drives ocean acidification and hypoxia events, track marine carbon dioxide removal efficacy, offshore wind impacts, and validate ecosystem models. In addition, these data are critical for evaluating baselines in protected areas relative to ecosystem health and stressors, and also on event-scales as well as long-term trends.

Imaging Flow Cytobots (IFCBs)
In 2021, California funded a network of Imaging FlowCytobots (IFCBs). They are automated underwater robotic microscopes that sample water to take high-resolution pictures of microscopic marine organisms like phytoplankton. These data allow scientists to monitor ocean health and detect harmful algal blooms (HABs) using machine learning to classify images. Now these real-time classifier-derived HAB abundance data are available via our Streamlit-powered HAB dashboard.

SCCOOS Automated Shore Stations (SASS)
SCCOOS Automated Shore Stations (SASS) have been in operation since 2005 and are maintained by Scripps Oceanography’s Coastal Ocean Observing Lab (aka COOL lab) staff; Melissa Carter, Kayla Martin, and Elena Beckhaus - and they have been busy! Not only do they keep up with the monthly maintenance to check sensor performance, remove biofouling, and improve data quality - they have been upgrading sensors at our SASS stations. Swapping sensors is a highly coordinated activity involving boots on the ground work and the data managers that ensure that our data is available with the rigor required for global dissemination. 

Spray Gliders

SCCOOS supports 2 of the 5 lines of the California Underwater Glider Network occupied with Spray Gliders. Supplemental NOAA funding over the last 5 years has allowed for sensor upgrades to include pH and Oxygen, two parameters that have been included for the very first time. In addition, these funds have led to a second generation Spray Glider called Spray2. Spray2 two is a larger instrument that can carry the new sensors and a larger payload. Currently, Spray2 gliders are running alongside as one final test to make sure the sensors and the instrument itself is working properly. 

The CUGN was developed in 2005 to monitor the effects of El Niño in the California Current System (CCS). Principal Investigators at Scripps Oceanography noticed a strong coupling between ocean temperature at the equator and our glider measurements of the California Current System. Keep a lookout for future communications that will explain in more detail how the CUGN will help us forecast what seems to be a strong El Niño season coming our way. 

Seabird Observations and MOCI
Sustained ocean observations, like ship-based CalCOFI surveys that began in 1949, are that much more useful when they are analyzed by scientists to further understand the California Current Ecosystem (CCE). SCCOOS funds the Farallon Institute to couple seabird surveys with long-term hydrographic and plankton data, the seabird data contribute to understanding the effects of climate variability and change on the southern sector of the CCE.

Their new reports are on the SCCOOS website;

In addition to the data reports, Farallon Institute releases seasonal Multivariate Ocean Climate Indicator (MOCI) data, a 35-year long indicator that synthesizes a number of local and regional ocean and atmospheric conditions that represent, in a holistic manner, the state of the California coastal ocean. California MOCI is relevant to marine ecosystem dynamics from zooplankton to top predators, and therefore may be important to ecosystem-based fisheries and wildlife management. 

High Frequency Radar (HFR)
HFR are a network of antennas installed over 20 years ago that allow for forecast, nowcast, and hindcasts of surface current data. These applications are foundational to oil spill response and recovery and search and rescue operations.  HFR infrastructure are located along the coastal ocean and are subject to environmental degradation, and it is quite miraculous how our technicians have been able to keep sites running before recapitalization funds were released.  

Animal Tagging Network
Following supplemental NOAA/IOOS funding, set to expire in 2029, SCCOS has been able to team up with Dr. Chris Lowe from CSU Long Beach’s Sharklab to deploy 9 real-time acoustic receiver buoy systems. They join an acoustic telemetry network in Southern California of 96 buoys as a part of the California Shark Beach Safety Program. These data are shared with our partners in the Northeast Pacific Acoustic Telemetry (N-PACT) website - led by the Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS). The data (e.g. tagged animal detections, sea surface/seafloor water temperatures, chlorophyll, dissolved oxygen) have reduced frequency of beach closures due to a better understanding of shark movement patterns and human interaction risks, broadens the context of SCCOOS coastal ocean data, and have been integrated into K-12 curricula via the Operation STEM Bait - Sharks & Robots Program.

SCCOOS program staff and our network of scientists, techs, and students are spreading the ocean observing word by giving presentations, providing tours, attending meetings, facilitating webinars - you name it! All with the hope of raising our awareness with the latest science.  Please consider signing up for our email list. Our bi-monthly On The Horizon plugs you into current opportunities and resources. Our PI Spotlights  (Dan Rudnick, Melissa Carter, Jim Behrens, Marisol Garcia-Reyes, Libe Washburn, Ally Pasulka, and Chris Lowe) show the people that make up our team, how ocean observing is done, and the societal benefits they provide.

Here is what SCCOOS has been up to over the past few months.