The bacterioplankton community of confined seawater at 25°C changed significantly within 16 h of collection. Confinement increased CFU, total cell number (by epifluorescence microscopy), and average cell volume of bacterioplankton and increased the turnover rate of amino acids in seawater sampled at Frying Pan Shoals, N.C. The bacterioplankton community was characterized by two components: differential doubling times during confinement shifted dominance from bacteria which were nonculturable to bacteria which were culturable on a complex nutrient medium. Culturable cells (especially those of the genera Pseudomonas, Alcaligenes, and Acinetobacter) increased from 0.08% of the total cell number in the seawater immediately after collection to 13% at 16 h and 41% at 32 h of confinement. Differential filtration before confinement indicated that particles passing through a 3.0-,um-, but retained by a 0.2-,m-, pore-size Nuclepore filter may be a major source of primary amines to the confined population. The 3.0-,um filtration increased growth rate and ultimate numbers of culturable cells through the removal of bacterial predators or the release of primary amines from cells damaged during filtration or both.

Recurrent blooms of harmful algae and cyanobacteria (HABs) plague many coastal and inland waters throughout the United States and have significant socioeconomic impacts to the adjacent communities. Notable HAB events in recent years continue to underscore the many remaining gaps in knowledge and increased needs for technological advances leading to early detection. This review summarizes the main research and management priorities that can be addressed through ocean observationbased approaches and technological solutions for harmful algal blooms, provides an update to the state of the technology to detect HAB events based on recent activities of the Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT), offers considerations for ensuring data quality, and highlights both ongoing challenges and opportunities for solutions in integrating HAB-focused technologies in research and management. Specifically, technological advances are discussed for remote sensing (both multispectral satellite and hyperspectral); deployable in situ detection of HAB species on fixed or mobile platforms (based on bulk or taxa-specific biomass, images, or molecular approaches); and field-based and/or rapid quantitative detection of HAB toxins (via molecular and analytical chemistry methods). Suggestions for addressing challenges to continued development and adoption of new technologies are summarized, based on a consensus-building workshop hosted by ACT, including dealing with the uncertainties in investment for HAB research, monitoring, and management. Challenges associated with choosing appropriate technologies for a given ecosystem and/or management concern are also addressed, and examples of programs that are leveraging and combining complementary approaches are highlighted.

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A B S T R A C TThe Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) has been established to support innovation and to provide the information required to select the most appropriate tools for studying and monitoring coastal and ocean environments. ACT is a consortium of nationally prominent ocean science and technology institutions and experts who provide credible performance data of these technologies through third-party, objective testing. ACT technology verifications include laboratory and field tests over short-and long-term deployments of commercial technologies in diverse environments to provide unequivocal, unbiased confirmation that technologies meet key performance requirements. ACT demonstrations of new technologies validate the technology concept and help eliminate performance problems before operational introduction. ACT's most recent demonstration of pCO 2 sensors is an example of how ACT advances the evolution of ocean observing technologies, in this case to address the critical issue of ocean acidification, and promotes more informed decision making on technology capabilities and choices.

Given the societal importance of reliable and accurate ocean observations, the wave monitoring community (including academic researchers, agency scientists, resource managers, and representatives from wave instrument manufacturers) came together to develop a set of protocols for the test and evaluation of wave measurement systems in support of the 2009 National Operational Wave Observation Plan. These protocols are focused on a wide range of wave measurement instruments and their respective performance in successfully recovering the “First-5” Fourier components of the incident wave field. Performance is determined by comparing each system’s output with a verifiable reference method over a predetermined range of wave frequencies. It is recommended that permanent wave test facilities are created on the West Coast (Monterey Bay, CA—deep water) and the East Coast (Duck, NC—shallow water) for continued evaluations of existing and new technologies. It was recognized that no absolute standard exists for the determination of the “First-5” across all spatial domains. Therefore, it was agreed that the Directional Waverider DWR-MkIII system was the best available reference/standard for the deep and intermediate water wave evaluations as verified by the laser array (LASAR) at the ConocoPhillips Ekofisk offshore platform complex in the North Sea. The long linear array at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Field Research Facility could be used as the standard for shallow water wave evaluations. Finally, given the significance of wave measurements, an appropriate level of quality assurance and quality control procedures must be included as part of any test and evaluation effort. The details of the proposed protocols for the verification of wave measurement systems are described.