Developing an Education and Outreach Program for the U.S. IOOS^®: Eyes on the Ocean, Hands-On Learning

Abstract

The National Federation of Regional Associations for Coastal and Ocean Observing (NFRA) is the organization charged with building the regional component of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS®). Because IOOS is a user-driven system, understanding the needs of regional stakeholders is fundamental to its success. The job of promoting awareness and use of IOOS data largely falls to the regional education and outreach coordinators, at least for those Regional Associations (RAs) fortunate enough to have one. This article is designed (1) to describe how the NFRA Education and Outreach Committee originated, (2) to provide suggestions to create a strategic approach to the evaluation of IOOS education and outreach products and programs, and (3) to describe the “lessons learned” from the many collaborations. A case study related to the Transocean Ltd.-owned/British Petroleum-leased Deepwater Horizon oil spill is described to demonstrate the societal value of RAs and their ability to serve as rapid responders during crisis events.

Education and Public Engagement in OOI: Lessons Learned from the Field

“…Education and public awareness was a crucial component of the early Ocean Research Interactive Observation Networks (ORION) program (Matsumoto et al, 2006) that eventually evolved into the OOI program. From 2002 to 2010, there was a national focus on ocean science education, especially through the NSF-funded Centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence (COSEE), NOAA's Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS; Simoniello et al, 2010;Pfirman et al, 2011), and the EPE Implementing Organization for OOI ( Figure 1).…”

The Challenges and Opportunities of Using Data in Teaching From the Perspective of Undergraduate Oceanography Professors

“…For example, the National Science Foundation's Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) is constructing observational and computer infrastructure that will provide sustained ocean measurements to study climate variability, ocean circulation, ecosystem dynamics, air-sea exchange, seafloor processes, and plate-scale geodynamics for the coming decades. Similarly, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) is also building an infrastructure for sustained ocean measurements (Simoniello et al, 2010).…”