Voyager News

http://pacioos.org/voyager/

Check here for announcements about new features, datasets, and other Voyager highlights. See also the Twitter account and RSS feed for this page as well as our general PacIOOS newsletter.

Go to the Voyager news archives for: 2015201420132012


Dolphin And Whale Sightings Updated

Cascadia Research Collective (CRC) has provided PacIOOS with updates to their Hawaiian dolphin and whale sightings through 2012. These are now accessible in Voyager. Look for them under "fish and wildlife" in the "sightings" and "distributions" categories.

This update more than triples the number of CRC sightings previously available in Voyager and now includes the following species:

Cascadia Research Collective Hawaiian Sightings
species start date end date sightings
dolphins:
bottlenose Apr 13, 2002 May 23, 2012 45
Fraser's Apr 30, 2008 May 13, 2012 2
Risso's Sep 18, 2004 Aug 11, 2012 8
rough-toothed Oct 4, 2002 Dec 18, 2012 249
spinner Dec 5, 2000 Dec 20, 2012 197
spotted pantropical Nov 25, 2000 Dec 21, 2012 398
striped Jun 8, 2003 May 23, 2012 29
whales:
beaked Blainville's Apr 13, 2002 May 23, 2012 45
beaked Cuvier's Sept 27, 2002 Aug 20, 2012 64
beaked Longman's Aug 23, 2007 Aug 23, 2007 1
fin Dec 7, 2012 Dec 7, 2012 1
humpback Nov 29, 2000 Dec 16, 2012 99
killer May 10, 2003 Jul 24, 2011 2
killer false Mar 4, 2000 Jun 14, 2012 45
killer pygmy Sep 30, 2002 Aug 25, 2012 37
melon-headed Oct 4, 2002 Dec 18, 2012 53
pilot short-finned Dec 5, 2000 Dec 15, 2012 502
sperm Apr 13, 2002 Oct 20, 2011 32
sperm dwarf May 17, 2003 May 23, 2012 74
sperm Kogia Apr 8, 2002 Sep 27, 2004 5
sperm pygmy Jun 2, 2003 May 16, 2012 5

Voyager screenshot of false killer whale sightings from Cascadia Research Collective, 2000-2012:

Voyager screenshot of bottlenose dolphin sightings from Cascadia Research Collective, 2000-2012:

PacIOOS has also generated a Web Map Service (WMS) for spatial distributions of these species that combine sightings from CRC and another data provider (Dr. Joseph Mobley). This interoperable Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard will help users who may want to incorporate map imagery of these layers into other mapping applications: WMS GetCapabilities.

Founded in 1979 to conduct research needed to manage and protect threatened marine mammals, CRC has been undertaking surveys for odontocetes and other cetaceans in Hawaiian waters since 2000. For further information, please visit:

Posted on: December 13, 2013


Tsunami And Flood Zones Now In Voyager Mobile

Tsunami evacuation zones and flood hazard zones for the State of Hawaiʻi are now available in Voyager Mobile. Additionally, a "shelter" button is provided on these maps to show/hide emergency shelter locations throughout the main Hawaiian islands. With the new map tools added to Voyager Mobile earlier today (see below), the user can also quickly find their current location on the map to see whether they fall within these zones and where and how far the nearest shelter is. When used on a smart phone these utilities could help guide users to safety in times of impending danger while on-the-go.

Voyager Mobile screenshots of Waikīkī tsunami evacuation zones (left) and flood hazard zones (right); the user's position is marked at the center of each map and nearby emergency shelters are shown with school house icons:

    

Each of these data layers was obtained from the Hawaiʻi Statewide GIS Program. Their respective sources include the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) (flood hazard zones) and the Hawaiʻi State Civil Defense (tsunami evac zones, emergency shelters). Note that FEMA is still assessing flood hazard zones for the Big Island. For interoperability, PacIOOS also provides Google Earth KML for the tsunami evacuation zones as well as a Web Map Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS) for the flood hazard zones.

Posted on: December 4, 2013


New Tools In Voyager Mobile

Three additional map utilities have been added to Voyager Mobile. These are provided as a set of buttons in the upper left of the map screen.

Users can now identify their current location to better orient themselves on the map. This feature utilizes the geolocation capabilities on many mobile devices and web browsers. The accuracy of the identified location can vary and is displayed along with a marker icon.

In addition, a ruler is provided to measure the distance between two locations. The ruler end points can be dragged to new places on the map or multiple rulers can be displayed.

Lastly, you can now click a point on the map to get its ocean depth or land elevation. This uses the Google Maps Elevation Service, which queries elevation data around the earth from a variety of sources.

Voyager Mobile screenshots L-to-R: User's position offshore of Diamond Head with respect to surface currents; measuring the length of Penguin Bank; and identifying coral depth near Kailua:

Posted on: December 4, 2013


Maui Tiger Shark Tracking

Voyager and Voyager Mobile are now tracking the movements of 8 tiger sharks, ranging in length from 9 to 14 feet, as they make their way around the Hawaiian Islands from their initial capture locations off the coast of Kihei, Maui in late October. Fitted with SPOT satellite transmitters, these sharks intermittently upload their locations over time as their dorsal fin breaches the water's surface. Because satellite-based geolocation varies in positional accuracy, locations are quality-checked prior to posting online. Voyager maps and animates the movements of these tagged sharks (tag IDs 133***) as well as others that will be tagged in the future as the project progresses.

In addition, a separate PacIOOS tiger shark project page is now provided with additional features and background information: http://pacioos.org/projects/sharks/. This user-friendly website embeds a Voyager map and provides buttons for animating the available shark tracks.

Voyager animation of tiger shark 133362, a 13.5 ft (4.1 m) female, October 20 to November 14, 2013 (click here for video):

Voyager animation of tiger shark 133369, a 9.3 ft (2.8 m) male, October 19 to November 14, 2013 (click here for video):

Maui has witnessed a higher number of unprovoked shark attacks than in previous years, and local spear fishers report increasing boldness of large sharks encountered in Maui waters. In order to select appropriate management responses to these events, tiger sharks were fitted with dorsal-fin mounted satellite transmitters to monitor their movements. This information will help determine whether sharks around Maui are more resident (more "site-attached") than they are around the other Hawaiian Islands and whether they exhibit greater use of inshore habitats than in other locations.

With funding from the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR), these data are being collected by Lead Scientists Drs. Carl Meyer and Kim Holland along with other members of the Shark Research Team of the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH).

Disclaimer: This is not a warning system and does not provide real-time monitoring. Sharks can move substantially since their most recently recorded positions. Geolocation estimates via the Argos satellite system can be off by a mile or more. Plus, there are more sharks in the ocean than the handful of those tagged for this project. As such, please use these data with the caution appropriate for any ocean related activity.

Posted on: November 15, 2013


Hawaiʻi Flood Hazard Zones Updated In Voyager

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) for the State of Hawaiʻi are now updated in Voyager with the latest effective flood hazard zones. The publication dates of the underlying surveys are November 26, 2010 for the County of Kauaʻi; September 19, 2012 for the County of Maui; and January 19, 2011 for the City and County of Honolulu. FEMA is still assessing and digitizing flood hazard zones for the Big Island, so none are available there in the meantime.

Voyager screenshot of Oʻahu South Shore flood hazard zones (click here for larger image):

PacIOOS has generated a Web Map Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS) from the original Hawaiʻi Statewide GIS Program Shapefile. These interoperable Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards will help users who may want to incorporate map imagery of this layer into other mapping applications: WMS GetCapabilitiesWFS GetCapabilities.

Posted on: November 8, 2013


Tracking Wave Glider "Aʻa"

Track the new wave glider mission from Liquid Robotics, Inc. named "Aʻa" in near real-time as it makes its way to the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (Northwestern Hawaiian Islands). Starting off the leeward coast of Big Island on October 23, this unmanned ocean robot is transmitting measurements at the ocean's surface as it makes its way north. It is heading towards NOAA/NDBC moored buoy 51101, 190 nautical miles northwest of Kauaʻi. Every half hour it records wave height, wave direction, and wave period. In addition, it also measures currents (direction and speed of the water's motion) hourly at several depth levels.

You can follow Aʻa using the new "ocean gliders" category in PacIOOS Voyager. Use this to plot or animate the glider's motion over time. Click on a location to see its wave measurements; likewise, the ADCP data (ocean currents) will be added soon. Check back for other improvements as we integrate additional features into our glider visualization over the coming weeks, including time series plots, depth profile plots, and color-coding the track by the observed wave heights, water velocities, and other properties.

Voyager screenshot of "Aʻa" wave glider October 23-30, 2013 (click here for larger image):

Posted on: October 30, 2013


CNMI And Guam Ocean Models

Voyager now includes two new high resolution regional ocean models for the Mariana Islands region. These Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) mesoscale numerical ocean prediction models provide 7-day, daily average forecasts at various depth levels of water temperature, currents, salinity, and sea surface height for the following locations:

  • CNMI at approximately 4-km resolution. This grid extends as far west as Taiwan and the Philippines.
  • Guam at approximately 2-km resolution. This grid extends as far north as Saipan in CNMI.

Model runs are produced by Dr. Brian Powell of the Department of Oceanography in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and have been added today to the PacIOOS data servers. These complement our existing global HYCOM ocean forecast as well as our ROMS collection in Hawaiʻi.

Voyager screenshot of ROMS CNMI water temperature near the ocean surface (click here for larger image):

Voyager screenshot of ROMS Guam currents near the ocean surface (click here for larger image):

These model results were generated as part of an academic research project. They provide a scientific prediction of current and future conditions. As with any forecast, however, accuracy cannot be guaranteed and caution is advised. While considerable effort has been made to implement all data components in a thorough, correct, and accurate manner, numerous sources of error are possible.

Posted on: October 28, 2013


Tracking Marine Organisms

Voyager's "fish and wildlife" category now includes a new "tracking" folder that allows users to plot or animate the motion of various marine organisms over time. So far our species list includes Hawaiian monk seals, loggerhead turtles, Galapagos sharks, and tiger sharks; and we hope to acquire additional data into the future. While the loggerhead turtles can be followed across the entire breadth of the Pacific Ocean, the seals and sharks were located in Hawaiian waters.

These tracks represent organisms who have been tagged with sensors so that their positions can be communicated via satellite (upon breaching the water's surface) and intermittently tracked over time. This records the path of an individual over a certain time period and can provide insights about its habitat and behavior.

Voyager screenshot of Hawaiian monk seal RO12 ("Kermit"), March through August 2010 (click here for larger image):


Data were provided by NOAA's Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) (seals and turtles) and the University of Hawaiʻi's Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) (Galapagos and tiger sharks).

Posted on: October 17, 2013


Samoa Atmosphere Model

Voyager now includes a new high resolution regional atmosphere model for the Samoan Islands region, including the islands of both American Samoa and (Western) Samoa. This Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mesoscale numerical weather prediction model provides hourly, 7-day forecasts of surface air temperature, wind, rain, humidity, and air pressure.

This model uses the Advanced Research WRF (ARW) dynamical solver developed and maintained by the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Division of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Model runs are produced by Dr. Yi-Leng Chen of the Department of Meteorology in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and have been added today to the PacIOOS data servers. This complements our existing global NCEP GFS forecast as well as our WRF collections in Hawaiʻi, CNMI, and Guam.

Voyager screenshot of WRF Samoa wind:


These model results were generated as part of an academic research project. They provide a scientific prediction of current and future conditions. As with any forecast, however, accuracy cannot be guaranteed and caution is advised. While considerable effort has been made to implement all data components in a thorough, correct, and accurate manner, numerous sources of error are possible.

Posted on: October 9, 2013


Introducing Voyager Mobile

A mobile-friendly version of Voyager is now available at http://pacioos.org/voyager/mobile/. Voyager Mobile has been optimized for touch screen devices and small screen sizes. While not all of Voyager's overlays and features are available in the mobile version, this simplified interface highlights the components most critical for on-the-go monitoring.

Because it is accessed through a web browser, the application is available for use on any brand of mobile device with internet access. iPhone and iPad users may also prefer to export the website to their home screen as a web clip, which saves an app icon for repeated visits and allows the site to be viewed in full screen. In addition, we are currently obtaining the necessary signing keys to package the site as an official app download for Apple iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch), Google Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone, LG webOS, Nokia Symbian, and Samsung Bada.

See Voyager's "About" screen for a new "Mobile" tab with usage tips, screenshots, and further information about this new PacIOOS product.

Posted on: September 13, 2013


Hawaiʻi Bathymetry Overlay Now Clickable

Voyager's multi-color bathymetry overlay for the main Hawaiian islands is now queryable: clicking on the overlay will pop up a small window with the ocean depth nearest to the clicked location. In the window that appears, you can toggle between a variety of measurement units (meters, feet, fathoms, etc.). Also, links are provided to download the data in NetCDF format (either a subset or the entire grid), for visiting the dataset's archive, or for accessing the overlay via interoperable standards like Google Earth (KMZ), Web Map Service (PNG), or Web Coverage Service (GeoTIFF).

This overlay represents the 50-m resolution multibeam bathymetry synthesis produced by the Hawaiʻi Mapping Research Group (HMRG) of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. We have plans to supplement Voyager's bathymetry category with datasets in other PacIOOS regions throughout the insular Pacific in the coming months.

Posted on: July 17, 2013


HFR Surface Currents Extended; Auto-Selection Added

A recent addition to our high-frequency radio (HFR) antenna arrays has extended the spatial coverage of Voyager's surface currents overlay for the past month. This relatively new deployment at Kaʻena Point on the northwest tip of Oʻahu extends data along and 200 miles offshore of the southern half of the Waianae Coast (West Coast) of the island. A future HFR deployment on the North Shore is also planned to extend coverage along the north coast as well (no ETA).

Example Voyager screenshots of HFR surface currents spatial coverage before (old) and after (new) Kaʻena Point deployment; locations of antenna arrays labeled with red radio icons:

In addition, Voyager now provides a new auto-selection utility for the HFR data. This allows the spatial resolution of the surface currents overlay (1, 2, or 6 km) to be automatically selected based on the current map zoom. While the "auto-select" option remains checked, Voyager will continue selecting an appropriate spatial resolution after the map zoom changes.

Posted on: July 15, 2013


Harbor Surge Forecasts

A new overlay has been added to Voyager's "hazards" category: a harbor surge forecast for Haleʻiwa Harbor on the North Shore of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi. Forecasts for other harbors are planned for the future—Barbers Point is in development. Clicking on the map icon produces a pop-up window with a time series plot of the most recently available observed and predicted conditions. This overlay complements the high sea level and wave run-up forecasts that we announced earlier in February.

Harbor surge forecasts provide advance notice of potentially dangerous surge currents within harbors. These forecasts can alert locations up to six days in advance if the surge current will be at or above a pre-determined threshold of extreme activity. When this threshold is exceeded, damage to boats and infrastructure may occur due to the jostling of boats and floating docks, and safe navigation becomes problematic.

For more information about how these forecasts are generated, please visit PacIOOS Harbor Surge Forecasts.

Posted on: July 12, 2013


Wind and Currents: Display Improvements

We have completed a couple of improvements to our wind and ocean current overlays in the following categories: satellite data, weather forecasts, tide forecasts, and ocean forecasts.

Owing to an update in the underlying THREDDS/ncWMS map service, the default display for vector velocity fields is now black arrows (direction of motion) on a graded color background (magnitude/speed of motion). Prior to now these maps showed "upstream dots", which some users found confusing and counter-intuitive. As the figure below illustrates, an upstream dot has no arrowhead at the tip of the vector—instead, it places a dot at its base:

Example Voyager screenshots of Oʻahu ROMS forecast of ocean currents before (upstream dots) and now (arrows):



As before, users can also select from a set of alternative vector styles: color graded arrows (thin, thick, or outlined) or wind barbs on a transparent background.

The second improvement to our wind and ocean current overlays is to remove the data gaps at tile boundaries. These overlays are constructed from individual square images (map tiles) that are composited on-screen to build an overlay covering the appropriate spatial bounds and zoom level. Before now, data gaps would appear at the edges of each tile image where the vector icons were prematurely cropped by the underlying ncWMS library, resulting in a lattice appearance in the overlay. We have implemented a workaround wherein we request slightly larger tiles than necessary for padding and then buffer these down to the appropriate size prior to display. The data gaps are now gone and vector overlays are displayed seamlessly.

Example Voyager screenshots of Hawaiʻi ROMS forecast of ocean currents before (top) and after (bottom) gap removal:



Same as the above comparison but using a different vector style (color graded arrows on transparent background):



Posted on: July 3, 2013


Benthic Habitat Additions: NWHI and Auto-Selection

To supplement the main Hawaiian islands, Voyager's "benthic habitats" category now contains NOAA shallow-water benthic habitat maps for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), which contains the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. These maps include French Frigate Shoals, Kure Atoll, Laysan Island, Lisianski Island, Maro Reef, Midway Islands, Necker Island, Nihoa Island, as well as Pearl and Hermes Atoll. Along with other Insular Pacific regions added earlier this month (American Samoa, CNMI, Guam, and Palau), this completes Voyager's collection of available benthic habitat published surveys in PacIOOS regions.

Example Voyager screenshots of NWHI benthic habitats (view legend):

  

NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) produced these maps to support coral reef research and management. Habitat regions were digitally identified using machine-automated spectral classification of orthorectified satellite imagery. For a variety of reasons, NOAA used a different benthic habitat classification scheme for NWHI compared to other regions across the Pacific. While many classes are similar, they are not categorized as biological cover types, geomorphological structure types, and geographic zones. Instead, a hierarchical scheme was used to flexibly denote substrate category (e.g. unconsolidated and hardbottom), structure (e.g. linear reef or pavement), and cover (e.g. coral, coralline algae, or macroalgae). A total of 45 detailed benthic habitat classes were identified in the NWHI. For simplification and to more easily distinguish cover types, these are presented in a set of seven aggregated benthic habitat classes. Clicking on the map produces a pop-up with the detailed classification at that location.

In addition to the above, this Voyager update includes a new benthic habitat auto-selection utility. This allows a benthic habitat overlay for a given island (e.g. Guam, Oʻahu, Tutuila, etc.) to be automatically selected based on the current map view. While the "auto-select" option is checked, Voyager will continue selecting an appropriate benthic habitat overlay after panning or zooming the map.

PacIOOS has generated a Web Map Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS) from the NOAA/NCCOS Shapefiles. These interoperable Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards will help users who may want to incorporate data and map imagery of these layers into other mapping applications: WMS GetCapabilitiesWFS GetCapabilities.

For further information, please visit:

Posted on: June 28, 2013


Nautical Chart Auto-Selection Utility

NOAA Raster Navigational Charts (RNCs), commonly referred to as nautical charts, are displayed and kept current within Voyager via the Nautical Charts API developed by Paul Reuter of CORDC/Scripps/UCSD. Voyager now leverages additional methods within this API to allow a nautical chart to be automatically selected based on the current map view. While the "auto-select" option is checked, Voyager will continue selecting an appropriate nautical chart after panning or zooming the map.

As before, users can also select a specific nautical chart to display rather than rely on this new auto-select utility.

NOAA provides nautical charts for the following PacIOOS regions: Hawaiʻi, American Samoa, CNMI, Guam, and U.S. Minor Outlying Islands. For further information, please visit: http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/Raster/

Posted on: June 20, 2013


CNMI And Guam Atmosphere Models

Voyager now includes two new high resolution regional atmosphere models for the Mariana Islands region. These Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mesoscale numerical weather prediction models provide hourly, 7-day forecasts of surface air temperature, wind, rain, humidity, and air pressure for the following locations:

  • CNMI at approximately 12-km or 0.1° resolution. This grid extends as far west as Taiwan and the Philippines.
  • Guam at approximately 3-km or 0.025° resolution. This grid extends as far north as Saipan in CNMI.

Each uses the Advanced Research WRF (ARW) dynamical solver developed and maintained by the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Division of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Model runs are produced by Dr. Yi-Leng Chen of the Department of Meteorology in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and have been added today to the PacIOOS data servers. These complement our existing global NCEP GFS forecast as well as our WRF collection in Hawaiʻi.

Voyager screenshots of WRF CNMI wind (top) and WRF Guam air temperature (bottom):



These model results were generated as part of an academic research project. They provide a scientific prediction of current and future conditions. As with any forecast, however, accuracy cannot be guaranteed and caution is advised. While considerable effort has been made to implement all data components in a thorough, correct, and accurate manner, numerous sources of error are possible.

Posted on: June 17, 2013


Insular Pacific Shallow-Water Benthic Habitats

To supplement the main Hawaiian islands, Voyager's "benthic habitats" category now contains NOAA shallow-water benthic habitat maps for other PacIOOS regions throughout the insular Pacific, including islands in American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Guam, and Palau.

Example Voyager screenshots of benthic biological cover types (view legend):

  

NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) produced these maps to support coral reef research and management. Their classification scheme defines benthic habitats on the basis of three attributes: large geographic "zones" which are comprised of smaller geomorphological structures and biological cover types of the reef system. These were digitally identified using visual interpretation of orthorectified satellite imagery. Click here for futher details.

While benthic overlays were previously provided through Voyager via Keyhole Markup Language (KML), these large data sets exceed memory limitations in Version 3 of the Google Maps API. As a workaround, benthic habitat maps are now rendered as image overlays. Polygons are still clickable and produce pop-up windows with further information. Overlay opacity is now adjustable. However, for performance reasons we can no longer provide distinct habitat types into individually selectable layers (e.g. Coral 10-50%): all habitat types for a given category (biology, geomorphology, geography) are displayed at once.

On the upside, PacIOOS has generated a Web Map Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS) from the NOAA/NCCOS Shapefiles. These interoperable Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards will help users who may want to incorporate data and map imagery of these layers into other mapping applications: WMS GetCapabilitiesWFS GetCapabilities.

In the future, we hope to supplement these benthic maps with those from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) (provided here). Because NOAA used a different classification system in the NWHI, however, some small adjustments will be necessary.

For further information, please visit:

Posted on: June 4, 2013


Upgrade To Google Maps Version 3

Since its inception, Voyager has been built on top of Version 2 of the Google Maps JavaScript API. Because this version has been deprecated and support will end later this year, all components of Voyager have now been migrated to Google Maps Version 3, "especially designed to be faster and more applicable to mobile devices, as well as traditional desktop browser applications."

While many things have changed behind the scenes from a developer's perspective, we have worked hard to minimize any loss or change in Voyager's overall functionality. With the following few exceptions and some minor stylistic changes, everything should work the same as before (if a little faster):

  • Places of public interest are now clickable (parks, gardens, hospitals, etc.).
  • The "Terrain" map type is now a clickable option underneath the "Map" button.
  • Options listed underneath the "More..." button have changed: while support has been removed for the Wikipedia and webcam overlays (vote here to add them back!), they have added traffic, public transit, and bicycle paths.

In conjunction with the above, we have also upgraded our underlying jQuery libraries, fixing dynamic page elements such as the overlay opacity sliders that were previously broken in some versions of Internet Explorer. These house-keeping activities, as well as ongoing maintenance and upgrades to our PacIOOS data servers, bring Voyager up to date and ready for more data to climb aboard. With the Google Maps upgrade completed, we can focus again on incorporating additional overlays. As always, we welcome your feedback: please e-mail any bug reports or enhancement requests using the "Contact" tab of this window. Mahalo!

Posted on: June 4, 2013


HYCOM Replaces NCOM Global Ocean Forecast

On April 5, 2013 the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) stopped generating output for its Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM). Since NCOM is retired, we have replaced Voyager's global ocean forecast with the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM). HYCOM is produced by the HYCOM Consortium. The version of HYCOM employed in Voyager assimilates data observations using the U.S. Navy Coupled Ocean Data Assimilation (NCODA). HYCOM has a higher spatial resolution of 1/12° (~9 km) compared to just 1/8° (~15 km) in NCOM. Also, we provide HYCOM forecasts at 10 discrete depth intervals from the ocean surface down to 200 meters, whereas with NCOM we only distributed the surface layer.

To implement this update, HYCOM now replaces NCOM in several PacIOOS data servers, including THREDDS Data Server (TDS) (from which Voyager's HYCOM map overlays and time series plots are dynamically generated), Live Access Server (LAS), and ERDDAP. Through these data servers, interoperable data access is provided via OPeNDAP, Web Map Service (WMS), Web Coverage Service (WCS), NetCDF Subset Service (NCSS), and other services. Formal metadata can be found here. These data are remotely accessed and aggregated from the University of Hawaiʻi Asia-Pacific Data-Research Center (APDRC): click here for further information.

Posted on: April 24, 2013


Insular Pacific Maritime Boundaries

While previously limited to Hawaiʻi, Voyager's "maritime boundaries" category has been spatially expanded to include our other PacIOOS regions throughout the insular Pacific. Using data from the NOAA Office of Coast Survey, the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is now provided for Hawaiʻi, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Guam, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), the Republic of Palau, and U.S. Minor Outlying Islands. In addition, the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone boundaries (12 and 24 nautical miles from shore, respectively) are provided for American Samoa, CNMI, Guam, and the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands. A Google Earth KML/KMZ file containing these boundaries is also available at http://pacioos.org/kml/maritime_boundaries.kmz.

Posted on: April 12, 2013


Hawaiʻi Beach Water Quality Monitoring

Voyager's "water quality" category now includes an overlay of coastal water quality measurements sampled by the Beach Monitoring Quality Assurance Program of the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Health (DOH) Clean Water Branch (CWB). Measurements of bacteria levels (Enterococcus and Clostridium perfingens) are used to assess water quality. These and other water measurements (water temperature, salinity, turbidity, pH, and dissolved oxygen) are collected periodically at several beaches throughout the state.

Voyager screenshot of the latest available water quality alert status across the island of Kauaʻi in the past 3 months:

Historically, this Voyager overlay had limited functionality: a pop-up window at each measurement site containing links to recent data hosted externally on the CWB website. Data are now brought directly into the pop-up windows, which contain interactive time-series plots and direct data download options for both recent and historic data of each available variable, including the water quality alert status. To enable this feature PacIOOS now archives and redistributes the CWB data, which we ingest from the U.S. Water Quality Portal and CWB websites. Because these sites do not archive the alert status, however, we compute this using the State's criteria listed below. Public access is enabled through our ERDDAP data server, which provides flexible data queries and a large variety of download formats. Formal metadata here.

Water quality alert status at Waikīkī Kuhio Beach: (a.) time series plot over the past 5 years; (b.) "more info" screen provides various plotting and download options:

a.)   b.)

CWB monitors Hawai'ʻi's marine coastal waters using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 1986 Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Bacteria. A beach is considered "on alert" for poor water quality if either: (a.) the latest water sample exceeds 104 CFU/100 mL of Enterococcus, or (b.) the geometric mean of the past 30 days of water samples exceeds 35 CFU/100 mL Enterococcus. These are the criteria that Voyager uses to indicate the water quality alert status. CWB also utilizes Clostridium perfringens as a secondary tracer to help distinguish between sewage and non-sewage sources of elevated Enterococcus levels. If Enterococcus concentrations remain elevated after resampling, a Clostridium perfringens concentration exceeding 50 CFU/100 mL requires a Waste Water Condition to be publicly posted. For these sorts of alerts, users are encouraged to check the CWB website for Current Warnings, Advisories and Postings.

Enterococcus bacteria has been correlated with the presence of human pathogens (disease-causing organisms) and therefore with human illnesses such as gastroenteritis, diarrhea, and various infections in epidemiological studies. Clostridium perfringens bacteria is a normal component of the human intestinal tract, and its presence in samples of sea water can be used as a tracer of sewage contamination. As such, concentrations of these bacteria are commonly measured in beach water quality monitoring programs. Please note that a limitation of all available and EPA-approved test methods is that the water sample must be incubated for about 24 hours. As a result, an alert status may or may not be reflective of actual water quality because it is based on tests performed one or more days ago.

For further information, please visit:

Posted on: April 5, 2013


Aquarius Sea Surface Salinity

Thanks to updates at NOAA OceanWatch, Voyager now provides weekly and monthly global sea surface salinity from NASA's Aquarius mission. Aquarius was launched aboard the SAC-D satellite on June 10, 2011. NASA JPL PO.DAAC recently announced the availability of the validated (version 2.0) Aquarius/SAC-D data on February 25, 2013. Data are available at one-degree (1°) spatial resolution for the period August 26, 2011 to the present.

Historically, salinity has been sparsely detected at sea, limited mostly to summertime observations in shipping lanes. Utilizing spaceborne passive microwave radiometry, Aquarius provides the first global observations of sea surface salinity, covering Earth's surface once every 7 days. Over its mission, it will collect as many sea surface salinity measurements as the entire 125-year historical record from ships and buoys.

For further information, please visit:

Posted on: April 5, 2013


Coral Reefs: Spatial Distribution

Voyager's "fish & wildlife" category now includes a global spatial distribution map for coral reefs. It was compiled in 2010 from numerous data sources by UNEP-WCMC and the WorldFish Center in collaboration with the World Resources Institute and The Nature Conservancy. This is the highest resolution global coral reef dataset to date, with the majority (85%) of the data mapped at 30-meter resolution. Clicking on a reef polygon within Voyager produces a pop-up with further information, such as what type of reef it is (barrier, fringe, patch, shelf, etc.) as well as its location name.

Coral reef distribution for Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi:

Coral reef distribution for Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM):

PacIOOS has generated a Web Map Service (WMS) from the UNEP-WCMC Shapefile. This interoperable Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard will help users who may want to incorporate map imagery of this layer into other mapping applications: WMS GetCapabilities.

For more information about this dataset, please visit UNEP-WCMC's Ocean Data Viewer for documentation and Shapefile access: http://data.unep-wcmc.org/datasets/13

Posted on: March 19, 2013


Tagged Tiger Sharks: Spatial Distribution

Voyager's "fish & wildlife" category now includes a spatial distribution map for tiger sharks in Hawaiʻi. This overlay represents the aggregated locations of twelve individual sharks tagged with sensors whose positions were communicated via satellite and tracked over time: five from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in 2006 and seven from the Main Hawaiian Islands in 2009. As we receive data from other deployments, we will continue to supplement the existing overlay with additional coordinates.

The Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa deploys satellite tags on tiger sharks to track their movements. Top predators play an important role in ecosystems by influencing prey behavior and shaping communities through trophic cascades. For more information, please visit Carl Meyer and Kim Holland's Shark Research page at HIMB.

We have also implemented a couple of improvements to this and other fish and wildlife distribution maps within Voyager. Most notably, the pop-up window that appears when clicking on one of the map icons (see example above) now includes links for viewing the current map extent in either Google Earth (KMZ) or as a PNG image using Web Map Service (WMS). These interoperable Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards will help users who may want to incorporate these layers into other mapping applications: WMS GetCapabilities.

Posted on: March 11, 2013


Samoa Wave Models

Voyager now includes two new high resolution regional wave models for the Samoa region:

  • NOAA WaveWatch III (NWW3) at approximately 5-km or 0.05-degree resolution for the Samoan Islands region surrounding both Western Samoa and American Samoa; and
  • Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN) at approximately 500-m resolution for Tutuila Island in American Samoa.

Each of these new datasets come from Dr. Kwok Fai Cheung of the Department of Ocean and Resources Engineering (ORE) in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and have been added today to the PacIOOS data servers. These complement our existing global and regional NWW3 forecasts (Hawaiian Islands, Mariana Islands) as well as our SWAN collection in Hawaiʻi and Guam.

Voyager screenshots of NWW3 Samoa (top) and SWAN Tutuila (bottom):



These model results were generated as part of an academic research project. They provide a scientific prediction of current and future conditions. As with any forecast, however, accuracy cannot be guaranteed and caution is advised. While considerable effort has been made to implement all data components in a thorough, correct, and accurate manner, numerous sources of error are possible.

Posted on: February 19, 2013


Hawaiʻi Beach Safety

An overlay of nearshore and offshore safety conditions has been added to Voyager's "hazards" category based on the popular Hawaiʻi Beach Safety website. This provides Hawaiʻi beach users with timely and accurate information for choosing a beach destination appropriate to their ocean skill level.

Three signs are employed to rate Hawaiʻi's life-guarded beaches: Caution, High Hazard, and Extreme Hazard (see below).Because conditions at beaches change quickly users are encouraged to check back often for the latest information (to do so in Voyager, de-select and then re-select the "beach safety" checkbox to update the overlay with the most recent status icons).

    

Both nearshore and offshore ratings are provided, each updated daily at 9am, 3pm, and 7pm or as conditions change. Nearshore conditions are important to beach goers, swimmers, snorkelers and surfers, while offshore information is important for kayakers and boaters. To have the safest experience, visit guarded beaches with a normal caution rating (yellow square).

Hawaiʻi Beach Safety was established through cooperation between the Hawaiʻi Lifeguard Association, City & County of Honolulu, County of Maui, Hawaiʻi Department of Health, Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, and the University of Hawaiʻi School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) as a non-profit venture.

For more information, please visit: http://www.hawaiibeachsafety.org

Posted on: February 11, 2013


High Sea Level And Wave Run-Up Forecasts

Two new overlays have been added to Voyager's "hazards" category: high sea level forecasts and wave run-up forecasts at select harbors and beaches around the Pacific. Clicking on a map icon produces a pop-up window with a time series plot of the most recently available observed and predicted conditions.

High sea level forecasts predict water level inundation (slow flooding of the land) due to the combined effects of tides, winds, and ocean currents. These forecasts can alert locations up to six days in advance if the sea level will be at or above a pre-determined threshold of extreme sea level height. When this threshold is exceeded, flooding at the lowest lying land is expected.

Wave run-up forecasts similarly predict inundation but include the influence of ocean waves. Wave run-up is the maximum height reached by waves along the shore relative to low tide (mean lower low water (MLLW), which is the average height of the lowest tide recorded at each site). These forecasts can alert locations up to six days in advance of the potential for beach flooding and/or overtopping of nearby roadways.

For more information about how these forecasts are generated, please visit PacIOOS High Sea Level Forecasts and PacIOOS Wave Run-Up Forecasts. Forecasts at additional locations are planned for the future.

Posted on: February 5, 2013


Global Ship Traffic

Voyager now includes an overlay of global ship traffic. You can find this by selecting "ship routes" under the "navigation" category of the left-hand overlay selection menu. PacIOOS derived this map from Automatic Identification System (AIS) position reports that many ships transmit during their travels for the security and safety of maritime transportation. Global ship traffic is aggregated over August 2011 through mid-August 2012 at 10 km resolution.

We have also updated the existing Hawaiʻi ship traffic overlay with finer map detail and flexible tools for customizing the map appearance. As before, this is an aggregate of AIS position reports over 2008-2009. Using the same "ship routes" overlay, you can switch between either the "Global" or "Hawaiʻi" overlays. Each provides reasonable defaults but allow the user to change colors, bands, stretch, and opacity as desired. Clicking on the map also lists the number of AIS reports aggregated at that pixel location and provides links for viewing the overlay in Google Earth or using a Web Map Service (WMS) GetMap URL.

These data represent total AIS position reports, not total number of ships. While useful for mapping areas of relatively high versus low shipping activity, these data should not be interpreted as the total number of ships that have visited each pixel location: a ship may transmit its position repeatedly at the same location, such as when it is anchored.

Because of license restraints with ORBCOMM (global) and the U.S. Coast Guard (Hawaiʻi), these layers are provided only as images (via WMS) while the underlying source data are restricted. For more information on these and other AIS data that PacIOOS provides, please visit: http://oos.soest.hawaii.edu/thredds/idd/ais.html.

Posted on: January 28, 2013


AVISO Merged Altimetry

Thanks to updates at NOAA OceanWatch, Voyager now provides daily, weekly, and monthly AVISO merged altimetry, replacing the previously provided Jason-1 product. This dataset merges Jason-1, Jason-2, and TOPEX/Poseidon satellite altimeters for improved measurements of sea surface height and geostrophic surface currents. For near real-time observations, it may also merge other available altimeters, such as CryoSat-2. Due to AVISO's license constraints, these products are reported as anomalies from the 1992-2002 climatology of Niiler et al. 2003. Monthly and weekly composites are provided for the entire time period 1992 to the present while the daily data are a 30-day rolling archive of the most recently available data.

For further information, please refer to the following sites:

Posted on: January 28, 2013


New "Save Image" Button

At the request of several users, we have added a new "save image" button to Voyager. This is located in the upper-right of the interface directly beside the "link" button (example below). It allows you to capture a screenshot in PNG format of your existing map view. The size of the map will match what you see in your browser. For larger screenshots, first maximize your browser window.

Some of Voyager's map features may be excluded in the resulting map*, in which case we recommend using your computer's screenshot utility (how?: Windows vs. Mac). Another drawback is the time it may take to generate a screenshot: usually between 10-20 seconds, owing to the fact that we must reload the page on our server before an image can be saved. A handy benefit of using the "save image" button, however, is that we remove extraneous features such as the map's navigation tools as well as the "Map", "Satellite", and "Terrain" buttons.

Please note that the Google logo in the lower-left and the copyright information in the lower-right of the map must be retained: it is a violation of Google Map's Terms of Service (see also: Permission and Licensing) for you to crop this information prior to publishing, sharing, or otherwise redistributing screenshots.

*Features that are excluded from the screenshot utility include map tools like distance, area, range, and lat/lon grid as well as pop-up windows for certain types of static overlays.

Posted on: January 11, 2013


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Please consider acknowledging PacIOOS in any distribution or publication of data as follows: Data provided by PacIOOS (www.pacioos.org), which is a part of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS®), funded in part by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Award #NA11NOS0120039.