Gayanilo elected co-chair of DataONE User's Group                  Felimon Gayanilo.  Felimon Gayanilo, Systems Architect with Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi was recently nominated and eventually elected to co-chair the DataONE User’s Group (DUG) with Plato Smith of the University of New Mexico during the last DUG Meeting in Asilomar, CA (July 12-13, 2015). The NSF-funded Data Observation Network for Earth (DataONE) will ensure the preservation, access, use and reuse of multi-scale, multi-discipline, and multi-national Earth observational science data via cyberinfrastucture elements and a broad education and outreach program. One way for DataONE to engage its community of partners is through working groups and DataONE User’s Group (DUG). The DUG is the worldwide community of Earth observation data authors, users and stakeholders that makeup the DataONE partnership communities. It represents the needs and interest of the community and provide guidance that facilitates DataONE in achieving its goals. Mr. Gayanilo and Dr. Smith will serve for two years (2015-2017) before new co-chairs are selected from the growing number of members where major data centers that may include, among others, the National Centers for Environmental Information of NOAA. The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Information and Data Cooperative (GRIIDC) of Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi is working towards becoming a member node of this network.

Resource Management Codes Improve Texas Coastal Management By: Diana Del Angel                  Texas coastal wetlands. Mustang Island,  Texas.  Photo Credit: Diana Del Angel Resource Management Codes are assigned to state submerged land tracks and are designed to improve coastal conservation while making the permitting process more efficient and transparent for those proposing activities in Texas’ coastal zone. The Texas coast is a diverse environment, featuring 493 miles of Gulf shoreline and over 8,000 miles of estuarine shoreline. Beaches, reefs, seagrass meadows, bird rookeries, expansive flats and emergent wetlands exist along the shoreline or within the coastal bay systems providing habitat for a wide range of species. Adjacent or concurrent to these sensitive habitats, below the tideline, are submerged lands. These include bay bottoms and ocean floor extending over 10 miles out into the Gulf of Mexico. Map featuring submerged land tracts with Access codes CF,  CA, and CC. CF- Limit vehicular access for development  activities; CA – use existing channels; CC- Dredging of one  channel may be authorized. Submerged lands are managed by the Texas General Land Office (GLO) and are available for lease for the benefit of the Texas Permanent School Fund. Leases are available for a variety of purposes, including oil and gas production; solar, wind and geothermal power; agricultural related activities; and commercial development. But to lease these lands, permits must be sought and proposed activities must meet federal and state environmental regulations. In an attempt to simplify the planning and the lease-bidding process, the GLO with the assistance of CMGL has developed a web-based tool featuring Resource Management Codes which are applicable to state submerged tracts. The two-letter Resource Management Codes (RMCs) are assigned to state-owned tracts in Texas bays and estuaries, and Gulf of Mexico waters, representing development guidelines for activities within the tracts. As an example, Miscellaneous codes indicate the presence of sensitive areas like wetlands, oyster reefs, algal flats and other sensitive areas. Other codes focus on activities like access, navigation, drilling, and dredging; these activities may not be permitted or may require a survey in the vicinity of particular sensitive areas or habitat. Brach Lupher and Diana Del Angel, part of the  RMC update team, attend meeting in Austin Texas April 2014. Photo courtesy of James Gibeaut. The codes were originally developed in 1996, using agency recommendations to assign RMC’s to tracts. The 2014 update was a data-driven process using the best available natural resource spatial data to populate the RMC map. RMC’s and sensitive areas were defined and updated where necessary for the development of the new map with the recommendation of various permitting and regulating offices including Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas General Land Office, US Army Corp of Engineers, Texas Historical Commission, and the GLO field offices, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, among others. The process took 10 months to complete and the team gathered the necessary information through a series of monthly meetings held at the GLO offices in Austin Texas. The RMC’s have been recently used in the latest bidding process (January 2015) and will be updated as new data becomes available for version 2.0 in September 2015.  RMCs are in place to enhance protection of sensitive natural resources and to assist potential bidders by providing up-to-date information of natural resources and environmental concerns that may be associated with leasing and developing state submerges tracts. In addition, links within the web-tool provide recommendations for minimizing adverse impacts from mineral exploration and development activities to assists bidders in their project planning efforts. The RMC are available at the Texas General Land Office Resource Management Codes website. RMC Mapping Viewer screen shot. Map shows submerged land tracts; lease sale nominations in red; and two access codes, CA in pink and CF in blue; and  a pop-up window with details of the selected tract.

Melinda Martinez participates in Ocean Exploration Trust internship program aboard the E/V Nautilus By: Melinda Martinez                 HRI’s MS student, Melinda Martinez, was recently awarded an Ocean Science and Mapping intern position with Ocean Exploration Trust aboard the Exploration Vessel Nautilus. The Ocean Exploration Trust internship program is competitive, awarding a limited number of internship positions each year. One internship position is reserved for a representative of the NOAA’s Cooperative Science Centers. Melinda will be representing NOAA Environmental Cooperative Science Center (ECSC) as an Ocean Science and Mapping intern. Aboard the Nautilus, she will be assisting in data management during dives by recording operational events, taking captures from the ROV cameras, logging samples obtained during dives, and participating in scientific discussions by answering Nautilus viewer questions. While not diving, she will be assisting the lead data manager by compiling and writing dive reports; processing and archiving samples; and creating metadata for dives and processed samples.    Figure 1. Melinda Martinez and the E/V Nautilus Melinda will have the opportunity to participate in the Gulf of Mexico cruise from May 13-19, and the California Borderlands from August 11-19. The Gulf of Mexico cruise will be exploring seafloor habitats at mid-slope and lower slope depths, including hard substrate coral habitats, hydrocarbon seeps, mud volcanoes, and brine pools. The California Borderlands cruise will explore previously unstudied regions to improve understanding of the offshore extent of submerged geohazards. Follow Melinda’s daily blog to learn about her experiences aboard the Nautilus at www.nautilus2015.wordpress.com. You can also watch Nautilus live stream video 24 hours a day at www.nautiluslive.org or join either their Facebook or Twitter accounts for updates on upcoming dives.

Gayanilo Speaks at 'Fishackathon:Sustainable Fishery Challenge'                             Felimon Gayanilo Felimon Gayanilo, Systems Architect working on our GRIIDC and GCOOS Data Management projects, was invited as a speaker and mentor to the first ‘Fishackathon: Sustainable Fishery Challenge’ sponsored by the Department of State (http://www.fishackathon.co/). Five areas (Silicon Valley, Boston, Baltimore, New York and Miami) participated in the event that started June 13, and participants used the whole weekend to design, develop and present a prototype of their products. Mr. Gayanilo was hosted by Venture Hive in Miami (http://miamifishackathon.splashthat.com/) with other fisheries experts in the area that had experience working in developing countries. The Secretary’s Office of Global Partnership announced two winners of the event through a Google+ Hangout event (https://plus.google.com/events/c7r9c9325uu26gr1i3id5aav7v8). The challenges presented to participating software developers were to resolve issues related to implementation of fishing regulations in Ghana and data collection of captured fishery in the Philippines. Mr. Gayanilo, the author of the FAO-ICLARM Fish Stock Assessment Tools (FiSAT; see http://www.fao.org/3/a-y5997e/), a software package that is still in used in a number of developing countries, focused his talks on how data are lost in situations such as those experienced in developing countries. The intent of the talk was to present areas where technology can be introduced to minimize data losses and improve data collection in either collecting statistical data for management of the resources or in monitoring the implementation of fishing regulations.

CMGL GRIIDC Team Attends Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Science Conference in Mobile Alabama For the second year in a row, Harte Research Institute scientists, students and staff attended the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Ecosystem Sciences Conference. The conference, held from January 26th to 29th in Mobile, Alabama, brought international researchers together to share new scientific results related to the impacts of petroleum pollution and stressors on marine and coastal ecosystems. Plenary and scientific sessions facilitated interdisciplinary discussions to promote the goal of the conference: collaboration, integration and synthesis of results from post-spill investment in science. The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Information and Data Cooperative (GRIIDC), housed by the Harte Research Institute, had a major presence at this year’s conference. The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Information and Data Cooperative (GRIIDC), housed by the Harte Research Institute, had a major presence at this year’s conference. The week kicked-off with the session “Data Management and Informatics Supporting Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Ecosystem Science”, chaired by 3 members of the GRIIDC Advisory Committee, including Harte Research Institute’s Dr. Fabio Moretzsohn, and one NOAA partner. During this session Felimon Gayanilo, the GRIIDC Systems Architect, offered attendees insight into attitudes towards data sharing through his presentation “Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Information and Data Cooperative Dataset Lifecycle: Early Lessons”. To promote data sharing and display new features of the GRIIDC data management system (DMS), the GRIIDC staff managed a help-desk style display booth throughout the conference. Interactive displays and outreach materials at the booth generated discussion among researchers and GRIIDC staff regarding challenges and opportunities for data sharing. Additionally, GRIIDC staff supported scientists by helping participants register for GRIIDC DMS accounts and, once registered, helping researchers identify and submit datasets to the GRIIDC DMS. On the final day of the conference, the GRIIDC hosted an Advisory Committee meeting. Attendees included GoMRI Research Board Members, GoMRI Research Consortia data managers and GoMRI funded researchers. The meeting, led by GRIIDC’s director Dr. Jim Gibeaut, provided participants with updates about the current status of the DMS and outlined plans for future development. Discussion topics regarding future requirements of the DMS focused on interoperability with other systems, database meta-analysis, enabling future data synthesis and data-sharing. GRIIDC is responsible for developing a data management system to store data generated through the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI). By attending this conference GRIIDC was able to discuss and promote data management with researchers to help ensure a data and information legacy that promotes continual scientific discovery and public awareness of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem. Additional highlights of Harte Research Institute’s presence at the conference include: Dr. Paul Montagna presented the poster: “Monitoring Deep-sea Benthos in Response to the Deepwater Horizon Blowout in the Gulf of Mexico”. His PhD student Travis Washburn gave the oral presentation “Linking Deep Sea Ecosystems to Human Well-Being”. Dr. Fabio Moretzsohn presented two posters at the meeting: “Better Access to Gulf Researchers, Resources and Biodiversity Information for Improved Disaster Preparedness” and “Building Capacity and Decision Support for Risk Assessment and Marine Biodiversity Conservation in the Gulf of Mexico”. His research assistant Maria Rodriquez presented the poster “Key indicator species, Rangia cuneata, in the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve: a preliminary assessment of abundance and distribution” Dr. Carlota Santos from the HRI Socio-economic research group gave the oral presentation “Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Services Valuation Database (GecoServ): a one-stop shop for Ecosystem Services Valuation Literature”. Dr. David Yoskowitz organized and co-chaired the session “Socio-economic Analysis of Ecosystem Change: From Baselines to Catastrophic Events”. At a subsequent session Dr. Yoksowitz gave the oral presentation “Resilience of Ecosystem Services and Coastal Communities”.

CMGL Students Participate in the Texas High School Monitoring Program By: Melinda Martinez                 MS students, Michael Rittenhouse and Melinda Martinez, assisted Tiffany Caudle from the Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin, on Friday, January 31st to engage students from Cunningham Middle School in coastal research through the Texas High School Coastal Monitoring Program.   Figure 1. Michael Rittenhouse with middle school students measuring the wave period by counting waves at a certain point for 10 seconds. Photo credit: Melinda Martinez. Students were able to apply scientific procedures to measure beach morphology and learn about beach processes, shoreline mapping, and beach profiling on Mustang Island, TX. Students began the beach survey at a permanent stake located in the back dunes and measured elevations every 1-2m along a transect perpendicular to the beach to the shoreline. Beach profiling tools included an emery rod, metric tape, and a hand level. Beach processes measurements and observations were made for wind and wave direction, wind speed, wave height and period, types of waves, width of surf zone, and longshore current speed (Figure 1). Beach processes tools included a floating device, measuring tape, stopwatch, portable wind meter, and compass. Students were also able to map both shoreline and vegetation line using a handheld GPS to record the location of these features while walking.  Figure 2. Tiffany Caudle drawing a general overview a beach profile in the sand. Photo Credit: Melinda Martinez. The students were able to participate in actual research and enhance their coastal science education while providing useful data for the program to monitor coastal processes (Figure 2). These measurements are compared to previously taken data to provide the rate of shoreline change.