[Data Update] West Coast Oblique Aerial Imagery now available

Recently released oblique geo-referenced imagery of the entire West Coast is now available from NOAA. The imagery was collected on February 6-9, 2016 to assess impacts to several National Ocean Service mission areas, including navigation and coastal zone management, from the strong El nino storms we have experienced this season. Baseline imagery, collected in September 2015, is also available under the 2015 tab. NOAA is collected this data in order to also support other mission partners including other NOAA offices, USGS, USACE, and FEMA. You can access the data via the Continue reading →

West Coast Regional Planning Body Recommendations – March 3, 2016

Greetings West Coast Ocean Data Network, Spring is almost here (though El nino might have something left to say about that!) and with that we have some important announcements to share with you. West Coast Regional Planning Body As the West Coast Regional Planning Body (RPB)  finalizes it’s governance charter, the WCODP has been exploring opportunities to support regional and sub-regional marine planning. To better inform our work, the WCODP developed a set of draft recommendations regarding WCODP and WCODN roles, priority data gaps, and priority data Continue reading →

[Data Update] New West Coast Kelp Data Now Available – Feb. 17, 2016

The West Coast Ocean Data Portal, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and Marine Cadastre are pleased to announce the release a new, unique regional data set representing the extent of canopy forming kelp beds along the West Coast. These data include the general extents of canopy-forming kelp surveys from 1989 to 2014 and a compilation of existing data sets delineating canopy-forming kelp beds along the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California. These data provide a spatial picture of these ecologically important areas and are intended for use Continue reading →

[Data Update] West Coast fishing closure data sets now available

The West Coast Ocean Data Portal, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and Marine Cadastre are pleased to announce the release of new, unique regional data sets representing areas of the West Coast closed to commercial and recreational fishing by state and federal agencies. The data provides the spatial footprint and name of the closure, regulated species and gears, seasonality and review interval, regulatory agency, and relevant regulations. While these data are not intended for regulatory purposes they do provide a picture of impacts to the Continue reading →

[Data Update] New CA Seafloor Mapping Publications available on the WCODP

We are pleased to announce that there are a number of new California Seafloor and Coastal Mapping Program layers and map services now available through the WCODP and USGS Data Portal. This work was undertaken by 25 essential co-authors. Each release includes the catalog of GIS layers, web services, 10 thematic map sheets in pdf format, and an explanatory pamphlet. There are now 19 of these map and data sets available, covering approximately 24% of California’s mainland State Waters. Three more map and data publications should be released Continue reading →

Data Update: New data sources from IOOS and Data.gov

We are excited to announce that the West Coast Ocean Data Portal includes new records harvested from our IOOS and Data.gov partner catalogs! These contributions greatly increase the oceanographic and biological data resources available for discovery and use in West Coast ocean management, planning, and policy development. The IOOS resources include data from SCCOOS, CeNCOOS, and NANOOS and represent California and West Coast resources that highlight ocean currents, sea surface temperatures, ocean acidification assets, and many others. Much of this work was spearheaded by the joint WCGA Continue reading →

[Data Update] New Federal and University Data Sources

Since the launch of the WCODP in January, which focused mostly on state generated data, we have been working to include additional federal and university sources. Over the last two months we have included about 50 new records from the National Ocean Service, Coastal Services Center, Coral Reef Information System, MPA Center, and U.S Geological Survey. Additionally, we have also added some cool seafloor mapping data from California State University, Monterey Bay. You can check all of it out at http://portal.westcoastoceans.org/discover/ (under Sources). We will be working Continue reading →

[Data Update] Oregon’s Nearshore Ecological Data Atlas

As of last week we have successfully integrated about 20 records from the Oregon Spatial Data Library describing biological and ecological resources off the Oregon coast. This work was initiated as part of a FDGC CAP funding grant to the Oregon Coastal Management Program and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The data is documented using FGDC metadata and includes web service links for many datasets. Explore the data at http://portal.westcoastoceans.org/discover/.