Dr. Hugh Roarty and Dr. Dale Trockel travelled to Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California to attend the Wind Turbine Radar Interference Mitigation (WTRIM) Working Group.  Drs. Roarty and Trockel spoke of the importance of High Frequency radar and the potential impact to the radars from the development of offshore wind turbines.  Land-based High Frequency (HF) Radars provide critically important observations of the coastal ocean that will be adversely affected by the spinning blades of utility-scale wind turbines.  The WTRIM Working Group is a consortium of federal agencies composed of the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. DOWNLOAD Talk Now

The European(EGO) and US(UG2) Autonomous Underwater Glider User Groups came together to host the 8th EGO Meeting and International Glider Workshop right here at Rutgers University May 21st – 23rd. Kicking off this meeting with the opening talk was Robert M. Goodman, executive dean of the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. The meeting offered a mix of presentations, panels, breakout groups, a poster session, and open community dialog. It also provided a forum in which scientists, engineers, students and industry can exchange knowledge and experiences on the development of glider technology, the application of gliders in oceanographic research and the role of gliders in ocean observing systems. 95% of the RUCOOL team was present at this wonderful event and we were happy to have face time with our world wide industries friends and partners. VIEW all the RUCOOL talks

Dr. Hugh Roarty met with students from the Marine Academy for Science and Technology (MAST, Monmouth County) and Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science (MATES, Ocean County) to discuss possible collaborations on the use of drone technology for lifesaving operations and environmental monitoring. On the trip to MAST he was accompanied by Mr Sam Coakley, MAST graduate from 2014 and current Rutgers graduate student, who spoke to the students about his current research on the use of gliders to measure ocean mixing during hurricanes.

RUCOOL’s Hugh Roarty and Josh Kohut attended the 2019 IEEE / OES Twelfth Currents, Waves, Turbulence Measurement and Applications Workshop (CWTMA) at the Catamaran Resort in San Diego from March 10- 13. Not only was Dr. Roarty the workshops technical chair of the event but he also presented “Evaluation of Wave Data from HR Radar by the National Weather Service” while Dr. Kohut and the Project Converge team presented “Horizontal Advection Critical for Maintaining an Antarctic Biological Hotspot”. Now how COOL is that?

Ms. Teresa Updyke and Dr. Hugh Roarty visited with Mr. Philip Myers at the National Search and Rescue School on Thursday February 14, 2019.  The National Search and Rescue School is located in Yorktown, Virginia and is the world’s premier source for Search and Rescue (SAR) training. Ms. Updyke and Dr. Roarty were updating the school instructors on the different ocean surface current and wave products available from MARACOOS.  It was also an opportunity for them to receive feedback and input from the Coast Guard on new products that they would like to see.

Good storytelling is a powerful way to bring public attention to our science – especially when it happens in remote areas like the Polar Regions. Stories about the changing poles are common, but don’t capture the complexity of the data.  On January 10-11 a team from Rutgers University and the University of Delaware co-hosted a workshop for polar scientists to explore how to tell compelling science stories, and to bring data driven, critical analysis to undergraduate classrooms. The program was hosted at Clayton Hall Conference Center at the University of Delaware, and drew 35 scientists from all over the U.S. and Canada. Predominantly early to mid career scientists attended the workshop with a significant number of advanced graduate students. The workshop began with the participants learning the ingredients of an engaging story and brainstormed how to apply to their own science story.  Scientists spent the day iterating and practicing their own story narrative led by expert – Ari Daniel, Senior Digital Producer at NOVA and independent science reporter Josh Kurz, a film producer and principal of Tilapia Films. Scientists also presented their latest polar science research in an evening poster session. In day two we switched focus and investigated how to take media stories back to the classroom. Participants explored the narrative and technical challenges their students face in evaluating data driven claims. Scientists received classroom ready polar science modules developed by Drs. Matt Oliver and Jon Cohen. These units are complete with video tutorials that can be integrated into the classroom. The workshop content was grounded in the Polar Literacy Principles, recently developed by the NSF funded Polar Interdisciplinary Coordinated Education (ICE) program. Finally the group explored how to use these newfound skills in constructing quality Broader Impact projects, drawing on resources of the NSF funded National Alliance for Broader Impacts (NABI). Workshop participants were very satisfied with the workshop content. We asked the participants to retrospectively rank a series of statements about their learning over the three-day program, comparing how they feel now to how they felt before the workshop (1= strongly disagree; 2= disagree; 3= agree; 4= strongly agree). The largest gains before to after the workshop were noted for “I understand the ways in which storytelling can be used to communicate research” and “I understand how to better plan and implement broader impact activities”. The smallest gains were for statements “Communicating research to a non scientist audience is important in my career” and “Communicating my research to scientists/research audiences is important to my career”. This workshop was a success despite the disappointment of our NSF colleagues not being able to attend due to the government shutdown. We hope to be able to offer additional programs for researchers to improve science communication about the polar regions.

Several RUCOOL affiliates attended and presented at the 99th Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) in Phoenix, AZ from January 7 through 10, 2019. This meeting gathers more than 4000 scientists and policymakers to discuss the latest in weather and ocean-related operations and research, with this year’s annual theme focused on Understanding and Building Resilience to Extreme Events by Being Interdisciplinary, International, and Inclusive. This year, Dr. Joseph Brodie presented on Utilizing Climatological Analysis to Improve Forecasting of Offshore Wind Ramps, while undergraduate intern Brian Frei presented a poster on his Hollings summer project with the NOAA National Weather Service Forecast Office in Oxnard, CA on Sundowner Winds of Santa Barbara County. Additionally, Dr. Brodie and Dr. Travis Miles were co-authors on the presentation Validation and Comparison of Mesoscale Model Setups for Offshore Wind Resource Assessment: A New Jersey Case Study, by lead author Andrew Kumler of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. PDFs of these presentations are available from our Presentations page!