NANOOS - How to use this site

Welcome to the NANOOS Web Portal! Here you'll receive simplified and coordinated access to the data, products, tools, and educational materials of the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems. Even at its inception, July 2008, you'll find a lot of information and tools already available. These are here to help those of us concerned about our oceans and estuaries better understand and manage these precious resources.

The NANOOS Portal continues to evolve as more observing sensors are deployed to key areas of the ocean environment and new data, products, tools, and educational materials are developed. We welcome your comments and suggestions.

Here's what's on the NANOOS Portal and how to find your topics of interest.

Home

Home provides a brief introduction to NANOOS and Noteworthy where featured products or announcements will rotate with new such items. These features can also be found in the appropriate menu buttons on the left column of the site or at the bottom of the page under In the News, and will also be archived in these sections. Click on the cyan titles to go directly to the data or product. You may also find cyan text within product descriptions that you may click to learn more.

About NANOOS

Here are numerous ways you can learn what NANOOS and ocean observing is all about. Click on the menu tabs across the top of the page:

Intro - Purpose, users, future expansion of NANOOS services
History - Evolution of NANOOS from 2003 to today
Members - All of the many NANOOS partners
Documents - Governing agreement, proposal, reports, presentations from 2003 to today
About the Logo - Artist and symbolic significance of the logo images
Ocean Observing - Uses for and the how-to of ocean observing
About IOOS - National purpose and procedure for an Integrated Ocean Observing System

Data

Data is numerical information. We subdivide it here into Data Explorer, Observational, and Model data. Observations are measurements made by instruments, such as a thermometer. Model data are the output from numerical calculations that use scientific knowledge to estimate the values of environmental quantities, such as the amount of rain in the next 24 hours or the amount of plankton in a particular area. Data explorers provide data geographically, historically, or by instrument for analysis.

The NANOOS Portal will provide access to stores of numerical information as well as visual displays of that information. The Portal may maintain its own data store or it may point to the original data provider.

Click Data Explorer, Observational, or Model to see how these data are used.

Data Explorer

A data explorer allows you to investigate data geographically, or historically, or by instrument such as radar or buoy. From combining data across space, time, or instrument researchers, coastal managers, educators, and students can gain new information to understand what's going on in our waterways and how that might affect a specie including humans.

Click on the cyan titles to go directly to the data explorers.

Observational

Observations are measurements made by instruments, such as a thermometer. Observational data give researchers the parameters necessary to monitor environmental conditions.

Click on the cyan titles to go directly to these data.

Model

Model data are the output from numerical calculations that use scientific knowledge to estimate the values of environmental quantities, such as the amount of rain in the next 24 hours or the amount of plankton in a particular area.

Click on the cyan titles to go directly to these models.

Visual Products

From data, whether observational or model data, images can be generated and made into products that allow users to draw conclusions from the original data. Some products provide a way for you to add your own data and see the results of new combinations of parameters. Applications tailored to specific user groups are particularly useful when they allow users to interact with the data.

Click on Forecasts, Analyses, or Satellite to view these products.

Forecasts

Forecasts are a result of a complex process of estimating what is unknown and then making predictions about what might happen in the future. Meteorologists, for example, use different forecasting methods for different weather scenarios with varying results, which may be a function of the efficacy of the verification method employed.

Click on the cyan titles to go directly to these forecast products.

Analyses

Analyses products are graphical information of environmental conditions, which, although do not provide forecasts, offer a valuable way of viewing data.

Click on the cyan titles to go directly to these analyses products.

Satellite

Scientific research satellites provide us with meteorological information, land survey data (e.g., remote sensing), environmental modeling, and other scientific research applications such as marine science and atmospheric research.

Click on the cyan titles to go directly to these satellite products.

Decision Tools

Decision Tools combine data, models, and forecasts for user groups to help them make decisions. Tools provide a means for you to inspect, analyze, even add your own data and see results. Many tools can be tailored for a specific user group. For example, Puget Sound boaters are the focus of the Boater Information System or BIS that allows them to see how the environment will impact their activities.

Click on the cyan titles to go directly to these tools.

Education

NANOOS outreach to educators and students is of critical importance to the goal of a regional and national ocean observing system: the fostering of ocean literacy or the knowledge of the ocean's influence on you and your influence on the ocean. The Ocean Literacy Campaign has put forth seven principles of ocean literacy:

Earth has one big ocean with many features
The ocean and life in the ocean shape the features of Earth
The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate
The ocean makes Earth habitable
The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems
The ocean and humans are inextricably linked
The ocean is largely unexplored

An integrated ocean observing system provides the continuous availability of data and information, which to be of value depends upon everyone understanding how to make use of what's available and why that's necessary. Everyone, all stakeholders, refers to every region and sector, that is, industry, tribal and state governments, research, and most especially education.

Educators are charged with the task of making ocean literacy happen, of conveying the complexity and importance of ocean resources. All of us must understand the necessity of managing this intricate web of waterways and the species living within and around it. We must both protect our resources for future generations and utilize them to the benefit of all.

NANOOS will build upon and strengthen those educational efforts already in place as well as create new ones. Further, NANOOS outreach in the future will also include training on the new tools, products, and applications developed for our diverse user community when those come online.

Click on the cyan Lesson Plans menu button to see what plans are available. And, please know, more are on the way.

Lesson Plans

Lesson plans are complete information and instruction for teachers to present to students on an individual lesson. Lesson plans generally include the objectives, the educational standards the instruction meets, all required materials, student activities that allow exploration and knowledge extension, evaluation, and the estimated time it takes to complete the lesson. NANOOS lesson plans aid the exploration of ocean related topics.

Click on the cyan titles to go directly to these plans.