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Established in 2000, the Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) is a NOAA-funded partnership of research institutions, resource managers, and private sector companies dedicated to fostering the development and adoption of effective and reliable sensors and platforms.
ACT is committed to providing the information required to select the most appropriate tools for studying and monitoring coastal environments. Priorities include transitioning emerging technologies to operational use rapidly and effectively; maintaining a dialogue among technology users, developers, and providers; identifying technology needs and novel technologies; documenting technology performance and potential; and providing the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) with information required for the deployment of reliable and cost-effective networks.
ACT conducts two types of Technology Evaluations. Technology Verifications are rigorous evaluations of commercially available instruments to verify manufacturers’ performance specifications or claims, which must be carried out at five or more (but typically at all) Partner sites. Technology Demonstrations are a less rigorous exercise where the abilities and potential of a new technology is established by working closely with developers/manufacturers to field test instruments in diverse coastal waters. Although all Partner Institutions are involved in Demonstrations, the field tests are typically conducted at only two or three sites. The results of these evaluations are released to the public as either Verification or Demonstration Statements.
Headquarters for ACT is located at the UMCES Chesapeake Biological Laboratory and is staffed by the personnel listed below. ACT Headquarters coordinates all activities and oversees the technology evaluations, website, technology database, and information transfer. Headquarters staff also coordinate with other programs such as NOAA, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Ocean.US, NSF, and CICEET.
The ACT Board of Directors is the formal program governing body. They establish program foci, provide program vision, and foster links with the broader community. The ACT Board of Directors consists of the Lead Principal Investigator, the Co-Chairs of the Stakeholders Council, and the Principal Investigators of all ACT Partner Institutions (listed below) as voting members. Ex officio, non-voting members of the Board include representatives from NOAA Coastal Services Center and the ACT Executive Director.
The Stakeholders Council was created to foster the interactive flow of information and ideas among the various user groups and disciplines critical to the success of ACT. Up to 21 Council members are recruited from private sector companies, environmental management agencies, and NGOs representing geographic and sector diversity. The Council members participate actively as representatives of the greater coastal community in planning and decision making to help ensure that ACT focuses on service-oriented activities.
There are currently eight ACT Partner institutions around the country with coastal technology expertise that represent a broad range of environmental conditions for testing. The Partner institutions help identify technologies to be evaluated and themes for workshops. They are also responsible for defining and conducting regional outreach activities and serve as information conduits to the broader coastal science and management communities. The following represent the eight ACT Partners:
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is an American scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce that focuses on the conditions of the oceans, major waterways, and the atmosphere.
The National Estuarine Research Reserve System is a network of 29 protected areas established by partnerships between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and coastal states. The reserves represent different biogeographic regions of the United States. The National Estuarine Research Reserve System protects more than 1.3 million acres of coastal and estuarine habitats for long-term research, water-quality monitoring, education, and coastal stewardship.
The National Ocean Service (NOS), an office within the U.S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is responsible for preserving and enhancing the nation's coastal resources and ecosystems along 95,000 miles (153,000 km) of shoreline bordering 3,500,000 square miles (9,100,000 km2) of coastal, Great Lakes, and ocean waters. Its mission is to "provide science-based solutions through collaborative partnerships to address evolving economic, environmental, and social pressures on our oceans and coasts." NOS works closely with many partner agencies to ensure that ocean and coastal areas are safe, healthy, and productive. National Ocean Service scientists, natural resource managers, and specialists ensure safe and efficient marine transportation, promote innovative solutions to protect coastal communities, and conserve marine and coastal places. NOS is a scientific and technical organization of 1,700 scientists, natural resource managers, and specialists in many different fields.
The National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) was one of the national environmental data centers operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The main NODC facility was located in Silver Spring, Maryland and was made up of five divisions. The NODC also had field offices collocated with major government or academic oceanographic laboratories in Stennis Space Center, MS; Miami, FL; La Jolla, San Diego, California; Seattle, WA; Austin, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Norfolk, Virginia; and Honolulu, Hawaii. In 2015, NODC was merged with the National Climatic Data Center and the National Geophysical Data Center into the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) specializes in the research and development of renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy systems integration, and sustainable transportation. NREL is a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Department of Energy and operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, a joint venture between MRIGlobal and Battelle. Located in Golden, Colorado, NREL is home to the National Center for Photovoltaics, the National Bioenergy Center, and the National Wind Technology Center.
Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) is a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). OAR is also referred to as NOAA Research.
The Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), a federal research laboratory, is part of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), located in Miami, Florida. AOML's research spans tropical cyclone and hurricanes, coastal ecosystems, oceans and human health, climate studies, global carbon systems, and ocean observations. It is one of seven NOAA Research Laboratories (RLs).
The National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather research laboratory under the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. It is one of seven NOAA Research Laboratories (RLs).
The Aerospace Corporation is an American nonprofit corporation that operates a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) headquartered in El Segundo, California. The corporation provides technical guidance and advice on all aspects of space missions to military, civil, and commercial customers. As the FFRDC for national-security space, Aerospace works closely with organizations such as the United States Space Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to provide "objective technical analyses and assessments for space programs that serve the national interest". Although SMC and NRO are the primary customers, Aerospace also performs work for civil agencies as well as international organizations and governments in the national interest.
The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) was established in November 1993 as an autonomous society under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India. NIOT is managed by a Governing Council and the Director is the head of the Institute. The institute is based in Chennai.
The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is a numerical weather prediction (NWP) system designed to serve both atmospheric research and operational forecasting needs. NWP refers to the simulation and prediction of the atmosphere with a computer model, and WRF is a set of software for this. WRF features two dynamical (computational) cores, a data assimilation system, and a software architecture allowing for parallel computation and system extensibility. The model serves a wide range of meteorological applications across scales ranging from meters to thousands of kilometers.
The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) is a National Science Foundation (NSF) Major Research Facility composed of a network of science-driven ocean observing platforms and sensors in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This networked infrastructure measures physical, chemical, geological, and biological variables from the seafloor to the sea surface and overlying atmosphere, providing an integrated data collection system on coastal, regional and global scales. OOI's goal is to deliver data and data products for a 25-year-plus time period, enabling a better understanding of ocean environments and critical ocean issues.
The following are considered essential ocean climate variables by the Ocean Observations Panel for Climate (OOPC) that are currently feasible with current observational systems.
Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) is a community of data and information technology practitioners that come together to coordinate Earth science interoperability efforts. Participation in ESIP allows members to enhance their data management capabilities.
The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) is the latest generation of U.S. polar-orbiting, non-geosynchronous, environmental satellites. JPSS will provide the global environmental data used in numerical weather prediction models for forecasts, and scientific data used for climate monitoring. JPSS will aid in fulfilling the mission of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an agency of the Department of Commerce. Data and imagery obtained from the JPSS will increase timeliness and accuracy of public warnings and forecasts of climate and weather events, thus reducing the potential loss of human life and property and advancing the national economy. The JPSS is developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who is responsible for operation of JPSS. Three to five satellites are planned for the JPSS constellation of satellites. JPSS satellites will be flown, and the scientific data from JPSS will be processed, by the JPSS – Common Ground System (JPSS-CGS).
The NOAA National Operational Model Archive and Distribution System (NOMADS) is a Web-services based project providing both real-time and retrospective format independent access to climate and weather model data.
The Open Commons Consortium is a 501(c)(3) non-profit venture which provides cloud computing and data commons resources to support "scientific, environmental, medical and health care research." OCC manages and operates resources including the Open Science Data Cloud, which is a multi-petabyte scientific data sharing resource. The consortium is based in Chicago, Illinois, and is managed by the 501(c)3 Center for Computational Science Research.
The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), an agency of the United States government, manages one of the world's largest archives of atmospheric, coastal, geophysical, and oceanic data, containing information that ranges from the surface of the sun to Earth's core, and from ancient tree ring and ice core records to near-real-time satellite images.
Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) is a partnership between National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) agencies, established in 2000. The program is a multidisciplinary approach, initiated by the NOAA, to managing and understanding coral reef ecosystems through research and the publication of data to support relevant partners involved in coral reef restoration.
