The southern california coastal ocean observing system (SCCOOS) is a federally accredited, science-based, decision-support system for the coastal ocean that focuses on the production, quality control,…

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) awarded the University of California San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography a $1,261,090 Cooperative Agreement under the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) program (CFDA 11.012) effective June 1, 2025, through May 31, 2028. SCCOOS, the federally accredited regional IOOS association for Southern California, delivers ocean observing data, value-added products, and decision-support services to federal agencies, state resource managers, and stakeholders across multiple sectors. The award supports critical infrastructure modernization and capacity enhancement for SCCOOS's existing observing network, including surface current mapping stations, autonomous underwater vehicles, nearshore real-time measurement systems, operational forecasts, and data management cyberinfrastructure serving 43 principal investigators across 22 institutions.

Through two federal grant sub-awards executed in late 2025, SCCOOS is modernizing its high-frequency radar (HFR) network infrastructure in partnership with California Polytechnic State University and the University of Southern California. Cal Poly will upgrade HFR systems at the Point Arguello long-range site through acquisition of new SeaSonde transmit and receive chassis hardware over a three-year period, while USC will install new AutoAPM kits and receive and transmit chassis at Point Fermin and Torrance Beach locations. These infrastructure upgrades enhance reliability, accuracy, range, and environmental durability of coastal current mapping capabilities critical for oil spill response, maritime operations, water quality monitoring, and ecosystem management across California's coastal waters.

The southern california coastal ocean observing system (SCCOOS) is a federally accredited, science-based, decision-support system for the coastal ocean that focuses on the production, quality control, and delivery of data, along with the creation of value-added products for end-users across all sectors. As the ioos regional association for southern california, SCCOOS is physically located at scripps institution of oceanography at UC SAN diego, and as such, is strongly rooted in higher-level education, research, and engineering. SCCOOS has spent the last two decades building infrastructure for ocean observing that establishes robust platforms for geophysical parameters in the areas of surface current measurements, continuous observation of the oceans interior with autonomous underwater vehicles, nearshore real-time measurements, operational hydrodynamic forecasts, and a strong data management and cyberinfrastructure system (FIG 1). SCCOOS is a collaborative network of experts and research teams at universities, private organizations, and federal laboratories that supports 43 principal investigators across 22 institutions to work together to collect, generate, and aggregate coastal ocean data and forecasts to provide a single online access point for distribution and value-added products. While SCCOOS is at the forefront of implementing ocean technology, observing, and interpreting data, an underpinning of the organization is to meet stakeholder requirements. Meeting those requirements means ensuring that equipment and data collection procedures are optimally relevant and state-of-the-art. To that end, we propose to modernize critical infrastructure to meet societal needs and enhance capacity for stakeholder engagement and product delivery. The proposed projects are all components of the SCCOOS five-year proposal, sustaining and expanding the southern california coastal ocean observing system (SCCOOS FY21-26), and are a subset of those proposed as tier 2 in that they have not been funded previously by our annual core and non-core funding from the U.S. Integrated ocean observing system. Investment with bipartisan infrastructure law funding augments and supplements SCCOOS funding proposed and/or received via the inflation reduction act. These areas of growth significantly advance the ability of SCCOOS to strategically contribute to the priorities articulated in the SCCOOS strategic plan, theun ocean decade implementation plan (unesco-IOC 2021, guan ET AL 2023), the UN sustainable development goals (e.g., SDG 14- life below water; HK ET AL 2016), and the OCEANOBS19 decadal directive to sustain physical, biogeochemical (BGC), and biological observations that maximize societal benefit.