Dear friends and colleagues:
Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS) presents its Proposed Five-year Strategic Direction for Public Review document that outlines major elements of our strategic plan for AOOS for the next five years (2021-2026). The new priorities and detailed build-out plans presented here are the result of our engagement―and that of our partners―with coastal communities, private industry, state and federal agencies, tribes, and others throughout Alaska over the past decade. It also reflects input received from the Request for Project Ideas we circulated this spring and an associated review of these ideas by technical experts in June.
The draft 5-year plan will be reviewed by the AOOS board at its September 2 meeting and used to develop our cooperative agreement proposal this fall to the national Integrated Ocean Observing System – a major source of our funding.
We are circulating this summary of the draft plan for public review to garner additional input, especially with these questions in mind:
- Have we captured the right priorities?
- Are we missing anything critical?
- Knowing that Alaska has huge gaps in ocean observations, is there some area/region that you feel is especially important or critically under-observed?
- Are proposed new/improved products and services in line with known needs; are there other products/services you would like to see?
All input received will be combined and given to the AOOS board prior to their September meeting. Feedback of any length may be submitted by email, as comments on the .pdf, or annotations to the build-out maps. If you would like to discuss ideas directly with our staff, or would like a presentation to your organization’s staff or board about the AOOS program, please contact Holly Kent: kent@aoos.org.
As AOOS looks to the next five years and beyond, we are eager to sustain and strategically expand the quantity, quality and access to ocean information in Alaska. Our ability to collaboratively make advances in this area has relied, and will continue to rely, heavily on feedback from all of you. Thank you so much for your help.
Molly McCammon, Director
Alaska Ocean Observing System
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