[Sdi-latinamericacaribbean] USGS and NOAA research in Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico

[Kate Lance]

http://soundwaves.usgs.gov/2007/05/
New Bathymetric Map of Mona Passage, Northeastern Caribbean, Aids in Earthquake- and Tsunami-Hazard Mitigation
The Mona Passage between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic in the northeastern Caribbean is an area long known for its strong and shifting currents, abundant marine mammals and fish, and pirates and smugglers. All are there because the Mona Passage is an area of shallow banks over which a vigorous exchange of waters takes place between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. The Mona Passage is also the site of a devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit western Puerto Rico in 1918, and the site of frequent small earthquakes. Prompted by the likelihood of further tsunamis and earthquakes, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) undertook the task of mapping in detail the sea floor under the waters of the Mona Passage, to identify active faults and submarine landslides and to better understand their underlying causes.
 
http://www8.nos.noaa.gov/nccos/npe/projectdetail.aspx?id=400&fy=2007
Development of a GIS as a Management Tool to Reduce Bycatch of Sea Turtles in U.S. Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico Fisheries (2007)
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Ocean Service’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) has partnered with the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Office of Protected Resources to develop a dynamic geographic information system (GIS) for managing and analyzing interactions between the United States (U.S.) Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico fisheries and sea turtles. The GIS supports the NMFS strategy for sea turtle conservation and recovery in relation to Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico fisheries (the “Strategy”) to fully characterize domestic fisheries, evaluate sea turtle bycatch across gear types, develop and implement measures to reduce bycatch, authorize fishery takes consistent with Endangered Species Act (ESA) mandates, and conserve and recover sea turtles. Data incorporated into the GIS include commercial fishing activity, existing federal regulations related to sea turtles, surveys of
 sea turtle distribution, and observed bycatch of sea turtles across the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. Products and activities of the GIS project include: 1) development of GIS layers necessary to implement the Strategy, 2) support NMFS with data quality assurance and data quality control, 3) create visual products and analyses needed to implement the Strategy, 4) provide consultative support to the Strategy to expand GIS capabilities to meet broader agency needs, and 5) train NMFS’ Strategy team members to effectively manipulate data layers created and utilize mapping capabilities and analyses tools specifically created for the GIS.


       
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