Author: Amy West

Synchro article in the Economist Impact

Posted on by Amy West

“The ocean and its ecosystems are facing unprecedented challenges from climate change which is heating both land and sea to record levels. According to NOAA research forecasts, 40% of the global ocean is experiencing marine heatwave conditions and that figure is expected to remain high through the end of 2023. These anomalously warm ocean temperatures have significant impacts on marine life and coastal communities and economies, bleaching coral reefs, creating conditions that can favor harmful algal blooms and decreasing the productivity of cold water ecosystems like those off California and other upwelling zones that harbor whales, salmon and lush kelp forests. Continued observational monitoring helps marine managers and researchers understand and mitigate climate impacts on marine life, but ocean data is also critical when looking to the ocean for climate solutions, including offshore wind and other technologies to generate renewable ocean energy….”

To read the rest of Synchro’s take on monitoring offshore wind please click below for our blog in the Economist Impact Back to Blue series:

Synchro’s Next Show and Tell Series for Emerging Tech- August 7th

Posted on by Amy West

Register for our next webinar on August 7th at 11am (PST)! Just 30 minutes of your time to hear from one of testing applicants and have the opportunity to ask questions about their technology. This next one is for anyone that works in soundscape monitoring, such as marine mammal or defense experts, marine protected areas, fishing associations, oceanographers such as seafloor mappers, or if those curious how an autonomous float that uses differences in ocean temperatures to generate its own power can provide valuable insights into the marine domain (and stay out for days).

Click Below to register↓

Continue reading “Synchro’s Next Show and Tell Series for Emerging Tech- August 7th”

Synchro’s Inaugural Show and Tell Series for Emerging Tech- June 12th

Posted on by Amy West

Register for our first webinar! Just 30 minutes of your time to hear from our testing applicants and have a chance to ask questions about their technology. It’s for anyone that works in marine monitoring, such as marine mammal experts, port facilities, fishing authorities, and marine protected areas, or if you are curious about how radar, long-range cameras, and AIS can all work together to provide valuable insights into the marine domain.

Click Below↓

Click to view the June 12th webinar

Continue reading “Synchro’s Inaugural Show and Tell Series for Emerging Tech- June 12th”

SYNCHRO WANTS YOUR LOW-COST OCEAN TECH!

Posted on by Amy West

Deadline is January 31, 2024 to submit information on your low-cost technology, which will help guide Synchro’s decisions on what to purchase for their tech procurement program. The aim is to boost manufacturing and disseminate the tech further to more users.

Visit our low cost tech page for FAQs and a direct link to the Request for Information to read more about the background, requirements and how to submit.

Low-Cost Tech

Synchro is a UN Ocean Decade Project. And it’s all about Co-Design!

Posted on by Amy West

The Ocean Decade of the United Nations (2021-2030) has 271 projects that fall within its highlighted challenges. Of those 17 challenges, one is Ocean Observing C0-Design: Evolving Ocean Observing for a Sustainable Future, sponsored by The Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS).

Synchro landing page on UN website

Beneath that umbrella are a dozen projects, of which Synchro is one: Co-design for technology evolution! It’s a fantastic opportunity to be part of the larger GOOS community and recognized by the other UN-endorsed projects, especially on the topic of co-design, which is Synchro’s main engine.

But what is co-design?

Successful co-design is defined here as actions that:

  • Involve all concerned stakeholders
  • Engage all stakeholders throughout all stages (e.g. identification, production and dissemination)
  • Build on pre-existing relationships, networks and shared experiences and embraces transdiscplinary resource.

For a fantastic breakdown on co-design and how to bring that into an ocean program successfully, please click on resource below :

Co-design guidance document front page

Have you heard of SEER? They synthesize useful information on offshore wind

Posted on by Amy West

Offshore wind is coming to the west coast, and as with many topics on the internet, the rabbit hole of information can feel endless. But if you want one source of information to call on for offshore wind questions, we highly recommend the SEER website: Synthesis of Environmental Effects Research.

It is a joint collaboration between the  U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Wind Energy Technologies Office, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (a mouthful!), and has webinar series, research briefs and research recommendations.

The research briefs are digestible for the educated public and cover these topics:

the 7 research topics that SEER covers

To join the next webinar of this series on July 6th, please register here. It is titled Recent Advances in Autonomous Environmental Monitoring Technologies to Support Offshore Wind Energy Development.

Synchro’s recommendation: bookmark this site!

Seer header

Synchro’s sister organization: CeNCOOS

Posted on by Amy West

Annual climate resilience meeting for the California observing community

CenCOOS meeting attendees
Attendees of CeNCOOS annual meeting in Bodega Bay, CA
If you are in the observing community, then you know about CeNCOOS, the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System.

The director of CeNCOOS, Henry Ruhl, leads Synchro, benefiting Synchro greatly in its coming years from the spiderweb of projects and folks and technology involved. They

Recently the groups, including Synchro staff, all met in Bodega Bay for the annual meeting on Climate Resilience to discuss what the new funding (Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) for ocean research could mean for CeNCOOS. If you have not yet seen their recent newsletter click below to find out more about the meeting and those on harmful algal blooms and on Capitol Hill, new publication on data collection for invertebrates, updates on Californias progress on marine conservation, and other funding opportunities and jobs.

Continue reading “Synchro’s sister organization: CeNCOOS”

Introducing Synchro: A Co-Designed Ocean Testbed for Technology Deployment

Posted on by Amy West

A collaboration to help meet growing demands for monitoring the ocean

In marine labs and technology start-ups around the world, innovative solutions are being developed that may never make it to the marketplace even if they offer a cost effective and high-quality alternative to present ocean observing tools. The reason? It’s often beyond the capacity of technology developers to navigate a complex, expensive and logistically challenging set of requirements to prove new technologies in real-world ocean conditions and to collaborate with potential users and stakeholders. Often called the “valley of death,” moving from early prototype development through these proving grounds to ready a new technology for widespread deployment can require ships, co-location on ocean platforms, and the formation of collaborative teams, including potential users, to provide valuable expertise and guidance.

Deploying a GO-BGC float off the R/V Paragon in Monterey Bay
Image: © Jared Figurski 2022 MBARI

Launching in early 2023, Synchro is designed to guide technology innovators through the valley of death by providing a co-design collaborative process and ocean testbed to bring critical new capabilities to the marine technology industry and valuable data streams to the ocean observing community. Centered at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System (CeNCOOS) Synchro’s support comes from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Oceankind and Schmidt Marine Technology Partners, Synchro, and a partnership with the Hakai Institute.  The first  call for applicants to gain access to testing and evaluation facilities will begin in the Monterey Bay area and British Columbia. 

Tech developers are encouraged to apply for the access and technical support to assess their systems in a variety of settings that the Synchro program offers, including: 

  • deploying equipment over the side of a ship
    Image: © 2014 MBARI

    Pier/wharf stations 

  • Buoy/mooring
  • Seawater pump fed laboratories 
  • Aquaculture facilities 
  • Drone platforms 
  • Coastal research vessels & boats

All marine tech concepts are welcome, whether the focus is on blue-sky discovery research tools or building a better, more efficient instrument set for ocean resource management and conservation. Synchro will work with successful applicants to build out operational and data lifecycle concepts that could connect their capabilities with the needs of scientists, managers, policy makers, and more.

Join the Synchro Network to hear about future developments and explore deeper involvement.