Growing a More Resilient and Equitable 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 SIO 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 ocean’s interior with autonomous underwater vehicles, nearshore real-time measurements, and operational hydrodynamic forecasts as outlined in SCCOOS 2021-2026 Strategic Plan. Through oral or poster presentation we will outline how, with IRA resources, SCCOOS is addressing recommendations in the White House Ocean Climate Action Plan to better meet the needs of a “Climate Ready Nation” by investing in: 1) Equitable Service Delivery, 2) Regional Coastal Climate and Resilience, 3) Future-Proofing and Modernization of our observing, monitoring, and forecasting system, and 4) Novel Data and Model Synthesis in service of diverse partners.