Dear MARACOOS partners and friends,

It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the arrival of 2023, and here we are over one year later.  The year 2023 was full of activities for most everyone, including our MARACOOS partnership.  We spent considerable effort maintaining our world-class observing system, re-capitalizing our HF Radar network, growing our engagement with the offshore wind sector, and positioning ourselves to grow through new funding sources in the coming years.

As we begin 2024, we look forward to celebrating MARACOOS’ 20th anniversary with all of you in May in Washington DC.  Twenty years have seen tremendous development and growth for our partnership and capabilities.

With this foundation, I am pleased to announce that the IOOS Regional Associations, in partnership with the US IOOS Office, are poised to receive $100 million in IRA funding later this year to address critical coastal and climate resilience needs around the country, with a focus on equitable service delivery.  In the Mid-Atlantic region, it will allow us to address critical water level and flooding information needs that support federal forecast products, state and local communities, and new communities that we have been unable to serve in the past, including underserved, underrepresented, or overburdened communities.  We will expand our partnership and provide new opportunities for communities and stakeholders to interact with MARACOOS and its partners, further strengthening our services and expanding the benefits to society.

We look forward to sharing more information as our discussions with the communities and partners evolve, and we wish everyone a healthy and successful year in 2024!

Thank you for your interest and support in the important work of the Mid-Atlantic IOOS partnership.

Sincerely,

Gerhard F. Kuska, PhD

Executive Director