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Screenshot of APOP portal
Alaska is an enormous state with few options to access remote areas of scientific research interest. Expensive and inconvenient travel often means that individual projects devote an inordinate amount of resources simply to get out in the field. AOOS, in partnership with the Aleutian and Bering Sea Islands Landscape Conservation Cooperative (ABSI LCC), today launches Alaska Platform of Opportunity Portal (APOP), an interactive map-based portal that displays information about upcoming research cruises in Alaska waters.
The portal allows users to select specific research vessels and displays information including proposed cruise tracks, schedules, and vessel capabilities for individual cruise legs. Users can search by equipment needs (crane, ice capability, storage space) or bunk space and contact information is displayed for both the ship’s scheduler as well as the Principal Investigator for each cruise leg. Some of the research vessels included in the portal are the USCG Icebreaker Healy and the USFWS R/V Tiglax. Information for the NOAA vessels Oscar Dyson, Rainier, and Fairweather will be uploaded to the portal when it becomes available. Areas of operation are geographically displayed as either line or polygon features. For more information about APOP or to provide your cruise information, contact Douglas Burn, ABSI LCC Coordinator.