As the pace of environmental monitoring increases globally to address ecosystem health in the face of climate change and the new blue economy, biologists and environmental scientists increasingly require modern data analysis skills. As an example, needs of the offshore wind workforce include trained biologists to support environmental monitoring during the “Development” stage of wind plant installation. Reports estimate substantial job growth in the offshore wind sector but note gaps in training for working professionals outside of undergraduate and graduate programs. Additionally, ocean observing networks and remote sensing instrumentation result in a terabytes of data that require conversion into meaningful data products to support conservation and resource management.
Ocean Science Analytics (OSA) launched two online technical training courses to meet this challenge:
PAM: Large Dataset Analysis: Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is a commonly used to support biological monitoring and mitigation in terrestrial and marine environments. Reductions in the cost of equipment and data storage lead to the collection of huge volumes of data. Extracting meaningful information from these large datasets requires an efficient and effective analytical approach. This course provides acousticians with a workflow for processing data using a combination of PAMGuard and acoustic packages based in R programming language.
R for Ocean Science Data Analysis: Oceanographic data collection is essential to understanding environmental conditions serving a wide range of purposes from evaluating the effects of climate change to establishing marine protected areas. R programming language is a free, open-source tool that can be used for a wide range of ocean science data needs, including data wrangling, visualization, and analysis. This course provides participants with a context-specific background to R using oceanographic data throughout the course materials. This course is designed for novice R learners interested in developing intermediate skills in ocean science data analysis.
On the launch of these analytical skill development courses, OSA’s Founder and CEO, Liz Ferguson noted “Ocean data collection is increasing at a rapid rate but is limited in utility due to a deficit in trained analysts. As we are squarely in the Ocean Decade of Science for Sustainable Development, we need a means of providing those skills to the existing workforce, which is our aim with these new courses.”
Details regarding each of the courses, including a list of course topics and registration can be found on the OSA Technical Training page. Both courses are accredited by the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology (IMarEST), and consist of an online, flexible format. Courses include a combination of guided videos, instructional materials, and scaffolded hands-on activities. Participants access content through the OSA website and are provided support and feedback on their activities during 30 days of access from registration. Each training session has a limited number of seats available, though training sessions occur throughout the year.
About Ocean Science Analytics
Ocean Science Analytics (OSA) is an ocean science research and online technical training company headquartered in San Diego, CA. OSA employs expertise in technology-based analytical methods and software tools to monitor and assess oceanic and coastal ecosystems for conservation and management purposes and provide technology-centered training to a broad audience.
