Aiding Gulf storm predictions

All five Gulf Coast states may be more prepared than ever for hurricane season thanks to new local-state-federal partner funded tools and ports that could enhance the capabilities and accuracy of information about storm predictions and ship navigation. The tools – GPS Continually Operating Reference Systems (CORS) and Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS) - provide the foundation of the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS). The new CORS stations are being put into place through the newly formed Gulf Coast Spatial Reference Consortium - a partnership among the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Louisiana State University's Center for Geoinformatics, University of Southern Mississippi's Mississippi Spatial Reference Center and the Alabama Department of Transportation. When fully implemented, CORS stations will cover some 16,000 miles of coastal shorelines, bays and estuaries. To date, four stations in Florida and five in Texas have been installed; six additional CORS stations will be installed in Florida, Alabama and Louisiana in 2015, with the remainder in 2016. The new Louisiana PORTS were installed at Port Fourchon, which services 90 percent of the Gulf's deepwater oil and gas industry. (Source: Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System 06/11/15)