Sack Lunch Seminar (SLS)

OceanScope

Our group has been operating an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) on the
container vessel CMV Oleander that operates between NJ and Bermuda since the fall
of 1992. Since then we have operated and worked with ADCPs installed on several
other vessels. The beauty of operating this instrument on vessels in regular traffic
is that we now easily and accurately measure currents directly over a wide range of
horizontal and vertical scales. By scanning a route repeatedly we obtain the degrees
of freedom needed to determine transports accurately and how these vary with
time. This isn’t a new result per se, but an overview of what we have learned to date
about transports, eddy variability, wave number spectra, and local dynamical
structures is instructive. This will set the stage for the latter part of the talk:
OceanScope.

OceanScope is a proposed partnership between the ocean observing communities
and the maritime industries to provide the framework for an integrated
interdisciplinary approach to monitoring the world ocean, and in so doing provide a
fundamental contribution to the Global Ocean Observing System. It will provide
what has been sought by so many for so long: the means to systematically scan and
monitor the global ocean water column on a regular and sustained basis.
OceanScope is envisioned to operate as an independent international ‘Inner Space
Agency’ funded by member nations and private sources. Amongst its more
important functions will be to serve as a single point of contact between the oceanobserving community and vessel operators, and to establish standardized methods
and technologies. As OceanScope ‘takes off ’ and people see what these ‘satellites
orbiting at sea level’ can do, they will start to dream up new sensors and tools
directly optimized for commercial vessel operation!
The SCOR/IAPSO OceanScope report is available at http://www.scorint.org/Publications/OceanScope_Final_report.pdf