ALBERT

Description: The ACT workshop "Enabling Sensor Interoperability" addressed the need for protocols at thehardware, firmware, and higher levels in order to attain instrument interoperability within and betweenocean observing systems. For the purpose of the workshop, participants spoke in tern of "instruments" rather than "sensors," defining an instrument as a device that contains one or more sensors or actuators and can convert signals from analog to digital.An increase in the abundance, variety, and complexity of instruments and observing systems suggeststhat effective standards would greatly improve "plug-and-work" capabilities. However, there are few standards or standards bodies that currently address instrument interoperability and configuration.Instrument interoperability issues span the length and breadth of these systems, from the measurementto the end user, including middleware services. There are three major components of instrumentinteroperability including physical, communication, and application/control layers. Participantsidentified the essential issues, current obstacles, and enabling technologies and standards,then came up with a series of short and long term solutions.The top three recommended actions, deemed achievable within 6 months of the release of thisreport are:A list of recommendations for enabling instrument interoperability should be put togetherand distributed to instrument developers.A recommendation for funding sources to achieve instrument interoperability should bedrafted. Funding should be provided (for example through NOPP or an IOOS request forproposals) to develop and demonstrate instrument interoperability technologies involvinginstrument manufacturers, observing system operators, and cyberinfrastructure groups.Program managers should be identified and made to understand that milestones for achievinginstrument interoperability include a) selection of a methodology for uniquely identifyingan instrument, b) development of a common protocol for automatic instrumentdiscovery, c) agreement on uniform methods for measurements, d) enablement of end usercontrolled power cycling, and e) implementation of a registry component for IDS and attributes.The top three recommended actions, deemed achievable within S years of the release of this reportare:An ocean observing interoperability standards body should be established that addresses standards for a) metadata, b) commands, c) protocols, d) processes, e) exclusivity, and f)naming authorities.[PDF contains 48 pages]

Description: NOAA

Description: Alliance for Coastal Technologies, CBL/UMCES

Description: The co-organized Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) and National Data Buoy Center (NDBC)Workshop "Meteorological Buoy Sensors Workshop" convened in Solomons, Maryland, April 19to 21,2006, sponsored by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES)Chesapeake Bay Laboratory (CBL), an ACT partner institution. Participants from various sectorsincluding resource managers and industry representatives collaborated to focus on technologies andsensors that measure the near surface variables of wind speed and direction, barometric pressure,humidity and air temperature. The vendor list was accordingly targeted at companies that producedthese types of sensors. The managers represented a cross section of federal, regional and academicmarine observing interests from around the country. Workshop discussions focused on the challengesassociated with making marine meteorological observations in general and problems that werespecific to a particular variable. Discussions also explored methods to mitigate these challengesthrough the adoption of best practices, improved technologies and increased standardization. Someof the key workshop outcomes and recommendations included:0cean.US should establish a committee devoted to observations. The committee wouldhave a key role in developing observing standards.The community should adopt the target cost, reliability and performance standards draftedfor a typical meteorological package to be used by a regional observing system.A forum should be established to allow users and manufacturers to share best practicesfor the employment of marine meteorological sensors. The ACT website would host theforum.Federal activities that evaluate meteorological sensors should make their results publiclyavailable.ACT should extend their evaluation process to include meteorological sensors.A follow on workshop should be conducted that covers the observing of meteorologicalvariables not addressed by this workshop. (pdf contains 18 pages)

Description: NOAA

Description: Alliance for Coastal Technologies, CBL/UMCES

Description: The Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) convened a workshop on Evaluating Approaches and Technologies for Monitoring Organic Contaminants in the Aquatic Environment in Ann Arbor, MI on July 21-23, 2006. The primary objectives of this workshop were to: 1) identify the priority management information needs relative to organic contaminant loading; 2) explore themost appropriate approaches to estimating mass loading; and 3) evaluate the current status of thesensor technology. To meet these objectives, a mixture of leading research scientists, resourcemanagers, and industry representatives were brought together for a focused two-day workshop.The workshop featured four plenary talks followed by breakout sessions in which arranged groupsof participants where charged to respond to a series of focused discussion questions.At present, there are major concerns about the inadequacies in approaches and technologies forquantifying mass emissions and detection of organic contaminants for protecting municipal watersupplies and receiving waters. Managers use estimates of land-based contaminant loadings torivers, lakes, and oceans to assess relative risk among various contaminant sources, determinecompliance with regulatory standards, and define progress in source reduction. However, accuratelyquantifying contaminant loading remains a major challenge. Loading occurs over a range ofhydrologic conditions, requiring measurement technologies that can accommodate a broad rangeof ambient conditions. In addition, in situ chemical sensors that provide a means for acquiringcontinuous concentration measurements are still under development, particularly for organic contaminantsthat typically occur at low concentrations. Better approaches and strategies for estimatingcontaminant loading, including evaluations of both sampling design and sensor technologies,need to be identified. The following general recommendations were made in an effort to advancefuture organic contaminant monitoring:1. Improve the understanding of material balance in aquatic systems and the relationship betweenpotential surrogate measures (e.g., DOC, chlorophyll, particle size distribution) and target constituents.2. Develop continuous real-time sensors to be used by managers as screening measures and triggersfor more intensive monitoring.3. Pursue surrogate measures and indicators of organic pollutant contamination, such as CDOM,turbidity, or non-equilibrium partitioning.4. Develop continuous field-deployable sensors for PCBs, PAHs, pyrethroids, and emerging contaminantsof concern and develop strategies that couple sampling approaches with tools that incorporatesensor synergy (i.e., measure appropriate surrogates along with the dissolved organics toallow full mass emission estimation).[PDF contains 20 pages]

Description: NOAA

Description: Alliance for Coastal Technologies, CBL/UMCES

Description: (pdf contains 23 pages)

Description: NOAA

Description: Alliance for Coastal Technologies, CBL/UMCES

Description: The Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) Workshop "Making Oxygen MeasurementsRoutine Like Temperature" was convened in St. Petersburg, Florida, January 4th - 6th, 2006. Thisevent was sponsored by the University of South Florida (USF) College of Marine Science, anACT partner institution and co-hosted by the Ocean Research Interactive Observatory Networks(ORION). Participants from researcldacademia, resource management, industry, and engineeringsectors collaborated with the aim to foster ideas and information on how to make measuringdissolved oxygen a routine part of a coastal or open ocean observing system.Plans are in motion to develop large scale ocean observing systems as part of the US IntegratedOcean Observing System (100s; see http://ocean.us) and the NSF Ocean Observatory Initiative(001; see http://www.orionprogram.org/00I/default.hl). These systems will require biologicaland chemical sensors that can be deployed in large numbers, with high reliability, and forextended periods of time (years). It is also likely that the development cycle for new sensors issufficiently long enough that completely new instruments, which operate on novel principles,cannot be developed before these complex observing systems will be deployed. The most likelypath to development of robust, reliable, high endurance sensors in the near future is to movethe current generation of sensors to a much greater degree of readiness. The ACT OxygenSensor Technology Evaluation demonstrated two important facts that are related to the need forsensors. There is a suite of commercially available sensors that can, in some circumstances,generate high quality data; however, the evaluation also showed that none of the sensors were ableto generate high quality data in all circumstances for even one month time periods due tobiofouling issues.Many groups are attempting to use oxygen sensors in large observing programs; however, thereoften seems to be limited communication between these groups and they often do not have accessto sophisticated engineering resources. Instrument manufacturers also do not have sufficientresources to bring sensors, which are marketable, but of limited endurance or reliability, to ahigher state of readiness. The goal of this ACT/ORION Oxygen Sensor Workshop was to bringtogether a group of experienced oceanographers who are now deploying oxygen sensors inextended arrays along with a core of experienced and interested academic and industrialengineers, and manufacturers. The intended direction for this workshop was for this group toexchange information accumulated through a variety of sensor deployments, examine failuremechanisms and explore a variety of potential solutions to these problems. One anticipatedoutcome was for there to be focused recommendations to funding agencies on development needsand potential solutions for 02 sensors. (pdf contains 19 pages)

Description: NOAA

Description: Alliance for Coastal Technologies, CBL/UMCES

Description: The Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) Workshop on Towed Vehicles: Undulating PlatformsAs Tools for Mapping Coastal Processes and Water Quality Assessment was convenedFebruary 5-7,2007 at The Embassy Suites Hotel, Seaside, California and sponsored by the ACT-PacificCoast partnership at the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML). The TUV workshopwas co-chaired by Richard Burt (Chelsea Technology Group) and Stewart Lamerdin (MLMLMarine Operations). Invited participants were selected to provide a uniform representation of theacademic researchers, private sector product developers, and existing and potential data productusers from the resource management community to enable development of broad consensus opinionson the application of TUV platforms in coastal resource assessment and management.The workshop was organized to address recognized limitations of point-based monitoring programs,which, while providing valuable data, are incapable of describing the spatial heterogeneityand the extent of features distributed in the bulk solution. This is particularly true as surveysapproach the coastal zone where tidal and estuarine influences result in spatially and temporallyheterogeneous water masses and entrained biological components. Aerial or satellite based remotesensing can provide an assessment of the aerial extent of plumes and blooms, yet provide no informationregarding the third dimension of these features. Towed vehicles offer a cost-effectivesolution to this problem by providing platforms, which can sample in the horizontal, vertical, andtime-based domains. Towed undulating vehicles (henceforth TUVs) represent useful platformsfor event-response characterization. This workshop reviewed the current status of towed vehicletechnology focusing on limitations of depth, data telemetry, instrument power demands, and shiprequirements in an attempt to identify means to incorporate such technology more routinely inmonitoring and event-response programs. Specifically, the participants were charged to addressthe following: (1) Summarize the state of the art in TUV technologies; (2) Identify how TUVplatforms are used and how they can assist coastal managers in fulfilling their regulatory and managementresponsibilities; (3) Identify barriers and challenges to the application of TUV technologiesin management and research activities, and (4) Recommend a series of community actions toovercome identified barriers and challenges.A series of plenary presentation were provided to enhance subsequent breakout discussions bythe participants. Dave Nelson (University of Rhode Island) provided extensive summaries andreal-world assessment of the operational features of a variety of TUV platforms available in theUNOLs scientific fleet. Dr. Burke Hales (Oregon State University) described the modification ofTUV to provide a novel sampling platform for high resolution mapping of chemical distributionsin near real time. Dr. Sonia Batten (Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Sciences) providedan overview on the deployment of specialized towed vehicles equipped with rugged continuousplankton recorders on ships of opportunity to obtain long-term, basin wide surveys of zooplanktoncommunity structure, enhancing our understanding of trends in secondary production in the upperocean. [PDF contains 32 pages]

Description: NOAA

Description: The Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) convened a Workshop on "Recent Developments in In Situ Nutrient Sensors: Applications and Future Directions" from 11-13 December, 2006. The workshop was held at the Georgia Coastal Center in Savannah, Georgia, with local coordination provided by the ACT partner at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (University System of Georgia). Since its formation in 2000, ACT partners have been conducting workshops on various sensor technologies and supporting infrastructure for sensor systems. This was the first workshop to revisit a topic area addressed previously by ACT.An earlier workshop on the "State of Technology in the Development and Application of Nutrient Sensors" was held in Savannah, Georgia from 10-12 March, 2003. Participants in the first workshop included representatives from management, industry, and research sectors. Among the topics addressed at the first workshop were characteristics of "ideal" in situ nutrient sensors, particularly with regard to applications in coastal marine waters.In contrast, the present workshop focused on the existing commercial solutions. The in situ nutrient sensor technologies that appear likely to remain the dominant commercial options for the next decade are reagent-based in situ auto-analyzers (or fluidics systems) and an optical approach (spectrophotometric measurement of nitrate). The number of available commercial systems has expanded since 2003, and community support for expanded application and further development of these technologies appears warranted. Application in coastal observing systems, including freshwater as well as estuarine and marine environments, was a focus of the present workshop.This included discussion of possible refinements for sustained deployments as part of integrated instrument packages and means to better promote broader use of nutrient sensors in observing system and management applications. The present workshop also made a number of specific recommendations concerning plans for a demonstration of in situ nutrient sensor technologies that ACT will be conducting in coordination with sensor manufacturers.[PDF contains 40 pages]

Description: NOAA

Description: Alliance for Coastal Technologies, CBL/UMCES

Description: The Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) convened a workshop on "Wave Sensor Technologies" in St. Petersburg, Florida on March 7-9, 2007, hosted by the University of South Florida (USF) College of Marine Science, an ACT partner institution. The primary objectives of thisworkshop were to: 1) define the present state of wave measurement technologies, 2) identify the major impediments to their advancement, and 3) make strategic recommendations for future development and on the necessary steps to integrate wave measurement sensors into operationalcoastal ocean observing systems. The participants were from various sectors, including research scientists, technology developers and industry providers, and technology users, such as operational coastal managers and coastal decision makers.Waves consistently are ranked as a critical variable for numerous coastal issues, from maritime transportation to beach erosion to habitat restoration. For the purposes of this workshop, the participants focused on measuring "wind waves" (i.e., waves on the water surface, generated by thewind, restored by gravity and existing between approximately 3 and 30-second periods), although it was recognized that a wide range of both forced and free waves exist on and in the oceans. Also, whereas the workshop put emphasis on the nearshore coastal component of wave measurements, the participants also stressed the importance of open ocean surface waves measurement. Wave sensor technologies that are presently available for both environments include bottom-mounted pressure gauges, surface following buoys, wave staffs, acoustic Doppler current profilers, and shore-based remote sensing radar instruments.One of the recurring themes of workshop discussions was the dichotomous nature of wave data users. The two separate groups, open ocean wave data users and the nearshore/coastal wave data users, have different requirements. Generally, the user requirements increase both in spatial/temporal resolution and precision as one moves closer to shore. Most ocean going mariners areadequately satisfied with measurements of wave period and height and a wave general direction.However, most coastal and nearshore users require at least the first five Fourier parameters ("First 5"): wave energy and the first four directional Fourier coefficients. Furthermore, wave research scientists would like sensors capable of providing measurements beyond the first four Fourier coefficients. It was debated whether or not high precision wave observations in one location cantake the place of a less precise measurement at a different location. This could be accomplished by advancing wave models and using wave models to extend data to nearby areas. However, the consensus was that models are no substitution for in situ wave data.[PDF contains 26 pages]

Description: NOAA

Description: A three day workshop on turbidity measurements was held at the Hawaii Institute of MarineBiology from August 3 1 to September 2, 2005. The workshop was attended by 30 participantsfrom industry, coastal management agencies, and academic institutions. All groups recognizedcommon issues regarding the definition of turbidity, limitations of consistent calibration, and thelarge variety of instrumentation that nominally measure "turbidity." The major recommendations,in order of importance for the coastal monitoring community are listed below:1. The community of users in coastal ecosystems should tighten instrument designconfigurations to minimize inter-instrument variability, choosing a set of specificationsthat are best suited for coastal waters. The IS0 7027 design standard is not tight enough.Advice on these design criteria should be solicited through the ASTM as well as Federaland State regulatory agencies representing the majority of turbidity sensor end users.Parties interested in making turbidity measurements in coastal waters should developdesign specifications for these water types rather than relying on design standards madefor the analysis of drinking water.2. The coastal observing groups should assemble a community database relating output ofspecific sensors to different environmental parameters, so that the entire community ofusers can benefit from shared information. This would include an unbiased, parallel studyof different turbidity sensors, employing a variety of designs and configuration in thebroadest range of coastal environments.3. Turbidity should be used as a measure of relative change in water quality rather than anabsolute measure of water quality. Thus, this is a recommendation for managers todevelop their own local calibrations. See next recommendation.4. If the end user specifically wants to use a turbidity sensor to measure a specific waterquality parameter such as suspended particle concentration, then direct measurement ofthat water quality parameter is necessary to correlate with 'turbidity1 for a particularenvironment. These correlations, however, will be specific to the environment in whichthey are measured. This works because there are many environments in which watercomposition is relatively stable but varies in magnitude or concentration. (pdf contains 22 pages)

Description: NOAA

Description: Alliance for Coastal Technologies, CBL/UMCES

Description: The use of self-contained, low-maintenance sensor systems installed on commercial vessels isbecoming an important monitoring and scientific tool in many regions around the world. Thesesystems integrate data from meteorological and water quality sensors with GPS data into a datastream that is automatically transferred from ship to shore. To begin linking some of this developingexpertise, the Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) and the European Coastal and OceanObserving Technology (ECOOT) organized a workshop on this topic in Southampton, UnitedKingdom, October 10-12, 2006. The participants included technology users, technology developers,and shipping representatives. They collaborated to identify sensors currently employed onintegrated systems, users of this data, limitations associated with these systems, and ways to overcomethese limitations. The group also identified additional technologies that could be employedon future systems and examined whether standard architectures and data protocols for integratedsystems should be established.Participants at the workshop defined 17 different parameters currently being measured by integratedsystems. They identified that diverse user groups utilize information from these systemsfrom resource management agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to localtourism groups and educational organizations. Among the limitations identified were instrumentcompatibility and interoperability, data quality control and quality assurance, and sensor calibrationandlor maintenance frequency. Standardization of these integrated systems was viewed to beboth advantageous and disadvantageous; while participants believed that standardization could bebeneficial on many levels, they also felt that users may be hesitant to purchase a suite of instrumentsfrom a single manufacturer; and that a "plug and play" system including sensors from multiplemanufactures may be difficult to achieve.A priority recommendation and conclusion for the general integrated sensor system communitywas to provide vessel operators with real-time access to relevant data (e.g., ambient temperatureand salinity to increase efficiency of water treatment systems and meteorological data for increasedvessel safety and operating efficiency) for broader system value. Simplified data displaysare also required for education and public outreach/awareness. Other key recommendations wereto encourage the use of integrated sensor packages within observing systems such as 100s andEuroGOOS, identify additional customers of sensor system data, and publish results of previouswork in peer-reviewed journals to increase agency and scientific awareness and confidence in thetechnology.Priority recommendations and conclusions for ACT entailed highlighting the value of integratedsensor systems for vessels of opportunity through articles in the popular press, and marine science. [PDF contains 28 pages]

Description: NOAA

Description: Alliance for Coastal Technologies, CBL/UMCES