Ocean monitoring system 'vital to mankind'

Paul Eccleston, Telegraph 25 Nov 07;

A monitoring system for the world's oceans is vital for the future of mankind, according to an international group of scientists.

They are urging support for a £1.5bn marine monitoring system to be built within 10 years.

Warming seas, over-fishing and pollution pose threats which have to be constantly measured and monitored, according to the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO).

The scientists say an integrated ocean observation system would quickly pay for itself by providing early warning of storms, including tsunamis, safer maritime operations and conservation of fish stocks as well as collecting the vital signs of the ocean needed to monitor climate change.

The call comes as officials from 71 countries gather in Cape Town for the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) conference.

The meeting will review progress and map out the next steps in a 10-year effort to build a ground-based, ocean-drifting, air-borne and space-based Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) to monitor all of Earth's environmental conditions.

Dr Tony Haymet, Director, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, USA, and Chair of POGO's Executive Committee, said: "A system for ocean observing and forecasting that covers the world's oceans and their major uses can reduce growing risks, protect human interests and monitor the health of our precious oceans.

"The world community resolved to construct a comprehensive, integrated ocean observing system two decades ago. The good news is we have demonstrated that a global ocean observing system can be built, deployed and operated with available technologies.

"Now we must move from experiment and proof-of-concept to routine use. We have progressed less than halfway to our initial goals. Let's complete the task before we are struck by more tsunamis or comparable calamities."

The monitoring system would involve the expansion of such systems as:
# a stable network of satellites surveying vast extents of the surface of the oceans;
# fixed stations taking continuous measurements on the seafloor or as floats and buoys moored in the water column and at the surface;
# small robot submarine ocean monitors, some drifting with the currents, others motoring along programmed routes;
# marine animals ingeniously outfitted with electronic tags that equip them to capture and transmit data about the environments they visit;
# merchant marine and research vessels observing and taking measurements along their routes.

There are already 3,000 small, drifting "Argo" probes that measure pressure, salinity and temperatures at depths of up to 2kms but POGO says up to 10 times as many are needed to produce a high-resolution global picture of marine conditions.

Field testing is underway of 'air-clippers' - atmosphere and ocean surface sensors tethered to balloons. From these scientists have been able to measure atmospheric and ocean measurements from within the eye of a strong cyclone where the balloons become trapped.

Robot submarines are also used to record life and conditions in ocean deeps but scientists say they have barely scratched the surface with the resources available.

They have also tagged more than 2,000 marine animals who travel into the deep oceans including elephant seals, white sharks, leatherback turtles, squid and albatross. Elephant seals, spend 10 months at sea and dive up to 1.5 km below the ocean surface.

Light, depth, temperature and salinity data measured by the tags is transmitted via satellite as the creatures travel. This helps reveal diversity hot-spots, fish nurseries and migratory routes that need protection.

Across the earth's equatorial region 50 moored buoys have been deployed to measure temperature, currents, waves and winds, salinity, carbon dioxide, allowing scientists to study the signs of and predict destructive weather patterns such as El Niño.

Scientists say four times as many are needed to create more uniform coverage. Some areas have no sampling stations at all.

Pressure gauges deployed near shore and on the deep seafloor help detect both sea level rise and tsunamis. The deep-sea operation involves a surface buoy to receive the information from below and relay it to ground stations via satellite.

There were six Deep Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) stations, all of them deployed in the Pacific, at the time of the earthquake and devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004. An additional 32 DART buoys were soon announced, including stations in the Indian, Caribbean and Atlantic oceans.

The scientists also want to see more satellites which provide a high-altitude window on marine characteristics such as sea surface roughness, temperature, currents, ice cover and shifting meadow-like areas where marine plants grow.

"Oceans cover a majority of our planet - 71 per cent - yet are vastly under-sampled," said Dr Haymet. "We have an urgent need and new technological marvels available today to complete a system by which marine scientists could authoritatively diagnose and anticipate changing global ocean conditions - something akin to the system that enables meteorologists to predict weather.

"A continuous, integrated ocean observing system will return the investment many times over in safer maritime operations, storm damage mitigation, and conservation of living marine resources, as well as collecting the vital signs of the ocean that are needed to monitor climate change.

"The information gleaned will improve understanding of plankton blooms, fish migrations, changing ocean conditions, climate change, underwater volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and the processes that cause them, and help warn of approaching tsunamis."

Scientists urge $2-3 billion study of ocean health
Alister Doyle, Reuters Yahoo News 25 Nov 07;

Marine scientists called on Sunday for a $2-3 billion study of threats such as overfishing and climate change to the oceans, saying they were as little understood as the Moon.

A better network of satellites, tsunami monitors, drifting robotic probes or electronic tags on fish within a decade could also help lessen the impact of natural disasters, pollution or damaging algal blooms, they said.

"This is not pie in the sky ... it can be done," said Tony Haymet, director of the U.S. Scripps Institution of Oceanography and chairman of the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO).

He told Reuters that a further $2-3 billion would roughly match amounts already invested in ocean research, excluding more costly satellites. New technologies were cheaper and meant worldwide monitoring could now be possible.

"Silicon Valley has come to the oceans," said Jesse Ausubel, a director of the Census of Marine Life that is trying to describe life in the seas.

"Lots of cheap disposable devices can now be distributed throughout the oceans, in some cases on animals, in some cases on the sea floor, others drifting about," he told Reuters.

POGO wants the 72-nation Group on Earth Observations (GEO), meeting in Cape Town from November 28-30, to consider its appeal for a $2-3 billion study of the oceans as part of a wider effort to improve understanding of the planet by 2015.

GEO is seeking to link up scientific observations of the planet to find benefits for society in areas including energy, climate, agriculture, biodiversity, water supplies and weather.

MOON

The ocean "has been relatively ignored" compared to land or the atmosphere, said Howard Roe, a director emeritus of the British National Oceanography Centre and former chairman of POGO.

"It's a hoary phrase that we know more about the surface of the moon than the deep ocean. It's true. The oceans are virtually unexplored," he told Reuters.

Among ocean projects, POGO wants to raise the number of drifting robotic probes, know as "Argos" and which measure conditions driving climate change, to 30,000 from 3,000 now.

And the scientists said they wanted to expand a network of electronic tagging of fish to understand migrations and give clues to over-fishing.

"By my estimates for $50-60 million a year the world could have a global system, an ocean tracking network that could follow sharks from Cape Town to Perth or follow tuna from Miami to Southampton, Ausubel said.

And better monitoring of the oceans could give more advance warnings of storms, such as a November 15 cyclone that struck Bangladesh and killed 3,500 people. It could also send tsunami alerts -- the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami killed up to 230,000 people.

"2012 will be the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic. I think Captain Smith would be disappointed by the continuing hesitation to firm up our ocean observing system," Ausubel said.
(Editing by Charles Dick)


Better ocean monitoring 'vital'
BBC News 25 Nov 07

The call for action has been made by the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (Pogo), which includes many of the world's leading oceanographic research centres.

A delegation of Pogo members will make their case at the annual ministerial meeting of the international Group on Earth Observations (Geo) in Cape Town, South Africa.

Ten-year plan

Tony Haymet, chairman of the Pogo's executive committee, said the international community had agreed to "construct a comprehensive, integrated ocean observing system two decades ago".

But he added that the venture was less than half completed.

"The good news is that we have demonstrated that a global ocean observing system can be built, deployed and operated with available technologies," said Dr Haymet, director of the US's Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

"Now we must move from experiment and proof-of-concept to routine use. Let's complete the task before we are struck by more tsunamis or comparable calamities."

According to Pogo, completing such a system over the next 10 years would cost an estimated $2-3bn (£1-1.5bn), and would include:

* A network of satellites - to survey the oceans' vast surfaces
* Fixed monitoring stations - for continuous measurements on the sea bed, water columns and surface
* Small robot submarines - some will drift with ocean currents, while others will follow pre-determined routes
* Tagging - electronic devices will relay information about the areas marine animals visit
* Research vessels - to be used for scientific surveys

The scientists say a better understanding of how the oceans behave would have a range of benefits, from improving short-term forecasting of potentially devastating storms and hurricanes, to the possible impact of warming waters on marine and coastal ecologies.

"Marine scientists could authoritatively diagnose and anticipate changing global ocean conditions - something akin to the system that enables meteorologists to predict weather," Dr Haymet explained.

The Pogo delegation will present its case on Friday to the GEO ministerial meeting, which will review progress on the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) and agree a roadmap for the coming decade.