Enhanced data harvesting from in situ ocean-observing systems

摘要

Responsive global-scale climate modeling and forecasting require comprehensive and timely data retrieval from observational networks. Satellite-based remote sensing has revolutionized oceanography, but the kinds of data that can be collected is limited. Most measurement buoys return at most a few thousand bytes of data per day. The harvest of data from in situ platforms must increase by orders of magnitude if scientists are ever to understand the complexities of the Earth's climate. We report on the results of a NASA SBIR-funded effort to develop an advanced buoy platform and an enhanced data-transmission system, with the potential of returning at least 500 kilobytes/day of data from each buoy. The communications link is two way, allowing researchers to send commands to the remote system to alter its operation at any time. The ability to retrieve large amounts of data in real-enough time will change the way remote oceanographic data collection is done.