Take a look at this article about ocean observation aboard the CMV Oleander these days: https://tos.org/oceanography/article/monitoring-impacts-of-the-gulf-stream-and-its-rings-on-the-physics-chemistry-and-biology-of-the-middle-atlantic-bight-shelf-and-slope-from-cmv-oleander The vessel has become a twice-weekly interdisciplinary observatory scanning the NW Atlantic between New Jersey and Bermuda. Along the route it measures upper ocean currents, surface temperature, salinity and pCO2, documents the make-up of phytoplankton communities, and reports on surface weather in real time. On a monthly schedule it also takes high resolution temperature sections and continuous plankton tows.
The beauty of this system, or its cost-effectiveness if you will, is that with a single set of instruments, the ship scans - simultaneously - at high resolution physical, chemical, and biological properties of the surface ocean as well as upper ocean currents and temperature fields across four different water masses: the shelf, the Slope Sea, the Gulf Stream, and the Sargasso Seas ¬¬– again, all this with a single set of instruments. As we all know, the horizontal dimension is the most difficult one to cover since the dominant scale in the ocean is defined by the radius of deformation, which ranges from <10 km in the Nordic Seas to >100 km in the tropics. Neither research vessels nor Argo floats can scope out oceanic processes operating across these scales on a regular basis; ships in regular service can. While the temporal sampling by vessels in regular traffic is very limited compared to what we are accustomed to with moored instrumentation, this may be a small price to pay if the focus is on longer time scales. Further, with shipboard instrumentation the high-resolution scans of the water column can be reported in near real time - potentially revealing phenomena that might be of interest for further study. In the near future we will have a webpage where the Oleander observations will be posted as soon as they are received. In the meantime, the link at the bottom of this post shows the daily ADCP reports from the Oleander. The main purpose of these automated reports is for us to make sure the instrumentation is ok. What a huge leap forward this is to study the ocean water column in real time. FYI, all earlier data from the Oleander can be found here: https://bios.asu.edu/oleander. You can also contact me for the ADCP data files I have used – all in matlab .mat format.
The Oceanography paper cited above gives the reader a broad yet detailed introduction to the possibilities afforded by Oleander operation. It is, in my view, a peak at the future of how we might conduct ocean study over a wide range of space and time scales. Satellites provide fantastic coverage of the sea surface but not below. They are also challenged by cloud coverage. I know it sounds kind of silly, but I like to think of vessels in regular traffic as satellites ‘orbiting’ earth at sea level scanning the water column underneath.
Given the expanding interest in the ocean and its role central role in all things that matter to us whether it be climate, marine life, shipping, or fisheries, I see a growing need to improve our skills at probing the water column more effectively. Working with the CMV Oleander shows what is possible. Once this kind of thinking becomes more widely recognized across the oceanographic communities, I have little doubt we will explore and develop sensing systems optimized for use in the merchant marine world. For example, to profile currents at greater depths, and to concurrently profile temperature, salinity, and other properties so we can quantify their fluxes. Why not consider lidar or other techniques to profile particulates in the water column? In short, we need to think more aggressively about how we can work with the merchant marine to scope out a very dynamic water column and its variability over time. I should have posted this two days ago on Ocean Day!
Please let us know if you have any questions, thoughts, or suggestions about the project.
https://currents.soest.hawaii.edu/oleander/oleander-150-38/figures/os150-os38-unprocessed-full-secions/os150nb/index.html