Marine & Aquatic Sensor Arrays

Ken Johnson

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Research Institute

• Sustained, Integrated Ocean

Observing Networks

• Observatories Network Issues

• Biogeochemical

Sensor Systems

General Outline:

Ocean Observatories InitiativeOcean Observatories Initiative Approved by the National Science Board for a Future NSF Budget

Includes:

Coastal Observatories

Plate Scale Observatory

Global Mooring Observatory

Partners

University of Washington

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

National Aeronautics & Space Administration, JPL

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

NEPTUNE Canada (IPOST)

MARS (the Monterey Accelerated Research System). A cabled observatory in Monterey Bay built with NEPTUNE infrastructure as a proof of concept.

Tropical Atmosphere Ocean project

Real-time data from moored ocean buoys for improved

detection, understanding and prediction of El Niño and La Niña.

Issues - • Existing ocean observing systems such as TAO & ARGO deal with relatively simple data sets of well known format - e.g. vertical T & Salinity profiles.

• New sensors cannot be easily fit into the platform or data system.

• Data transmission from unattended platforms in the middle of the ocean is a problem.

ARGO Global Profiling

Drifter Array

Temp. & Salinity of Ocean Interior

E.g., the MBARI OASIS System - Now two moorings in Monterey Bay & two in the equatorial Pacific.

M2M1

MBARI OASIS

Moorings

The OASIS moorings communicate by ARGOS, microwave or packet radio.

Adding new sensors becomes a large software configuration issue, particularly for complicated sensors.

M1 Mooring Configuration Schedule

• 07/03 Initial configuration meeting

• 08/02 Final science list

• 08/03 Evaluate configuration

• 08/04 Instruments on hand for testing

• 08/07 Assemble instruments & configure - 5 days

• 08/14 Configure software - 15 days

• 09/04 Software test - 5 days

• 09/11 Close controller and install - 5 days

• 09/19 Complete system test - 5 days

• 09/28 Data download test - 1 day

• 10/04 Deploy mooring & cross your fingers

Software Infrastructure for the MBARI Ocean Observing

System

Tom O’Reilly

Duane Edgington

MOOS software

• Application software for sensors, user interfaces, databases, etc.

• Distributed applications are “glued” together by smart network infrastructure

Smart network

• Self-organizing; applications are notified by infrastructure when network configuration changes– E.g., database ingest engine always “aware” of

available sensors

• Enables automatic configuration, remote control, and autonomous coordination of sensors

Network configuration

• “Just plug the sensor in, and it works!”

• Easily replace, remove, or add a new kind of sensor

• Remote update of sensor’s driver software

• Minimal configuration effort by human operators lower maintenance cost

Leading technology candidates

• CORBA

• Java - JINI

• LonWorks

• Universal Plug-n-Play

What kind of data will we assimilate in global observing systems?

• Physical, geophysical observations (T, S, seismicity) - generally sensors are mature.

• Chemical - nutrients (nitrate, phosphate, iron), gases (carbon dioxide, oxygen) - sensors exist but have not gone commercial.

• Biological - bio-optical systems are mature, but not very specific. DNA based systems are beginning to appear.

In Situ Ultraviolet Spectrophotometry

Measurement of pCO2 from Moorings:

Gernot FriederichPeter WalzMike BurzcynskiFrancisco Chavezall at MBARI

El Niño / La Niña Cycle in Monterey BayP

CO

2 (s

ea -

air

) a

tm

Tem

pera

ture

DNA Based Detection of Phytoplankton Species Using the Environmental Sample

Processor (ESP)

• Chris Scholin

• Roman Marin

• Gene Massion

• all at MBARI

NOTE: The entire phytoplankton standing stock of the ocean turns over each 4 days on average!

+

Solid Supportwith

Capture Probe

Colored Productor

Chemiluminescence

ASignal enzyme (E)

conjugated to avidin (A)

Sandwich of

Capture Probe : Analyte : Signal Probe

Captured Target Analyte Biotinytated Signal Probe

Probe Hybridization

ColorlessSubstrate

Target

E

reporter haptenvisualization

< 1 hr.

Non-Target

CompleteAssay

wash

hybridize

wash

hybridize

Detection of Target Species in Sample Homogenates

Sandwich hybridization bioassay of rRNA in phytoplankton

Iron (nM) Pseudo-nitzschia australis (cells/L)

Does iron regulate toxic plankton blooms (e.g., Wells et al., Evaluation of iron as a triggering factor for red

tide blooms. MEPS, 69, 93, 1991)?

MOOS will be operational in 2003 for biogeochemical studies.