image: This map shows the location of open ocean observatories belonging to the EuroSITES network. view more
Credit: EuroSITES/NOC
In May 2010, the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) joins forces with the UK Met Office to enhance ocean monitoring at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain sustained observatory (PAP-SO), the longest multidisciplinary open-ocean time-series observatory in Europe. This collaboration should both advance scientific understanding of the ocean and improve climate prediction.
The PAP-SO is located in the North Atlantic off the Irish continental margin, where the water depth exceeds 4000 metres. With over 20 years of time-series research, it has grown from an environmental study site established in 1989 to become an important focus for international, multidisciplinary scientific research and monitoring.
The PAP-SO is currently operated by the NOC. It is one of nine key ocean observatories across Europe in the EuroSITES network and is part of the OceanSITES international network of deep-water reference stations.
A memorandum of understanding between the NOC and the Met Office will affirm the vision for sustained observations at the PAP site beyond 2010.
'We are delighted with the collaboration with the UK Met Office because it marks the first collaboration between the NOC and Met Office at the PAP site since the relocation of the Met Office marine engineering team to the NOC in Southampton in 2008,' explains PAP-SO co-Principal Investigator Professor Richard Lampitt of the NOC.
Infrastructure already established at the PAP-SO since 2002 includes mooring lines and sensors. Ocean data are transmitted to shore within hours of collection and are sent as daily deliveries to global data assembly centres.
This year, the Met Office will supply an Ocean Data Acquisition System (ODAS) surface buoy with sensors to measure air pressure, air and sea temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, wave height and period. This will enable the first simultaneous monitoring of meteorological and ocean variables at the site.
The buoy has been modified from the standard Met Office design to accommodate additional observing equipment to receive and transmit, in real time, subsurface observations, which will be used by operational ocean forecasting models run by the Met Office. They will also be used by NOC scientists to assess variability and long-term changes in the ocean properties.
"We have wanted to deploy a moored buoy at the PAP site to provide meteorological information to complement subsurface measurements made by the NOC to better meet the requirements for climate monitoring, and to benefit scientific interpretation of data from the PAP," says Jon Turton of the Met Office: "This is just the start of the Met Office and NOC working more closely for mutual benefit."
The collaboration forms part of ongoing developments to the PAP-SO infrastructure, funded principally by the UK's Natural Environment research Council (NERC), with additional funding from the European Union.
Enhancements during 2010 include adding oxygen and sunlight sensors to the existing suite of upper-ocean biogeochemical sensors. The scientists are also developing near real-time data transmission from the abyssal seafloor via acoustic telemetry from a lander and digital time-lapse camera system.
These developments along with the Met Office collaboration contribute further to establishing the PAP-SO as a key internationally renowned ocean observatory. The site is an integral part of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) contributing to the Group on Earth Observations (GEO).
The May 2010 deployment will take place onboard the Royal Research Ship James Clark Ross during a research cruise from Vigo, Spain, to Immingham, UK (25 May – 6 June).
The full deployment and science activities will be followed with a live blog through the EuroSITES outreach website: http://outreach.eurosites.info/cruises/
Contacts:
Dr Rory Howlett
Media and Communications Officer
National Oceanography Centre
Tel. +44 (0) 23 8059 8490
Email: r.howlett@noc.soton.ac.uk
Richard Lampitt: rsl@noc.soton.ac.uk (NOC P.I. on JR221 cruise)
Jon Turton: jon.turton@metoffice.gov.uk (Met Office UK)
Kate Larkin: kel1@noc.soton.ac.uk (NOC: project manager for PAP)
Lise Cronne: lise.cronne@oceanopolis.com (outreach coordinator for EuroSITES)
Additional links:
http://www.eurosites.info/index.php
http://www.oceansites.org/
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/science/creating/daysahead/ocean/
www.modoo.info
http://earthobservations.org/
The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is a new, national research organisation that went live from 1 April this year. The NOC will work in partnership with the UK marine research community to deliver integrated marine science and technology from the coast to the deep ocean
The NOC brings together into a single institution NERC-managed activity at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, and the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory in Liverpool. The NOC will work in close partnership with the wider marine science community to create the integrated research capability needed to tackle the big environmental issues facing the world. Research priorities will include the oceans' role in climate change, sea-level change and the future of the Arctic Ocean.
The Met Office is the UK's National Weather Service, providing 24x7 world-renowned scientific excellence in weather, climate and environmental forecasts and severe weather warnings for the protection of life and property.