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Robotic Science Network Watches Our Oceans
Roland Piquepaille writes "I bet most of you have never heard about Argo, an ambitious scientific project about the observation of our oceans. This project is endorsed by 18 countries and just reached a milestone: there are today more than 1,500 robotic floats reporting about salinity changes or predicting El Niño events, among other ones. This news release from the University of California at San Diego says that the Argo floats, which are autonomous ocean-traveling robots programmed to sink more than a mile below the ocean surface, are helping scientists all over the world to look at the future of our whole planet. And in 2007, when the deployment is completed, 3,000 underwater robots will help us to better understand the changes in our climate. You'll find more details, pictures and references in this overview."
I can hear the screams now! Wait, no you cant.
There is no sig
Screw the oceans, make them WiMax repeaters and build a global wireless network.
Glog!
Awesome, looking forward to "Ghost In the Sea Shell"
Electrons are free; it is moving them that becomes expensive.
This seems like an awfully small number since 2/3 of the earth's surface is covered in water. I mean these robots will give us a start, but for more reliable data this number seems to need to be drastically increased. I wonder what their plans are for expansion. Or do they have some technique that can help extrapolate between the gaps. The ocean seems too complex and too unknown to cover with so few robots.
Philosophy.
Now if only we had as many Standards Based land based weather observatories/robots, this would make NOAA much more precise (it is already very acurate with its predictions, just a higher level of precision would be nice, rather than each 'site' covering a 50 mile radius (or more).
Video Production Support
This is that bastard organisation that predicted that global warming would actually make the UK colder..
if an early reader wouldnt mind mirroring the animation on the site , it does describe the project effectively , and shows how a network of 3000 buoys can cover the globe evenly. if at the expense of 26megs avi ...
- First, they save themselves a shipload of money in preventing the problems.
- Second, they are the guys that will clean up the mess afterwards, for proper rewarding of course.
- They will even be called heroes and nobody will ever disagree with their methods.
BTW the same filosophy applies to another ``global problem'': terrorism.We have to find a way of unmasking these criminals. They do have a name, the ``neo-conservatives.''
I think it just might be you that did not wach "The day after tomorrow" with its weather and saline bouys.
.. does that count? ;)
I wish I *didn't* watch it .
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
"Argo floats, which are [...] programmed to sink"
Oh, yeah, that makes sense.
See also Argo.net.
I hope they have some kind of weapon to kill the sharks with frickin' laser beams on their heads...
Too much Law; not enough Order.
It has to be said. For reasons I cannot understand, the editors continue to allow roland to post links to his half assed summary of another story in order to generate traffic for his blog. It's horrible to think that we're all providing revenue for this person. Visit google's cache of his page here and don't click on any of the ads. Perhaps in the future, the editors should give a little thought before helping this guy out again.
Another project I work on makes /.; go figure. Here are some better links.
The US Global Data Center for the Argo project.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst. Argo page. This includes links to data profiles and other info.
WHOI's realtime data grapher allows you to see where the floats are, where they have been, find a float in any region WHOI monitors, etc.
Also check out the Argo Information Center and their Global Float Map. (The WHOI one tends to be faster if you are only interested in the Atlantic)
A plague upon BOTH of your houses! Two completely different parties that want the same thing: living peacefully and happily. Yet neither recognizes the good in the other, instead resorting to labeling the other as extreme.
The reference to Gaia and animal skins speaks profoundly of the understanding you have of your opponent - rather, the lack of understanding or acceptance. There are some very good ideas on both sides of this fence - don't dismiss one just because it is unfamilar to you. The desire to drive "big engine" cars eludes me completely. Perhaps it is because I am comfortable with who I am and do not feel the need to attract attention or "respect" with large machinery. I highly doubt most people need to haul around enough stuff to justify owning a large vehicle. Hence the only other reason for owning such a large vehicle is for social purposes.
Wanting to reduce our impact (or change on the planet as you call it) has never involved animal skin or worshiping some Gaia. It involves being responsible (something I hope resonates with ALL republicans since there is seems to be an emphasis on personal accountability within the party, which is a good thing), and being responsible to living responsibly. It is exceptionally greedy and immature of you to imagine the US can maintain our current consumption level of the worlds resources without serious repercussions.
On a side note, here's a brain teaser for you: George Bush was convicted of at least 2 DWI's in his youth and had a somnewhat rough early adulthood. He is now a born again Christian, which is a good thing. BUT he supports the death penalty, essentially saying that others are not able to reform themselves as he has reformed. Hypocritical does not even begin to describe this mentality.
I think it just might be you that did not wach "The day after tomorrow" with its weather and saline bouys.
Unfortunately I did see it (and hence paid money towards the producers and screen writers). What I remember was that the guy next to me was complaining that the bouy id'ents were wrong for the Grand Banks and the "normal" Gulf Stream was moving backwards. Not to mention the physics problems with the rate of freezing mentioned (ending up at/below absolute zero in a few minutes).
I've haven't seen a Argo bouy yet.
Imagine how many jobs this could have provided for people! WHY GOD WHY!?
You're nothing; like me.