Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/D000912/1
The need for an international network of Coastal Observing Systems: facilitating good practice worldwide (INCOS)
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Mr MJ Howarth, Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr R Proctor, University of Tasmania, Centre for Marine Science
- Science Area:
- Marine
- Overall Classification:
- Marine
- ENRIs:
- Pollution and Waste
- Natural Resource Management
- Global Change
- Science Topics:
- Water Quality
- Biogeochemical Cycles
- Land - Ocean Interactions
- Technol. for Environ. Appl.
- Abstract:
- Most human-ocean interactions, including fish harvesting, recreation, and marine related threats to life and property, occur in the seas close to the coast. Worldwide, the need for continual awareness of changes taking place in these coastal seas is focusing major interest on Coastal Observatories. These are sustained measurement systems relaying data in real-time from the sea that enable us to not only observe the coastal ocean but to address questions not previously possible / are computer models correctly reproducing the events we are observing now and if not, why not? Moreover, unlike the traditional one-off observation campaigns, observatories 'raise the game' of the study of coastal seas to provide the sustained, continuous, systematic, timely, data streams necessary to tackle questions about change and variability in coastal sea systems at the heart of the global climate change science agenda. A fundamental objective for all Coastal Observatories is to obtain long time series of systematic, multi-disciplinary, integrated measurements on a variety of space and time scales. As well as allowing quantification of seasonal cycles and year-to-year variability, these time series will enable tackling of a key issue - estimation of the importance of events, such as storms, high / low river discharge, plankton blooms, versus mean conditions. Such Observatories are now technically feasible and are beginning to be developed worldwide, especially in the United States. In the UK the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory is leading the development of a pilot Coastal Observatory which is at the forefront of European advances, consisting of an observational programme, integrated with computer models, with the results from both freely accessible on the internet, (http://cobs.pol.ac.uk), We propose a 3 year programme, starting immediately (September 2005 or sooner), to coordinate the exchange of Coastal Observatory technology. The programme will act as a conduit within the UK for the shared knowledge important to harmonize UK Coastal Observatories; and to share our experience with the rest of the international community so that the UK benefits from expertise elsewhere and UK science is promulgated worldwide. The proposal has three mechanisms for exchange. 1) Workshops: An international workshop in the first year will be arranged. This will stimulate the initial exchange between the UK community and elsewhere. In the second year a European workshop will explore the development of pan-European observatories. In the third year a second international workshop will be held to address the progress observatories are making in the systematic science needed for underpinning marine management. 2) Short exchange visits: We feel that 2-week visits by UK scientists and engineers to gain an appreciation of required techniques or technologies is a vital component of observatory development. Whilst at present UK observatories employ distributed systems the US (for example) emphasis is on cabled observatories. The benefits of one system or the other are best explored through 'on the ground' experience. Younger scientists will figure in these exchange visits. 3) A web-based directory of observatories and a discussion area: The establishment of a full international directory of observatories with appropriate meta data and contact information, regularly updated. The construction of a discussion area where requests for information and shared experiences (for example) can be posted.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/D000912/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Directed Pre FEC
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- IOF
This grant award has a total value of £180,713
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Staff | Total - T&S | Total - Other Costs | Total - Equipment | Total - Indirect Costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £21,529 | £130,138 | £15,616 | £3,525 | £9,904 |
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