Autonomous Ocean Sampling Network II (AOSN-II): System Engineering and Project Coordination

Abstract : The long-term goals of this project are to design and build and Adaptive Coupled Observation/ Modeling Prediction system. The system will use oceanographic models to assimilate data from a variety of platforms and sensors to provide synoptic views of oceanographic fields, fluxes, and dynamical processes. The system will adapt assets and sampling strategies to enhance system performance and optimize detection and measurement of fields and features of particular interest. We refer to such a system as an Autonomous Ocean Sampling Network (AOSN). The work described below is the product of a collaboration of research groups at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), Harvard University, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the Naval Postgraduate School-Monterey (NPS), the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), the Naval Research Lab- Monterey (NRL-MRY), the Naval Research Lab-Stennis (NRL-Stennis), Princeton University, California Institute of Technology-Pasadena (Cal Tech), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC), the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Maine, and the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HOBI). System engineering and project coordination efforts are discussed most fully here. Major components of the collaboration were funded separately and covered in greater detail in separate annual reports.