UK Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS)

The Met Office has had a commitment to operational oceanography for many years , running operational storm surge models and global and European wave models. Through the on-going development and operational implementation of the Forecasting Ocean-Assimilation Model (FOAM), it also meets requirements for analysis and forecasting of the global ocean in depth. Since June 2000 a shelf-seas model has also been run operationally on a daily basis. The model was developed by the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (POL) and brought to operational status by the Met Office (Ocean Applications branch). The model is run to produce real-time predictions, out to two days ahead, of the density and current structure over the North-west European shelf and at the shelf break. Further information on these operational modelling systems, together with the development of ocean models for seasonal and climate prediction is available on the Met Office website. Lists of Met Office global and regional products and services for GOOS and EuroGOOS are also available.

POL has been involved with the CEFAS Lowestoft Laboratory in studies of the movement of water from the Arctic through the EU supported VEINS project. There are plans for a successor project (ASOF-W). As with the Drake Passage project, POL is responsible for the inverted echo sounders, bottom pressure and sea level recording and CEFAS for the deployment of current meter arrays. POL is also currently engaged, together with the FRS laboratory in Aberdeen and others in Norway, Faroes, Sweden and France, in an EC Framework Programme, Monitoring the Atlantic Inflow towards the Arctic (MAIA)

Phase 1 of MAIA, consisting mainly of analysing historic data sets on sea-level, currents and bottom pressure, is nearly complete. Phase 2 is a validation study along sections in the Barents Sea and between Shetland and Iceland, to verify the system can give records of sufficient accuracy and resolution. Phase 3 will include evaluation of the effect of external influences and ice studies. Eventually it is expected that the programme will contribute to GOOS through EuroGOOS.

In addition to the instrument development activities being undertaken via SAHFOS two other initiatives are underway. Chelsea Instruments are continuing to develop the HYTOV towed vehicle. It is designed to undulate between 5 and 35m, to be towed at speeds of 8-20 knots from SOPs and to operate in sea states up to 5-6. It has been designed with EuroGOOS needs in mind and can carry a variety of instrumentation packages including the CPR. 2 new instruments have been developed for HYTOV and EuroGOOS application. The autonomous Plankton sampler (APS) is a modern replacement for the CPR. A common hydrodynamic design ensures compatibility with the existing CPR records and flexibility in design enables use on board ships and moorings. The Minipack is a compact CTD-fluorimeter package designed for use on towed vehicles to augment the CPR and APS data sets. The EuroGOOS Office has been kept informed of all developments.

The CEFAS Lowestoft Laboratory has developed automated sampling, measuring and recording equipment capable of operating at pre-set intervals or when particular types of events occur e.g. high suspended solids loads such as might occur with an algal bloom, storm or trawl disturbance of the seabed etc. This SMART equipment can be mounted on buoys or seabed landers. SMART buoys are currently operating at two NMMP sites and a further one is operational together with a minipod bottom lander near Noordwijk in collaboration with Rijkswaterstaat. The Noordwijk deployment allows sediment related process measurements and multi-depth water quality measurements. Data from all three SMART buoy locations (Warp Anchorage, Outer Gabbard and Noordwijk) are available in near real-time at www.cefas.co.uk/monitoring

A new DEFRA-sponsored consortium programme has started which will fit the instrumentation to an existing Met Office buoy and deploy a second buoy with profiling capability alongside. The consortium is led by Queens University Belfast (QUB) and members include CEFAS, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs for Northern Ireland (DARDNI), Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory (DML) and the Met Office. A wide range of water column properties will be measured and all data will be transmitted in near real time and made available via the web.

DEFRA has now funded phase 2 of the UK Deep Water Observing System (DWOS), a pilot programme which will fit the instrumentation to an existing Met Office buoy and deploying a second buoy profiling capability alongside. The work will be undertaken by the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), DARDNI and the Met Office. A wide range of water column properties will be measured and all data will be available in near real time and made available via the web. SAMS along with the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge, is deploying data buoys in both Arctic and Antarctic marginal ice zones as part of a NERC-funded study into the mechanisms of sea-ice formation and its influence on climate variability.