Research Progress on Ocean Observations Technology and Information Systems

Dear Colleagues,

The oceans play a crucial role in the global ecosystem for shaping climate and weather trends, water management and health, and the biogeochemical cycles, representing valuable sources of oil, food, minerals and renewable energy. Although increasingly mature marine observation technologies have been developed during recent decades for a better understanding of the oceans, the new advances of existing operational observing systems have been constrained by limited cooperation and interaction between the managers of existing ocean networks on earth as well as between the observing units. Furthermore, the development of smart in situ marine sensors to be integrated into existing fixed units (such as landers and mooring buoys) as well as in mobile units (such as AUVs, ROVs, ships of opportunity, marine drones, Argo floats and gliders) are under development in the frame of various European and international projects. In recent years, a lot of progress has been made for the Ocean Observation Technologies and Information Systems by developing cost effective and miniaturized sensing devices with very low power consumption that would be directly integrated as a “plug and play” operational mode in existing sensor networks. Additionally, a lot of effort has been made to develop acoustic communication methods and modules to transmit the data from the deep ocean as well as cellular systems for transmitting the data of the marine sensors in near real-time mode using 4G/5G protocols (especially in coastal areas). In order to improve the processes that take place globally in the oceans (such as weather monitoring and forecasting, climate variability, sea level rise, natural hazards, ocean acidification, health of the ocean, pollution and ecosystem functioning, energy, economic development and coastal management, public safety, security, training and education), new research is ongoing to improve and optimize infrastructures and updated models at the international level. The state-of-the-art in situ marine sensors with the capability to be easily integrated into ocean platforms combined with innovative communication and information systems for real-time data transmission will emerge as new features of both forecasting methods and smart emergency systems to protect humans.

Dr. Christos Tsabaris
Dr. Gabriele Pieri
Guest Editors

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Title: The integration of a medium resolution underwater radioactivity system in the COSYNA observing system at the Helgoland Island, Germany
Authors: Christos Tsabaris; Stylianos Alexakis; Miriam Lienkämper; Markus Brand; Dionysis L. Patiris; Manolis Ntoumas; Philipp Fischer2
Affiliation: Hellenic center for Marine Research, Institute of Oceanography; Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Centre for Scientific Diving ###co-authored with AWI###
Abstract: The continuous monitoring of radioactivity in the oceans is crucial to identify potential incidences due to accident or blasts as well as due to various phenomena that may take place due to climate change and natural hazards. Effective monitoring provided in a continuous basis the type of the radioactive contaminant as well as the activity concentration of radionuclides in different matrices in the ocean environment. The spatial and temporal monitoring is performed using in-situ methods combined with low consumption detection systems that are enough tolerant for ocean conditions, while the data transmission is performed using wireless or on line methods. In the frame of RADCONNECT project, the integration of a medium resolution underwater radioactivity system was integrated in an existing cabled ocean observatory placed in Helgoland Island. The system operated in an online mode controlled by the operational Centre (AWI) as well as from the end-user (HCMR). The system provided gamma-ray spectra and activity concentration of key radionuclides that were enriched in the sediment as well as in the seawater during the monitoring period. The data analysis proved that the system had a stable operation in terms of voltage stability so that all acquired spectra could be integrated effectively in time to produce high statistically gamma-ray spectra for further analysis.

Title: Using a new generation design Passive Aquatic Listener - Spotter for the Quantifying Physical Processes in the Marine Environment
Authors: Panagiotis Mitsopoulos, Marios N. Anagnostou*, Michalis Kyriakou, Andreas Koras, Pena Mendez Malaquias, and Emmanouil Anagnostou
Affiliation: Ionian University, Department of Informatics,
Abstract: the marine environment and the oceans are exposed to many physical processes including the continuously increased noise/sound levels and transients created from human activities. Some of these anthropogenic sound sources are shipping and the building of foundations for offshore construction projects (such as oil drilling and windfarms). A lot of effort is given to study the impact of the anthropogenic noise/sound levels on species that inhabit the marine environment. Underwater noise is an important aspect of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), which aims to achieve good environmental status (GES) of the European marine environment. Noise has been defined by the MSFD as sound that causes negative effects to the marine life or as a pollutant to the ocean environment and it focuses on energy inputs for ocean noise from underwater sound. These sounds are often recognizable by their spectral or temporal characteristics. By training an underwater passive recorder, named Passive Aquatic Listener (PAL) to listen and classify the sound source and then quantify them to physical variables, can be made in real time, and reported as interpreted data, rather than just sound levels. These measured sounds are interpreted as, for example, wind speed, precipitation, sea ice type and flow rate. The PAL and SOFAR's Spotter buoy integrated for a first time to form a real-time data transmitter system to monitor these physical environmental variables. The Spotter is a solar powered surface buoy with multi-sensor and data transmission capabilities. The novelty of this coupled hybrid system relies upon combining a low-cost, state-of-the-art passive acoustic sensor with near real‐time data processing and transmission while providing deployment flexibility. Furthermore, the system's low power consumption and maintenance allow long-term monitoring. The underwater acoustic data are sent to the surface through SOFAR's Smart Mooring line. The detected and classified acoustic data are transmitted along with the Spotter's oceanographic observations in real-time to SOFAR's API via a cellular network. The PAL-Spotter system and its capabilities and data are intended to supplement observational information to the Southern New England region's offshore wind farm construction operations. Indicatively, this work demonstrates that remote acoustic monitoring of the ocean environment will produce quantitative measurements of physical processes that will be continuous, in near real time, and from times and locations where it is difficult or impossible to make such measurements by more conventional methods.

Title: Flying robots teach floating robots – A machine learning approach for marine habitat mapping based on combined datasets
Author: Chatzinikolaou
Highlights: • Unmanned aerial (UAVs) and surface (USVs) vehicles can be used for the study of coastal and marine environments • UAV photogrammetry reveals the sea bottom composition in high quality in shallow waters • Acoustic methodologies such as USVs equipped with multibeam echosounders have better propagation properties in deeper waters.