Abstract
Abstract A new concept of oceanographic data buoy is described, which couples a taut mooring and a “transparent-to-swell” superstructure, and is specifically designed for the collection of radiometric quantities in offshore environments. The design of the thin superstructure addresses two major requirements: stabilizing the instruments in the water column and avoiding shading them. The development of the buoy is described, starting with the theoretical assessment and then describing the various stages of development leading to the latest version of the mooring and buoy. Its performance at sea is also analyzed. This new platform has been deployed in the deep waters (>2400 m) of the northwestern Mediterranean Sea for about 4 yr (since September 2003) and provides a quasi-continuous record of optical properties at this site. The data are used for bio-optics research and for calibration and validation operations of several European and U.S. ocean color satellite missions. The plan is to continue the deployment to build a decadal time series of optical properties. The instrument suite that is installed on this buoy is also briefly described, and sample results are shown to demonstrate the ability of this new system to collect the data at the desired frequency and quality.
Highlights
A new concept of oceanographic data buoy is described, which couples a taut mooring and a “transparent-to-swell” superstructure, and is designed for the collection of radiometric quantities in offshore environments
A successful example of a buoy dedicated to optics is the Marine Optical Buoy (MOBY; Clark et al 1997, 2003) jointly developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in view of providing a mission lifetime record of the water-leaving radiance for the NASA Sea Viewing Wide Field of View Sensor aboard the Orbital Science Corporation (OSC) Orbview-II satellite (SeaWiFS mission; Hooker and Esaias 1993) and for the NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer aboard the NASA Aqua satellite (MODIS-A; Salomonson et al 1992)
A new platform has been designed, which respects a list of requirements attached to the measurement of radiometric quantities at sea
Summary
Ϩ Current affiliation: Fugro GEOS, Ltd., Wallingford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. Optical remote sensing of the ocean, generally referred to as “ocean color remote sensing,” has greatly developed in the past decades since the proof-ofconcept “Coastal Zone Color Scanner” (CZCS) was launched in November 1978 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA; Hovis et al 1980). A successful example of a buoy dedicated to optics is the Marine Optical Buoy (MOBY; Clark et al 1997, 2003) jointly developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA in view of providing a mission lifetime record of the water-leaving radiance for the NASA Sea Viewing Wide Field of View Sensor aboard the Orbital Science Corporation (OSC) Orbview-II satellite (SeaWiFS mission; Hooker and Esaias 1993) and for the NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer aboard the NASA Aqua satellite (MODIS-A; Salomonson et al 1992) This buoy has been operationally deployed since 1994 in the vicinity of Lanaï Island in the Hawaiian archipelago and has been the central element of the calibration and validation plan for these two missions. Writing along these lines illustrates the successive steps, tests, and optimizations, including the unavoidable difficulties and failures that pave the way of technological development
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