Planet Ocean

NY Times

"Professor Delaney and a team of scientists from several other institutions are leading the new Ocean Observatories Initiative, a multifaceted effort to study the ocean — in the ocean — through a combination of Internet-linked cables, buoys atop submerged data collection devices, robots and high-definition cameras.

Researchers will be able, for example, to assemble a year’s worth of daily data on deep ocean temperatures in the Atlantic or track changes in currents as a hurricane nears the Gulf of Mexico. And schoolchildren accustomed to dated graphics and grainy shark videos will only have to boot up to dive deep in high definition."

And in a related story Roland Piquepaille describes the sensors, satellites, seismic gear in the water in  on land and in the sky at work on Indonesia to allow for fast reaction to tsunamis.

"...the location of the earthquake was found after only 2 minutes and 11 seconds. ‘For comparison, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) in Hawaii published the location and magnitude of this earthquake after about 17 minutes.’ This very fast analysis was made possible by a combination of hardware and software developed in Germany. As said one German scientist who is leading the project, ‘By the end of 2008 Indonesia will possess the most modern seismological network for tsunami early warning in the world.’"

Finally The Register reports on robot sail boats

"Ultimately, the goal is to produce oceanographic survey platforms that could operate at sea for up to six months, probably sailing themselves out to areas of interest. They would send data back using satellite communications, and return periodically for repairs if possible; but their cost would be low enough that losses wouldn't be catastrophic."

Comments

[Al]

Sounds like a job for 'Google Ocean' ;)

regards
Al

[vinnie mirchandani]

after Google Moon -)