Brenda Leroux Babin Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium Lei Hu Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Alabama A Tale of Two Observing Systems: September 10-11, 2008Environmental Information Management 2008 –University of New Mexico

Why are We Doing This? Two observing systems: Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL) Mirrored the two systems Maintaining autonomy Can function as one system This began through participation in a project called Cast-net and led to participation in IOOS

What is IOOS? Integrated Ocean Observing System A system of smaller observing systems that provides continuous quality controlled real-time data Ocean.us is the national office for the IOOS Gulf Coast Ocean Observing (GCOOS) is the regional association to IOOS along the Gulf Coast The success of IOOS requires that individual systems provide a standardized method of data delivery

The Seven Goals of IOOS Improving predictions of climate change and weather and their effects on coastal communities and the nation Improving the safety and efficiency of maritime operations Mitigating the effects of natural hazards more effectively Improving national and homeland security Reducing public health risks Protecting and restoring healthy coastal ecosystems more effectively Enabling the sustained use of ocean and coastal resources (Malone 2000)

Gulf Coast Ocean Oberving System LUMCON StationsDISL Stations

LUMCON Stations

DISL Stations

Data Collection Campbell Scientific micro-loggers collect data from the instruments Once per minute the data are averaged and transmitted to the marine labs via spread spectrum radio transmission, cellular modem and/or direct Internet connection. Meteorological parameters include wind speed and direction, air temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, barometric pressure, solar radiation, and quantum radiation. Hydrographic parameters include water temperature, water height, salinity, conductivity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, and chlorophyll concentration

Data Storage Stored in Microsoft SQL server database Archived in comma separated value (CSV) files Current values are displayed in real-time on the website One-day, five-day, thirty-day and yearly graphs are generated with current information when selected by a web visitor

Data Display Code leverages Advanced Software Engineering Limited’s ChartDirector ( A single Active Server Page (ASP) page at each site is written to generate the graphs Parameters passes in the URL determine the features of the graph The graph is returned to the html page through an image tag in the form of a jpg

Image Tag <img src=“ a/graph.asp?param=windspeed10m&stat ionID=101&ChartYear=2008&jday=245&C hartType=1&SciUnits=0&timeUnits=0” width=“600” height=“400”>

Parameters passed to the program ParameterDescriptionPossible Values paramThe name of the parameter to chart Airtemp, precip, pressure, relhumid, solarrad, quantumrad, winddir10m, windspeed10m,watertemp, salinity, turbidity,waterht,waveht,flouro,DO stationIDA unique three digit identifier for each station 101,102,etc. ChartYearYear of the data to include in the chart jdayJulian day (Day of Year) of last day in the chart ChartTypenumber of days to include in the chart SciUnitsThe type of units to use1=Scientific Units, 2=English Units

Results

Advantages Graphs are created on the fly keeping the data display current. Graphs can easily be incorporated into websites and copied and pasted into presentations.

Hurricane Gustav

LUMCON after Gustav

Hurricane Gustav

A Similar System wavcis.lsu.edu

Acknowledgements Equipment for construction and instrumentation for LUMCON’s Environmental Monitoring System was obtained through grants from a variety of sources including: NOAA, EPA, NASA, USGS and the State of Louisiana. Maintenance and operation costs have been borne by various grants and LUMCON. Funding from the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, EPA's Gulf of Mexico Program, Alabama Department of Conservation, State Land Division, the University of South Alabama and the Coastal Impact Assistance Program was used to establish and maintain the Dauphin Island Sea Lab System.

Thank you! Contact Information Brenda Leroux Babin -- Lei Hu --