Location: ESOF Conference, Torino, Italy (Room 6, h. 10.30 - 11.45)
Event Website: http://www.esof2010.org/schedule/6/5b
Start Date: 05/07/2010
End Date: 05/07/2010
Organiser: Barbara Fogarty - National Centre for Sensor Research, Ireland
Moderator: Geoffrey O'Sullivan -Irish Marine Institute, Ireland
Speakers: Barbara Fogarty - National Centre for Sensor Research, Ireland
João Tasso de Figueiredo Borges de Sousa - Faculty of Engineering, Porto University, Portugal
Jaume Piera - Castelldefels School of Technology, Technical University of Catalonia, Spain
Efficient management of water resources is a key global challenge. Technology-based approaches have to potential to provide rapid feedback on the quality and status of our oceans. Several European initiatives have promoted the installation and deployment of surface data buoys, cabled networks, and remote vehicle systems to enhance ocean observation and fill current knowledge gaps by increased frequency and variation in sampling. This session will present three seminars describing current capabilities and cutting-edge research and demonstration initiatives in Ireland, Spain, and Portugal. The first seminar will describe SmartBay Galway, a test-bed facility comprising a network of buoys and other infrastructure that supports a range of sensors, information systems, telemetry and communication technologies for in-situ, real time oceanographic monitoring. The second seminar will describe observational capabilities of the OBSEA installation in Spain, and address the benefits of long-term & high-resolution observatories for the characterization of ocean processes. The third seminar will discuss the role of networked vehicles systems in field studies with reference to recent technological developments, trends and the major challenges associated to this vision. The discussion is illustrated with examples of developments from the Underwater Systems and Technologies Laboratory from Porto University.