Year 1 (1998): Our partnership will construct and demonstrate a relocatable observation and forecasting system for the littoral ocean. The demonstration will be conducted in the New York Bight at the Long-term Ecosystem Observatory (LEO-15), and instrument sub-sea natural littoral laboratory accessible over the Internet. A novel component of the adaptive observation network is the use of inexpensive REMUS Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) to collect critical sub-surface data beneath the spatially extensive surface observations available from remote satellite and High-Frequency radar systems. A coastal ocean circulation model with coupled surface and bottom boundary layer modules will be used to direct the REMUS sampling strategies. The autonomous AUV network will be deployed to collect large-scale fields of velocity and density for model input, to measure small-scale mixing processes and to survey local bathymetry for eventual extension to uncharted regions. Methods for remote estimation of shallow water wave directional spectra from H-F radar data will be developed for real-time input to the combined wave and current bottom boundary layer model. A state-of-the-art coastal observation and modeling system will thus be evaluated in a data-rich environment as the first important stem towards robust portability.
Year 2 (1999): We propose technical enhancement and initial transitioning of the ONR/NSF/NOAA/NOPP-supported Coastal Ocean Modeling and Observation Program (COMOP) forecasting system developed at the LEO-15 National Littoral Laboratory. COMOP goals include demonstration and improvement of coastal ocean forecast models via assimilation and adaptive acquisition of ship-towed and AUV-based subsurface datasets beneath more spatially extensive surface satellite and radar observations.
New partnerships have been formed to (1) incorporate explicit prediction of coastal air-sea interaction using a Regional Ocean Atmosphere Modeling System (ROAMS); (2) expand the LEO-15 adaptive sampling network with new meteorological, radar, and multiple AUV-based technologies; (3) evaluate ROAMS with a physical/bio-optical Coastal Predictive Skill Experiment during July of 1999 in preparation for the launch of the hyperspectral sensor on the Navy Earth Map Observer (NEMO) satellite; and (4) transition the system to the USGS for the red tide applications in the Gulf of Maine in support of the Ecology of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB)-Gulf of Maine (GOM) field experiments in 1998 and 2000.
The proposed research seeks to understand and improve boundary condition controls on the COMOP forecast system (a) at the surface, by inclusion of high-resolution atmospheric predictions verified by new HF-Radar algorithms; (b) at the bottom, by incorporation of a Bottom Boundary Layer Model verified with high-resolution, AUV-based surveys of bottom stress; and (c) offshore, by optimal estimation of lateral boundary conditions verified by AUV Gliders patrolling at midshelf.
The envisioned July 1999 evaluation of ROAMS at LEO-15 provides significant infrastructure to support numerous ongoing NOAA/NURP research projects, aircraft overflights at a proposed Hyperspectral Coastal Ocean Dynamics Experiment (HyCODE) test site, and potential 1999 East Coast sea tests by the Littoral Warfare Advanced Development (LWAD) group. System transitioning to USGS demonstrates relocatability to a region with greater tidal and freshwater influence.