THE NAVY OCEAN SCIENCE PROGRAM 



61 



OCEAN DATA STATIONS 



The requirement to make long-term measurements at selected 

 sites has led to many programs to obtain platforms moored to 

 the ocean floor and supporting instruments at desired locations in 

 the water column. 



In support of the needs for synoptic measurements over wide- 

 spread geographic areas for long time periods, a large effort is 

 underway in the development of oceanographic buoys and their 

 associated sensors. The largest such program is the development 

 of "Monster" buoys. These are moored 40-foot diameter buoys 

 that can measure and record 100 channels of scientific data. Both 

 short-term and long-term memory devices are on the buoys; the 

 short-term memory device is used to telemeter data to shore and 

 the long-term memory device to store collected data for periods up 

 to one year. The "Monster" buoys can be used, for example, as 

 masters in arrays of buoys (moored or floating) that record 

 oceanographic and meteorological data in critical or remote 

 regions. Work is guided by the research scientists from private 

 institutions, industry, and Navy laboratories from the view- 

 points of both technology and scientific utilization. This pro- 

 gram will supply much of the buoy technology required by the 

 operational Navy for ASW systems involving fixed stations in 

 the deep sea. 



The Office of 



Naval Research/Convair 



Monster Buoy 



