NS/ ICC/INF~16 (Continued ^ 



Mann ed Anch ored Platfo rms 



Light ships have for many years been employed to collect 

 various types of oceanographic data. Their continued and 

 expanded use should be encouraged^ In order to obtain time 

 series, at fixed locations in deep water, of some types of 

 data, which are not currently amenable to automatic 

 instrumental recording^ there are under development special- 

 purpose manned station^ such as the FLIP stations of the 

 Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the similar station 

 being developed for use in the Mediterranean by the group at 

 Monaco. Such stations are costly, and will, therefore, 

 probably be used in only small numbers, but they will have 

 capabilities not possible in the small unmanned buoys. 



Unma nned Stations ( Buoys) 



Although oceanic islands and weather ships offer good 

 possibilities for obtaining important synoptic and time- 

 series oceanographic data, their locations are not under 

 control of the oceanographer, and there are large areas of 

 the sea in which they do not exist. In order to obtain, at 

 deep sea locations, such data at reasonable cost, there are 

 being developed in a number of laboratories, anchored data- 

 collecting systems which can be placed where needed, 



A network of such instrument-systems needs to be 

 established at suitable points in the \/Vorld Ocean and 

 especially at such critical points as the regions where deep 

 water is formed, at current boundaries, at places where the 

 mixed-layer depth is highly variable, etc. 



From such stations can be taken automatically data from 

 the atmosphere, such as barometric pressure, wind direction 

 and velocity, and solar radiation, and data from the sea, such 

 as temperature at various depths, current direction and velocity 

 and transparency. Instruments under development will make 

 possible the automatic recording of salinity, oxygen, and some 

 simple biological parameters. Such data may be stored in the 

 buoy and retrieved by ships, or may be read out by tele- 

 metering systems. The telemetering may be at long-range to 

 shore stations, or by short-range telemetering on demand to 

 aircraft or satellites. 



Technical problems which are not yet fully or satisfactorily 

 solved include anchoring systems, data transducers, data storage 

 devices, power sources, data readout and telemetering systems. 

 Close cooperation in developing these new instrument systems 

 could greatly facilitate the solution of such problems,, 



