Workshop Announcement
Science and Education Objectives for a Seafloor
Cabled Observatory on the Beaufort Shelf, Alaska
NSF-Supported Community Meeting
Barrow, Alaska
7-8 February 2005
Application Deadline: Sunday, 12 December 2004
To apply, please send one paragraph detailing your specific scientific
and/or education interests to:
Bernard Coakley
E-mail: Bernard.Coakley [at] gi.alaska.edu
BACKGROUND
Study of the Arctic Ocean is limited by sea ice and harsh weather that
restrict access through much of the year. These constraints limit data
acquisition and distort understanding of events, processes, and biology
of most of the Arctic Ocean. Breaching this isolation can be achieved
through new technologies and adaptation of existing instrumentation to
monitor the shelf and basin independent of surface conditions. Cabled
seafloor observatories offer the means for continuous, real time access
to the water column, underside of the ice, and the sediment surface.
Cabled observatories can provide continuous, high bandwidth (gigabits
per second) and high power (tens of kilowatts) observations, as well as
docking functionality for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs). The
planned Barrow Global Climate Change Research Facility (BGCCRF) would
support and be substantially augmented by this observatory. The
resulting observations would permit study of the coupling between
atmospheric (using existing instrumentation) and oceanographic processes
and offer unique opportunities for research, environmental monitoring,
education, and the Barrow community. The proposed observatory could
substantially augment SEARCH by collecting time series data on many
processes and variables encompassing both regional and basin-wide length
scales. For example, the larger spatial scales might be sampled using
acoustic tomography and AUVs, while the highly variable shelf
environment could be sampled from cabled moorings containing a variety
of sensor systems. These measurements, combined with surface
observations from Barrow, would open a window on the shelf, its biology,
oceanography, and geology.
OBJECTIVES
Participants in this meeting will contribute to a report that will
define science and education objectives for a Beaufort Shelf Cabled
Observatory. This report will form the basis for an engineering workshop
to be held in Summer of 2005 at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research
Institute.
WORKSHOP SPECIFICS
This meeting is being held at the UIC Science Center in Barrow, Alaska
to facilitate participation of community members and to make it possible
to view the site and plans for the Barrow Global Climate Change Research
Facility, which will begin construction next year.
Participants from Barrow and elsewhere in Alaska, academic institutions,
U.S. Federal agencies and Corporations with an interest in the North
Slope and its' environment are welcome. Due to venue size, space is
limited to 40 participants.
Accommodations and meals will be provided by the Barrow Arctic Science
Consortium, reducing per diem expenses for all participants. Limited
NSF-funded travel support is available for U.S. participants from
academic institutions.
CONVENERS
Dale Chayes (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University)
Bernard Coakley (University of Alaska Fairbanks - Geophysical Institute)
Andre Proshutinsky (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute)
Tom Weingartner (University of Alaska Fairbanks - Institute of Marine
Sciences)
To apply, please send one paragraph detailing your specific scientific
and/or education interests to:
Bernard Coakley
E-mail: Bernard.Coakley [at] gi.alaska.edu
Application Deadline: Sunday, 12 December 2004