UCSB Ocean Surface Currents Mapping Project - News
Here you will find news information about changes and additions to our website, data, projects and hardware:
Nov 16, 2009 - Up and Running
Dates on news page here fixed, and real time page is back up!Sep 18, 2009 - Up and Running
As of wednesday at about 2 pm, all the sites were up and running. Went out to SNI Tuesday and swapped out the transmitter. The transmitter that was there has a dead power supply, and some other problem (which I discovered when I first tried to swap out just the power supply). The site is running with a 1-way network connection, though I set it up to 'phone home' once a day using timbuktu, so that we have the option of remotely controlling the site at least once per day. The transmitter may be fixable (there is a lot of corrosion on the inside) or it may need to be sent to Codar.
This morning it seems that the Air Con is not working at MGS, so it is down until we can get in a get the A/C to work.
Real time data should be back up soon. In the interim, the national network has our data in it.
Special thanks to Rick Ramirez and Luo Diaz at Mandalay, and Joel Guerrero and Allan Parrish at SNI for their help in getting things running.
(php code for the news is messing up the dates ...)
Mar 10, 2009 - On the lack of real time data ...
Updates 4/21:
Fixed by Kirk!
3) Replace the Computer at Santa Cruz Island
4) Get Satellite Internet at San Nicolas working
5) Get wireless to Point Conception working
6) Install Gaviota, Nicholas Canyon and Pt. Arguello
7) Antenna Patterns at all sites
Jan 10, 2009 - Lots of News
Things are happening here at the IOG!: 1) software upgrade tonight on our server, meaning a few hours of downtime are expected (no need to panic if our web site is not updating). 2) Satellite connection to SNI coming soon, by the end of Feb, which will mean serious changes to our real time coverage, which brings me to 3) Google Map view of our real time current data!! Check out the beta page! On a more somber note, like most of science, we are facing serious budget head winds, but we hope to still be standing once the storm clears!Dec 19, 2008 - New Site Installed on San Nicolas Island
Several years of paperwork, several months of preparation, and two long days in the field later, we have a site up and running on the north side of San Nicolas Island. Data was being logged on site as of 0100 GMT 18 Dec 2008. We hope to have the site networked by the end of January, at which point we'll start making some total vector data. Huge thanks to Lee Eddington, Joel Guerrero, and Allen Parrish for their substantial efforts to help make this site a reality. Preliminary coverage maps suggest the site APM is pretty close to ideal, though the coverage is skewed more to the east than I would have suspected.Dec 8, 2008 - Oil Spill in the Channel
We've been alerted to a small oil spill from Platform A that occured sometime last night. SCCOOS/COCMP researchers have been contacted by the Dept. of Fish and Game and responded with data which hopefully will aid the recovery efforts. The The Santa Barbara Independent has some details. There is very little wind right now and reports suggest the plume is heading east, which is what the our measurements show. Clean Seas Ltd, is aware of our web site and uses the data when training for events like this. We'll post any updates if come in.Sep 12, 2008 - First Look at New Data!
Still have some work to do calibrating the new sites and cleaning up the plots, but this will give you an idea what the coverage will look like with Point Mugu and Santa Cruz Island online:25 Hour Mean ,
1 Hour Mean
Sep 12, 2008 - Scheduled Down Time THIS WEEKEND
Due to the campus-wide power outage scheduled for this weekend, our web site (and corresponding real-time data) will be unavailable, from approximately 6 pm PDT Saturday (13 Sept) through most (if not all) of sunday.Sep 5, 2008 - Coal Oil Point Networked
One of those minor-yet-significant-to-us milestones was achieved today. We moved the SeaSonde at Coal Oil Point into its new closet, AND installed an Airlink Raven EVDO cellular modem putting the computer in the internet. The significance? This site has been on dial up since it was installed in June 1997! I felt like breaking out the champagne, but intstead just ran several remote control sessions of the site, just because I could! The act of disabling the dial up script was a rare pleasure!Aug 29, 2008 - New Site Installed at Point Mugu
We've installed another site! The SeaSonde at Point Mugu is up and running, bringing the total number of SeaSondes we operate to 7 (err, 6.5, since one is shared with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo). Data from this site will be combined with data from Santa Cruz Island to get ocean surface currents over the Santa Barbara Basin - should be exciting. We're now working to incorporate this site into the processing - look for some data posted here soon. Thanks go out to Robert Fong and Juanita McBride for helping with logistics, Joel Guerrero and Allen Parrish for their hard work during the installation, and especially Lee Eddington for his tremendous patience and perseverance to get the approvals in place. Thanks!Aug 19, 2008 - Santa Cruz Island back online
The Codar at the Santa Cruz Island Navy site is back up and running! This is exciting for several reasons: 1) We now have data coverage on the South side of the Santa Barbara Channel Islands, with more coming soon; 2) We also have data coverage in the Channel from this site, providing valuable site-to-site comparison data with our mainland Codars; 3) We're running Cyril's dipole at the site and getting over 100 km range with 1.5 km range bins (!); and finally 4) we installed the water cooling kit we (ie Cyril et. al) designed and it's working great! So far, the amplifier is ~ 1 deg C above the receiver (which should be close to ambient temperatures). Big thanks go out to Lee Eddington and Brian Conner for helping us to get the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement that made this site possible, to Earl Rider and Lyndal Laughrin for helping us with the tremendous logistics, and to Don Barrick and Chad Whelan of Codar Ocean Sensors for coming down to help out.Jul 11, 2008 - Real-time plots back up
Due to the Gap Fire and it's associated power outages, our server suffered some delays in getting the plots back up.Jun 23, 2008 - Montecito Plots Update
We have added two plots to the Montecito Sanitary District Effluent Study page: Plot of effluent flow and precipitation and Plot of significant wave height and direction.Jun 20, 2008 - RSS feed added
Added RSS feed for news.Jun 19, 2008 - Congrats!
We'd like to congratulate two teams of UCSB undergrad engineers who just finished their prototype instruments for research at MSI.Team 16: Integrated Oceanographic Water Sampler (ME 189) - left to right in photo: Robert Stuart, Donald Lopez, Edward 'Casey' Reams, Eric Welsh, Nicholas Judy
Team 17: Wave pressure sensor, which won a 'most marketable' award among the 40 teams competing.
'Wave Height Pressure Sensor' Team (ME 189) - left to right in photo: Chris Pell, Brandon Haws, Melissa Caputo, Kristen di Carlo, Christian Smith
Project summary:Effects of global warming apparent in ocean conditions include: sea level rise, changing oceanic wind patterns and atmospheric pressure changes. These changes are likely to produce a range of effects on ecosystems near shore. By studying wave statistics, marine ecologists and oceanographers can better understand the evolving marine ecosystems and the ways they will respond to climate change. Currently, commercially available devices that measure wave statistics are expensive and complex, which limits their widespread use. For this reason, researchers at the Marine Science Institute (MSI) at the University of California, Santa Barbara, need a low cost, programmable pressure instrument to determine wave statistics through pressure measurements.
To meet these needs, The Wave Pressure Sensor is a specialized device used exclusively for near shore wave height measurement applications that reduces cost and minimizes complexity. The device is designed to be mounted to the ocean floor, at a depth of approximately 30 meters for time periods up to six months. It will measure the pressure variations due to the change in water column height using a pressure transducer and can be enhanced to measure temperature if needed. While the device is on the ocean floor, the collected data will be processed and stored on a Standard Digital (SD) Card. Upon device retrieval, the data can be accessed from the SD card and wave measurement parameters can be re-programmed using a Graphical User Interface (GUI).
To complete the project, efforts were focused on technical considerations, design considerations, testing and analysis in the three areas of the device: Pressure Casing, Electronics and Programming. The Casing's material was selected to avoid material degradation due to bio-fouling, and acetal copolymer and clear PVC were selected after significant testing efforts. The ease of use for scuba technicians and ease of cleaning led to the design of a sleek cylindrical body with radial dimensions determined to avoid deformation under pressure loads. Radial o-rings were used with end caps to prevent leakage and cable filaments were utilized to secure the end caps to the cylindrical body. The pressure transducer, which is exposed to the ocean at one end, is mounted within an end cap and utilizes o-rings and silicon grease to protect it from degradation and prevent leakage. The electrical components were then selected to ensure functionality of the pressure transducer, bit path control from a microcontroller, data storage, and user interfacing. A circuit board was designed to interface the components and a breadboard was fabricated to test the electrical circuits. Lastly, programming of the microcontroller was accomplished using C programming. A LabView program has been designed as a GUI for user changes to wave measuring parameters.
