The 2010 ONR/MTS Buoy Workshop is on the Horizon!
The 8th Buoy Workshop will be held at the Monterey Conference Center March 9 to 11, 2010 in the beautiful city of Monterey, California.  On the evening of March 8th, an icebreaker will be held at our lodging headquarters, The Hotel Pacific, which is located across the street from the Conference Center. 

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), a premier oceanographic research facility, will be this year’s host.  During the afternoon of Wednesday, March 10th, we will tour their facility and get an insight into their projects.  Following the MBARI tour, our banquet is planned at the stunning Monterey Bay Aquarium in the heart of Cannery Row. 

Over the course of the 2.5 days workshop, presentations will cover many of the different aspects of the highly specialized technology and field of oceanographic and other data buoy systems. Our buoy group has become quite international, with many applications and projects from the Great Lakes to the coastal and deep oceans around the world to discuss.  At previous Buoy Workshops, we have had participants from many foreign countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Great Britain, Japan, Norway, and Taiwan. 

The ONR/MTS Buoy Workshops are held to provide a timely update of oceanographic and other buoy systems, their components, and communication links. The workshop provides unique opportunities for learning and exchanging information for oceanographic buoy technologists worldwide, as well as for ocean engineering students and professionals in other disciplines.  The Speaker Program is the center of the workshop activities with typically 30+ presentations reporting on the exciting and challenging area of buoy technology with near endless possibilities, unexpected failures, and solutions of tenacious problems.

Since our beginning in 1996, participants have voted that we hold this workshop every two years. Since 2000 we organize the workshops at or near facilities where active buoy technology development and testing work is being performed, and visit these sites as part of the workshop program.  Exhibits by a small number of companies engaged in various aspects of buoy technology provide opportunities to learn about new and related commercial products and services.

Mission of the Marine Technology Society’s Buoy Committee: One of the largest professional committees of the Marine Technology Society is its Buoy Committee, whose mission is to foster the technology and experience exchange in the highly specialized field of oceanographic buoy systems. This committee organizes speaker sessions at the MTS/IEEE OCEANS Conferences and as the main activity, a buoy workshop every two years, all to advance the knowledge about the rapid progress of Buoy Technology.

Publications fostered by the Buoy Committee: Buoy Technology papers published and presented at the MTS/IEEE OCEANS Conferences serve the community’s needs of formal and permanent documentation of research in this area. The less formal workshop environment eases open and focused informal presentations and discussions of failures and successes for the mutual benefit of all attendees with the added benefit of site tours to nearby facilities engaged in buoy technology projects. The presentations made at the Buoy Workshops are compiled in CDs that are made available to the workshop participants and for a fee to the general public.

The deadline for abstracts is Monday, January 25, 2010.

We look forward to seeing you all in Monterey.

Walter Paul Buoy Workshop Chair Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution wpaul@whoi.edu

Rick Cole Workshop Co-Chair University of South Florida rcole@marine.usf.edu

Judy Rizoli Workshop Administrator Aka “The Boss” Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution jrizoli@whoi.edu