Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory
Source: Ocean Instruments
What is the Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO)?
The MVCO is a multi-part research observatory located at South Beach
on Martha's Vineyard, and in the ocean a mile off the Vineyard's south
shore.
It's a place that keeps careful track of the
North Atlantic, day and night, every day of the year. "Researchers have
staked out a parcel of ocean and are observing it with 24/7 vigilance,
with the potential to do so for years," wrote science writer Mike
Carlowicz of MVCO. "They can continuously measure what is
happening on the sandy ocean bottom, in the water column from the
seafloor to the surface, and in the air above it. And they can do it
while sitting at their desks. Thanks to the cables, data from the sea
are freely available on the Internet in real time to an unlimited
number of scientists."
What components comprise MVCO?
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution shared the costs to build a small, inland lab, a
10-meter mast with meteorological instruments at the ocean’s edge, and
a seafloor node 12 meters below the sea surface and 1.5 kilometers from
the shore. Cables connect the sensors at the mast and sea node to
computers and communications devices in the shore lab.
In 2002,
the Office of Naval Research (ONR) provided support for the design,
construction, and deployment of an Air-Sea Interaction Tower (ASIT)
about 3 kilometers from Martha’s Vineyard. The tower stands in 15
meters of water and extends 22 meters above the water line into the
atmosphere. It is connected through its own fiber-optic cable to the
shore lab.
How are data from the observatory used?
Data are used for studying avariety of topics, from coastal erosion
to global warming. For example, oceanographer Wade McGillis at
WHOI studies the exchange of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere
and the ocean, a process at the heart of global warming.
Scientists
also use MVCO to quantify how much ozone pollution is being
removed from the atmosphere and deposited into the ocean; to examine
the effect of ocean waves on air turbulence and eddies; to investigate
the processes and factors—including winds, waves, currents, tides, and
seafloor topography—that move sand and shape the seafloor around MVCO;
to study plankton; and to learn about the dynamic interaction
between winds, waves, and ocean-mixing processes as they exchange heat,
water, energy, and gases (such as carbon dioxide) between the ocean and
atmosphere
How often are data downloaded from the observatory?
Data from the observatory are downloaded from the shore lab every twenty minutes: 5, 25, and 45 minutes after the hour. They are processed to provide burst averaged statistics, with the most current data presented on the MVCO home page.
Who can access and/or use the data provided by MVCO?
Just about anyone interested in oceanography. MVCO provides real time and archived coastal oceanographic and meteorological data for researchers, students, and the general public.
Sources
Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory Web site
Oceanus magazine