Coastal Ocean Observation Lab - Rutgers University

Rutgers University has created a new academic/industrial partnership with WETSAT Inc., in collaboration with Satlantic and WET Labs, to upgrade the Long-term Ecosystem Observatory at 15 meters (LEO-15) Program. WETSAT has been contracted by Rutgers to provide a state-of-the-art turnkey observatory replacement for the current system. "The current system was visionary. Revoluationary in its time and designed by Fred Grassle and Chris von Alt, LEO-15 has served the scientific community well for over a decade, "says Dr. Scott Glenn, Professor at Rutgers University's Coastal Ocean Observation Lab.

The new system will enable operators to monitor and control the underwater observatory securely and remotely while providing real-time data to users world wide via the Internet. Information from this system provides a picture of the underwater environment to scientists, educators, and others around the world. "For LEO to effectively interact with this expanding research observatory, it is necessary to transition LEO to post-Internet technology base while easing the operational burden for the many scientists we hope to entrain", says Glenn.

LEO-15 is an electro-optic cabled underwater ocean observing system consisting of a suite of sophisticated marine instrumentation connected to a node on the seafloor. Located in the coastal waters of New Jersey, near Tuckerton, the system provides real-time information for the rapid envirnonmental assessment and physical/biological forecasting. WETSAT Inc. will provide their innovative Scientific Instrument Interface Module (SIIM) and the Data Acquisition and Control Network (DACNet) Ocean Observatory Operating System. These tools will vastly improve the available experiment bandwith, significantly improve power monitoring and control, and with viewing via the Internet. "We are very pleased with this opportunity to apply our expertise and innovative technology to an observatory as respected as LEO-15", says Scott McLean, Program Manager of Observing Systems for WETSAT.

The SIIM is a modular, scalable, state-of-the-art underwater sensor-interfacing tool for cabled observatories and other real-time acquisition applications. This interface tool will feed into what is essentially the "brain" of the system, called DACNet that resides on the shore station server. The revolutionary DACNet developed by Satlantic Inc. of Halifax, N.S. has been utilized in various observatory programs (both moored and cabled) in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, the Mediterranean, and the Eastern United States. DACNet was chosen because of its demonstrated ability to provide flexible control and reliable results in operational systems. DACNet automatically controls all sensor scheduling and performs data handling functions from collection to storage and real-time forwarding to designated users. Authorized operators can control, monitor and configure the infrastructure as well as sensors, remotely, from virtually any computer on the Internet. Authorized users can monitor their sensors and receive email updated of critical events in the ocean.

The real-time capabilities of LEO-15 allow for adaptive sampling of episodic events and integration into ocean forecast models. The goal of this observatory and those in the network is to produce a picture of the underwater environment as detailed as that which a human has oof the world above the ocean, with the information presented on time and distance scales important to individual organisms. This observatory is one part of the expanding network of ocean observatories that will form the basis of a national observation network. "WETSAT gave me practical solutions I could use now, and a clear path to keep me current, well into the future", says Glenn.

WETSAT, a unique collaboration of two leaders in the field ofwater quality monitoring solutions, WET Labs, and Satlantic, was formed to fill the gap between sensing technology and operational observing systems. WETSAT operates as a single, unified team to provide the best solutions to meet the needs of the ocean observation community. With the strength of our three-company team, a comprehensive and coordinated approach is assured.