Christian Meinig

1. An Overview of PMEL Iridium Ocean Observatories Christian Meinig Pacific Marine Environmental LaboratoryNational Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationUS Department of Commerce PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

2. PMEL Engineering Development Division Mission: To support the PMEL research effort with innovations in the fields of digital and analog electronics, mechanics, materials, and software engineering. • Staff of 17: • 6 engineers, 8 technicians, 3 machinists • Facilities include: • Electronic labs, machine shop, mooring shop, pressure vessels (10 ksi), 38’ workboat S.P. HAYES, hydraulic ram and wind tunnel • FY ’03 Support • 30 cruises on 11 different ships; 260 DAS • Over 180 moorings deployed, 48ea 40’ containers shipped PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

3. End-to-End Support Serving NOAA’s Missions • Science drivers, mission requirements, fund raising • Choose appropriate partnerships • Engineering innovation & design • Machine and mooring prototypes • Field testing – • Local & Full Ocean • Scientific evaluation & feedback • Production fabrication and contract manufacturing • Web products • Realtime data • Engineering parameters • Outreach products • Science & Engineering Publications PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

4. PMEL Iridium Systems Realtime Subsea Volcano Observatory “NemoNet” pCO2 buoys Realtime Tsunami Warning “Tsunameter” PICO-self deployed Surface mooring PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

5. NemoNet Goals • To understand and quantify the volcano’s impacts on the surrounding ocean’s chemical, physical and biological environment • Realtime bi-directional Buoy based ocean observatory (1yr) with low bandwidth (10’s kbytes/day) needs PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

6. NemoNet • 3 Seafloor Nodes with expanded coverage • Omni directional acoustic modems • Bi-directional • Realtime 24/7 • Instruments: • Bottom Pressure Recorder(1ea) • RAS samplers (2ea) • water(45ea@500ml) • DNA • pH, temperature(3ea) PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

7. Realtime Web-based interface www.pmel.noaa.gov PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

8. Next generation Iridium based “Tsunameter” • Remote or command triggered desktop-seafloor in 3 min—migrate of GOES • Interrogate for high freq data • Capable of measuring tsunamis ~1cm height in 6000m • 2 year endurance in challenging N. Pacific latitudes • Cost effective PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

9. Realtime “Tsunameter” Data PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

10. PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

11. Prototype next-gen “Tsunameter”Data return rates June ‘03- May ‘04 • GOES(Sutron) ~80% return (some firmware issues) • High power! • Not bi-directional • Iridium ~95% return (some architecture problems in context of a warning center) • Protocol based on acoustic modem experience • Will Iridium be around? • POTS (plain old telephone system) reliability • Hawaii warning center circuits busy during last year’s false alarm PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

12. PICO (Platform and Instrumentation for Continuous ocean Observations) • Problem: ‘Buoy system’ costs are high • Dedicated ship & highly skilled crew • Complex & potentially dangerous operations • Large buoys • Limited subsea capabilities • Vandalism problems PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

13. Engineering Challenges Design a ‘buoy in a box’ that functions similarly to an TAO buoy • Mooring line (one piece / many functions) • Anchor (low cost / reliable) • Buoy (robust / low cost / stable • Sensors (profiler / met /pC02 / low power) PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

14. Anchor/reel design Concept – Store the line in the anchor and have it pay out like an XBT on free fall. Challenge – Prevent line entanglement with line lengths of 5000 meters or more. • Line in a box – random/ordered • Horizontal reel • Bobbin with vertical axis PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

15. PICO BUOY HULL Design goals: Tough Efficient Long service life _____________________________ Gross displacement: 1020 kg (2250 lbs) Dimension across flats: 1.35 m (52 in) Nominal payload: 120 kg (270 lbs) Construction: Galvanized framework Layered density foam Polyurea skin PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

16. PICO electronics • 332 based CPU • Compact Flash data storage • Iridium transceiver • GPS receiver • Antennas below fiberglass cover -no apparent signal degradation • Alkaline batteries • Minimal sensors for engineering test deployments • Profiler – under development PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

17. PICO Single Profile Engineering Package Yaw Sensor Package Clamp/Motor Roll Profiler will carry instruments through the upper 400 meters of water with one or two trips daily Pitch Inductive Coupler to Buoy Dropweight Pico Mooring Line

18. Realtime Pitch, Roll, Yaw Data PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

19. Deep water prototype deployment April 2004 Deployment from the KOK Water depth 4650m Anchor monitor Single Profile Instrument on mooring line PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

20. Asset Tracker: Iridium Position System PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

21. PMEL Iridium Linux Server Iridium Bi-directional Server PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

22. Future Iridium DevelopmentWish list • Data Services Provider • Add metadata,calibrations, GTS,bi-directional, etc • Higher QC on Iridium modems • TCP/IP for embedded systems • Reduce dependence on POTS • Smaller, Cheaper, Faster… PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA