Robotic Science Network Watches Our Oceans

Robotic Science Network Watches Our Oceans 87

Posted by michael on Sunday December 05, 2004 @06:04AM from the not-yet-self-aware dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "I bet most of you have never heard about Argo, an ambitious scientific project about the observation of our oceans. This project is endorsed by 18 countries and just reached a milestone: there are today more than 1,500 robotic floats reporting about salinity changes or predicting El Niño events, among other ones. This news release from the University of California at San Diego says that the Argo floats, which are autonomous ocean-traveling robots programmed to sink more than a mile below the ocean surface, are helping scientists all over the world to look at the future of our whole planet. And in 2007, when the deployment is completed, 3,000 underwater robots will help us to better understand the changes in our climate. You'll find more details, pictures and references in this overview."

Robotic Science Network Watches Our Oceans

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- Re:The Day After Tomorrow (Score:1)
  
  by SWTP_OS9 ( 658064 ) writes:
  
  Actualy its much closes to the 1965 movie "Around the World under the Sea". And I thing the ship was called the Argo.
  - - Re:The Day After Tomorrow (Score:1)
      
      by SWTP_OS9 ( 658064 ) writes:
      
      The main concept of the movie was to seed sensors around the world for sismic events. Which sound simular to this real world concept.
      
      Been years since I saw it and just missed it on one of the networks a few months ago.
Privacy Invasion! (Score:3, Funny)

by bryan986 ( 833912 ) writes: on Sunday December 05, 2004 @06:07AM (#11000587) Homepage Journal

I can hear the screams now! Wait, no you cant.

- Too Few? (Score:2, Insightful)
  
  by Umbral Blot ( 737704 ) writes:
  
  This seems like an awfully small number since 2/3 of the earth's surface is covered in water. I mean these robots will give us a start, but for more reliable data this number seems to need to be drastically increased. I wonder what their plans are for expansion. Or do they have some technique that can help extrapolate between the gaps. The ocean seems too complex and too unknown to cover with so few robots.
  - Re:Too Few? (Score:2, Insightful)
    
    by saider ( 177166 ) writes:
    
    My guess is that while it may be less than ideal coverage, it is...
    1) Better than what they had before
    2) Cost effective.
    
    More probes may provide better results, but I think right now they are looking for the big picture. If they find something interesting from the data, they can then populate interesting areas with more probes.
    
    I wonder what the environmentalists think about more of the probe wreckages being spread all over the oceans.
- Re:Privacy Invasion! (Score:2)
  
  by Timesprout ( 579035 ) writes:
  
  yes you can and you dont have to wait, sound travels faster in water
- Re:Privacy Invasion! (Score:1)
  
  by dextroz ( 808012 ) writes:
  
  God! If you saw the video, the Earth is going to look like one pimpled-freak!
Monitor our oceans? (Score:3, Interesting)

by Mirkon ( 618432 ) writes: <mirkon.gmail@com> on Sunday December 05, 2004 @06:08AM (#11000589) Homepage

Screw the oceans, make them WiMax repeaters and build a global wireless network.

- Re:Monitor our oceans? (Score:1)
  
  by Metteyya ( 790458 ) writes:
  
  So we can finally make a Beowulf cluster consisting of robots?
Coming soon... (Score:4, Funny)

by wcitechnologies ( 836709 ) writes: on Sunday December 05, 2004 @06:10AM (#11000592)

Awesome, looking forward to "Ghost In the Sea Shell"

Land based weather 'robots' (Score:5, Interesting)

by tonsofpcs ( 687961 ) writes: <slashback@NOSPAm.tonsofpcs.com> on Sunday December 05, 2004 @06:12AM (#11000599) Homepage Journal

Now if only we had as many Standards Based land based weather observatories/robots, this would make NOAA much more precise (it is already very acurate with its predictions, just a higher level of precision would be nice, rather than each 'site' covering a 50 mile radius (or more).

- Re:Land based weather 'robots' (Score:4, Interesting)
  
  by arivanov ( 12034 ) writes: on Sunday December 05, 2004 @09:06AM (#11000856) Homepage
  
  Same can be said for probes in more interesting places.
  If the graph is to believed there are nearly zero probes in the circular current in the Southern Hemisphere roaring sixties, there also very few probes in the other major current systems - Gulfstream, along N and S America West Coast, Azora, etc. At the same time there are plenty of probes which are sitting in relatively silent regions like 30-40 latt in the middle of the Pacific (north and south).
  I hope they put the remaining 1500 into the major current systems as these are the places that determine the weather around the globe. It will be more expensive to maintain as you have to salvage them quite often and relocate to the beginning of the current, but hopefully the data collected will pay back for the excessive maintenance costs.
  
  - Re:Land based weather 'robots' (Score:1)
    
    by tonsofpcs ( 687961 ) writes:
    
    Ok, my post was modded 'interesting', and you said to put probes in 'interesting' places and got modded Insightful, so if I say to put them in 'insightful' places, what do I get modded?
Uuh... (Score:2)

by nordicfrost ( 118437 ) * writes:

I bet most of you have never heard about Argo,

I think it just might be you that did not wach "The day after tomorrow" with its weather and saline bouys.
- Re:Uuh... (Score:5, Funny)
  
  by OverlordQ ( 264228 ) writes: on Sunday December 05, 2004 @06:57AM (#11000663) Journal
  
  I think it just might be you that did not wach "The day after tomorrow" with its weather and saline bouys.
  
  I wish I *didn't* watch it . .. does that count? ;)
  
- Re:Uuh... (Score:1)
  
  by karpediem ( 837477 ) writes:
  
  yes I saw it. I believe it said this would happen 100, 1000 years from that time. When did it happen? not very long after that. I'm 16 and my basement isn't exactly airtight. :-P
- Re:Uuh... (Score:3, Interesting)
  
  by plcurechax ( 247883 ) writes:
  
  I think it just might be you that did not wach "The day after tomorrow" with its weather and saline bouys.
  
  Unfortunately I did see it (and hence paid money towards the producers and screen writers). What I remember was that the guy next to me was complaining that the bouy id'ents were wrong for the Grand Banks and the "normal" Gulf Stream was moving backwards. Not to mention the physics problems with the rate of freezing mentioned (ending up at/below absolute zero in a few minutes).
  
  I've haven't seen a Arg
Hmmm... (Score:2, Interesting)

by anish1411 ( 671295 ) writes:

This is that bastard organisation that predicted that global warming would actually make the UK colder..
- Re:Hmmm... (Score:2)
  
  by mOoZik ( 698544 ) writes:
  
  You have to understand ocean currents to understand the report on which that stupid movie was loosely based. Read up on it: I won't Google for you!
- Re:Hmmm... (Score:1)
  
  by chawly ( 750383 ) writes:
  
  The one and the same. They're probably right, too. Who wants to pass out the fur-lined tin-foil hats ?
argos animation (Score:4, Interesting)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Sunday December 05, 2004 @06:22AM (#11000624)

if an early reader wouldnt mind mirroring the animation on the site , it does describe the project effectively , and shows how a network of 3000 buoys can cover the globe evenly. if at the expense of 26megs avi ...

- Re:argos animation (Score:2, Informative)
  
  by Narkov ( 576249 ) writes:
  
  http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu.nyud.net:8090/video/ar go_animation.mov [nyud.net]
  
  2.6MB coralized link.
- Slashdot this! Re:argos animation (Score:2)
  
  by IO ERROR ( 128968 ) writes:
  
  Argo Robotic Instrument Network Now Covers Most of the Globe [ucsd.edu] (2.6MB, QuickTime) (original site)
  I may regret this later, but...
  Argo Robotic Instrument Network Now Covers Most of the Globe [ioerror.us] (2.6MB, QuickTime) (my mirror)
  - Re:Slashdot this! Re:argos animation (Score:2)
    
    by OctaneZ ( 73357 ) writes:
    
    Not that UCSD was going anywhere, but...
    
    East Coast Mirror @ WHOI [whoi.edu]
W won't listen anyway (Score:2, Interesting)

by HanB ( 774214 ) writes:
Doesn't matter how much more data is collected, the point is already made: Our global industry is damaging the environment. And W is not going to do anything about it. Just the same reasoning that keeps M$ from doing anything structural about virusses.
``It seemed an annoyance at first, but later on we realized it is a great source of revenue, so why on earth would we change anything about it.''
- First, they save themselves a shipload of money in preventing the problems.
- Second, they are the guys that wil
- Re:W won't listen anyway (Score:1)
  
  by Tedium Unleased ( 764661 ) writes:
  
  they're unmasked, they have a website proudly proclaiming their goals, but not enough people care and too many people agree with them, or think they agree with them, or don't realize what they're actually agreeing with.
- Re:W won't listen anyway (Score:2)
  
  by Night Goat ( 18437 ) writes:
  
  Very interesting article you linked to, thanks. Although, if you don't get modded "flamebait," I'll be surprised. I agree with you, though.
- Sorry, not all of us want to end human civ (Score:1)
  
  by tjstork ( 137384 ) writes:
  
  Sorry, the fact of the matter is that the earth cannot be damaged, only changed. Human activities change the climate, but so does climate itself. Besides, the earth is just a stupid rock and nature is just a chemical reaction. If we are "nice" to the earth, the earth is not going to care. It's not some sentient being that has its feelings hurt if we whack a species or if we genetically engineer knew ones that are more entertaining.
  
  The alternatives you guys have is to take us back to the good old days w
  - Re:Sorry, not all of us want to end human civ (Score:2)
    
    by mc_barron ( 546164 ) writes:
    
    Completely off topic, but I'll bite...
    A plague upon BOTH of your houses! Two completely different parties that want the same thing: living peacefully and happily. Yet neither recognizes the good in the other, instead resorting to labeling the other as extreme.
    The reference to Gaia and animal skins speaks profoundly of the understanding you have of your opponent - rather, the lack of understanding or acceptance. There are some very good ideas on both sides of this fence - don't dismiss one just becaus
- Re:Don't we already know the future? (Score:1)
  
  by Bruce McBruce ( 791094 ) writes:
  
  That's a bit extreme, and also a bit off-topic because the robots would be more monitoring the movement of the Earth's plates under the sea and such. It might be a crazy thought, but robots which are designed to sink into the ocean probably aren't meant to detect the pollution in the Earth's atmosphere.
  - Re:Don't we already know the future? (Score:1)
    
    by JavaMoose ( 832619 ) writes:
    
    Did you actually check out the website, or is guessing just a hobby?
    - Re:Don't we already know the future? (Score:1)
      
      by adeydas ( 837049 ) writes:
      
      what was i guessing genius? i checked out the website. but the millions of dollars spent on these robots can be used to convert a country's agriculture from chemical to green like in cuba. also it may be used to reduce mercury levels in see. the robots check three things: temperature, salinity, and currents which are nothing but indicators of doom. if the temperature increases, polar ice-caps will melt, if salinity increases it will effect marine life and throw off the food equlibrium and pray that there i
  - Re:Don't we already know the future? (Score:1)
    
    by adeydas ( 837049 ) writes:
    
    please read the article sir. they are NOT meant to check earth's plates and frankly speaking i don't think they can go that deep either. they are used to check water salinity, occurence (when and how) of hurricanes, el nino and other such phenomenons. and pollution is pollution. pollution at one level will effect another level too. you may try a very good article of the cause/effects of ocean pollution here: http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/advwrf99/causeeffect /mubarakcause.html.
Argo floats.. or does it? (Score:3, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Sunday December 05, 2004 @07:02AM (#11000674)

"Argo floats, which are [...] programmed to sink"

Oh, yeah, that makes sense.

- Re:Argo floats.. or does it? (Score:1)
  
  by kristopher ( 723047 ) writes:
  
  Is this anything at all like flats?
  - Re:Argo floats.. or does it? (Score:1)
    
    by chawly ( 750383 ) writes:
    
    Yep ! Exactly like flats ! Tyres, appartments, and salt.
- Re:Argo floats.. or does it? (Score:2)
  
  by OctaneZ ( 73357 ) writes:
  
  Yes, ironically; drifters remain at the surface for the duration of their mission; while floaters sink to a preprogrammed depth to collect data.
Tainted Results (Score:1)

by kristopher ( 723047 ) writes:

Isn't it possible that the mere presence of the robots may taint the results?
- Re:Tainted Results (Score:1)
  
  by ignoramus ( 544216 ) writes:
  
  I think you're underestimating the vastness of the ocean.
  
  Assume these 'bots heat up the ocean a bit because their putting out 2 Watts on average (which I'm guessing is way to much for them to last one month, but lets be conservative), then when they get the fleet up to 3000 you'd have 6000 Watts being dumped into the ocean.
  
  On the surface of the earth, the sun gives off about 1350 Watts of energy per square meter. So to counteract the effect of the heat pollution from the Argo fleet, you'd just have to st
  - Re:Tainted Results (Score:1)
    
    by kristopher ( 723047 ) writes:
    
    I'm not talking about the entire ocean, but the immediate surroundings or rather the water they test.
Unsolved Mysteries (Score:1, Interesting)

by Anonymous Coward writes:

Hmmm, Roland Piquepaille submits an article, his homepage is http://www.primidi.com/

Coincidence, I think not, conspiracy, yes please.
Argo project home page (Score:5, Informative)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Sunday December 05, 2004 @07:56AM (#11000743)

See also Argo.net [argo.net].

Fools (Score:2)

by EpsCylonB ( 307640 ) writes:

Fools, now skynet will be able to control the oceans as well...
- Re:Fools (Score:1)
  
  by Hognoxious ( 631665 ) writes:
  
  skynet will be able to control the oceans as well...
  You mean they'll block port 25 from there too [unixtech.be]. (For the gallically challenged, the cretinous apology for an ISP have blocked outbound connections on port 25 to (LOL) stop spam).
Cool! Are they armed? (Score:3, Funny)

by ccmay ( 116316 ) writes: on Sunday December 05, 2004 @08:14AM (#11000776)

Autonomous ocean-traveling robots! Cool!
I hope they have some kind of weapon to kill the sharks with frickin' laser beams on their heads...

- Re:well.... (Score:1)
  
  by chawly ( 750383 ) writes:
  
  Me too. Or I also. Oh buoy !
groklaw ?? (Score:2)

by Alain Williams ( 2972 ) writes:

Who else thought that they had ended up at groklaw when they looked at the pictures ?
Roland Piquepaille (Score:2, Interesting)

by Anonymous Coward writes:

It has to be said. For reasons I cannot understand, the editors continue to allow roland to post links to his half assed summary of another story in order to generate traffic for his blog. It's horrible to think that we're all providing revenue for this person. Visit google's cache of his page here [google.ca] and don't click on any of the ads. Perhaps in the future, the editors should give a little thought before helping this guy out again.
Some Better Links (Score:5, Informative)

by OctaneZ ( 73357 ) writes: <ben-slashdot2 @ u m a . l i t e c h.org> on Sunday December 05, 2004 @11:36AM (#11001325) Journal

Another project I work on makes /.; go figure. Here are some better links.
The US Global Data Center [usgodae.org] for the Argo project.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst. Argo page. This includes links to [whoi.edu] data profiles [whoi.edu] and other info.

WHOI's realtime data grapher [whoi.edu] allows you to see where the floats are, where they have been, find a float in any region WHOI monitors, etc.

Also check out the Argo Information Center [jcommops.org] and their Global Float Map [jcommops.org]. (The WHOI one tends to be faster if you are only interested in the Atlantic)

About time... (Score:1)

by isny ( 681711 ) writes:

Now we can finally get Center Neptune [akdreamer.com] under construction.
All right, you try to come up with something more obscure and geekier.
Another bouy network (Score:2)

by g-san ( 93038 ) writes:

There is also another useful network of fixed bouys run by the NOAA at the National Data Bouy Center [noaa.gov]. They have bouys fixed at certain locations off the coasts and they record wind velocity and direction, swell height and period, air temperature and pressure and water temp. Things like wind direction and velocity can be very useful for people on boats out in the oceans, and the history on the site let you understand prevailing conditions of a given area. So if you friend says the waves were 5 feet overhead,
- Re:Another bouy network (Score:1)
  
  by chawly ( 750383 ) writes:
  
  Sorry to be nitpicking, but you mean buoy - I think
WHAT?! (Score:2, Funny)

by LilGuy ( 150110 ) writes:

Imagine how many jobs this could have provided for people! WHY GOD WHY!?
Obligatory (Score:2)

by ManoMarks ( 574691 ) writes:

Anyone port Linux to these things yet?

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Re:The Day After Tomorrow (Score:1)

Re:The Day After Tomorrow (Score:1)

Privacy Invasion! (Score:3, Funny)

Too Few? (Score:2, Insightful)

Re:Too Few? (Score:2, Insightful)

Re:Privacy Invasion! (Score:2)

Re:Privacy Invasion! (Score:1)

Monitor our oceans? (Score:3, Interesting)

Re:Monitor our oceans? (Score:1)

Coming soon... (Score:4, Funny)

Land based weather 'robots' (Score:5, Interesting)

Re:Land based weather 'robots' (Score:4, Interesting)

Re:Land based weather 'robots' (Score:1)

Uuh... (Score:2)

Re:Uuh... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Uuh... (Score:1)

Re:Uuh... (Score:3, Interesting)

Hmmm... (Score:2, Interesting)

Re:Hmmm... (Score:2)

Re:Hmmm... (Score:1)

argos animation (Score:4, Interesting)

Re:argos animation (Score:2, Informative)

Slashdot this! Re:argos animation (Score:2)

Re:Slashdot this! Re:argos animation (Score:2)

W won't listen anyway (Score:2, Interesting)

Re:W won't listen anyway (Score:1)

Re:W won't listen anyway (Score:2)

Sorry, not all of us want to end human civ (Score:1)

Re:Sorry, not all of us want to end human civ (Score:2)

Re:Don't we already know the future? (Score:1)

Re:Don't we already know the future? (Score:1)

Re:Don't we already know the future? (Score:1)

Re:Don't we already know the future? (Score:1)

Argo floats.. or does it? (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Argo floats.. or does it? (Score:1)

Re:Argo floats.. or does it? (Score:1)

Re:Argo floats.. or does it? (Score:2)

Tainted Results (Score:1)

Re:Tainted Results (Score:1)

Re:Tainted Results (Score:1)

Unsolved Mysteries (Score:1, Interesting)

Argo project home page (Score:5, Informative)

Fools (Score:2)

Re:Fools (Score:1)

Cool! Are they armed? (Score:3, Funny)

Re:well.... (Score:1)

groklaw ?? (Score:2)

Roland Piquepaille (Score:2, Interesting)

Some Better Links (Score:5, Informative)

About time... (Score:1)

Another bouy network (Score:2)

Re:Another bouy network (Score:1)

WHAT?! (Score:2, Funny)

Obligatory (Score:2)

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