Biscay AGL. An observatory for state of the art operational oceanography at IEO. Derived products, sensor networks and future developments.

Abstract

Since 1991, shelf and slope waters of the Southern Bay of Biscay are regularly sampled in a monthly hydrographical section north of Santander. From 2003, a deep hydrological standard section was included and on June 2007, an ocean-meteorological buoy was moored at the end of Santander Section (www.boya_agl.st.ieo.es). All of three are part of IEOOS (IEO Observing System). Biscay AGL is one observatory for the EU FixO3 project.

The combination of these resources leads to a powerful tool, Biscay AGL, which is more than the combination of the AGL Buoy and the hydrographical samplings. This tool produces not only time series of several parameters at different time resolutions but also derived products, both real and delayed time. Derived products from this buoy include, annual cycles as well as anomalous values. In particular ones such as air-sea heat fluxes, salinity and water temperatures anomalies, sub inertial currents series, chlorophyll surface series, estimate of the mixed layer depth and wind and currents roses.

Many sensor networks have been deployed to monitor marine environment, and more will follow in the future. Due to the large number of sensor manufacturers, integrating diverse sensors into observation systems is not straightforward. By defining standardized service interfaces it is possible to enable access to sensor networks and archived sensor data that can be discovered and accessed using standard protocols and application programming interfaces. Future developments include the deployment of a full sensor network as well as adding new devices to the Biscay AGL tool in order to achieve deeper knowledge of the ocean.