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Thursday 29 April 2004, 2 pm - 3.30 pm
(note different time & duration)
CSIRO Auditorium, Hobart
Dr Steven R Ramp
Research Professor
Department of Oceanography
Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA
Co-presenter with Dr Donald E Barrick
Scientific applications of the CODAR SeaSonde
HF Radar for remotely sensing ocean surface currents
Following a period of testing, verification, and acceptance
by the scientific community, the CODAR SeaSonde single transmit, single
receive antenna HF radar technology has experienced widespread proliferation
in recent years, with more than 130 units now deployed world-wide. The
new long-range SeaSonde, capable of imaging ocean currents out to a
distance of 180-240 km offshore, has now been operating for several
years off the Oregon coast, in the Middle Atlantic Bight, and south
of Tokyo, Japan. This equipment has allowed studies of both eastern
(e.g. the California Current) and western (e.g. the Kuroshio Current)
boundary currents that were not previously possible with conventional
instrumentation. While the surface current vector maps alone are illuminating,
objectively-mapped gridded surface velocity time series allow computation
of the divergence and vorticity fields as well. Examples of these results
will be discussed including the upwelling and relaxation process in
the California Current System, and the meandering modes of the Kuroshio
south of Japan.
A top-priority research thrust in the U.S. is presently the establishment
of real-time coastal-ocean observing networks, which form the backbone
of CGOOS, the coastal global ocean observing system. The CODAR SeaSonde
forms a primary sensing element in many of these systems, where its
power is enhanced by networking with ocean buoys, aircraft over flights,
under sea cabled observatories, and satellite remote sensing. The assimilation
of these data sets, including the surface current vector fields from
the CODAR SeaSonde, into numerical ocean models has provided dramatic
improvement in the model nowcast and forecast skill for ocean currents,
water mass properties, and biological and chemical characteristics.
These prediction systems are experiencing increased usage by search
and rescue teams, pollution managers, harbor masters, weather forecasters,
and the agricultural industry in addition to the scientists conducting
basic research with these tools.
Dr
Steve Ramp received his MS in physical oceanography from the University
of Washington in 1976. The first ten years of his career were spent
at the National Marine Fisheries Service in Woods Hole, MA, during which
time he concurrently earned his PhD in physical oceanography at the
University of Rhode Island. Since 1986, he has been with the U.S. Navy
as a Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA and
a Program Officer at the Office of Naval Research in Arlington, VA.
He has been a consultant to CODAR Ocean Sensors Ltd. since 1999.
Dr. Ramp’s
research interest is observational physical oceanography, focusing on
the ocean circulation over the continental shelf and slope, the circulation
in marginal seas, mesoscale dynamics, internal waves, and interdisciplinary
studies. More specific interests, in approximate chronological order,
include the circulation of the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and the
New England Shelf; Gulf Stream warm core rings and their interactions
with the shelf water, slope water, and bottom topography; the kinematics
and dynamics of the California Current System; and the circulation in
the Japan Sea, South China Sea, and East China Sea. He was the International
Scientific Coordinator for the Asian Seas International Acoustics Experiment
(ASIAEX).
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