Implementing a New Paradigm in Ocean Observing: A View from the Coolroom

Human populations exert considerable pressures on our coastal oceans which is a concern as there are many signs that they are increasingly exhibiting signs of stress. Historically the lack of technology capable providing data over relevant scales has often left the local, state and federal governments blind to effectively assessing the health of oceans. While this may seem overwhelming, the future is bright as we are in the midst of a technical revolution. We formed the Rutgers University Coastal Ocean Observation Lab (RU COOL) in 1997 which is advanced ocean observatory. This system has been anchoring for over a decade a series of large Office of Naval Research and National Science Foundation science campaigns. The RU COOL system is anchored by satellites, shore-based radios, and a growing fleet of smart undersea gliders. The data is processed in near real-time and fuels data assimilative models. Using a wireless cyberinfrastructure network adaptive sampling by ships is enabled. The power of the system is illustrated in this manuscript. The examples all directly address the priority themes outlined in recently published Decadal Ocean Priorities report developed by the United States ocean communities. Given this, we believe that the future for exploring, understanding and managing our oceans shows great promise especially given the potential of the Integrated Ocean Observing System and Ocean Observing Initiative.