15 September 2008
World's
Largest Coastal Current Mapping Network Realized
A vision shared by many U.S. West
Coast oceanographers for over 10 years was made a reality this summer
with realtime mapping of surface currents along more than 1,200 contiguous
miles of coastline stretching from Rosarito, Mexico past the southern
border of Washington state. Technicians from the California Coastal Ocean
Current Monitoring
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Program (COCMP) installed the final systems to link
the SeaSonde® network in Oregon, operated by Oregon State
University, and the COCMP-managed SeaSonde systems in Northern California.
Almost 60 SeaSondes are contributing real-time data with coverage reaching
nearly 200 km offshore and higher resolution networks monitoring around
urban areas. Some of these units have been operating in small pockets
around the Santa Barbara Channel, Monterey Bay and off Newport, Oregon,
since the early 1990's. The collection of smaller networks were linked
and expanded using 40 new SeaSondes purchased and deployed under the
California Clean Water, Clean Air, Safe Neighborhood Parks, and Coastal
Protection Act of 2002. This network will be used for monitoring, studying
and protecting the Pacific coastline of the U.S. and Mexico and is already
a model for future large scale networks worldwide.
For near real-time National HFRadar Network (HFRNet) maps and information, visit:
http://cordc.ucsd.edu/projects/mapping/
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