152
transmitting the information to the ship’s deck, to floating radio transmitters, or
to shore stations using a ducted propeller powering an electromagnetic induction
circuit of the author’s design. Another electronic current measurement instrument, the geomagnetic electrokinetograph, of Von Arx’s design is mentioned in
Pickard’s 1963 Descriptive Physical Oceanography. Only 7 years later, Myers,
Holm, and McAllister (1969) in their definitive (for the times) multiple-author
Handbook of Ocean and Underwater Engineering describe many commercially
available electronic oceanographic measurement instrumentation available at the
time but mostly for short-term industrial applications. Finally, at the threshold of
the digital revolution, Williams (1973) in his Oceanographic Instrumentation
describes and depicts more capable submersible field models of instruments for
the measurement of temperature (XBT thermistors), salinity (induction conductivity), light irradiance, and transmission and scattering (resistance photocells).
Already wave height could be measured by differential pressure using paired
strain gauge transducers, and a variety of electronic current measurement devices
was available. Electrochemical analyses were limited to Clark-type electrodes
for dissolved oxygen measurement and glass membrane pH sensors. Most of
these sensors relied on analog technology making data recording laborious and
imprecise, and only a few incorporated crude digital technology using perforated
cardboard or photographic film.
As described in this book, since then, the availability of electronic environmental measurement devices has grown exponentially. These advances are in
large part due to the advent of electronic digital data processing, archiving, and
transmission made possible by continued development of more capable electronic devices and of miniaturization and incorporation of such devices into integrated circuits, coupled to advances in electronic navigation, communications,
and numerical simulation. Many instruments based on different detection principles are now available to measure a single variable, tuned at times to a specific
range or environmental application in compact durable formats capable of
extended autonomous deployment. Platforms, then mostly limited to ships and
coastal installations, multiplied to encompass the oceans from outer space to the
sea bottom. Digital numerical simulations, then inexistent, now provide model
forecast guidance for diverse applications including navigation, recreation,
search and rescue, and spill response.
Sustained maintenance and further development of operational coastal ocean
observing systems will depend on their yield to societal benefit and on proper
recognition of the benefit thus accrued. Science and technology will undoubtedly
be among the beneficiaries yielding in turn more capable sensors, platforms, and
numerical models and, thus, more capable observing systems. Capacity for sound
governance and fiscal integrity will determine the outcome.
Afterword
transmitting the information to the ship’s deck, to floating radio transmitters, or
to shore stations using a ducted propeller powering an electromagnetic induction
circuit of the author’s design. Another electronic current measurement instrument, the geomagnetic electrokinetograph, of Von Arx’s design is mentioned in
Pickard’s 1963 Descriptive Physical Oceanography. Only 7 years later, Myers,
Holm, and McAllister (1969) in their definitive (for the times) multiple-author
Handbook of Ocean and Underwater Engineering describe many commercially
available electronic oceanographic measurement instrumentation available at the
time but mostly for short-term industrial applications. Finally, at the threshold of
the digital revolution, Williams (1973) in his Oceanographic Instrumentation
describes and depicts more capable submersible field models of instruments for
the measurement of temperature (XBT thermistors), salinity (induction conductivity), light irradiance, and transmission and scattering (resistance photocells).
Already wave height could be measured by differential pressure using paired
strain gauge transducers, and a variety of electronic current measurement devices
was available. Electrochemical analyses were limited to Clark-type electrodes
for dissolved oxygen measurement and glass membrane pH sensors. Most of
these sensors relied on analog technology making data recording laborious and
imprecise, and only a few incorporated crude digital technology using perforated
cardboard or photographic film.
As described in this book, since then, the availability of electronic environmental measurement devices has grown exponentially. These advances are in
large part due to the advent of electronic digital data processing, archiving, and
transmission made possible by continued development of more capable electronic devices and of miniaturization and incorporation of such devices into integrated circuits, coupled to advances in electronic navigation, communications,
and numerical simulation. Many instruments based on different detection principles are now available to measure a single variable, tuned at times to a specific
range or environmental application in compact durable formats capable of
extended autonomous deployment. Platforms, then mostly limited to ships and
coastal installations, multiplied to encompass the oceans from outer space to the
sea bottom. Digital numerical simulations, then inexistent, now provide model
forecast guidance for diverse applications including navigation, recreation,
search and rescue, and spill response.
Sustained maintenance and further development of operational coastal ocean
observing systems will depend on their yield to societal benefit and on proper
recognition of the benefit thus accrued. Science and technology will undoubtedly
be among the beneficiaries yielding in turn more capable sensors, platforms, and
numerical models and, thus, more capable observing systems. Capacity for sound
governance and fiscal integrity will determine the outcome.
Afterword