underwater acoustically, rather than through the use of cables, satellite or radio
transmission, as do aerial data transmission modes. AOML’s Telemetered Instrument
Array (TIA) architecture consists of a receiving acoustic modem on the CREWS
station, and a sending acoustic modem on a special remote instrumented array. The
TIA is capable of physically supporting and combining the signals from a monitoring
PAM fluorometer, a Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) instrument, an irradiance
spectrophotometer, and a transmissometer. Data are acquired from each of these
instruments, averaged over a period of one hour, and then sent as a composite data
stream to the receiving modem on the CREWS station. All data parameters from the
station are then combined for transmission to the GOES satellite in the usual fashion.
The flexibility of combining multiple instruments at great ranges from the station, with
data collection and delivery in near-real time at the station, greatly expands the
possibilities for support of in situ coral research since different needs and different
researchers may be accommodated.
Figure 10. Envisioned deployment of a Telemetered Instrument Array, containing a monitoring
PAM fluorometer, a CTD instrument, a transmissometer, an irradiance spectrophotometer, and a
transmitting modem, in the vicinity of a CREWS station with a receiving acoustic modem for
acquiring data remote from the station. See text for details.
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Meteorological and Oceanographic Instrument Array