Program News

Ocean Technology and Interdisciplinary Coordination

This is likely to be my final contribution to the OCE Newsletter as the technology development person and on behalf of the OTIC program. Hopefully my successor will be on board by the time the next issue is being prepared. The program has evolved and matured a lot since its inception almost twenty years ago and it is gratifying to be able to pass on to someone else such an interesting and viable research program. There are fascinating opportunities for further evolution and enhancement in keeping with the overall objective of developing new tools and capabilities necessary for advancing ocean science research.

OCE initiated a technology development component of the Instrumentation Program in FY 1982 to address a perceived void in our ability to fund the development of new tools and instruments, not necessarily linked to a specific research project, that would have broad community use. For the first ten years, technology development was within the Facilities Section and many of the first projects it supported involved research vessel based, seagoing, shared-use instrumentation and platforms. There was a gradual move to be more inclusive of shore-based laboratory instruments and technologies as well. In 1993 technology development was moved to the Research Section as the major component of the newly established OTIC Program. The move responded to the increasingly research-oriented nature of the development projects that were being supported and underscored the importance of having new technology projects be driven by ocean research requirements. The OTIC Program and I also took on responsibility for some of the interdisciplinary and international activities within OCE, such as the Coastal Ocean Processes (CoOP) program.

In looking back, the technology development program can take partial credit for many of the research capabilities now commonly available to the research community. The program supported projects that accelerated the acceptance and use> of acoustic Doppler techniques for measuring ocean currents and turbulence; and projects that improved capabilities for collecting discrete water samples at all the ocean’s depths. Considerable resources went into efforts at many institutions to develop the means to collect high precision and highly accurate physical and chemical data throughout the water column. Projects were supported to explore new ways of describing and enumerating biota, both in the laboratory through the development of flow cytometry techniques and in the open ocean through various bio-optical and bio-acoustic instruments and platforms. Other efforts have involved the development of instruments, platforms, and vehicles for studying geophysical properties both on and below the seafloor. Some projects have been long-term, others short prototype tests. There have been some notable failures along the way and some projects which just didn’t pan out, but if you’re breaking new ground, a few stumbles must be anticipated. The technology development activity has been truly interdisciplinary, touching on every aspect of ocean science research, and I believe there have been many accomplishments.

But looking ahead, opportunities are even more exciting. In some ways, technology development is a crystal ball to the future, in that researchers need advanced tools and capabilities in order to advance our knowledge of the oceans.

Increased emphasis is being placed on our ability to make relevant long-term measurements and making these new capabilities available needs work. This new focus reflects a research trend towards more temporal ocean studies that examine processes over longer time scales than in the past. In order to meet emerging new scientific requirements, new sensors and sensing capabilities will be required, and there must be the means and the protocols for handling the new types of time-series and other data that will be generated. I foresee technology development projects in the future spanning a wide spectrum of activities from further enhancing research capabilities of vehicles such as gliders, AUVs, and floats; to developing in situ chemical analyzers, to developing ecological genomics techniques for ocean research.

I will not be leaving OCE. I will be watching oceanographic technology development activities with great interest from a different vantage point. And I’ll be in a position to emphasize the importance that the technology development program remains responsive to ocean research trends and requirements. But in that there is a transition, I would like to thank the many grantees, would-be grantees, reviewers, and colleagues who have been supportive of the program. And I wish my successor the best of luck and tight end-caps.

Larry Clark (hclark@nsf.gov)