#ocean monitoring

Days after the Trump administration vowed to dismantle a deep-ocean observation system, the European Union said it would bolster its own monitoring of the world’s oceans to improve climate forecasting and better anticipate changes to marine ecosystems.

The European Union announcement was long in the works, and not a response to the U.S. pullback. Still, officials in Brussels highlighted the contrast.

“To position the E.U. at the forefront of ocean observation is not a goal per se, it is a necessity, especially now that extremely worrying signals are coming from the other side of the Atlantic,” said Costas Kadis, the European Union’s commissioner for fisheries and oceans.

In recent days the National Science Foundation in the United States said it would begin dismantling a $368 million deep-ocean observation system that has been monitoring marine ecosystems and the effects of climate change since 2016.

That would involve the removal of 900 instruments anchored to the ocean bottom off Oregon, Washington State, Alaska, North Carolina, and an area between Greenland and Iceland known as the Irminger Sea.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, said it would invest $107 million, or 92 million euros, in ocean observation. More than half of the funding would be directed to an existing international ocean observation program sponsored by UNESCO, the World Meteorological Organization and other groups. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said Europe would “lead the race to understand our ocean.”

Mumbo jumbo

I’m reluctant to call it a word salad because salads are generally healthy and the meaningless excretion that emerged a few days ago from the mouth of a National Science Foundation official is anything but healthy.

Trump, no friend to scientific research, recently announced the Regime was scrapping a network of deep-sea instruments that collect data on currents, climate and marine ecosystems - information vital to monitoring the earth’s precarious health.

It’s just another volley in the Administration’s overall assault on science.

When asked about the cut, the NSF official spewed this jumble of nonsense:

“(It) …aligns with N.S.F.’s wider strategy to have a nimbler approach to prioritizing support for evolving scientific priorities and emerging technologies as well as a deliberate approach to smart life cycle management within its portfolio of research infrastructure.”

Sentinel oysters and other bivalve mollusks are now monitoring ocean water quality and environmental degradation in multiple locations around the globe. And according to molluSCAN the startup who built the software and hardware that connects these shellfish into an environmental warning system, they do so with greater sensitivity, better longevity, and lower cost than non-biological systems.

The company uses aquatic bivalves, such as oysters, mussels, or clams to monitor the environment. These mollusks, which are filter feeders, react to changes in water conditions, helping to detect pollution and other disruptions in water quality.

HOW?

It’s no easy task. To use biological systems or animals as early warning detectors of pollution, you need to know what is unusual behavior. To sense unusual behavior, you have to deeply know usual behavior. In other words, you have to build essentially a simulation or digital twin of the actual animal and model its normal and healthy behavior, and you have to build a sensor system that detects and transmits abnormal behavior.

molluSCAN-eye achieved that thanks to over 20 years of research at the Arcachon Marine Station of the University of Bordeaux. Thanks to that data, the company build what it calls High Frequency Non-Invasive Valvometry: a fancy way of describing its incredibly sensitive technology for monitoring the tiniest of bivalve mollusks movements. When those movements follow irregular or abnormal patterns, the system alerts scientists that something is amiss.

A typical installation includes 16 mollusks, each fitted with a tiny sensor complete with a battery that has years of available power. The sensors, which measure animal behavior 10 times a second, connect to a nearby electronic control box that captures the data from each animal and relays it to scientists or technicians.

16 is the minimum number of mollusks to ensure statistical reliability of the captured signals.

Excerpt from this story from the Inter Press Service:

A groundbreaking initiative to revolutionize global ocean observation is being launched this week at the UN Ocean Conference side event, aiming to enlist 10,000 commercial ships to collect and transmit vital ocean and weather data by 2035.

Known as “10,000 Ships for the Ocean,” the ambitious program seeks to vastly expand the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) by collaborating with the maritime industry to install state-of-the-art automated sensors aboard vessels that crisscross the globe’s waters.

“Ships have been observing the ocean for centuries, but today, we are scaling up with purpose and urgency,” said Joanna Post, Director of the Global Ocean Observing System at UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), at a press conference. “What we want to do now is to create a win-win model for the shipping industry and the planet—providing useful data for forecasting and resilience, while helping optimize shipping routes and reduce risks.”

The initiative, backed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), France, and major shipping players, comes at a pivotal time as climate-driven disasters increasingly wreak havoc on vulnerable coastal communities. Observations from the ocean surface—ranging from temperature to salinity to atmospheric conditions—are critical for weather forecasts, early warning systems, climate models, and maritime safety.

“Ocean observations are not just a scientific endeavor. They are critical infrastructure for society,” said Post. “We need this data to understand climate change, predict extreme weather events, and respond to disasters. Yet the ocean remains vastly under-observed.”

Excerpt:

The Trump administration is abandoning its plan to dismantle a $368 million ocean monitoring system critical to understanding climate change and marine ecosystems, bowing to a bipartisan backlash on Capitol Hill.

The National Science Foundation had said in May that it would begin removing hundreds of underwater instruments this month that collect data on coastal flooding, marine heat waves and other climate and weather events.

But the agency announced on Thursday that it will pause efforts to take apart the system, known as the Ocean Observatories Initiative, while convening an expert panel to determine its future.

“Effective immediately, N.S.F. will not proceed with further removal or de-scoping of equipment,” the agency said in a statement.

The Senate passed a measure Wednesday that would block the government from dismantling the system, with lawmakers in both parties warning that the action would be illegal and would threaten the safety of coastal communities. The Trump administration had also tried to cut the program’s funds the last two years, but Congress restored the money both times.

In May, the science foundation had said it would send ships to start pulling up instruments anchored to the sea floor off the coasts of Oregon, Washington State, Alaska, North Carolina, and an area between Greenland and Iceland known as the Irminger Sea.

For the past decade, scientists have used data from these instruments to understand how the ocean is absorbing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, how marine heat waves could affect fisheries and how soon a vital ocean current could collapse.

Fishermen have also checked the real-time, publicly available data on wind and wave conditions before heading to sea. And meteorologists have used these observations to improve forecasts of disasters like hurricanes and tsunamis.

The Oceanography CTD System Market presents growing opportunities as global focus on ocean sustainability and climate research intensifies. Rising deployments across scientific and industrial applications are expanding market potential.

Key Market Opportunities

Growth of autonomous ocean monitoring platforms

Expansion of offshore renewable energy projects

Increased funding for marine environmental studies

Demand for long-term ocean data collection

These factors are unlocking new Oceanography CTD System Market opportunities.

Technological Opportunity Areas

Miniaturization and enhanced sensor accuracy are opening new application segments.

Regional Opportunity Landscape

Europe continues to invest heavily in marine research, while Asia Pacific shows emerging demand.

Opportunity-Driven Conclusion

Protecting coral reefs with Nemo-Pi, the underwater monitor

The German charity Save Nemo works to protect coral reefs, and they are developing Nemo-Pi, an underwater “weather station” that monitors ocean conditions. Right now, you can vote for Save Nemo in the Google.org Impact Challenge.

Save Nemo

The organisation says there are two major threats to coral reefs: divers, and climate change. To make diving saver for reefs, Save Nemo installs buoy anchor…