SOT IVSOOPIP Chair Report

Program Review

Steven Cook

Terms of Referencea) Review, recommend on and, as necessary, coordinate the implementation of

specialized shipboard instrumentation and observing practices dedicated to

temperature and salinity measurements;

b) Coordinate the exchange of technical information on relevant oceanographic

equipment and expendables, development, functionality, reliability and accuracy, and

survey new developments in instrumentation technology and recommended practices;

c) Ensure the distribution of available programme resources to ships to meet the agreed

sampling strategy in the most efficient way;

d) Ensure the transmission of data in real time from participating ships; ensure that

delayed mode data are checked and distributed in a timely manner to data processing

centres;

e) Maintain, through the SOT Coordinator, appropriate inventories, monitoring reports

and analyses, performance indicators and information exchange facilities;

f) Provide guidance to the coordinator in supporting the SOOP;

g) Prepare annually a report on the status of SOOP operations, data availability and data

quality

Current SOOPIP Members• Australia • Canada • France (IRD Brest and Noumea)• Germany • India • Japan • Mediterranean Forecasting System Pilot Project (MFSPP)• United Kingdom • USA (AOML and Scripps IO)

• Not active 2005 or 2006– Russian Federation – China

Real-Time XBT Transmissions

Number of XBT's Transmitted

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

1 2 3

Years: 2004 - 2005 - 2006

Number

XBT Decline Issues

• Implementation of ARGO.– Traditional hard to sample areas are now better

sampled (i.e. Southern Ocean, G. of Guinea).

• ~ 25% of FRX & HDX Lines not sampled.

• ~ 33% of FRX & HDX Lines under sampled.

• Fewer observations but better quality?

Routes that need Attention

• AX- 15• AX- 25• IX- 06• IX- 07• IX- 08• IX-09S

• PX- 11• PX- 21• PX- 35• PX- 36• PX- 81

Review of SOOPIP Action Items from SOT - III

Item: IV/1.1.5

• XBT Community to review and comment to the SOOPIP Chair on the Japanese papers comparing TSK and Sippican T-5 probes regarding possible changes to the fall rate equations.

• Status?

Item: IV/2.2.2 & IV/2.3.1

• Efforts to be renewed to recruit ships on the following lines:– IRD same coverage on AX01,AX05, AX11, AX15 &

AX20.– NOAA initiated coverage on AX34 + Drifters.– SIO initiated/modified IX15 & IX21– SIO PX06/PX31 changed from PX06/PX09.– SIO replaced PX50 with PX08.– BSH changed ships on AX11.– Japan searching for ship on IX06.

Item: IV/4.1.1

• Operators to send XBT sampling plans for each route maintained to TC and Chair.– IRD same level as 2004.– JAMSTEC/JMA ceased sampling on PX05 but

continued on IX09(N)/IX10(E) & PX40.– OOPC to review N-S vs. E-W line assignment

vs. required horizontal resolution.

SOOPIP Initiatives

• XBT Recorder & Launcher Intercomparison– D. Snowden

• IOGOOS/JCOMM NIO XBT Training Workshop

– V.V. Gopalakrishna

SOT IVSOOPIP Chair Report

Program Implementation

Status of Current XBT Sampling

Estimated HDX & FRX Line Sampling in 2005

• 15 Lines were well sampled.

• 2 Lines were sampled at 50%.

• 2 Lines were over sampled.

• 15 Lines were under sampled.

• 11 Lines were not sampled.

Upper Ocean Thermal Review Lines

• AX-03 IX-01

• AX-07 IX-06

• AX-08 IX-07

• AX-10 IX-09S

• AX-11 IX-10

• AX-15 IX-12

• AX-18 IX-15

• AX-20 IX-21

• AX-22 IX-22

• AX-25 IX-28

• AX-29

• AX-34

• PX-02 PX-34• PX-04 PX-35• PX-05 PX-36• PX-06 PX-37• PX-08 PX-38• PX-09 PX-38• PX-10 PX-40• PX-11 PX-44• PX-13 PX-50• PX-17 PX-81• PX-18• PX-21• PX-26 (TRANSPAC ?)• PX-30• PX-31

Review of XBT Line Responsibilities

         Since 1990 the global Low Density XBT network has been monitored and coordinated in an effort to more effectively utilize resources and improve sampling, data transmission and processing. National XBT programs evolved over the years to adapt to a changingmaritime industry. Today, maritime shipping has evolved to the point that it now emulates the airline industry. To be competitive they must endeavour to keep their ships fully loaded and underway. As the maritime industry becomes more competitive larger companies are buying up smaller companies in an effort to become more efficient in dealing with their cargo demands.

The SOOPIP community finds itself burdened with vessels coming and goingoffline at ever increasing frequency and usually with very little notice. Ships are staffed by fewer and fewer people and the time spent in port is becoming less and less. This means less opportunity for our programs to interact with shipboard personal, install equipment and train operators.

Additionally, while at sea ships personnel have less time to devote to our samplingrequirements. Placing ship riders on board to collect quality data is becoming more thenorm than in the past when we depended almost totally on ships personnel.

The burden is on us to continually recruit new vessels and shore side support assistance with the shipping of our equipment and with the installing and de-installing of equipment. There is an enormous amount of scientific/maritime industry experience in the SOOPIP community. Therefore the SOOPIP is invited to discuss these problems and express their collective thoughts concerning just what routes can be realistically maintained.

Lines not Sampled in 2005

• AX-15 PX-11

• AX-25 PX-21

• IX-06 PX-35

• IX-07 PX-36

• IX-08 PX-81

• IX-09S

Other SOOPIP Partnerships

• AutoImet

• TSG

• Atmospheric CO2

• pCO2

• Drifting Buoys

• Argo Floats

• CPR

SOT-V/SOOPIP-VIIIAction Items

• OOPC: Increase communication between SOOPIP and the CLIVAR basin panels for monitoring line performance. (Chair)

• OOPC: Priorities in the Indian Ocean and Indonesian Through Flow. (Operators)

• Task Team on Instrument Standards:– Investigate the feasibility of developing a new

Automated XBT Launcher (add new participants)