An engineer who helped deploy “obuoys” in the Arctic submitted this story, but wishes to remain nameless since he feels that he’ll be ostracized for sharing here. I’ll respect his wishes, and pass along the information. He writes via the “submit story” feature in the WUWT header:
I’ve had a small part in getting a series of buoys ready for arctic deployment and a few have been successfully sent out already. They are very large and take met data, O3 and BrO data (looking for O3 depletions), CO2 data, and as an afterthought a simple webcam was thrown on board.
This last bit I thought several people might be interested in. The only buoy that is currently deployed (and not sitting on the ocean floor) is near the Beaufort. See a movie of the last three months of webcam images here:
Initially the webcam only took one image a day, but with the ice breaking up the PI’s decided to increase that to once an hour. Towards the end you can really see ice flowing back and forth a distance away from the buoy, and it is clear the buoy is free-floating in a melt pond.
You can monitor this buoy and others, once they deploy, through this interface: http://obuoy.datatransport.org/monitor
The head principal investigator is Dr. Paty Matrai: http://www.bigelow.org/research/srs/paty_matrai/paty_matrai_laboratory/
Here is a movie on the deployment:
Excellent movie! But I think the Arctic will belongs to Russians
Good stuff. Ice melts when the sun shines. What more proof do you need? /sarc
An awe inspiring example of technological ability from NASA plus a sour note
in the deployment movie with the fund raising magic icons “CO2 and CLIMATE CHANGE”.
Outstanding video.
Not as simple as the garbage on most consumer PC’s. I would like to know what brand and specs on that simple webcam 😉
Jay says:
July 15, 2011 at 1:43 pm
As a rootin’-tootin’ socialist thinking green I think it’s neat that someone posted something related to the real world here. Shame it doesn’t happen more often.
Garethman says
Hey Jay, you are not the only one by a long chalk. This site is not the LLandewibrefi of green socialists, far from it. We may not like some of the politics, but it’s the only major climate site that allows free debate on climate without condemnation by moderators. Personally I think there are rather more articles posted here which support green activism and challenge runaway capitalism than maybe they are given credit for.
From Jeff Alberts on July 15, 2011 at 6:11 pm:
Must have sounded strange to hear you talk of “Life-boo-ee” soap.
Wait… Did you go full-French and call it “Le-fee-boo-ee zo-ap”?
Latitude wonders “Was it really necessary to put out the cones?”
Strangely there were no “watch your step” notices around.
And the implications of this information are?
Or is it just data.
Some people must only read about every third word. What’s with this “sinking” nonsense? From the caption under the picture (those are words explaining the scene, if you’re not familiar with the term): “the buoy is free-floating in a melt pond.” Free-floating means supported by water only. This is the opposite of “sinking”.
Have I ‘splained it clearly enuf for yiz?
Caleb,
Northpole Webcam #1 has the 45 degree tilt. Northpole webcam #2 has been much more interesting to follow – large melt pond in the field of view with moving ice and pressure ridges appearing and disappearing. There are also stadia rods visible so that it’s easy to gauge the melt. It’s also had more sun – so the pictures reveal more detail. http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/latest/noaa2.jpg
Brian H: GPS doesn’t get velocity directly, it derives it from position and time, and it has a position uncertainty due to timing errors. The uncertainty is inherent in the system, which is dependent on very, very accurate timing; “selective availability” (when used) just accentuates the natural effect.
High latitudes, with all the satellites near the horizon, are the worst case. The range to the satellites and the fraction of the path traveling through atmosphere are at the maximum, so the errors tend to be larger than normal. Even in the mid-latitudes, where the accuracy is best, it’s common to see momentary velocities of a meter per second or so in a fixed GPS receiver. That number doesn’t look all that far out of line for a receiver in the Arctic.
Regards,
Ric
TimTheToolMan says:
July 16, 2011 at 3:08 am
Latitude wonders “Was it really necessary to put out the cones?”
Strangely there were no “watch your step” notices around.
=========================================================
Makes you wonder……….
and these are the guys doing ‘science’
We don’t speak of such things.
From Jeff Alberts on July 16, 2011 at 10:16 am:
You don’t talk about soap?
‘Nuff said, never mind.
😉
Logitech Vision Pro
http://polarpower.org/static/docs/PTC_2010/2010PTC_Valentic.pdf
Cheers!!
I get the impression that, although the buoy video is excellent, some of the basics of the OBuoy program have not been explained. They may be familiar to the (understandably) anonymous original poster, and perhaps some others, but could I request a simple – quick and dirty – explanation.
Are the OBuoys on the ice [and sink if it melts] – or not?
The second video looks as if they’re put down an icehole, which may ice up again – but float at first. Ice can destroy ships, as already noted.
Do they have some gyro stabilisation?
There probably are other queries, too.
As this site is very widely read, such basic background would be welcome!
RE: Kevin O’Neill says:
July 16, 2011 at 4:42 am
Thanks. Great webcam of the arctic.
In New England the word “buoy” has always been two sylables, ranging from “Bow-ee” up in Maine to “Boo-ee” down on Cape Cod. Of course, with kids watching hundreds of “Life-boy” soap commercials, and parents so busy working they can hardly speak to their kids, the old accents are fading away, replaced by a sort of generic accent.
In parts of the deep south I’ve heard the word “boy” drawled out to a degree where it is either two sylables, or one very long sylable. (Say, “good old boy,” with southern irony.)
Prity soon alla us spikin pidgin only.
I’m relieved, finally there is a scientific blog entered top 100 in http://www.botd.wordpress.com. I thought the artist news and wrestling arenas that gets the top position. Congratulations ..
I kept looking for the polar bears, but didn’t see any. I guess they must realy be extinct.
Nope, they held a conference and reached a consensus that penguins were more plentiful and easier to catch than seals, and they’re now en route swimming to Antarctica. They plan to arrive when the chicks are just hatching so they can gorge on them and their loyal parents, stuck up on the ice.
Oh boy, OBuoy2 is no more.
It toppled over July 22, which knocked out the Ozone/CO2 sensors and the battery heat sensor. The remainder of it’s systems went down July 23.
Neven’s Arctic Ice Blog did a good story on it (and on the end of the NOAA North Pole camera’s as well):
http://neven1.typepad.com/blog/2011/07/death-of-a-webcam.html#tp
Also note that after Anthony’s post here, the Obuoy2 movie recorded 8 days of spectacular changes around it. The melting ponds growing larger by the hour (especially when the Arctic sun is at it’s highest (behind the camera)), leads widening, the ice floe it’s on cracked and went on the move, bumped into something, and in the final hours the bouy tilts over and faces the sky. Here is the whole thing :
http://obuoy.datatransport.org/data/obuoy/var/plots/buoy2/camera/buoy2-movie.mp4
Thank Anthony for posting the this story about Obuoy2. I think it’s the most awesome video ever shot of melting sea ice. I just wonder why it toppled over and did not simply stay afloat upright.