With funding from this award, researchers at the University of California at Santa Barbara will assemble the various datasets collected during the deployment of the Bermuda Testbed Mooring (BTM) and make them openly available to the oceanographic community for research and educational purposes.
From mid-1994 through October 2007, the BTM served as an autonomous-sampling deep-sea mooring dedicated to the collection of high temporal resolution, depth-dependent, interdisciplinary data for oceanographic studies and testing of novel instrumentation for sustained observations of short time-scale through long-term oceanic variability. BTM data have contributed significantly to many scientific programs such as the Bermuda Atlantic Time Series (BATS) and Ocean Flux Program (OFP) projects and to the research of several BTM collaborators and other researchers. Over 100 investigators have utilized the BTM and/or its datasets since 1994.
Broader Impacts: It is anticipaterd that BTM datasets and analyses (including complementary data sets) will be valuable for several major modeling efforts by individual investigators, groups, and organized programs dedicated to developing community-based physical and biogeochemical oceanographic models. Additionally, potential societal impacts include improved monitoring and predictability of hurricanes and their impacts, climate change, health of the ocean, and weather prediction.
