The PI requests funding to provide travel and subsistence support for up to six attendees from the U.S. to participate in the 2010 IEEE/OES South America International Symposium. The Symposium will be held April 12-14, 2010 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is being co-sponsored by the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), UNESCO., Service of Naval Hydrography, Defense Ministry and Nucleus INTELYMEC, Faculty of Engineering National University of Center of Prov. of Buenos Aires. The principal objective of the Symposium is to provide opportunities to exchange research, scientific, and technical information of mutual interest to the U.S. and South America.
The Symposium?s theme ?Climate Change Research and Advanced Technologies" was selected in collaboration with the leadership from the co-sponsoring organizations. It was determined that the main topics during the workshop would include Climate Change, Ocean Observations Systems, Coastal Zone Management and Renewable Energy Techniques.
Broader Impacts
The overarching theme and topics to be discussed represent common areas of needs for both North and South America. Participants will include experts from government, industry and the academic sectors. The Symposium is expected to provide valuable exchange of ocean science and technology research information that adds to the research and educational base of both regions and is applicable in addressing the needs sought.
The IEEE OES South American International Symposium was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina April 12-14, 2010 at the Palacio San Martin. The organizers included the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC ), The Minister of Science and Technology and Innovation as well as the Buenos Aires IEEE section. Several other organizations were supportive of the event to include NOAA, IOOS,NSF, OCEATLAN, CONICET, SHN, INTELYMEC, and the Argentine Minister of Commerce. The speakers at the symposium were from Chile, Argentina and the United States. NOAA supplied four Knauss scholars that contributed greatly to the discourse. NSF had two senior scientists in attendance and their presentation generated a lively discourse. Thirty two presentations on themes of Oceanic Engineering, Ocean Observation Systems and Climate Change, and Coastal Zone Management and International Organizations were heard, and reports of three Working Groups were presented to an audience of about 100 delegates. Javier Valladares, Chairman of the IOC and Andrew Clark, US Industry Representative, US National Committee for the IOC opened the symposium as General Chairs. We were next addressed by Alejandro Ceccatto, Vice Minister of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation, Argentina. The overall program had themes of Engineering and Renewable Energy on the first day, Ocean Observatory Systems and Climate Change on the second day, and Coastal Zone Management and International Organizations on the third day. Talks were broken up by coffee breaks, lunch breaks, and meetings of the Working Groups. At the conclusion of the third day, the chairs of the Working Groups reported the consensus of their members. The Working Group on Climate Change concluded that data management was a key issue. Data formats with quality assurance and quality control and methods of data sharing needed to be addressed. Data relevancy was a second major issue. Public education and outreach and connecting to stakeholders were seen as most important. Protocols and standards for measurement were the third issue. Promotion for sustaining observations was the fourth issue. The need for collaborative efforts such as Aquarius, OOI, and SAMOC were listed as the fifth issue. Data sharing on a global and regional basis was the sixth issue. An incentive for several other organizations scientists to share their data was the seventh issue. The Working Group on Renewable Energy and Engineering started by considering the benefits of gliders vs. AUVs for ocean observations and recognized that they complement one another, with AUVS closely reoccupying defined tracks and running Multibeam and imaging surveys near the sea floor while gliders exhibit long duration occupation of a region without a surface vessel and in all states of weather. But the issue that was most relevant to the group was data quantity with the need for data management and the quality and reliability of the measurements obtained by the sensors on the vehicles. Thus sensor stability and sensor validation and calibration were seen as the issue with autonomous vehicles, be they gliders or AUVs. The Working Group on Coastal Zone Management and International Organizations cited the necessity of interdisciplinary consideration of the whole ecosystem e.g. wetlands, coastal zones, ports, offshore hydrocarbon production. Single disciplines cannot study these entities independently. In each case, forces from outside the region affect local processes. These processes have different spatial and temporal scales. Accurate resolution is required for particular questions. As a second theme, to that of interdisciplinary study of coastal zone management, the role of modeling and observation was considered. The scientific community is critical of modeling. Funding is necessary for accurate modeling. Scientists should use models to determine where observations are needed. Observations provide data for analysis. The models can be evaluated with observations. There is a need for an observing system in Argentina similar to IOOS and the European Observing System. Data Management was the next concern of the group. Data should be standardized, following standards set by community groups and organizations. Data should include metadata. In summary, the working groups all identified the need for data sharing and data standardization with metadata included. Data management is certainly complex, diverse, and inadequately recognized and supported. The generation of data by sensors is of only slightly less of concern to the working groups. Stability, traceability, validation, and certification of sensors need greater attention. Delivery of information to the public is also a theme that arose in the working groups, particularly by sharing data between groups and making it available to stakeholders as rapidly as possible. Interaction between participants in the symposium was excellent, with questions raised after talks. Abstracts, full papers, and PowerPoint presentations have been collected and will be published on the Symposium web site with permission by the authors. The organizers intend to collect these place them on a CD or DVD for mailing to the registered delegates as well.
