This ocean sciences instrumentation development project will study the feasibility of applying the Global Positioning System (GPS) for centimeter accuracy sea level determina- tions. The project will augment an experiment being conducted off the California Coast by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The purpose of the project is to use GPS satellites and the Research Platform FLIP to examine the feasibility of positioning and orienting a floating platform with centimeter accuracy with reference to the seafloor. The add-on feasibility experiment will be conducted simultaneously with the Scripps-JPL work, but will focus on the determination of sea level. GPS will be used to position FLIP relative to a continental fiducial site and seafloor pressure transducers to measure sea level relative to a reference mark on FLIP. A tie between the transducers and the GPS antenna configuration will provide sea level relative to the fiducial site. The objective is to demonstrate and document the feasibility of obtaining centimeter accuracy sea level determinations using buoy mounted GPS receivers. High accuracy sea level determinations with GPS will be useful for the calibration of satellite altimeters, tide gauges, and ocean bottom pressure gauges. Low-cost "GPS-floaters" may provide an accurate sea surface monitoring network to supplement the global tide-gauge network.
