Oceanographic Vessel Wireless Data Integrator (OVIDIO)

The development of the MAFIA project onboard the Hesperides vessel has allowed the integration and testing of OVIDIO (Oceanographic Vessel Wireless Data Integrator) technological platform.

Researchers during the MAFIA project deployed a large variety of oceanographic sensors during April and May 2015. The synergies created in this job environment were the ideal atmosphere for OVIDIO integration with the vessel and sensors systems. OVIDIO was checked in a real environment with oceanographic and atmospheric sensors, onboard electronics and researchers from different areas.

Miguel González Calleja on board the R.V "Hespérides" during the Mafia cruise from Salvador de Bahía (Brazil) to the Canary Islands (Spain).

Some of the services offered by OVIDIO are:

·       Reports management using mobiles devices (tablets, smartphones, etc.).

·       Data transmission using onboard WIFI network.

·       Data integration from vessel sensors (meteorology, deck, bridge data, etc.).

·       Samples management (codification, labeling with code bars, sampling reports).

·       Cruise schedule management.

·       Automatic ISO19139 metadata generation.

·       Report production.

The screen of a tablet showing the menu of Ovidio

All the process is running over a virtual machine including:

·       Database integration.

·       Sensors data agent capture.

·       WIFI dataflow management.

·       OVIDIO website hosting.


At the end of the cruise, the user can bring de virtual machine to his research center and integrate OVIDIO in his intranet or even allow worldwide access using internet services.

Acknowledgements

The development of this beta version was possible due to an agreement between IMEDEA (UIB-CSIC) and the "Migrants and Active Flux In the Atlantic Ocean" project (MAFIA) as well the CACYTMAR (Cadiz University) sponsorship. The Marine Technology Unit (UTM) supports the integration process of OVIDIO with the vessel systems as well as metadata generation. The Balearic Island Coastal Ocean Observing and Forecasting System (SOCIB) supports OVIDIO providing his oceanographic vessel facilities for testing proposes. PELOPANTON graphic studio specialized in scientific outreach, and they are the designers of the iconography of the website.


OVIDIO integrates the whole data lifecycle of an onboard scientific oceanographic cruise: data capture, database consolidation, datamining, reports, metadata generation…

The Deep Scattering Layer (DSL)

Today, the history of the DSL. Interesting video about the beginning of DSL studies. Enjoy it!

Mesopelagic fish and the biological pump

Talk about some results of the Malaspina Project in the frame of the "Ciencia Compartida" (shared science), weekly talks about burning questions in science at the Marine Sciences School, Universidad de Las Palmas. Interesting talk for the people engaged in the Mafia project and all those researchers working on Active Flux in the ocean.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6JGz5nohqI

Meeting of the Mafia project in Barcelona

During 19th and 20th March 2014, the different people engaged in the Mafia project met in Barcelona. The objective of the meeting was to prepare all the necessary actions to carry out the first evaluation of the Active Flux in the ocean at a basin scale. All the sampling systems, including rosette, different nets, sediment traps, video cameras, acoustics,… were reviewed in order to know their present status. An additional effort was made to organize the complex sampling in the 24 hour oceanographic stations. Some problems are now on the way to solve but our time-schedule estimation seems enough to have everything in check next year. Below is the photograph of the attendees to the meeting. Alejandro Ariza was absent at the end of the meeting and, therefore, missing in the picture. Fernando Bordes, Alicia Ojeda, Arturo Castellón, and Antonio Bode did not attend the meeting because of agenda.

From left to right: Santiago Hernández-León, Ignacio González-Gordillo, Enrique Moreno Ostos, Ignacio Franco, Balbina Molí, Pilar Olivar, Ainhoa Bernal, Lidia Nieves, Laia Armengol, Juan Carlos Garijo, Marian Peña, Andrés Cózar, Mariluz Fernández de Puelles y Jorge Cabrera-Gámez.

Carbon active fluxes in the Northeast Atlantic Subtropical gyre

PhD defense by Sébastien Putzeys about the active flux by zooplankton in the Canary Current.

New desing of the Oozeki net (MOHT)

Below is the abstract and some figures of the new design of the Oozeki net (MOHT) for vertical distribution of micronekton. This is of importance for our project as we seek to sample at different depths using a similar sampler.

Micronekton sampling using nets

Interesting paper by Kaartvedt et al (2012, MEPS) about the underestimation of micronekton biomass using large nets. Observe in the figures (below) the avoidance of an open trawl (not fishing) by mesopelagic fishes. Observe also the avoidance of these fishes in front of a fish school. They are able to detect the trawl or the fish school some 10-20 m in advance. It seems clear that estimation of biomass using nets is a chimera. Acoustics and/or video systems should be the choice.