SIBER SPIS sept 2011.pdf - IMBER

SIBER
Science Plan and Implementation Strategy
sensor set would only store data internally. Buoy modification and hardware for attaching
sensors is estimated to be $10,000 USD. This gives a total instrumentation and hardware cost
of $138,000 USD per system. Two systems will be required per mooring to maintain continuous
measurements (one deployed while the replacement system is prepared on shore). Therefore,
the total cost is $276,000 USD per mooring.
Given the current uncertainties in ship availability and maintenance schedules it would
be prudent to deploy sensor pairs in a stepwise fashion as recommended above, with the
deployment of the first pair providing a feasibility test. Once it has been established that these
biogeochemical sensors can be deployed, serviced and recovered and that high quality data
can be retrieved, additional sensors can be deployed.
Ta b l e 1 Total per system (note two systems per mooring): $138,000
Sensor Depth Parameters Cost (USD)
MAPCO 2 Surface Air-sea CO 2 flux $40,000
Optics + SBE 16 CTD Surface Fluorescence,
backscatter, O 2 , T, S
$20,000
SAMI pH Surface pH $20000
Optics Subsurface Fluorescence,
backscatter
$8,000
SAMI CO 2 Subsurface CO 2 $40,000
Mooring modification
and hardware
$10,000
A simple timeline for deployment would be one sensor pair every 18 months over the next 4.5
years, beginning with the first deployment in 2012. In the context of SIBER, which is a 10-year
program, the goal would be to maintain deployment of these sensors for 10 years. The annual
maintenance and hardware replacement costs are estimated to be $125,000 USD per year
after the initial deployments.
It should be emphasized, however, that much will be determined by logistics and other
practicalities, such as which countries will support the measurements. It is doubtful that a
single country will undertake all the deployments. For example, southern African countries
might ascribe a higher priority to the western sites than the BoB, simply because they have
more of a scientific interest in that region and it is where their ships travel. It should also
be emphasized that a basin scale perspective is needed, and all the key regions should be
measured. Therefore, the overarching goal is full implementation of biogeochemical sensors on
the RAMA Flux Reference moorings, recognizing that the pace and sequencing of deployments
will be determined by a range of factors such as availability of funding, ship time, national
interests, etc., and that above all, there must be close international cooperation to ensure that
instruments are deployed and the array maintained in the most efficient manner.
Dat a po l i c y
Data collected as part of this effort, once calibrated and quality controlled, will be freely
available on the internet.
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