Marine Environmental Monitoring by employing Data Buoy Network

The first chapter of this paper outlines the main consequence of global warming and how prediction of these effects of climate change could affect the coastal and marine ecosystems andstructures. Environmental change may be described as a fact of life on earth, as is the evolution and extinction of species. The earth’s systems may be divided into the atmosphere (air), hydrosphere (water, predominantly the oceans), biosphere (life), geosphere (land, whether above or below theocean surface), and finally cryosphere (snow and ice). It is important to appreciate that climate isaffected by interactions within and among all these spheres. For more than 50 years, the Earth’s climate has been changing because of increasing greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil, as well as deforestation and other human activities. In addition the warming of the Earth’s atmosphere and waters, loss of land and sea ice, and rising global sea levels are not new phenomena. These global changes havebeen occurring at increasing rates in the last century, particularly in the last decade. Science predicts that climate change will continue, and accelerate in the years ahead, with significantimpacts on everything from our coastlines and our health to water supplies, ecosystems, andother natural resources. [1] The ocean and the atmosphere are closely linked systems, in which they exchange gases,particles (dust, aerosols) heat and momentum. Atmospheric reservoirs of carbon dioxide have risen dramatically in the last decades resulting in an increase since the beginning of the IndustrialRevolution. Hence Carbon Dioxide is largely responsible for trapping heat in the atmosphere, and enhancing the natural green-house effect that other atmospheric gases (mainly water vapor) have on our planet. This alteration certainly affects the heat exchanges across the air-seainterface, with predictable consequences on marine processes such as ocean dynamics (stratification and circulation patterns), ecosystem productivity and distribution of organisms are considered to be the main concerns. Furthermore the ocean also directly absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Over the pastdecades a considerable amount of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions have sunk into theoceans, causing the seawater to become more acidic (decrease in pH a process known as ocean acidification). It is considered that even if reducing the present-day carbon dioxide emissionssucceeded, the Acidification process will still affect marine ecosystem during the full course ofthe century. Iran is geographically located in such way having two separate coastlines at its north and south of about 3000 km length, with very different characteristics. Iran’s northern coasts along theCaspian Sea enjoy a mild and pleasant weather and are more popular in most areas along the2 coast, while most of its southern (Persian Gulf) coastal areas experiences environmental concerns to oil/gas industries and also heavy traffic of oil tankers. (In order to reduce theatmospheric pollution and global warming, Iran is trying to rely less on fossil fuels for powergeneration and domestic use in recent years. Persian Gulf is one of the oldest water passages in the World. Historically it has been famous forits precious pearl, and it is rich in fishes and has long beautiful coral reefs. Furthermore Persian Gulf has been the major waterway for oil transport in the past four to five decades. Unfortunatelyduring this period it has suffered from some oil spills to its marine environment.( As a result ofthree major battles during the past three decades, the marine ecology of the Gulf has experienced overwhelming stress.)As it was previously stated, the Earth’s climate is rapidly changing. In Iran and other parts ofMiddle East, people are seeing how the impacts of rising global temperatures affect theircommunities, their livelihoods and the natural environment. Substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions is essential to avoiding the worst impacts of climate change, (Iran is now taking abig step to reduce its green house gasses and is now considering other energy sources such asNuclear or renewable energies to reduce its dependency to fossil fuels and sources). However as it was stated mitigation alone is not enough to prevent global warming, even with emissionreductions, some warming will still occur. Environmental factors and global climate change, that are expected to have the greatest directeffects on coastal and marine systems in that region are considered to be temperature changes, sea-level rise, availability of water from precipitation and runoff, wind patterns, and storminess. Investigation with regards to these environmental aspects, allows researchers and scientistmaking reasonable predictions about some of these effects on coasts, ports and marine structures in the region. The next chapter will outlines the main advantages and challenges by applying marine navigational aids and how technological advances in sensor technologies and wireless networking could benefit Monitoring a Marine Environment. The main technological advances in sensor technologies and wireless networking to the fields of oceanographic monitoring and pollution tracking are investigated. The system proposed in this paper mainly involves the use of groups of wirelessly networked buoys, harvesting solar energy, sensing and wirelesslycommunicating their measurements. It expresses a new vision for how such a system may operate and lists the advantages and challenges in adopting such an approach.

کلیدواژه ها:

Environmental Monitoring ، Buoy Network ، Wimax Technology