AIM
The participants' aim, recognising the significance of the Southern Ocean in World scale circulation and its links with issues of climate change, is to secure high quality, geodetically controlled sea level data from the Southern Ocean by establishing the Sea Level Centre for the Southern Ocean. This centre will be established at the National Tidal Facility (NTF), The Flinders University of South Australia.
The objectives of the Centre are to measure sea levels in the Australian sector of the Southern Ocean collected by the Antarctic Division of the Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories, to process relevant geodetic data collected by the Australian Surveying and Land Information Group (AUSLIG) of the Department of the Arts and Administrative Services and to process the collected sea level data and development of products by NTF for the following reasons:
1) To support oceanographic, geodetic and geographic research requirements for national and international programs (including GLOSS, GCOS and GOOS projects and initiatives sponsored by the SCAR Working Group on Geodesy and Geographical Information);
2) To enable a focus upon sea level measurements as indicators of ocean dynamics in the context of climate change;
3) To provide datum control for mapping and charting; and
4) To make tidal predictions for shipping and operational needs including safety of ships, personnel and equipment.
TIMETABLE
General
In this three-year project, the timetable is for phased implementation of the Sea Level Centre of the Southern Ocean. This has developed from the Sea Level Pilot Project for the Southern Ocean undertaken by the NTF as proposed by the Inter governmental Oceanographic Commission at Workshop No. 69 in May 1990 in Leningrad.
The following activities will be undertaken by the Sea Level Centre for the Southern Ocean:
Year 1
1) Develop procedures for the orderly collection, presentation and archive of data from the Australian Antarctic and Southern Ocean Sea Level Observation Network and the AUSLIG-Antarctic Division network of GPS installations.
2) Prepare an annual report, copies of which are to be forwarded to all nations and institutions known to be interested in sea level in the Southern Ocean. This report will comprise monthly sea level anomaly maps for the Southern Ocean, using mostly Australian continental data, supplemented with data from the gauges of the Antarctic Division, where these data are available. There will also be information about sea level research being conducted internationally.
Year 2
1) Maintain and refine the procedures developed in Year 1 for data from Australian sites and extend them to the rest of the Southern Ocean where possible. An annual report will again be prepared.
2) Develop an informational database on international work on sea levels in the Southern Ocean.
Year 3
1) Document details of the full operation of the network of Sea Level Observation Stations, geodetically controlled with permanent GPS receivers where possible, and a register of appropriate data to be made available on the World Wide Web. Reporting and database procedures to continue as in previous years.
FUNDING
The Antarctic Division will contribute funding to the Centre for three years for data processing as well as providing resources for the collection of data.
AUSLIG will contribute processing of GPS observational data from the permanent receivers.
NTF will contribute processing of sea level data and provide premises and services for the Centre.
For more information contact Bill Mitchell, Deputy Director NTF at bill@pacific.ntf.flinders.edu.au. We understand that a position will soon be advertised in connection with the Centre.