A regional sealevel/weather network contributing to the Global Sea Level Observing System

of the IOC’s Global Ocean Observing System

by

George A. Maul¹ , Jan C. Vermeiren², Claudio Volonte², Douglas M. Martin³, and J. Lee Chapin²

ABSTRACT

Caribbean: Planning for Adaptation to Global Climate Change (CPACC), is a joint project of member states of CARICOM, funded by the Global Environment Fund through the World Bank, and administered by the Organization of American States and the University of the West Indies. CPACC includes many components beyond sealevel and weather monitoring, but for the purposes of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission GLOSS and GOOS programs, this abstract will focus on the measuring system. CPACC sealevel/weather gauges consist of digital acoustic water level and meteorological sensors transmitted via GOES from eighteen sites in CARICOM countries (Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago). Coverage thus includes much of the eastern Caribbean Sea, with sites in northeastern South America, Central America, Bahamas, and the Straits of Florida. Water level is logged every six minutes, sea and air temperature, barometric pressure, precipitation, solar radiation, and wind velocity (speed and direction) are logged every fifteen minutes. All data are transmitted every three hours to a central archiving site operating temporarily at the equipment vendor’s site until it is established permanently at the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH- Barbados). These data can be down-linked from GOES, or acquired by ftp via the Internet from the CIMH, and thus are available to the oceanographic and meteorological communities at large. The sealevel/weather systems in CPACC are also geo-referenced by first-order GPS surveys. This unique positioning will allow in time, separation of the relative sealevel change from the vertical motion of the water level gauge. Initial precision of these GPS-located bench marks is ± 10 mm (with precision of connection from the GPS benchmark to the water level gauge of ± 1 mm), which should allow determination of the local land motion to within adequate values in a decade or so. The CPACC project is also unique in that a Trust Fund has been established to provide financial support well into the future for annual servicing, sensor calibration, and repair. This CPACC model of a regional intergovernmental organization (the OAS), working with the GEF through the WB to create a permanent CARICOM observational network, is a model for other regions to consider in their need to quantify the effects of global change and other natural hazards on the local environment.