"Ocean Robotic Networks", Professor Oscar Schofield, Rutgers University

We live on an ocean planet which is central to regulating the Earth’s climate and human society. Despite the importance of understanding the processes operat- ing in the ocean, it remains chronically undersampled due to the harsh operat- ing conditions. This is problematic given the limited long term information avail- able about how the ocean is changing. The changes include rising sea level, declining sea ice, ocean acidification, and the decline of mega fauna. While the changes are daunting, oceanography is in the midst of a technical revolution with the expansion of numerical modeling techniques, combined with ocean robotics. Operating together, these systems represent a new generation of ocean obser- vatories. I will review the evolution of these ocean observatories and provide a few case examples of the science that they enable, spanning from the waters offshore New Jersey to the remote waters of the Southern Ocean.