OBSERVING (CONT.)
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH
CAROLINA
SC NEAR SHORE MONITORING
STATIONS – S.I. GEORGE
VOULGARIS, USC
Budget Justification: Salary
support is for the S.I. (1.2
months), a
technician/computer
analyst/data manager (12
months), and a graduate
student. Equipment is
budgeted for one workstation
for the wave modeling. Travel
is for SEACOOS meetings and
field support. Materials and
supplies are largely for
seagoing items, spares,
consumables, data storage and
for computer related items.
Other costs include contracts
for diving and boat for the
maintenance of the equipment,
fees for provision of internet
access in the field and student
tuition. University of South
Carolina fringe is @ 19.7%,
plus $222.05/month health
insurance for the technician,
and indirect is @ 45.5% on
everything except student
tuition and equipment.
WORK STATEMENTS
% COMPLETE
§
Near-shore Stations - Continue to operate and maintain two established
near-shore monitoring stations, providing real-time directional wave and
current data to the general public via the SEACOOS internet site and the
NOAA-NOS site (Springmaid Pier Station, SC). Emphasis is placed on
improving robustness and reliability of the sites minimizing down time.
§
§
The two nearshore stations (Springmaid Pier and Folly Island) continued to
be maintained. Springmaid station stopped operating on January 05, 2006.
Operation was re-established on January 11th, 2006. Folly beach has been
non-operational since August 12, 2005 due to burial in response to a beach
nourishment project that took place in the vicinity of the station. Attempt to
recover the station in August 2005 failed due to low visibility and due to
burial of the sensor. A recovery operation was re-attempted on April 3, 2006
using an hydraulic dredge but due to problems with the vessel (davit failure)
the operations were abandoned. The station is expected to be operational
again in April 2006 and in time for the summer period. This will assist the
mission of the Charleston NWS/WFO for nearshore hazard predictions.
§
Additionally, the Springmaid station has been updated with a Hydrolab
Salinity / DO sensor in support of hypoxia studies by the SC Department of
Natural Resources. The instrument and data transmission is using the
SEACOOS established hardware/software backbone.
§
A high-resolution tilted head rotating sonar (2MHz) has bee acquired and
data-logging software was developed for its remote operation. The system is
planned to be installed on the SABSOON towers to facilitate monitoring of
sea bed morphology in an attempt of continuously monitoring benthic
exchange fluxes as these might be affected by wave-induced ripples.
§
60%
§
Wave Modeling for the Vicinity of the Measurement Locations – Initiate
the development, calibration and utilization of a small region, high-resolution
wave model to extrapolate the point measurements into various locations
along the coastline.
§
§
The computer hardware was purchased and has been installed. Most of the
effort has focused on testing the systems and setting up a new Fortran
compiler (Portland Group) for use with this activity. The SWAN model has
been installed and trial runs have been performed to study speed and
compatibility of computer systems. Furthermore, wave directional data from
a parallel study funded by the US Geological Survey (Coastal Erosion Study)
were collected at two additional locations north of the Springmaid station.
These data are currently analyzed to be used to calibrate the model for its
ability to accurately predict the spatial variability of the wave conditions
along the coastline of Long Bay.
40%
§
Data Analysis – Continue the generation of data for improving the near-
shore directional wave climate for the coast of South Carolina for the two
locations.
§
The real-time data analysis software developed as part of this program and
currently used in the SC Nearshore Monitoring systems has been
disseminated to researchers from the UNC Wilmington and UNC-Chapel Hill
(Marine Institute) for use with their systems. Support to their efforts has been
50%
