Ocean Systems Test and Evaluation Program (OSTEP) Development Plan.

Abstract

The burden on the Nation’s coastal ocean and waterways continues to grow at an accelerating rate, while insufficient resources are available to adequately monitor even the most basic parameters. Advances in technology and communications systems offer a wide variety of potential solutions, also at an accelerating rate. The challenge is to introduce these new capabilities into existing monitoring networks in a cost effective and responsible manner. A variety of coastal programs are presently in the early stages of development. Through them there here is a growing awareness of the value of existing infrastructure and the difficulty of operating permanent monitoring systems. NOS should be prepared to accept the logical demand for additional sensors. The OSTEP seeks to facilitate the transition of new technology to an operational status, selecting newly developed sensors or systems from the research and development community and bringing them to a monitoring setting. OSTEP will also provide quantifiable and defensible justifications for the use of existing sensors and methods for selecting new systems. The program will establish and maintain field reference facilities where, in cooperation with other agencies facing similar challenges, devices will be examined in a non-operational field setting. Through OSTEP, sensors will be evaluated, quality control procedures developed, and maintenance routines generated. The quality of the reference systems used in the field will be assured by both rigorous traceable calibrations and redundant sensors.