Ocean Observation Technologies: A Review

Abstract

Covering about three quarters of the surface area of the earth, the ocean is a critical source of sustenance, medicine, and commerce. However, such vast expanse in both surface area and depth, presents myriad observing challenges for researchers, such as corrosion, attenuation of electromagnetic waves, and high pressure. Ocean observation technologies are progressing from the conventional single node, static and short-term modalities to multiple nodes, dynamic and long-term modalities, to increase the density of both temporal and spatial samplings. Although people’s knowledge of the oceans has been still quite limited, the contributions of many nations cooperating to develop the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) have remarkably promoted the development of ocean observing technologies. This paper reviews the typical observing technologies deployed from the sea surface to the seafloor, and discusses the future trend of the ocean observation systems with the docking technology and sustained ocean energy.