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TAO/TRITON Teacher at Sea

The NOAA Office of Global Programs (OGP) and the National Science Foundation are proud to announce our newest Teacher at Sea, Mrs Dana Tomlinson, a 6th grade teacher from Emory Elementary School in San Diego, CA. Dana embarked on the NOAA Ship Ka'imimoana in San Diego on March 1, 2002 and traveled to the Galapagos Islands, arriving at Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz on March 23.

While Dana was onboard, the NOAA Ship Ka'imimoana serviced the TAO/TRITON array along both 95 degrees and 110 degrees west longitude as well as continued work associated with the Eastern Pacific Investigation of Climate (EPIC) project.

(left) Scientists Nuria Ruiz and Brian Powers and Chief Scientist Mike McPhaden, in the back, working on correcting a few problems on the buoy at 1.5S. Look at that flat ocean! (right) Brian helping to bring in the old buoy.

The TAO/TRITON array is part of a complex climate observation system. Central to describing, understanding, and predicting the Earth's climate system is observation. The mission of NOAA's Climate Observation Program is to build and sustain a global climate observing system that will respond to the long-term requirements of the operational forecast centers, international research programs, and major scientific assessments. The observational component of climate services has by far the greatest opportunity and necessity for international collaboration. A global observing system by definition crosses international boundaries and the potential exists for both benefits and burdens to be shared by many nations.

All of NOAA's contributions to the ocean component of the climate observing system are coordinated internationally. Perhaps none of the components is better-known than the TAO/TRITON array. Built over the past 15 years, through the efforts of many nations, the TAO/TRITON array is now maintained principally by the United States and Japan. Each of the 70 moored buoys that span the tropical Pacific must be visited twice-a-year for maintenance and instrument calibration. The servicing ship, the NOAA Ship Ka'imimoana, deploys other elements of the ocean observing system en route to the array, such as drifting buoys and Argo floats, as well as carrying scientists participating in climate research programs such as EPIC.

By the end of April, scientists will know whether or not an El Niņo is on the way. Five years after the onset of the most intense El Niņo on record, the TAO-TRITON array is once again tracking conditions that could herald another event. Unusually warm sea surface temperatures are being recorded in the central tropical Pacific as a vast pool of warm water heads east. During the months of March and April, water off Peru and Ecuador should begin to warm if 2002 will be an El Niņo year.

While most pronounced in the tropical Pacific and nearby regions, El Niņo's impacts are felt world-wide. The ocean is second only to the sun in influencing climate variability and change. Thus scientists are watching carefully the measurements being reported by the TAO/TRITON array. The hope is that improved long-range forecasts, based on those measurements from the expanse of the Pacific Ocean, can help people in all regions around the world prepare for potential variations in this year's climate conditions.

Our TAO/TRITON Teacher, Dana Tomlinson, is not only fortunate to participate in the science and research being conducted on the ship, but she is teaching her students at Emory Elementary about this exciting research endeavor. Dana participated in eight live broadcasts, more than any of our teachers so far, from the Ka'imimoana to her students and other classes around the world.

	Dana Tomlinson, in the Ka'imimoana's "studio" in the computer lab during a live test feed. (larger image)
Dana Tomlinson using her body weight to pull the rope to guide the Conductivity Temperature Depth (CTD) equipment safely onto the deck. (larger image)
	Dana Tomlinson, helping Raye scrape off over 2000 barnacles from the buoy. (larger image)

Dana also wrote lessons plans, maintained a daily log, took photographs, interviewed scientists, hosted the live web broadcasts, and engaged in dialogue via e-mail with thousands of teachers and students around the world, as well as the general public, while on the cruise. Read and learn all about Dana's adventure on her web site: http://www.ogp.noaa.gov/tao

[3/25/02]

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