The Autonomous Ocean Sampling Network (AOSN) project brings together sophisticated new robotic vehicles with advanced ocean models to improve our ability to observe and predict the ocean. The operational system includes data collection by smart and adaptive platforms and sensors that relay information to a shore in near real-time (hours) where it is assimilated into numerical models, that create four-dimensional fields and predict future conditions. Key to our effort is the development of control strategies to command our mobile vehicles to places where their data will be most useful. We call this 'adaptive sampling. The ability to predict physical properties of the ocean, such as temperature and current, as well as biological (ecosystem productivity) and chemical (nutrient fertilization) counterparts provides a fundamental test of our understanding of ocean processes, as well as an intrinsically useful capability. The success of the AOSN program depends on the collaboration of a network of institutions spread across the United States.

Access to the AOSN data server no longer requires registration. You can then access all the data in the system and produce custom images of the data. Much of the data can even be downloaded as text tables or netCDF archives.

Numerical access to some of the data will be restricted to AOSN principal investigators until the embargo on release of the restricted data expries. Principal investigators may request restricted access by using the link on the menu to the left of this page. AOSN principal investigators can expect up to 72 hours to pass before verification is complete, while others may have to wait much longer.