Comprehensive Oceanographic Monitoring Program in the Arabian Gulf

In contrast to the significance of industrial expansion in the Arabian Gulf region, this part of the water body is least understood scientifically. Obtaining a complete spectrum of oceanographic and water quality data is very important for planning and development in the fast growing industries in this region. Several instrumented offshore monitoring stations are established to measure current, temperature,conductivity,wind,DO,PH,and chloride. Each monitoring platform contains sensor instrumentation,data processor and telemetry unit. The Central Station serves to interrogate and control timing,sampling and data quality via the shore stations. The received data is logged on an IBM compatible 9-track tape recorder,which is played back,displayed or analyzed through computer. The integrated technology of the real-time data acquisition system ,the state-of-art knowledge of the oceanographic process,and their industrial applications in the Arabian Gulf are discussed.