Report of the Workshop on Remote Optical and Acoustic Mapping (ROAM) held in Monterey, California on May 20 and 21, 1988

Abstract : The purpose of this summary is to provide advice to the Navy with regard to the technological needs of the oceanographic community, to implement the real-time assessment of the distribution, diversity and dynamics of the biota of the oceanic water column. The important distinctions here are not between optical and acoustic methods, but between satellite, sea-surface and sub-surface deployments of instrumentation. The long-term needs of satellite-based ocean research appear today to be chiefly those of processing enormous volumes of data. In contrast, the principal short-term needs for both optical and acoustic instrumentation deployed beneath the sea surface, is gear development. Recent advances in both optical and acoustic technology have shown real promise for increasing the scope and resolution of these types of instrumentation. With the goal of assessing the biota of the oceanic water column, we can identify three fundamental needs: 1) species recognition; 2) resolution of spatial distribution patterns; 3) measurement of temporal distribution dynamics. Keywords: Oceanography, Acoustics, Optics.