Smartbay: the development and implementation of an advanced marine technology platform on the west coast of Ireland

This paper is about the development, implementation and operation of SmartBay - a subsea cabled observatory and supporting infrastructure to stimulate the development of marine technology in Ireland. Blue Growth is the long term strategy of the European Union to support sustainable growth in the marine sector and offers great potential for innovation. The development of Ocean Technologies currently presents a number of challenges globally in terms of costs, reliability and longevity of infrastructure in the development of Renewable Energy, Blue Biotechnology, Water, and Environmental Monitoring & Management as well as more established markets such as Oil and Gas, Shipping and Security and Fishing and Aquaculture. We discuss the rationale behind the development of SmartBay in terms of addressing these challenges and focus particularly in the area of marine renewable energy technology development The design and installation phases of SmartBay are discussed. Costs were minimised, whilst maximising the range of features and applications that the infrastructure can provide to scientific and commercial users. The scientific subsea instrument node is also described in detail, along with the advanced supporting cyber-infrastructure that ensures the data is collected, processed archived and displayed as per end user requirements. The facility provides access to state of the art marine assets and resources for Researchers, Designers, Innovators and Entrepreneurs within Ireland and the EU and is a unique catalyst in the attraction of inward investment and venture capital investment. The SmartBay infrastructure platform centres on a core technology or service, the provision of high quality, time-series marine data. This is essential for a broader, interdependent ecosystem of businesses to develop and supply complementary value-added products and applications to wide multidisciplinary set of users. SmartBay’s role as a key technology node in broader European initiatives Ocean Observation initiatives like the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column observatory (EMSO), which has been established as a European Research Infrastructure consortium (ERIC) is also discussed.Peer Reviewe

New Connections: Exploring Ireland’s International Marine Research Partnerships

New Connections is a directory of Irish participation in EU funded marine research projects over the period 2007-2010. It contains a profile of each of the 98 co-operative and competitive projects that involve Irish partners under the FP7 Programme (64 projects), the INTERREG-IV Programme (32 projects), the Life+ Programme (1 project) and the Erasmus Mundus Programme (1 project). Each profile outlines the aims and objectives of the project, the project partnership and the Irish participants. New Connections (2011) is a companion publication to Oceans of Opportunity II (April 2007) which described Irish participation in the EU 6th Framework Programme (FP6) over the period 2002-2006.Funder: Marine Institut

Lessons from a Marine Spatial Planning data management process for Ireland

Peer-reviewedThis paper presents a framework containing ten components to deliver a data management process for the storage and management of data used for Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) in Ireland. The work includes a data process flow and a recommended solution architecture. The architecture includes a central data catalogue and a spatial storage system. The components of the process are presented to maximise the reuse potential of any dataset within an MSP context. The terms ‘Suitability’ and ‘Readiness’ in the MSP context are offered as both formal and considered assessments of data, as is the applicability of a data stewardship maturity matrix. How data contained in such a storage system can be published externally to potential consumers of these data is also explored. The process presents a means of managing data and metadata to ensure data lineage is optimised by carrying information about the origin of and the processing applied to the data; to evaluate the quality and relevance of geospatial datasets for use in MSP decisions in Ireland. The process was piloted in the National Marine Planning Framework for Ireland in the development of draft map products; feedback from the public consultation is ongoing and not presented

Reply to a comment by Watras et al. (2014) on temperature compensation method for field measurements of CDOM fluorescence Submitted as a Comment to Limnology and Oceanography: Methods

Abstract The recent comment by clarifies the calculation of the temperature correction coefficient (q) in Comment In our recently published paper ( We regret that there was misinterpretation in our understanding of the text i

Bright spots as climate‐smart marine spatial planning tools for conservation and blue growth

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Reply to a comment by watras et al. (2014) on temperature compensation method for field measurements of cdom fluorescence

The recent comment by Watras et al. (2014) clarifies the calculation of the temperature correction coefficient (rho) in Watras et al. (2011). Based on this clarification, we accept that the equation to compensate for temperature quenching of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) fluorescence presented in Ryder et al. (2012) and the equation proposed in Watras et al. (2011) are mathematically equivalent

Reply to a comment by watras et al. (2014) on temperature compensation method for field measurements of cdom fluorescence

The recent comment by Watras et al. (2014) clarifies the calculation of the temperature correction coefficient (rho) in Watras et al. (2011). Based on this clarification, we accept that the equation to compensate for temperature quenching of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) fluorescence presented in Ryder et al. (2012) and the equation proposed in Watras et al. (2011) are mathematically equivalent

Reply to a comment by watras et al. (2014) on temperature compensation method for field measurements of cdom fluorescence

The recent comment by Watras et al. (2014) clarifies the calculation of the temperature correction coefficient (rho) in Watras et al. (2011). Based on this clarification, we accept that the equation to compensate for temperature quenching of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) fluorescence presented in Ryder et al. (2012) and the equation proposed in Watras et al. (2011) are mathematically equivalent

From Highs to Lows : Changes in Dissolved Organic Carbon in a Peatland Catchment and Lake Following Extreme Flow Events

The concentration of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in freshwater catchments has implications for carbon availability in downstream lakes and for water supplies. The links between catchment hydrology and stream and lake DOC concentrations are, however, still not fully understood. Much of the literature has been from catchments with organo-mineral soils, with fewer studies from upland peat sites. We used high-frequency fluorescence data, a proxy for DOC, to investigate 1. the relationship between stream discharge and concentration in a blanket peat catchment during extreme high flows and 2. the relationship between inflow and in-lake estimated DOC concentrations. We found that for approximately two thirds of extreme events, there was a decrease in stream DOC concentration (i.e., a dilution) on the rising limb rather than an increase (i.e., a flushing out of DOC from terrestrial stores). Flushing events dominated only in summer when concentrations in the stream were also increasing. In comparison to the stream, concentrations in the downstream lake were less variable, and peaks and troughs were damped and lagged. Replicating these patterns and processes in DOC models would be critical in order to provide appropriate simulations in response to shorter- and longer-term changes in climate, and thus inform future catchment and lake management