![[SFOMC logo]](SFOMChead.jpg)
![[ONR logo]](ONR.gif)
This new center was founded through a partnership involving government
and academia. A Congressional grant, along with a combination of other
federal and state money is being used to construct this exciting new
facility which includes an extensive natural in-water laboratory being
built with the guidance of the Office
of Naval Research (ONR). This comprehensive in-water installation is
located off shore in Dania, just south of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in an
area with a wide variety of environmental conditions. It also includes
living reefs and is located where the continental shelf break is only 3
miles from shore.
The laboratory is being built around the substantial existing in-water assets of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, South Florida Testing Facility (SFTF). Hundreds of miles of cables, sensors and high-speed multiplexers are being supplemented with a large number of additional environmental sensors, including several in-water University of South Florida (USF) multi-sensor arrays. When completed, real time environmental data covering the atmosphere through the air/ocean interface and down to the sub-bottom will be available. Sophisticated and extensive acoustic arrays and additional measurement sensors will be strategically located by the University of Miami (UM) to support a variety of propagation measurements. Sensors will also be placed to support work of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML). An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) docking station will be permanently installed, providing the ability to operate the ONR funded Florida Atlantic University (FAU) AUVs in virtually any weather. A variety of data packages will be available for use of the scientific community on the range. The measurement area will encompass the surf zone out to a 400 meter depth. Environmental data will be available to the entire scientific community for long term monitoring as well as to investigators conducting experiments at this new natural laboratory.
Considerable shore based infrastructure will also be available. The north campus consists of 19 acres housing the Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center (NSUOC) and the Navy's South Florida Testing Facility with a secured range house and new laboratory building. There is also a small harbor and a 250 ft. pier capable of berthing and staging any one of the three Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution (HBOI) ships. The southern campus consists of SeaTech, a new 50,000 sq. ft. building housing Florida Atlantic University's Department of Ocean Engineering and a new Navy engineering and administrative building. Both campuses will be open (except for limited secured areas) with space allocated to all partners and customers.
The initial combined installations of the various environmental moorings; the various arrays and radars; and the existing SFTF sensors, results in a dense measurement system surrounding an AUV operations area. This will cover the shelf from the western edge of the Florida Current to the inner reef tract. This system will provide a detailed look at physical processes taking place along the east coast of Florida. When coupled with the biological measurements conducted by NSUOC, there will also be a remarkable opportunity to examine interactions between biology and physics in the region.