Multi-parameter Instrument Array and Control System (MPIACS): a software interface implementation of real-time data acquisition and visualization for environmental monitoring

Recent developments in sensor technology over the past decade have shifted the paradigm in environmental as well as oceanographic sampling and monitoring. The environmental and oceanographic scientific communities continue to deploy more and more in situ sensors either as single-unit deployments for generation of time-series and vertical profiles or as a towed-array for mapping environmental variables in surface waters in multidimensional space. Emergency response activities are also enhanced by way of real-time geo-referenced data acquisition using mobile in situ sensor arrays. Against this backdrop, we developed a software interface for real-time acquisition, analysis and visualization from a towed-array of sensors. This is the Multi-parameter Instrument Array and Control System (MPIACS) described in this paper and was used in the fall of 2002 during a mock oil-spill exercise in Corpus Christi Bay, Texas under he auspices of the Texas General Land Office (TGLO). The interface is designed for correlative visualization along the transect between as many as six state variables or environmental indicators allowing the implementation of adaptive sampling schemes. The software can also be used for scheduled sampling of water quality parameters in surface waters.