Innovative technology in oceanography: Past, present and future

Technological innovation has provided oceanography with tools for observation, analysis and data sharing that increase the rate at which society can benefit from our understanding of the environment. While most of the innovations have come from outside oceanography such as electronics, the analog to digital revolution, microprocessors and the Internet, many have been invented by ocean engineers such as the CTD, underwater acoustic telemetry and autonomous underwater vehicles. The consequences of not having these tools would have been a vastly decreased observational base of data and information and consequent understanding of earth processes including climate change, ocean acidification and other phenomena of social concern. Fiscal concerns threaten innovation in oceanography as in other social activities. It is presumed that freezing technological innovation at the present stage will impede observations, analyses and understanding resulting in unwise policies on a global scale to social detriment for all mankind. The establishment in the IEEE/Oceanic Engineering Society of the Innovative Technology Committee in May 2011 has provided impetus for this paper.