A general system for automatic acquisition of STD-data from remote observers via telephone

The marine environment along the Norwegian coast is dominated by water from the North Atlantic and the coastal current system. A constant monitoring of the sea water salinity and temperature from fixed hydrographic stations along the coast has proved to generate valuable information for both long term studies of climatic variations and for short term warning of anomalies. Since 1930 Institute of Marine Research (IMR) has engaged residents along the coast-mainly fishermen-to collect hydrographic data with Nansen bottles. In a newly developed system described in this paper data are measured and recorded by a miniature STD instrument, sent to IMR via telephone and quality controlled by an expert assisted computer