September 6, 2013

Establishing World-Class Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring in Okinawa ―Towards a Global Center of Marine Science―



The Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), working in agreement with the Okinawa General Bureau’s Ocean Expo Park, has installed a marine observatory system in waters off the coast of the Ocean Expo Park in Motobu Peninsula, where the Churaumi Aquarium is located. The installation, called the Okinawa Coastal Ocean Observatory System developed in partnership with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the U.S.A., enables real-time monitoring of temperature, salinity, and other chemical, biological and physical data. Through the establishment of this world-class oceanographic monitoring system in Okinawa, OIST will advance its marine scientific research capability towards becoming an international center of marine science.