Telemetry

Telemetry is the remote transmission of sensor data from an ocean platform to a shore or ship receiver, the link that turns a logging instrument into a real-time observation. Surface platforms relay over satellite, the Argos system for low-rate position and data, Iridium Short Burst Data for higher throughput and two-way control, or GOES for fixed buoys; subsurface instruments store data and transmit only when they surface, or stream continuously over a submarine cable on a cabled observatory. Acoustic modems carry data from seafloor packages such as a DART bottom pressure recorder up to a surface relay buoy. Telemetry latency and bandwidth set what an observing network can deliver in time for forecasting.