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January 26, 1998

Lecture focuses on computer system monitoring the Monterey Bay

Fog, breezes, and shifting currents are part of life in Monterey Bay, but how they arise and evolve is shrouded in mystery. A computer system called the Real-time Environmental Information Network and Analysis System (REINAS) is helping reveal the causes behind these weather changes.

UC Santa Cruz dean of engineering Patrick Mantey, who directs the REINAS project, will describe the computer system in a talk on Tuesday, February 3. The lecture is titled "Monitoring of the Monterey Bay Regional Environment via the Internet: REINAS." It takes place from 8 to 9 p.m. in Classroom Unit 1. The talk is free and open to the public.

The REINAS system collects data on the Monterey Bay coastal environment from an extensive network of remote sensors, stores it in a distributed database, and displays the data on command in graphic form. The project began in 1992 with a $4.7 million grant from the Office of Naval Research. It is a collaboration between UCSC researchers and scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and the Naval Postgraduate School.

Mantey and his colleagues see far-reaching uses for systems modeled after REINAS. A similar system has been installed at the Columbia River Basin and soon will be in place at San Diego Bay. Systems based on the REINAS model may one day be used to study geophysics, hydrology, or air pollution, or to monitor manufacturing processes, Mantey said.

The talk is sponsored by the UCSC chapter of Sigma Xi, a scientific research society. For more information, call Patrick Elvander at (408) 459-3674 or access http://bioweb.ucsc.edu/sigmaxi


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