Speciality Subcommittee

The Specialty Subcommittee (the Committee) was established by the Acoustical Oceanography (AO) Technical Committee of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) on 3 December 2002 at the Cancun meeting.

Terms of Reference

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Committee is to develop the concept of integrated acoustics systems for ocean observatories, as described in the Abstract. To this end, the committee has charged itself to:

• Entrain the necessary expertise and relevant stakeholders, · Establish scientific and other rationale,
• Develop the concept and an implementation plan,
• Develop synergies between users, working with complementary programs (CLIVAR, ocean assimilation/prediction, interdisciplinary groups, etc.),
• Prepare the necessary white paper(s) and presentation materials,
• Make convincing presentations to users, sponsors, and conferences, and
• Develop funding mechanisms for the implementation and sustained operation.

Success will be measured by the degree to which the various steering committees of such programs as NSF's Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), Climate Variability and Prediction (CLIVAR), the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), etc., agree that the concept is worthwhile to pursue and thus for the funding agencies to build it into the relevant programs.

Membership and Organization

The intent of the Committee is to have a membership that represents the broad community of relevant stakeholders and has the necessary expertise. The membership of the committee has been drawn from those volunteering at the Cancun meeting, others that have expressed interest, and others that have been drafted to fulfill specific needs. The intent is to make this an inclusive effort - all are welcome to participate. A web page will be set up on the AO one to facilitate communication. The present membership list is given in Table 1. There will be two co-chairs of the committee, who will serve with the consensus of the Committee.

Oversight

The committee will report to the AO Technical Committee at each ASA meeting. The Technical Committee will review the report and make recommendations. The by-laws of the ASA will take precedence if necessary.

Duration

The intent of the committee is to continue in existence only as long as progress is being made. To this end, the AO Technical Committee will formally vote at each autumn meeting on whether the Committee should continue its work or not.