How many sensors do we have in the Earth's oceans?

[Simfish]

And are any of these sensors stable? What is the effective resolution that we get from these sensors?

 

[russ_watters]

Sensors of what? We have dozens (hundreds?) of weather buoys, for example, with lots of sensors on them: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/rmd.shtml

 

[Simfish]

Oh nice. That's a really nice map.

I was thinking of sensors of pretty much everything (so we obviously know temperature from these - but I was also curious about wave height and chemical concentrations).

 

[klimatos]

And are any of these sensors stable? What is the effective resolution that we get from these sensors?

As russ stated, we have hundreds of weather bouys and other countries have their own networks. In addition, the military (especially the Navy and the Coast Guard) have an unknown number of intelligence sensors--on the surface, on the bottom, and likely in between. Finally, there are highly classified sensors located in mysterious places all around the world by numerous agencies--some of which are presumed not to exist.

 

[russ_watters]

Oh nice. That's a really nice map.

I was thinking of sensors of pretty much everything (so we obviously know temperature from these - but I was also curious about wave height and chemical concentrations).

Well wave height is shown on them (precision, .1 ft) - click one: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=42099

Not chemical concentrations, though.