Management and Operation of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI)

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The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) is a research observatory with arrays of instrumented buoys, profilers, ocean gliders, and autonomous vehicles within different open-ocean and coastal regions, as well as a cabled array of instrumented platforms and profilers on and above the seafloor. This award to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), for continued operations and management, builds upon the accomplishments of the initial OOI consortium, including cutting edge in-water infrastructure required to support transformative ocean observing. WHOI, the University of Washington (UW), Oregon State University (OSU), and Rutgers University (RU), will provide scientific and technical management and operation of OOI, beginning in 2018, for a five-year period with the possibility of a five-year extension. WHOI serves as the lead institution overall, as well as the marine implementing organization (MIO) for two global arrays, Irminger Sea in the North Atlantic, and Station Papa in the North Pacific, and one coastal array (referred to as the Pioneer Array), located on the East Coast of the U.S. UW will serve as the lead MIO for the Regional Cabled Array off the West Coast of the U.S., and OSU will serve as the lead for the second coastal array (the Endurance Array), located off the West Coast of the U.S. RU is responsible for the cyberinfrastructure and, in conjunction with the three MIOS, will focus on the data dissemination. A central portal for data access, supported by a common cyberinfrastructure, ties the system of systems together. The OOI can be used to investigate a spectrum of phenomena and processes including episodic, short-lived events, and more subtle, long-term changes in ocean systems, such as extreme events including storms, undersea volcanoes, and ocean circulation on continental shelfs and slopes. OOI data are vitally important for understanding ocean acidification, nutrient dynamics critical to fisheries, and other questions throughout the basic and applied science continuum of ocean sciences. As such, the OOI facility is providing the public, educators, students, and researchers with: (1) long-term time series data sets; (2) an in-situ ocean laboratory to allow users to submit proposals for development and application of new technologies by connecting their instruments or concepts to the OOI network; and (3) tools that will support undergraduate classroom applications of the OOI, as well as public outreach through informal education. The OOI delivers all data/metadata and education tools to the public via the internet at www.oceanobservatories.org.The interdisciplinary OOI measurements provide comprehensive insight into the Earth, oceans and atmosphere, useful for scientists, educators, students, laypersons, industry, and policymakers. The Irminger Sea Array provides interdisciplinary measurements of the water column, mesoscale variability, and air-sea fluxes in a region of documented deep-water formation, which impacts the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, a key component of the climate system. Together with ongoing NOAA measurements of air-sea fluxes, the OOI Array at Station Papa quantifies water column properties and mesoscale variability in a region of longstanding interdisciplinary interest. The Pioneer Array on the New England shelf break quantifies the interdisciplinary processes near the persistent shelf-slope front that drive some of the nation?s most productive ecosystems. The Regional Cabled Array, which brings high power and high-bandwidth, real-time, two-way communications into the oceans with adaptive sampling capabilities, provides new insights into interlinked seismic, volcanic, and hydrothermal processes operating off the Oregon coast, the flux of methane from the seafloor, the seafloor biosphere, high resolution temporal measurements of blue water and coastal ocean dynamics and ecosystems (e.g. hypoxia, thin layers, plumes), biogeochemical interactions, and turbulent mixing. The Endurance Array provides interdisciplinary observations within the coastal upwelling region of the Oregon and Washington coasts, providing synoptic, multi-scale observations of the greater eastern boundary current regime, and new insights into shelf/slope nutrient exchange, air-sea property exchange, carbon cycling, and ocean acidification. Taken together, OOI measurements improve understanding of processes impacting climate variability, ecosystems, fisheries, geohazards, and the subseafloor environment, which advance the capabilities of decision-makers charged with the wise stewardship of ocean resources.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.