Management and Operation of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI)

海洋观测站倡议是一个研究观测站，在不同的公海和沿海区域内设有仪表式浮标、剖面仪、海洋滑翔机和自动驾驶车辆阵列，并在海底和海底上方架设电缆阵列的仪表式平台和剖面仪。这一奖项授予伍兹霍尔海洋研究所(WHOI)，以表彰其持续的运营和管理，建立在最初OOI联盟的成就基础上，包括支持变革性海洋观测所需的尖端水中基础设施。世界卫生组织、华盛顿大学(UW)、俄勒冈州立大学(OSU)和罗格斯大学(RU)将从2018年开始为OOI提供科学和技术管理和运营，期限为五年，可能延长五年。WHOI总体上是牵头机构，也是两个全球阵列--北大西洋的伊明格海和北太平洋的Papa站--以及位于美国东海岸的一个沿海阵列(称为先锋阵列)的海洋执行组织(MIO)。位于美国西海岸的区域电缆阵列将作为MIO的牵头机构，而OSU将担任位于美国西海岸外的第二个沿海阵列(耐力阵列)的牵头机构。RU负责网络基础设施，并与三个MIOS一起，将重点放在数据传播上。数据访问的中央门户由共同的网络基础设施支持，将系统联系在一起。OOI可用于研究一系列现象和过程，包括间歇性、短暂事件，以及更微妙的长期海洋系统变化，如风暴、海底火山和大陆架和斜坡上的海洋环流等极端事件。OOI数据对于理解海洋酸化、对渔业至关重要的营养动态以及整个海洋科学的基础科学和应用科学连续体中的其他问题至关重要。因此，开放式开放教育设施正在向公众、教育工作者、学生和研究人员提供：(1)长期时间序列数据集；(2)一个现场海洋实验室，允许用户通过将他们的仪器或概念连接到开放式开放教育网络，提交开发和应用新技术的建议；以及(3)支持开放式开放教育在本科生课堂上应用的工具，以及通过非正规教育进行的公共宣传。OOI通过互联网向公众提供所有数据/元数据和教育工具，网址为www.Ocean Observatories.org。跨学科的OOI测量提供了对地球、海洋和大气的全面洞察，对科学家、教育工作者、学生、非专业人员、工业和政策制定者有用。伊尔明格海洋阵列提供了对记录的深水形成区域的水柱、中尺度变异性和海气通量的跨学科测量，这影响了气候系统的一个关键组成部分--大西洋经向翻转环流。连同美国国家海洋和大气局正在进行的海气通量测量，帕帕站的海洋观测阵列量化了一个长期跨学科关注区域的水柱特性和中尺度变异性。新英格兰陆架断裂上的先锋阵列量化了持续的陆架斜坡前沿附近的跨学科过程，这些过程驱动了一些国家-S-最多产的生态系统。区域电缆阵列将高功率和高带宽的实时双向通信带到海洋，具有自适应采样能力，提供了对俄勒冈州海岸外相互关联的地震、火山和热液过程、来自海底的甲烷通量、海底生物圈、蓝水和沿海海洋动力学和生态系统(如缺氧、薄层、羽流)、生物地球化学相互作用和湍流混合的高分辨率时间测量的新见解。耐力阵列提供俄勒冈州和华盛顿州海岸上升流区域内的跨学科观测，提供对更大的东部边界洋流制度的天气学、多尺度观测，以及对大陆架/斜坡营养物质交换、气-海性质交换、碳循环和海洋酸化的新见解。总而言之，OOI测量提高了对影响气候变异性、生态系统、渔业、地质灾害和海底环境的过程的理解，从而提高了负责明智管理海洋资源的决策者的能力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.