Management and Operation of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI)

海洋观测站倡议（OOI）是一个研究观测站，在不同的公海和沿海区域部署了一系列仪表浮标、剖面仪、海洋滑翔机和自动驾驶车辆，以及海底和海底上方的一系列电缆仪表平台和剖面仪。该奖项授予伍兹霍尔海洋研究所（WHOI），以表彰其持续运营和管理，该奖项建立在最初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。WHOI、华盛顿大学（UW）、俄勒冈州州立大学（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，为期五年，并有可能延长五年。WHOI作为总体牵头机构，以及两个全球阵列（北大西洋的Irminger Sea和北太平洋的Station Papa）和一个位于美国东海岸的沿海阵列（称为Pioneer Array）的海洋实施组织（MIO）。俄勒冈州立大学将作为第二个沿海阵列（耐久阵列）的领导者，该阵列位于美国西海岸外。RU负责网络基础设施，并与三个米奥斯一起专注于数据传播。一个由共同网络基础设施支持的数据访问中央门户将各系统的系统联系在一起。OOI可用于调查一系列现象和过程，包括偶发的、短暂的事件，以及海洋系统中更微妙的、长期的变化，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贯穿海洋科学的基础和应用科学连续体的其他问题至关重要。因此，海洋观测所设施正在向公众、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，使用户能够通过将其仪器或概念与海洋观测所网络连接，提出开发和应用新技术的建议;以及（3）支持OOI在本科课堂上应用的工具，以及通过非正式教育进行的公共宣传。OOI通过互联网www.oceanobservators.org向公众提供所有数据/元数据和教育工具。跨学科的OOI测量提供了对地球，海洋和大气的全面了解，对科学家，教育工作者，学生，外行，工业和政策制定者有用。Irminger海阵列提供了水柱，中尺度变率和海气通量的跨学科测量记录的深水形成的区域，影响大西洋纬向翻转环流，气候系统的一个关键组成部分。与NOAA正在进行的海气通量测量一起，Papa站的OOI阵列量化了长期跨学科兴趣区域的水柱特性和中尺度变化。新英格兰大陆架断裂处的先锋阵列量化了持续的大陆架斜坡前缘附近的跨学科过程，这些过程推动了一些国家的发展。最具生产力的生态系统。区域电缆阵列将高功率和高带宽、实时、双向通信带入海洋，并具有自适应采样能力，为俄勒冈州沿海相互关联的地震、火山和热液过程、海底甲烷通量、海底生物圈、高分辨率蓝水和沿海海洋动态和生态系统的时间测量提供了新的见解（例如缺氧、薄层、羽流）、地球化学相互作用和湍流混合。耐力阵列在俄勒冈州和华盛顿海岸的沿海上升流区域内提供跨学科观测，提供大东部边界流态的天气学、多尺度观测，以及对陆架/斜坡营养交换、海气属性交换、碳循环和海洋酸化的新见解。总之，OOI测量提高了对影响气候变化、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知识价值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.