Opportunity to Add New Sensors/Equipment to Pioneer MAB Array

The U.S National Science Foundation (NSF) Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) is excited to report that the relocation of the Pioneer Array to the Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB) is now complete and the OOI facility is again considering requests by Principal Investigators to add new sensors and/or equipment to the Pioneer MAB Array. The process for requesting additions to the Array is described here.

The MAB deployment is the culmination of a three-year, multi-tiered process to relocate the Pioneer Array from its former location off the New England Shelf to the MAB. The NSF and the OOI Facilities Board (OOIFB) hosted a series of workshops in 2021 to elicit community input on where a relocated Pioneer Array might best meet science and educational needs.  Based on input from these community workshops, the NSF gave its approval to the MAB site and the process was launched. Data from most instruments is available in real-time from the OOI Data Explorer. All non-telemetered data will be available after instruments are recovered on Array maintenance cruises that occur at nominal six-month intervals (April, October).

“Completing installation of the Pioneer Array in the MAB was the culmination of  a significant effort by the OOI Team,” said Al Plueddemann, who served as the Chief Scientist for the first deployment of the array in the MAB and is Principal Investigator for OOI’s Coastal and Global Scale Nodes.  “The time is right for researchers to propose additional sensors or equipment be added to the array so its full data collection potential can be realized.”

Notes:

1. The installation of some sensors, especially acoustic sensors, may be subject to compliance with NSF’s Memorandum of Understanding with the US Navy.
2. While the requests must be made for any additions to the Array, OOI would appreciate notification on plans to deploy stand-alone instrumentation within the OOI footprint.

Pioneer MAB Layout