Program Update – January 2014
The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) has made preliminary data available on the OOI Website from Station Papa, the first global site of the OOI infrastructure at the Station Papa location in the Gulf of Alaska.
A team led by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, with their partners at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), in July 2013 deployed the Station Papa equipment including one Global Hybrid Profiler Mooring, two Mesoscale Flanking Moorings and three Global Gliders.<!– Those interested can now view and download Station Papa Prelimiary Data Here or visit: https://oceanobservatories.org/data/station-papa-preliminary-data/–>
These data were collected by the OOI project purely for internal system development purposes during the construction phase of the project and are offered for release to the public with no assurance of data quality, consistency, or additional support. The OOI Program also assumes no liability resulting from the use of these data for other than the intended purpose. No data quality assurance steps have been implemented on this data to date.
In addition, the OOI Team has provided an update on the OOI website regarding the status of the first moored infrastructure deployed in November in the Atlantic Ocean on the continental shelf and slope south of Martha’s Vineyard, MA. Preliminary data from this site also will be made available via the OOI website. Click here to read more information on deployment of the Pioneer Array.
During the first phase of the Pioneer Array installation, three moorings were deployed. Near midnight on Dec. 9, the surface buoy of the Upstream Inshore Coastal Profiler Mooring went adrift from its fixed location at 40o 21’ 48.24” N, 70o 46’ 33.54” W. The Coast Guard was notified promptly by WHOI. The buoy was recovered safely on Dec. 12 by WHOI and failure analysis is underway. The anchor frame and mooring riser remain at the Upstream Inshore location. The Coastal Surface Mooring (40o 08’ 12.42”N, 70o 46’ 11.22”W) is functioning and reporting data. The Upstream Offshore Coastal Profiler Mooring (39o 56’ 16.74”N, 70o 46’ 8.70”W) is in position but is not transmitting data.
The Pioneer Array will provide ocean and meteorological observations from the highly productive continental shelf to across the continental slope, allowing scientists to examine several important coastal processes including upwelling, hypoxia, shelf break fronts, and the role of filaments and eddies in cross-shelf exchange of parameters such as nutrients, heat, and biomass. This component of the OOI is being developed and constructed by WHOI, Scripps and Oregon State University.
Looking ahead, the OOI team is preparing for the 2014 Ocean Sciences Meeting on Feb. 23-28 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The OOI Program will hold a number of informational events at the meeting and have program members on hand in the exhibit area to share information on the program. Please visit the OOI Website for the full list of Ocean Sciences activities which will soon be posted.
The OOI continues to conduct outreach to the community and the public and welcomes comment, feedback and questions via the OOI website in the Comment and Question section here: https://oceanobservatories.org/questions/
