News
Pioneer MAB Providing Turbidity from OOI Core Fluorometers
OOI is now providing telemetered turbidity measurements from the Coastal Pioneer Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB) Array using Sea-Bird Scientific ECO triplet-w optical sensors. A test deployment showed that these instruments measured turbidity consistent with co-located turbidity meters that were recommended at the scientific community workshops. The results of the test deployment confirmed that OOI could satisfy the request for turbidity data with re-purposed instruments already in the suite of OOI core sensors. OOI has used ECO triplet-w optical sensors to measure chlorophyll a, CDOM fluorescence, and optical backscatter. This April, ECO triplet sensors were deployed with a secondary calibration from the vendor to convert backscatter channel (700 nm wavelength) measurements to turbidity in Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTUs).
[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-30-at-4.33.23-PM.png" link="#"]Figure 1: Comparison of turbidity recorded during Coastal Pioneer MAB Array At-Sea Test 3 from a Seapoint turbidity meter and a Sea Bird ECO triplet optical sensor. Data shown was recorded in March 2023 at a depth of 35 m.[/media-caption]To conduct the test deployment, turbidity measurements were recorded every 15 or 30 minutes from 1-minute bursts of sampling at 1 sample per second (1 Hz) by both the ECO-triplet and co-located community-recommended turbidity meters. Turbidity in NTUs from the ECO triplet was calculated by applying a vendor-supplied scaling factor to the raw voltage counts minus the dark counts. The requested turbidity meters reported their measurements as a mean of the sample burst measurements, so the mean of each ECO triplet sample burst was computed for comparison. The burst means from ECO triplets were compared with the other turbidity meter measurements at the same location and depths. A time series comparison from 35 m depth during March 2023 showed a mean difference of 0.2 NTU between the two instruments. The standard deviation of the difference at 35 m depth was 1.2 NTU (Fig. 1). The March 2023 comparison at 7 m depth showed a mean difference of 0.1 NTU. The standard deviation of the difference at 7 m depth was 0.06 NTU. Turbidity measurements recorded before and after a CTD cast at the start of the test deployment were also within 0.15 NTUs of the mean turbidity measurements in the surface mixed layer and bottom layer from a rosette-mounted Wet Labs FLNTURTD. The full report on the test deployment, At-Sea Test 3, is available upon request. Based on the results of the test deployment, the OOI Program determined that the ECO triplet-w optical sensors with a secondary calibration could deliver good quality turbidity data.
ECO triplet optical sensors deployed as part of the Coastal Pioneer MAB Array now allow OOI to serve turbidity data from all 3 surface moorings at 7 m depth and 1 m above the seafloor. The use of existing OOI core sensors simplified integration into the instrument platforms, since additional ECO triplets only had to be added to seafloor nodes, and it streamlined the process of serving data, since existing sensor processing code could be reworked to provide turbidity data. Turbidity data delivered by OOI include all samples recorded during a sample burst so that data users can apply their preferred aggregation method. Since April, the ECO triplets on the near-surface platforms (Fig. 2, right) have been sampling at 1 Hz for bursts of 3 minutes four times an hour, and on the seafloor nodes (Fig. 2, left) the sensor samples at 1 Hz for 17 minutes once an hour. Data users can view telemetered turbidity data here: Coastal Pioneer MAB Array turbidity on Data Explorer.
[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-30-at-4.32.51-PM.png" link="#"]Figure 2: Sea Bird ECO triplet optical sensors that are measuring turbidity are mounted on the Seafloor Multi-Function Node (left) and on the Near-Surface Instrument Frame (right, yellow box) of the Coastal Pioneer MAB Surface Moorings: Northern, Southern, and Central. The copper-covered “Y” is a wiper blade that prevents growth and marine debris from accumulating over the oval sensor windows. Credit: Sawyer Newman © WHOI. [/media-caption]
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Ian Black: Taking Inspiration from OOI
As an undergraduate at Oregon State University (OSU), Ian Black attended an oceanography course taught by the OOI’s Coastal Endurance Array Principal Investigator Ed Dever, where he was introduced to key oceanographic concepts and the observational capacity of the OOI. Black was so intrigued by the work that he approached Dever and asked about an internship with the OOI Endurance Array.
“Initially it was scraping barnacles, turning wrenches, very dirty and manual labor,” explained Black. “And I liked it. The project and its mission made sense to me.” The OOI provided Black with his first experience at sea, the Regional Cabled Array’s VISIONs cruise in 2015, where he sailed with another OOI alum Katie Bigham. Toward the end of his internship and undergraduate program, Black was interested in continuing to work on the Endurance Array and was encouraged to pursue a master’s degree. Throughout graduate school, Black continued to work part-time on the Endurance Array, continuing to scrape barnacles, but also gained some experience in electronics and coding.
In 2018, Black received his M.S. in Marine Resource Management and was hired on as an Endurance Array technician. Between 2018 and 2021, Black focused primarily on the Coastal Surface Piercing Profilers that are deployed at the CE01, CE02, CE06, and CE07 sites located off Oregon and Washington. He also provided assistance with the large coastal surface moorings and gliders during downtime and cruises.
Not one to sit still too long, Black decided to pursue a PhD, again at OSU in 2021. Black was originally brought on by his co-advisors, Dr. Clare Reimers and Dr. Maria Kavanaugh, to focus on the bio-optical sensors that are to be deployed on the NSF’s new Regional Class Research Vessels. While waiting for the deployment of these vessels, Black has developed a newfound interest in marine heatwaves. Currently, he and his advisors have a manuscript under review where they use OOI Endurance Array data to explore the biophysical impacts of marine heatwaves on phytoplankton.
[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Profiler-Victory-2-scaled.jpg" link="#"]Left to Right: Jon Fram, Ian Black, Alex Wick, and Steve Lambert pose with a recently recovered profiler. Credit: Oregon State University.[/media-caption]For the next chapter in his PhD dissertation, Black plans to again use OOI data from the Endurance Array to explore the finer scale effects of marine heatwaves over the Oregon shelf. “There are a lot of high-resolution data products from the moorings, profilers, and gliders that could be combined to tell an interesting story”, Black said. In particular, there are some “some really interesting still images from the camera located at the shelf site that coincide with events or phenomena that are commonly introduced in oceanography courses, much like the class Ed (Dever) taught all those years ago. Seeing these things with real data really reinforces those core oceanographic concepts.” Black hopes that this work will end up as a second manuscript, but at the very least “the code and results can be used as a tool, perhaps in the classroom, to show students that the concepts they learn about are supported with modern data.” Black added that has been instrumental in his PhD research. He uses it between several times per week to review, process, and assess data.
“The OOI Endurance Team has been supportive at every stage of my career so far, not just the OOI ones. “It’s a great place to work and Ed (Dever) and Jon (Fram) work hard to keep people invested in the project.” The few years working as a technician and almost decade of interaction with the OOI has been an important part of my development. Black added, “I even missed the camaraderie so much that I recently volunteered to join the 20th deployment of the Endurance Array (EA20) this past spring.” As an undergraduate, Black’s first Endurance cruise was EA5.
Black brings an interesting perspective to OOI data. He now looks at it from the vantage point of a scientist and how it can be used to answer questions, as well as from an engineering viewpoint on how data are collected in such a unforgiving marine environment. “The amount of data offered by OOI is daunting and is going to take anyone, regardless of data analysis skill level, a long time to look through. In my opinion, it is particularly important for graduate students, who might have more time to look at the data, to just start looking to see what they can find.” Black gave an example of the richness and uniqueness of data available. In 2019 as the Blob 2.0 marine heatwave was expanding in the Northeast Pacific, he was deploying an OOI profiler at the Oregon shelf site (CE02SHSP). Due to platform malfunction, operator error, or a combination of, the profiler decided to surface every 20 minutes for 2 days instead of the typical 12 hours for 2 months. Black hopes that something interesting could be found in this data and thinks it could make for a good term project for a class. “It’s very interesting data and it’s public’s data.” If Black stays in academia, he plans to encourage his students to explore open data collected by groups such as the NSF’s OOI.
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Zotero Now Connected to OOI-Related Publications
The OOI is now using Zotero as a back-end publications tool that is helping make OOI-related publications easier to find, sort, and share. Since 2017, OOI has been keeping track of peer-reviewed scientific publications that either use OOI data or cite OOI as a resource for their findings. The list is closing in on 400, with 302 lead authors, representing 166 institutions from 26 countries making an efficient tracking, sorting, and accessing method essential.
The switch to Zotero was made to enhance users’ experience and to ensure easy tracking of OOI-related work. “For Zotero users, this tool offers many more import and editing options that will adapt to many workflows,” said Data Librarian Audrey A. Mickle at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. “Zotero offers more features and adaptability for users, such as adding items directly with a browser extension or choosing between web based and local clients, than were available with our previous publications sorting tool. By making this switch, we will enhance users’ experience while improving our own collecting, sorting, and posting processes.”
OOI is joining a huge Zotero community. At least 7.5 million people have a Zotero account, which offers a similar platform to other commonly used bibliographic tools. This uniformity makes it easier for people to learn how to keep bibliographies on Zotero.
Added Jim Edson, Principal Investigator for OOI’s Program Management Office, “OOI is always striving to improve how we operate by making things more efficient, reliable, and durable. Zotero meets these objectives, and we hope OOI data users check out our latest publication tracker supported by Zotero.”
If you would like to add a publication that we may have missed, please let us know here and we will add it to our list.
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Close-up View of An Active Hydrothermal Vent Now Easily Accessible
Now accessible on OOI’s Data Explorer: 47,000 hours of video from a high-definition (HD) camera at an active hydrothermal vent and underwater volcano, 1500 meters below the ocean’s surface!
The HD camera has been streaming live video since 2015, offering a close-up look at what’s been happening within the caldera of Axial Seamount, a highly active underwater volcano about 300 miles off the coast of Oregon. The SubC 1Cam video camera was modified by the Applied Physics Lab (APL) at the University of Washington for deployment on OOI’s Regional Cabled Array (RCA) in the NE Pacific Ocean. The camera is connected via a roughly 4 km dedicated 10 Gb extension cable that runs across the caldera from the camera in the ASHES vent field to Primary Node PN3B located near the eastern edge of the caldera. From there imagery are streamed at the speed of light over 521 km of submarine fiber optic cable to the shore station in Pacific City, OR.
[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/HD-Camera.jpg" link="#"]The HD camera (orange triangular frame) images the 14 ft-tall actively venting hot spring deposit ‘Mushroom’ located within the caldera of Axial Seamount. Credit: NSF-OOI/UW/CSSF; Dive R1730; V14.[/media-caption]Up until recently, the footage has been available on the OOI raw data server in 14-minute increments as both high resolution MOV files and compressed MP4 formats, but the imagery was not easily reviewed or searchable. To make this unique nearly decade of footage more readily available to researchers, a new gallery feature on Data Explorer was created that allows researchers to easily view, search, and download the stunning video. All files created over each 24-hour period are used to create a sped-up, compressed, and time-stamped preview video allowing rapid overviews of daily events. Associated metadata and quick links provide access to the raw and log files, and a higher-resolution version of the preview is also available for download.
“The camera faces an active hydrothermal edifice called Mushroom that is completely encased in a dense biological community thriving in fluids emanating from the chimney walls,” explained Michael Vardaro, a research consultant for the RCA, who has been involved in OOI since construction began in 2011. “Mushroom hosts an active chemosynthetic community with 300 ºC hydrothermal fluids streaming out its top and from a small, highly dynamic chimney at its base. The camera allows the research community to see how the flow of hydrothermal fluid and the activity of all the different creatures living on it change over time, as well as the growth and evolution of the sulfide structure.”
Vardaro also said that the video allows viewers to watch what is happening in the short term. “You can catch predation events that include little scale worms nibbling on the gills of the tube worms. You can observe sea spiders [pycnogonids] crawling around the base of the chimney and watch as new vent openings develop. It’s a very changeable environment, because as the hydrothermal fluid hits the cold seawater, the metals and other chemicals dissolved in the superheated water precipitate out as solid minerals, creating fragile projections that then repeatedly crumble over time as the flow changes. The camera imagery provides important insights into linkages among geological, chemical and biological process at seismically active underwater volcano that has erupted in 1998, 2011, and 2015 and is poised to erupt again.”
[embed]https://youtu.be/oiDxkHWB3rI[/embed]The chimney stands about 14 feet high. The camera sits on a tripod at the base of the chimney with a pan and tilt unit. It follows an automated, 14-minute routine with the camera moving up, down and across the chimney and water column, stopping at pre-selected key areas of interest. What’s more, the APL team onshore can stop and alter the viewpoint if something interesting is happening or a question needs answering. “The Data Explorer now offers a hugely rich dataset of video footage extremely rare in mid-ocean ridge settings that offers a unique window into what is happening on the seafloor at an active hydrothermal vent site,” Vardaro added. “As development on the gallery continues, we also plan to add annotations and eventually incorporate machine learning and event detection to tag interesting biological features or significant changes to the site”.
In addition to the Data Explorer access, the live video stream is available every three hours for 14-minutes online (at 2:00, 5:00, 8:00, and 11:00 EDT & PDT). The camera also runs for 24 hours straight on the 10th and 20th of the month, with a 72-hour run on the 1st-3rd of the month as a means of gaining a fuller picture of activity at the site.
[embed]https://youtu.be/VjqduffxNyU[/embed]
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Funds Available for Using OOI and Other Long-Term Research Associated Data
On April 23, 2024, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) issued a Dear Colleague Letter: Using Long-Term Research Associated Data (ULTRA-Data). This program encourages proposals that take advantage of the multidisciplinary, long-time series measurements through programs such as the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), and Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) and others that collect environmental data, make observations, test hypotheses, and, in some cases, conduct experiments.
Funding for the ULTRA-Data proposals will come from participating NSF divisions and offices including the Geosciences and Biological Sciences. OOI PIs are able to participant in proposal preparation and, if funded, research activities, as long as the work is separate from OOI-supported activities. NSF will look closely at submissions that include OOI personnel, so discussion before submission is strongly recommended.
Read MoreEdson Encourages Federal Agencies to Use OOI Data
The U.S. National Science Foundation Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Program Management Office Principal Investigator Jim Edson was invited to Pasadena, CA in April to present to a group of 160+ of experts who use satellite data to study the planetary boundary layer (PBL) over land, sea, and ice. These experts use observations and modeling to determine the PBL and represented an alphabet soup of federal agencies – NASA, NOAA, CLIVAR, DOE, ONR and NCAR. Edson took the opportunity to introduce them to OOI.
The attendees came together for NASA’s Decadal Survey Planetary Boundary Layer Incubation Community Meeting. Edson gave a presentation about observing the marine PBL using OOI and its partnership with the National Data Buoy Center and OceanSITES as examples of how to build an ocean network of observations.
“This presentation was one of my ongoing efforts to share knowledge about OOI and the data it can deliver,” said Edson. “By focusing on how valuable and rich the available data are, I hoped to re-enforce to our colleagues at these various agencies and institutions that OOI data are an important source for satellite calibration and validation activities over the open ocean. This represents only one of multiple ways that OOI can be used to clarify our understanding of what is going on in the rapidly changing marine environment.”
Read MoreRCA to be Offline on May 6 for Maintenance
Maintenance is scheduled on the Regional Cabled Array (RCA), which will require the system to be powered down at 0800 PT on Monday, 6 May. The system will be powered after completion of maintenance activities, but no later than 0800 PT on Tuesday, 7 May. Over the course of the week there may be temporary network interruptions as maintenance continues.
Read MorePioneer Array Operational at MAB
A move is declared
Months of toil undertaken
This day it is done
Coastal and Global Scale Nodes (CGSN) Principal Investigator Al Plueddemann penned the haiku above in recognition of the successful installation of the Pioneer array at its new location in the Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB) on April 17, 2024. This momentous occasion occurred on Haiku Wednesday, which prompted the poetic marking of a three-year effort to have the array deployed and telemetering data from the MAB.
The relocation of the Pioneer Array from its former location off the New England Shelf (NES) to its new location was a multi-tiered process. The National Science Foundation (NSF) joined forces with the Ocean Observatories Initiative Facility Board (OOFIB) to host 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.
“Completing installation of the Pioneer Array in the MAB was the culmination of three years of preparation, which began with planning workshops in 2021, the recovery of the NES array in 2022, and engineering, procurement, and testing in 2023,” said Plueddemann, who also served as the Chief Scientist aboard the R/V Neil Armstrong for the first deployment of the array in the MAB. “It took an incredible effort from the whole CGSN Team to address all the considerations in moving the array to its new location. It is gratifying to see the successful deployment, with new, multidisciplinary data now available from this important oceanic region.”
[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/New-shallw.jpg" link="#"]Two newly designed shallow water moorings were deployed at the Pioneer MAB site. These specially designed moorings allow a wave-powered profiler to span the upper 80% of the water column in water depths as shallow as 25-30 m. Credit: Sawyer Newman © WHOI.[/media-caption]The primary objectives for the April cruise included installation of three surface moorings, five profiler moorings, and two newly designed shallow water moorings. The moorings create the backbone of MAB Array, a frontal-scale, T-shaped array located off the coast of Nags Head, North Carolina, starting ~25 km offshore and extending ~50 km east/west and ~50 km north/south across the continental shelf. The ten moorings occupy seven sites; three sites contain both a surface mooring and a profiler mooring. In order to provide synoptic, multi-scale observations of the outer shelf, shelf break, and continental slope, the moored array is supplemented by four gliders and two AUVs. The gliders operate for 45-90 days at a time, provide transects along and across the shelf, and monitor the mesoscale field of the slope sea. The AUVs are deployed and recovered from the ship over a ~24 hr period and provide synoptic across- and along-front “snap shots” of the frontal region.
[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/NESLETER.png" link="#"]Collaboration between OOI and the Northeast U.S. Shelf (NES) Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) project began in 2017 and continued during this deployment expedition.Taylor Crockford was onboard to deploy an Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB) that continuously sampled seawater while the Armstrong was underway. Shown here are some of the creatures living in the seawater along the route. Credit: Taylor Crockford © WHOI.[/media-caption]Once the deployment was in place, the team turned its attention to additional expedition objectives, including a bathymetry/sub-bottom survey of a potential alternate Western mooring site, and cross-shelf and along-shelf CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) transects. Once those were completed, the team headed home aboard the R/V Neil Armstrong to its home port in Woods Hole, MA where they were heartily greeted for a job well done.
[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Sunrise-17-April-Ryder-2-scaled.jpg" link="#"]The sunrise was captured on 17 April over the Northern Offshore Surface buoy, highlighting the completion of the installation of the Pioneer Array in its new location in the Mid-Atlantic Bight. Credit: Jim Ryder © WHOI.[/media-caption]A review of the day-to-day operations to install the Pioneer Array in the Mid-Atlantic Bight m can be found here.
Read MoreEndurance Team Overcomes All Challenges to Complete its 20th Expedition
“Early spring cruises always present some weather challenges and this year was no exception,” said Coastal Endurance Project Manager and Chief Scientist on the Endurance 20 Expedition Jonathan Fram.
For this, the twentieth NSF OOI Coastal Endurance Array cruise, conditions were typical for the time of the year in the northeast Pacific. Temperatures on deck ranged from 44-52 degrees F. Winds blew in from the north at a low of 5 and up to 25 knots. Wave heights were up to 12–15-foot swells. In short, there was a lot to contend with, which forced the R/V Sikuliaq and the Endurance 20 team to sit it out in port for two weather days, waiting for conditions to abate.
“We re-arranged the schedule to take advantage of intermittent weather windows and are pleased that we succeeded in accomplishing almost all of our mission objectives. We appreciate being one of the first cruises of the year because it allows us to get fresh moorings in the water around the time of spring transition. In spring, the predominant wind direction shifts to from the North, which upwells water along the West Coast.”
Despite the less-than-ideal working conditions, the Endurance 20 team and crew of the Sikuliaq got the job done. They successfully completed all cruise activities except for the deployment of the Washington Inshore Coastal Surface Piercing Profiler and one glider. Both had failed pre-deployment checks. Since both gliders and CSPPs can be deployed from smaller boats, the decision was made to hold their deployments. Ship reservation requests have already been made to get them into the water later this spring.
In total, the team recovered and deployed six surface moorings (two battery powered buoys and four large buoys powered by wind and solar energy), one offshore and two surface piercing profiler moorings (CSPP), and three gliders. One glider experiencing navigation issues was recovered. CTD casts (to measure conductivity, temperature, and depth) and water sampling were conducted along with each mooring operation.
[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Sea-lions.jpeg" link="#"]California sea-lions haul out on Endurance Array shelf buoys during the day. These buoys ride higher at night, which corresponds to when the sea-lions leave to feed. Aluminum guards keep the sea-lions off the solar panels and prevent sea-lions from chewing wires and connectors. The team sprayed off biofouling after getting the buoy on board. Credit: Jonathan Fram, OSU.[/media-caption]The expedition marked several firsts: This was the first cruise in which all buoy deck solar panels on all moorings operated for the entire previous deployment. This was also the first deployment in which all buoys incorporated new sea lion guards, thanks to the idea and implementation by Deck Lead Alex Wick. This was also the first time that Raelynn Heinitz took the reins of deck lead from Alex Wick. There were other less notable firsts. A field of crab pots surrounded the Inshore Washington Mooring. One derelict pot was even found far offshore wrapped around the Washington shelf mooring. The crab pots posed extra hazards that the Sikuliaq and recovery team had to maneuver around.
[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Crab-pots-.jpg" link="#"]Image of crab pots surrounding the ship as the R/V Sikuliaq and the Endurance 20 team were adjacent to the Washington Inshore Surface Mooring. The primary purpose of this radar is to detect sea ice, but it works well on crab pot floats too. The circle’s radius is ¾ nautical miles. Credit: Jonathan Fram, OSU.[/media-caption]In addition to the mission objectives, the Endurance Team successfully completed ancillary scientific operations. They helped scientific partners University of South Carolina researcher Eric Tappa and Oregon State University student Faith Schell recover and deploy a sediment trap adjacent to OOI’s Oregon Slope Base site. This is part of an ongoing research effort of OSU Associate Professor Jennifer Fehrenbacher and USC Professor Claudia Benitez-Nelson, who study the geochemistry, biomineralization, and marine biology of the sediments. The Team also deployed fish tag readers for OSU Assistant Professor Taylor Chapple to support his work studying sharks and other large marine predators.
“These ongoing collaborations with scientists are beneficial to everyone,” added Fram. “They not only maximize the use of ship time but increase the understanding of the areas in which we are gathering data. Plus, it’s great for us who do the data gathering to interact directly with the scientists who are using the data.”
A review of the day-to-day operations of the Endurance 20 Team can be found here.
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And It’s a Wrap!
The Coastal Pioneer Array MAB team completed all the objectives of Leg 1 by the end of the day April 8th and started the transit home, back to the dock at Woods Hole. Taking advantage of a day in the wet lab, Glider Lead Diana Wickman took the opportunity to interview some folks about their experiences aboard the Armstrong over the last nine days. Hear what they have to say about the best parts of the journey.
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