Science Prospectus

Download the OOI Science Prospectus

The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) is based upon a community vision resulting from two decades of workshops, meetings, and reports, which established science drivers for the proposed infrastructure investment.

The OOI builds upon more traditional approaches to Earth and ocean science by: (1) developing infrastructure that operates interactively for sustained periods in remote and crucial regions of the ocean, (2) permitting community-wide access to the infrastructure for command and control, and (3) ensuring a community-wide capacity to absorb, manage, and utilize this new data flow to improve understanding and awareness.

Examples of science questions are: What processes control volatile exchange at the air-sea interface and within the ocean? Do severe mixing events, such as large storms or eruptions, affect water column processes? Do plate tectonics and seafloor roughness modify fluxes and mixing and influence biological communities in the deep ocean?

For more information on the history of the OOI’s Science Themes, please see the following documents:

Science Prospectus (October 2007)

Science Plan (May 2005)

Science Plan Summary (May 2005)