Endurance Array Reaches 20th Deployment

Since 2014 when the U.S. National Science Foundation Ocean Observatories Initiative Coastal Endurance Array was first deployed in the waters off the coasts of Oregon and Washington, the array has been turned – that is moorings were recovered and replaced with new – 19 times.  The upcoming expedition on March 28th, with 15 scientists and engineers aboard the R/V Sikuliaq will be the 19th time that the array has been pulled out of the water and replaced, and the 20th time the array has been deployed.

Over the past nine years, the turns have happened every six months, except for in 2020 when COVID restrictions caused the Endurance team to space two consecutive turn cruises 9 months apart. Regular recovery and deployments are needed to ensure the observing equipment stays operational.

“The EA team has really gotten proficient at turning the arrays,” said Jonathan Fram, the Endurance Array’s Project Manager, who will serve as the Chief Scientist for this expedition, his 10th time leading the effort.  “We’ve made many technical improvements over the years to combat the powerful and ever-changing conditions of the Northeast Pacific Ocean so that we can continue to collect and report continuous ocean data from this important region.”

The 20th expedition will begin and end at the Oregon State University’s newly renovated pier in Newport, Oregon.  The arrays and associated equipment will be transported to Newport from Corvallis in six tractor trailer trucks. Because of the large size of these components, the expedition will be conducted in two legs. The first leg will head to the Washington site, with a transit time of 2/3’s of a day.  The second leg will be to the Oregon site.   In total, the team will recover and deploy six surface moorings (two battery powered buoys and four large buoys powered by  wind and solar energy), one offshore and three surface piercing profiler moorings, and four gliders.  One glider experiencing navigation issues will be recovered. CTD casts (to measure conductivity, temperature, and depth) and water sampling will be conducted along with each mooring operation.

This 20th trip includes several technical improvements. The line used on the Heavy Lift Winch has been increased in size to improve load strength and safety.  Each buoy will include a covered wagon style guard against sea lions, who regularly use the buoys as rest stops.  All batteries have been replaced or upgraded.  Additional improvements have been made that will result in better real-time wind data, and underwater camera operations.  The Endurance 20 team also will be deploying new test instruments to see if they might improve data gathering for wind, pH, and partial pressure of carbon dioxide.

[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Screenshot-2024-03-21-at-11.54.35-AM.png" link="#"]To dissuade sea lions that regularly stop and rest on Endurance Array buoys, OOI engineers have ingeniously devised a steel cover to protect the solar panels that provide power to the mooring. Credit: Jonathan Fram, OSU.[/media-caption]

“The order of operations will in part depend on conditions,” added Fram, who joked, “but we expect this trip to be easier than last spring’s, which was three weeks earlier, when we were preparing for the cruise in the snow.”

In addition to regular operations, the Endurance Team will be joined by scientific partners.  University of South Carolina (USC) researcher Eric Tappa and Oregon State University (OSU) student Faith Schell will be onboard to help turn 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.  Additionally, the team will be deploying fish tag readers for OSU Assistant Professor Taylor Chapple to support his work studying sharks and other large marine predators.

The expedition’s progress will be reported daily.  Bookmark this page and follow along as the work unfolds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Diel Vertical Migrators Respond to Short-Term Upwelling Events

Sato and Benoit-Bird, in their 2024 publication, explore how animals remain in a productive yet highly advective environment in the Northern California Current System using NSF OOI Regional Cabled Array (RCA) and Endurance Array (EA) data from the Oregon Shelf site. They characterized fish biomass using upward-looking active bio-acoustic sonar data from the RCA and interpreted results in consideration of upwelling and downwelling using EA wind data and combined cross-shelf velocity data from the RCA and EA.

Acoustic scatterers, consistent with swim bladder-bearing fish, were only present during the downwelling season as these animals avoided the cold waters associated with strong upwelling conditions in summer and fall. Fish responded to short-term upwelling events by increasing the frequency of diel vertical migration. Throughout the study, their vertical positions corresponded to the depth of minimum cross-shelf transport, providing a mechanism for retention. The observed behavioral response highlights the importance of studying ecological processes at short timescales and the ability of pelagic organisms to control their horizontal distributions through fine-tuned diel vertical migration in response to upwelling.

Time series data provided by the combined EA and RCA data made it possible for Sato and Benoit-Bird to perform consistent statistical analyses of bio-acoustic sonar, wind and ocean velocity data [Figure 22, after Figure 4, Sato and Benoit-Bird (2023)]. The vertical positions of scattering layers relative to the cross-shelf velocities revealed the careful positioning of animals at the depth of minimum onshore- offshore transport. The authors focused on cross-shelf transport, the most significant mechanism affecting population dynamics of pelagic organisms. During strong upwelling periods, cross-shelf velocities were strong near the surface and became nearly zero below 15-m depth. The peak scattering layers were in the upper 20 m of the water column during daytime, but organisms avoided the strong offshore currents at the surface (Figure 22a). At night, the scattering layers expanded their vertical distributions, but avoided the region nearest the bottom where onshore currents were strong (Figure 22b). During downwelling periods, scattering layers were located at the depth of minimal transport during day and night and animals avoided strong onshore currents near the surface and offshore currents near the bottom (Figures 22c and 22d).

[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Science-Highlight-Feb-2024.jpg" link="#"]Figure 22: The influence of upwelling and downwelling on diel vertical migration[/media-caption]

Sato and Benoit-Bird show that animals respond to the risk of offshore advection through active changes in their vertical movement that depend on upwelling conditions at daily time scales. Rapid behavioral response of animals to short-term upwelling events highlights their ability to finely tune their vertical positions relative to physical forcing which ultimately controls their horizontal distributions. This work expands our understanding of the ecological role of diel vertical migration beyond its role as a predator avoidance strategy and reveals a tight coupling between animal behavior and physical forcing.

Vertical profiles of cross-shelf velocities (u; gray, solid lines) and volume backscattering strength (Sv; colors, dotted lines), shown as mean ± standard deviations, during (a, b) strong upwelling periods with diel vertical migration and (c, d) strong downwelling periods without diel vertical migration. Data points qualified for strong upwelling and downwelling periods were selected from the time series over 14 months. Negative values in u indicate offshore transport and positive values indicate onshore transport, and larger Sv values suggest higher density of swim bladdered fish.

 

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Battling the Corrosive Properties of Seawater

OOI engineers face the challenge of keeping ocean observing equipment operational in demanding locations for up to a year at a time. In addition to wind, waves, extreme pressure, ship traffic and trawling disruption, engineers continually battle the corrosive properties of salt water.

Senior Technician for OOI’s Coastal Endurance Array Kristin Politano provided a primer on OOI’s tactics to prevent corrosion of its equipment and instrumentation. “It’s a fun balancing act between cost versus strength versus weight versus durability. Different metals are great for certain things, so we use them in different places.”

OOI engineers try to avoid all forms of corrosion, especially galvanic corrosion, an electrochemical process where one metal corrodes preferentially in the presence of an electrolyte.  In this case, seawater serves as the electrolyte or the corrosion “enabler.” When two dissimilar metals are connected in seawater, one of them is going to corrode faster than the other.

Since zinc is very prone to corrosion and corrodes much faster than other materials used on OOI moorings, engineers use it as a “sacrificial lamb” in OOI operations. They place zinc strategically on the moorings to encourage galvanic corrosion to occur on the zinc, rather than degrading instruments, electronics, and the frames that hold the moorings and instrumentation in place.

Politano gave an example of how zinc works to protect other metals used on the moorings. Aluminum is used on the Coastal Surface Piercing Profiler frames (CSPP), the Near-Surface Instrument Frames (NSIF), a cage that contains ocean observing instruments below surface moorings, and Multi-function Nodes (MFN) frames, which are at the base of some surface moorings and act both as anchors as well as platforms to affix instruments.

[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/IMG_376765-scaled.jpg" link="#"]Members of the Coastal Endurance Team deploy a Coastal Surface Piercing Profiler (CSPP) into the Pacific off the coast of Oregon. The zincs are the bare metal disks attached to the CSPP frame near loops at the top of the frame. Credit: Jon Fram, OSU.[/media-caption]

The NSIF, MFN, and CSPP have sacrificial zinc cylinders attached so that when the frames containing the instruments go into the water, the aluminum doesn’t degrade as quickly as it might otherwise. The zinc will degrade first, providing a protective layer for the important assets within the frames.  “Zinc serves as a really effective form of galvanic corrosion protection,” Politano added. “Zincs come in many different form factors, but we use ones that can be bolted directly to the mooring frames and other mechanical components,” said Politano.

Location Dictates Effectiveness

Zincs are used on both the Coastal Endurance’s inshore and offshore mooring platforms. The zincs on the inshore platforms dissolve faster and require replacement more often due to low dissolved oxygen conditions and that encourage corrosion.  Zincs on the offshore moorings last longer due to a higher oxygenated environment offshore.

Decisions about materials to use on various parts of the moorings also in part, depends on durability, conditions, and cost. Stainless steel is very durable and reacts to form a protective oxide film on its outer surface, but this reaction needs oxygen to grow and repair itself. In areas with hypoxia (lack of oxygen) particularly in the summer months, there is not enough oxygen in the water column for the stainless oxide layer to rebuild and repair itself.

[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/MFN.jpg" link="#"]Coastal Pioneer Array Team members get ready to deploy a 9000-pound multi-function node off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. Credit: Rebecca Travis © WHOI.[/media-caption]

Delrin, a high-grade plastic (acetyl resin), is also used on the moorings as a corrosion preventive measure. Because of Delrin’s durability, stiffness, light weight, and water resistance, Delrin is used in instrument housings and electrical panels because it doesn’t conduct electricity, but it lacks the strength of aluminum.  “Delrin is strong, but not as strong as aluminum. So, we wouldn’t make a mooring tower or a mooring Halo out of a plastic material,” said Politano.  Components above water are made from aluminum because it is lightweight and extremely strong.  To increase strength and resilience, above water aluminum components are powder coated that prevents water from contacting the metal. The powder coating contains various pigments, polymer resins, curatives, leveling agents, and other additives, which is applied to an aluminum surface with an electrostatic spray.  “The powder coating is sprayed on, and cured in an oven that triggers a chemical reaction that hardens the coating, making a hard shell, protecting the metal beneath it,” she explained.  “A good way to imagine it is like a big M&M covering the chocolate metal inside,” she added.

The OOI team uses silicon bronze (bronze coated with a silica coating) and titanium for many underwater components. The silicon bronze has mild anti-fouling properties, which is important for OOI’s coastal arrays to help reduce biofouling. The mooring components go from a bright coppery color to a green, blue patina color. The patina acts as a durable, strong, protective layer that is highly resistant to corrosion and doesn’t fatigue.  “We use silicon bronze to bolt instrument clamps to MFN and NSIF frames and to attach instrument to the frames. The benefit of silicon bronze is that it is much cheaper than some of the other materials like titanium, so we can afford to use it many places,” said Politano.

Balancing Cost and Placement Considerations

Titanium is a fantastic material to use in the marine environment because it is highly corrosion resistance, very strong, and can remain in a marine environment for a long time. The downside is that it is very expensive, so it is used judiciously.  Titanium also has a high strength to weight ratio, which makes it ideal for floating things in the water column and  it is used to bolt together all of the critical structural mooring components. For instance, titanium bolts are used to connect surface buoys to the electromechanical chain (EM), which contains electrical components allowing power and communication with the below surface elements, to the NSIF and stretch hoses to the MFN, which anchors the mooring on the sea floor. Like stainless steel, titanium has a protective oxide layer with the ability to “heal itself.”

In addition to strength, durability, and cost the OOI team must consider the mix of materials it uses, avoiding places where two metals might touch each other. For example, copper is used as a primary anti-fouling material to mitigate the ever-present challenge of minimizing marine growth. Copper is soft so it isn’t used to attach critical mooring components. Care must be taken to avoid any dissimilar metals coming in contact with one another.  The outcome of such contact would be an extreme case of galvanic corrosion!

“It really is this sort of ballet of trying to balance the cost of the material versus the strength of the material versus the weight. We put lightweight materials above the water. The expensive materials that are really strong are used to hold the whole mooring together. And then the in-between materials that are strong, but not as expensive as the really strong materials, are used to hold all the instruments together. So, it’s a fun little balancing act,” Politano concluded.

As it turns out choosing the right materials also is a good return on investment. According to OOI Lead Systems Engineer Matthew Palanza, “While the cost of these corrosion-prevention materials is high, the loss of equipment and data due to failures caused by corrosion is much greater.  Incorporating corrosion-prevention materials into the array extends their service life much longer.  This makes it possible for some housings, connectors, and other components to be re-used every time an array is redeployed.  In fact, some housings are designed to last for the 30-year duration of the program.”

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New Coastal Endurance Array Video

Learn about Coastal Endurance Array operations through the lens of Oregon State University videographer Kim Kenny.

[embed]https://youtu.be/5_Yb7kN0BcI?si=AYrVivjUbXwOhF5r[/embed] Read More

Biofouling Mitigation from Top to Bottom

OOI operates its arrays in challenging environments. At the sea surface, sea lions find the buoys attractive resting spots. At the bottom, instruments must collect data under varying temperatures at intense pressures.  And, then throughout the water column’s photic zone is marine growth. Marine life finds OOI’s instrumentation and arrays irresistible, where it attaches and grows like gangbusters.

The folks who keep OOI’s arrays operational explain the conditions this way:

“Putting any kind of instrumentation – electrical or scientific instrumentation – in the water for a year or more at a time is always a challenge, said Dana Manalang, Engineer, OOI Regional Cabled Array (RCA). “It’s a harsh environment due to the high pressures and salt water so getting systems to operate sub-seas is the largest challenge we face.”

“It’s a challenging place to work,” concluded Coastal Endurance Array Project Manager Jonathan Fram, “And, we are very thankful to have the opportunity to make stuff that can survive in just about any marine environment.”

So how do they do it?  OOI engineers develop creative ways to tackle the many challenges, particularly in terms of some of the peskier, persistent ones like keeping marine growth, referred hereafter as biofouling, at bay.

Diaper cream as a solution

Coastal and Global Scale Node (CGSN), Coastal Endurance, and RCA team members have implemented novel ways to minimize and in-situ clean marine growth on sensors, gliders, and components of the arrays that spend up to 12 months in the water.

One such novelty is the application of diaper cream. An inexpensive and convenient form of zinc oxide, diaper cream, has been used for decades as a marine anti-foulant, with moderate effectiveness. . “Its application for oceanographic equipment goes back at least to the 1990’s, and is considered non-toxic relative to other concoctions, “ explained Peter Brickley, CGSN Observatory Operations Lead.  Other anti-fouling scheme exist, but some are expensive, some add weight, while others take too long to apply and don’t fit into the team’s operational deployment plans.

“The only downside is that diaper cream has be to done onboard right before deployment, or it’s a mess,” he added.

Coastal Endurance Project Manager Jonathan Fram said, “One key issue is that gliders are made of aluminum, so we can’t use copper-based antifouling material on them. Diaper cream is zinc-based, so it won’t corrode gliders’ aluminum.”  The Coastal Endurance Team regularly applies diaper cream to its glider fleet, with measurable success.  “Gliders with barnacles on them can’t swim straight or efficiently. The diaper cream provides a protective coating to which marine growth cannot readily adhere. It helps keep our gliders moving easily through the water and reporting data.”

[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Diaper-cream-117.jpg" link="#"]Coastal Endurance team members Raelynn Heinitz and Alex Wick apply diaper cream before launch of a glider off the Oregon coast. The ointment prevents marine growth on gliders that traverse the shallow coastal waters near the Endurance Array’s Washington and Oregon-Newport lines.  Marine organisms thrive in the shallow water where sunlight can penetrate, aiding marine growth. Credit: Kathy Hough, NOAA.[/media-caption] [media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/without-diaper-cream.jpg" link="#"]Shown above is a recovered glider having spent three months in the upper coastal waters off the Washington coast. It would have been covered with marine life, imperiling its ability to maneuver, but the protective diaper cream kept most of them at bay. Credit: Kathy Hough, NOAA.[/media-caption]

After being successfully tested on gliders, the Coastal Endurance Array and RCA teams then tried the protective diaper cream as an option to keeping acoustic transducers on the arrays clean, as suggested by the vendor. An acoustic transducer is an electrical device that vibrates, producing sound waves in water.  OOI uses transducers in both echosounders and hydrophones. Here, too, the diaper cream proved to be an inexpensive and effective biofouling mitigation measure.

[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/acoustic-transducer.jpg" link="#"]An acoustic transducer covered with diaper cream to prevent biofouling during its six-months in the water. Credit: Kathy Hough, NOAA.[/media-caption]

Addition of UV lights

Putting ultraviolet lights in the water to discourage marine growth is another proven biofouling mitigation measure. Early on, the Coastal Endurance team deployed two oxygen optodes, which measure dissolved oxygen, side-by-side at seven meters depth on the Oregon Shelf Surface Mooring with a UV light pointed at one of them. Data from the two sensors tracked each other for six weeks after which the unprotected sensor fouled. Within weeks, there were daily afternoon spikes of up to twice the oxygen level of the protected sensor, with slightly lower measurements than the unprotected sensor at night due to respiration of the biofilm. Since this test, optodes are regularly deployed with UV lights to aid their operation. (Annotations of OOI moored oxygen data note when a UV light was not operating with it.)

Following the success of the UV-light on dissolved oxygen sensors, the CGSN team tested this antifouling measure on a moored Coastal Pioneer Array spectral irradiance (SPKIR) sensor, which measures the amount of light energy that reaches a surface.  The testing was conducted with Sea Bird Scientific, the SPKIR vendor.  The vendor confirmed that the UV light did not damage the instrument’s optics nor did it interfere with its light measurements. After this confirmation and positive result, UV lights are now used on all SPKIR sensors on Surface Moorings, Coastal Surface Piercing Profilers, and uncabled digital still cameras moored at less than 70 meters. The teams adjust the on/off cycle of the UV lights so that biofouling is prevented without damaging the sensors, interfering with measurements, or using too much power.

[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Screenshot-2023-11-27-at-6.02.17-PM.jpeg" link="#"]Sea Bird Scientific’s spectral irradiance sensor needs to be clean to effectively measure light energy in the water column.  Shining UV lights on these sensors helps to minimize biofouling and clouding of the sensor.Credit: Sea Bird Scientific.[/media-caption]

Lens-Cleaning Brushes

The RCA also has adopted novel ways to deal with biofouling on the Pacific Ocean seafloor.  RCA operates and maintains a high-definition (HD) video camera (CAMHD) at the base of an actively venting hydrothermal chimney called “Mushroom” (see below) in the ASHES vent field of Axial Seamount Caldera. Live HD video of this > 4-m high chimney and surrounding seafloor is streamed to shore on an automated schedule for 14 minutes at 3-hour intervals, with longer non-stop monitoring for 24 hours twice a month and 72 hours at the beginning of each month.

[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Figure-a.jpg" link="#"]RCA’s high-definition video camera installed next to “Mushroom” hydrothermal chimney in the ASHES vent field of Axial Caldera. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; J2-1534, V23.[/media-caption]

The scene is fully scanned with programmable pan, tilt, and zoom functions of this instrument, which provides detailed imagery of the high-temperature water spigots, sea spiders, lipets tube worms and other biota covering both the chimney and surrounding lava-covered seafloor.

[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Figure-b.jpg" link="#"]Close-up of the RCA HD video camera at the base of “Mushroom” hydrothermal chimney. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; J2-1534, V23.[/media-caption]

Unfortunately, such live subjects, microorganisms, and other organic/inorganic processes often deposit a film on the camera lens which interferes with visualization. To ensure optimal clarity of HD video between site maintenance visits during annual RCA operation and maintenance expeditions, an automated lens cleaning protocol using a simple brush, installed on the instrument’s frame in the front of the lens has been instituted.

[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Figure-c-.png" link="#"]Lens-cleaning brush, indicated by red arrow, installed in front of RCA’s HD video camera and used during an automated cleaning protocol. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; J2-1534, V23..[/media-caption]

This programmed event occurs three times a month and tilts the camera down and pans it left and right, allowing the brush to gently clean the lens. The video streaming and lens cleaning schedules can be optimized remotely from shore by RCA personnel to provide the highest scientific and educational value from the HD video.

Eco Anti-fouling paint

Ever wonder why OOI’s buoys are painted blue?  This eco-friendly paint serves the same purpose as diaper cream and UV lights—to minimize marine growth on the buoys and its metal components.  The teams use a commercially available water-based and copper-free anti-fouling paint. Once recovered, the CGSN and Coastal Endurance Array components are taken apart and refurbished so they function like new once ready to be redeployed.  All metal components and float areas are cleaned and receive a fresh coat of paint in the hope of diminishing their attractiveness to life below the surface.

[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/predeployment.png" link="#"]Pre-deployment: The Coastal Pioneer buoys assembled, painted and ready for deployment for six months in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. Credit: Derek Buffitt © WHOI.[/media-caption] [media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Biofouled-mooring-in-air-2023-03-17-13-33-17-2.jpg" link="#"]After six months in the northeast Pacific, the Coastal Endurance Surface mooring buoy had become a rich habitat for marine life. Credit: Kim Kenney, OSU.[/media-caption] [media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Pink-sea-urchins.jpg" link="#"]Biofouling can be beautiful, as demonstrated here as the ROV Jason prepares to recover the RCA Shallow Profiler during its annual operations and maintenance expedition. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; J2-1516: v23.[/media-caption]

 

 

 

 

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NSF Grants OSU Ocean Research Consortium $220 million

The Daily Barometer reported on a recent National Science Foundation $220 million award to a consortium of ocean research institutions — Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Oregon State University and the University of Washington — to carry on the operation and maintenance of the NSF-funded Ocean Observatories Initiative. The funding runs through 2028.  Read the article here.

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A Three Stream Ocean Optics Model

A Three Stream Ocean Optics Model: Regional Implementation and Validation. Adapted by OOI from Miller M., 2022. 

[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/EA-science-highlight.png" link="#"](Figure 3.10 from Miller (2022) Top: The black line shows the mean OOI absorption as a function of wavelength for OOI Endurance CSPP Oregon shelf deployment 15 (August – Sept 2019). The gray shading shows the OOI absorption extent between the 20% and 80 % quantiles. The tan shading shows the maximum and minimum extent of OOI absorption. The colored lines correspond to the modeled absorption for different single species approximations. Bottom: Same as top, but for scattering instead of absorption.[/media-caption]

Miles Miller used OOI data as part of this MS thesis awarded September 2022 from the Univ. California, Santa Cruz.  The goal of his work was to develop the potential to estimate phytoplankton community structure from remotely sensed optical information and not direct in situ phytoplankton observations. As a step towards this goal, he estimated phytoplankton community structure using spectrally dependent optical absorption and scattering data from an AC-S on the Oregon Shelf profiler. Miller developed linear relationships between modeled phytoplankton absorption and scattering and corresponding observations and solved them by constrained least squares inversion over a field of thirteen wavelengths using six phytoplankton types.  He solved the problem for independent absorption and scattering as well as coupled absorption and scattering. He estimated phytoplankton communities as a function of profile depth and for multiple profiles in time.

The model produced accurate downward irradiance fields when using observed absorption and scattering profiles obtained from the Ocean Observatories Initiative’s Oregon Shelf Surface Piercing Profiler Mooring. Through this forward modeling-based comparison to observations it was found that the optical model can produce accurate profiles under certain conditions, making it promising for data assimilation of remote sensing reflectance as a function of wavelength.  Miller identified several outstanding issues remaining to be addressed to move from using in situ measured absorption and scattering to estimates from remote sensing reflectance.  Because the optical model accuracy is primarily dependent on absorption and scattering, he argued that remote sensing reflectance accuracy can be improved with enhanced phytoplankton community structure and CDOM estimations (see Figure 3.10 from Miller (2022). This figure shows that the modeled phytoplankton light attenuation agrees well with the measurements but that modeled absorption underestimates measurements. This underestimation hints that chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) is not being properly resolved as CDOM affects only total absorption and not scattering.

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Miller, M. (2022). A Three Stream Ocean Optics Model: Regional Implementation and Validation (master’s thesis). University of California, Santa Cruz. 62 pp.

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Collaborative Data Partnership Providing Fuller, More Robust Picture of Conditions in Northeast Pacific

A new data initiative involving more than 20 years of oceanographic data from Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary (OCNMS) promises to provide scientists and the public with a more robust picture of changing ocean conditions within the sanctuary and Northeast Pacific Ocean.

Funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Program Office, a team from Oregon State University is working to make 23 years of sanctuary mooring data and data from CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth) casts available through publicly accessible data repositories. The three-year project will also combine the sanctuary’s data with complementary data sets in the region, including data from the Ocean ObservatorIes Initiative (OOI) Coastal Endurance Array.

“The OCNMS data are a critically important data set that has not been fully unlocked and represents a treasure chest of information that we’ve only begun to crack open,” said Jenny Waddell, research coordinator at Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary and a collaborator on the project. “The data will provide information about marine heat waves, changes in timing of spring transition to upwelling, seasonal hypoxia, and ocean acidification, all of which will help improve the management of marine resources in the sanctuary.”

Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, along Washington State’s outer coast, represents one of North America’s most productive marine ecosystems.  An area of summertime upwelling of cold nutrient-rich waters, the sanctuary hosts a diverse ecosystem that is home to many commercially and culturally important fisheries.

[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/SP_stern_JWaddell_Aug2021.jpeg" link="#"]The stern of the R/V Storm Petrel hints at some of the enhanced capacity that this new vessel brings to research on the Olympic Coast, including a larger work area on the back deck, an upper deck for seabird and mammal surveys, a new pot hauler and knuckle boom crane, and a much more capable A-frame and winch.  Credit: Jenny Waddell © NOAA.[/media-caption]

Collected by 10 oceanographic moorings, the process of taking 23 years of the sanctuary’s quality-controlled data (water temperature, salinity, density, spiciness, velocity, and dissolved oxygen concentration) and meshing them with data from 700 CTD casts is a huge undertaking that will be conducted in multiple steps. The first step was the handover of all processed and raw data by the sanctuary to data experts Brandy Cervantes and Craig Risien at OSU. The data experts, who are Co-PIs on the NOAA project, are going through all the data and reprocessing where necessary to make sure that all the data are interoperable. The high-resolution CTD data are of particular interest, having never been made widely available before. These data will provide information about the water column to complement and validate the data collected by the instruments on the moorings.

OOI’s Contribution

The Coastal Endurance Array’s Washington Inshore mooring is the shallowest of the three OOI moorings off Washington State and lies just inside the sanctuary’s southern boundary. This location helps provide an in-depth look at ongoing conditions nearer the coast. While the other two Endurance Array moorings off Washington State are farther offshore and to the south, not formally within the sanctuary boundaries, they provide valuable year-round data, which are particularly helpful for context on conditions farther offshore from the sanctuary and for regional forecasting and prediction efforts of ocean conditions.  Sanctuary moorings are seasonal, collecting data when they are deployed in May through the first week of October when they are recovered, except for a single overwintering mooring, so OOI data also provide important year-round context for OCNMS.

“Data from the other two Endurance Array moorings not within the sanctuary boundary are equally valuable, not just for prediction purposes, but to our tribal partners. A unique thing about the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary is that nearly the entire sanctuary is within the Usual and Accustomed Fishing Areas of the four coastal treaty tribes in Washington — the Hoh Tribe, Makah Tribe, Quileute Tribe, and the Quinault Indian Nation. The sanctuary and OOI-derived data are particularly valuable to the Quinault Tribe, who use these data to estimate fish runs. They have found, for example, that our oxygen data are a good predictor of the Coho salmon run size in some of the coastal rivers,” Waddell explained.

Olympic Coast Data Applications

Sanctuary data are the foundation of the LiveOcean model, an ongoing project of the University of Washington Coastal Modeling Group that provides short-term (three-day) forecasts of ocean conditions—currents, temperature, salinity and biogeochemical fields such as harmful algal blooms. Sanctuary data also are incorporated in the J-SCOPE model, operated by the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS), for seasonal (six to nine month) forecasts of ocean conditions that are relevant to management decisions for fisheries, protected species, and ecosystem health.

Sanctuary and OOI data also serve as the basis for novel estimates of pre-industrial and near future (2030–2050) ocean acidification conditions on the Olympic Coast led by NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory ocean carbon scientists. These estimates are made possible by rich NOAA Ocean Acidification Program-funded coastal observing efforts and inform state and tribal fisheries and water quality management (cf. Alin et al. 2023 in press).

Changing Conditions

“In the 23 years that we’ve been collecting data, we have been documenting changing ocean conditions that are quite alarming,” said Waddell. The 465-page latest Condition Report for the Sanctuary details how ocean conditions along the Olympic Coast continue to change and intensify in response to climate change. The report lays out concerns about the impacts from ocean acidification, warming ocean temperatures, increased stratification, rising sea levels, and declines in dissolved oxygen, in addition to the intermittent occurrences from more intense and frequent marine heatwaves, harmful algal blooms, and coastal storms.

[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/IMG_4898.jpg" link="#"]Oceanographic moorings deployed by Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, such as this mooring near Cape Alava, have been tracking changes in ocean conditions along this remote and rugged coastline for more than two decades.  Credit: Jenny Waddell ©NOAA.[/media-caption]

To help bring this information to the public, the sanctuary has developed a user-friendly and searchable graphic interface that provides easy access to data within the report.  Called the Web Condition Report (WebCR), the interface is designed to connect people with information they are interested in.

[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/OCNMS_O2_plots_5panel_2018-scaled.jpg" link="#"]
This is an example of the type of information available through WebCR. Like animals on land, most marine animal species need oxygen to survive. To obtain oxygen, whales and turtles periodically breathe air at the water’s surface, while most fish species obtain oxygen that is dissolved in seawater. Low oxygen levels can harm marine animals or force them to move to areas with more hospitable conditions. Cape Elizabeth in the south (2006–2017), for example, has gotten progressively worse over time and in recent years is hypoxic 44 percent of the time. Image source: Alin et al., 2023 in prep. Also reprinted from: Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. 2022. Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Condition Report: 2008–2019. U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, Silver Spring, MD. 453 pp.[/media-caption]  These 23 years of data now being sorted will help us get a handle on what is really going on in the Pacific Northwest. It’s an important microcosm of what’s happening on a larger scale. Only around 25,000 people live along the Olympic Coast between Neah Bay and Ocean Shores, so the human footprint of this place is minimal. Most of what we’re seeing and what the data are telling us are climate forced issues coming to bear here,” added Waddell. “And having our data in the hands of senior oceanographers who know exactly what to do with it is just so incredibly valuable to understand not only what’s happening at the ocean surface, but within the full water column, which is where most of the impacts of climate change are occurring.”

The Principal Investigator (PI) for this project is College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science (CEOAS) Oregon State University (OSU) Associate Professor Melanie R. Fewings.  Co-principal Investigators are Craig M. Risien, OSU Senior Faculty Research Assistant II and OOI Cyberinfrastructure Project Manager; Co-Principal Investigator Brandy T. Cervantes, OSU Senior Research Associate.

In addition to the PIs and NOAA’s Waddell, other collaborators include Dr. Simone Alin, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Katie Wrubel, Resource Protection Specialist, OCNMS, Joe Schumacker, Marine Resources Scientist, Quinault Indian Nation, Dept. of Fisheries, Tommy Moore, Oceanographer, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, Charles Seaton, Senior Oceanographer, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Kym Jacobson, Research Zoologist, NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Jennifer Fisher, NOAA Cooperative Institute for Marine Ecosystem and Resources Studies, OSU, and Maria Kavanaugh, Assistant Professor, CEOAS, OSU, and Principal Investigator of the Marine Biodiversity Network.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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