Posts Tagged ‘WHOI’
National Science Foundation Renews OOI for Another Five Years
The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that it has awarded a coalition of academic and oceanographic research organizations a second, five-year contract to operate and maintain the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). The coalition, led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and including the University of Washington (UW) and Oregon State University (OSU), will continue operations of the OOI, a science-driven ocean observing network that delivers real-time data to address critical science questions regarding the world’s oceans.
WHOI has led the operations and management aspects of the OOI since 2018 and will continue to serve as the home for the next five years of the OOI Project Management Office, led by Principal Investigator James B. Edson and Sr. Program Manager Paul Matthias.
The OOI collects and serves measurements from more than 900 autonomous instruments on the seafloor and on moored and free-swimming platforms that are serviced during regular, ship-based expeditions to the array sites. Data from each instrument are transmitted to shore and are freely available to users worldwide, including scientists, policy experts, decision-makers, educators, and the public.
Under this new $220 M investment, each institution will continue to operate and maintain the portion of OOI assets for which it is currently responsible: WHOI will operate the Pioneer Array in the mid-Atlantic Bight off the North Carolina coast, subject to environmental permitting, and the Global Arrays in the Irminger Sea off the southern tip of Greenland and at Station Papa in the Gulf of Alaska; UW will operate the Regional Cabled Array that extends across the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate and through the overlying ocean; and OSU will operate the Endurance Array off the coast of Washington and Oregon. OSU also houses and operates OOI’s Data Center that ingests and delivers all OOI data.
“OOI has proven to be an exceedingly valuable source of information about the ocean,” said NSF Program Officer for OOI George Voulgaris. “Its freely available data are contributing to better understanding of ocean processes and how the ocean is changing. Scientists are using OOI data as the source of cutting-edge scientific discoveries—everything from getting close to predicting underwater volcanic eruptions to changing ocean circulation patterns that have real life implications for weather and fishing patterns. OOI data also are serving as inspiration for students in the classroom, who are excited about learning about the ocean with access to real-time ocean data. We at NSF are proud of our continued investment in making these data available.”
“WHOI is honored to have been selected to continue the mission of the OOI, which is providing valuable ocean data at a time when it is critically needed,” said Peter de Menocal, President and Director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. “The continued extreme weather events reinforce the importance of this ocean monitoring program to provide science-based data that is accessible to researchers, modelers, agencies, and the public, and we look forward to being part of the continued scientific advancements from this transformational program in the years ahead.”
The Project Management Office at WHOI collaborates with NSF to provide high-level oversight and financial management of the project. In addition, the office coordinates with partner institutions to establish annual priorities for each of the arrays individually and for the network. “The WHOI team and our partners at UW and OSU have learned a great deal over the past five years and are grateful that our efforts to perfect OOI and its data delivery system have been recognized,” said WHOI Senior Scientist Jim Edson, lead principal investigator on the OOI. “We look forward to the next five years where we can continue to perfect our collection and serving of data, while encouraging its increased use and collaboration among ocean scientists funded by NSF and other agencies.”
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About the Ocean Observatories Initiative
The Ocean Observatories Initiative is a science-driven ocean observing network that delivers real-time data from more than 900 instruments to address critical science questions regarding the world’s oceans. The National Science Foundation has funded the OOI, under Cooperative Agreement No. 1743430, to encourage scientific investigation. OOI data are freely available online to anyone with an Internet connection.
The U.S. National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency that supports science and engineering in all 50 states and U.S. territories.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Spreading Curiosity about Ocean Science with Summer Visitors
Summertime brings students from all over the country to Woods Hole, Massachusetts to learn about ocean science. June and July 2023 were particularly busy, with the Coastal and Global Scale Nodes (CGSN) division of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) hosting four different student groups. CGSN offers student tours of OOI facilities and the chance to talk directly with an ocean scientist or engineer. They engage with students this way in the hope of increasing student interest in marine science and possibly encouraging them to pursue an ocean-related career. During the tours and presentations, students learn about the moorings and vehicles OOI deploys throughout the year and the dissemination of ocean data collected. These hands-on experiences give student visitors the opportunity to see the full scale and complexity of OOI operations.
UMass-Dartmouth REU Students Visit
On June 26, 12 community college engineering student and faculty from a National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth (UMass-Dartmouth) visited OOI. CGSN staff provided a tour of their operations, including ocean-observing equipment stored outdoors because of its size.
[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Sheri-with-REUs.jpg" link="#"]CGSN team members, Dr. Sheri White (blue jeans to right) and Irene Duran (next to Dr. White) gave a tour to UMass-Dartmouth REU students. Photo by: Kama Theiler © WHOI.[/media-caption] [media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Colin-Dobson-with-REU.jpg" link="#"]A UMass-Dartmouth REU student asks CGSN glider expert Colin Dobson a question regarding the gliders he works on. Photo by: Kama Theiler © WHOI.[/media-caption]PEP Students Visit
In early July, the CGSN team gave a presentation to Woods Hole Partnership Education Program (PEP) participants, who spend 10-weeks in Woods Hole at WHOI, the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woodwell Climate Research Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Sea Education Association, or the United States Geological Survey’s Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center. The PEP program is designed primarily for college juniors and seniors from underrepresented groups in marine and ocean sciences who want to spend a summer gaining practical experience in marine and environmental science.
Summer 2023 is the 15th summer of the PEP program in Woods Hole. Many former PEP students have returned to Woods Hole and WHOI both as students and professionals (including CGSN’s Irene Duran). Benjamin Harden, PEP professor, stated that OOI’s community outreach is a “great way for these students to hear about the frontiers of oceanography and really helped many of them frame possible careers in the field.”
Black Girls Dive Foundation Visit
July 25th, CGSN’s Electrical Team provided a workshop to the Black Girls Dive Foundation (BGDF) program participants. BGDF provides the space and opportunity to empower young black women to explore their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) identity through marine science and conservation, and SCUBA diving. While visiting OOI, the BGDF students learned about pH and concerns about increasing ocean acidification. The students collected local sea water and with the help of the CGSN Instrument Team determined its pH with a probe they calibrated using a microcontroller.
[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/BGDF-with-AUV.jpg" link="#"]During their visit to WHOI, BGDF students had the opportunity to get up close to check out an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). Photo by: Jayne Doucette © WHOI.[/media-caption] [media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Jennifer-with-BGDF.jpg" link="#"]CGSN Instrument Lead Jennifer Batryn (far left) shows how she checks OOI instruments operations on her laptop to one of the BGDF visitors. Photo by: Jayne Doucette © WHOI.[/media-caption]SEA Participants Visit
Also in late July a group of students participating in the Sea Education Association’s (SEA’s) High School program visited OOI’s Facility LOSOS on WHOI’s Quissett Campus. This is a study abroad program in Woods Hole for undergraduate, gap year, and high school students, that combines studies in ocean science with at-sea experiences. The students spent an afternoon learning about OOI, its operations, how data are collected and disbursed, and what scientists are learning from OOI data.
[media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Dee-and-Jon-With-SEA-students-2.jpg" link="#"]CGSN team members Dee Emrich (standing left) and John Lund explained OOI operations to high school students from the Sea Education Program. Photo by: Dr. Sheri White © WHOI.[/media-caption] [media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Irene-with-SEA-students.jpg" link="#"]CGSN Engineer Irene Duran (maroon top in center) showed mooring components to high school students from the Sea Education Program. Photo by: Paul Whelan © WHOI.[/media-caption] Read MoreR/V Oceanus Remembered as a Workhorse of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet
The long service of the R/V Oceanus (1976-2021) came to end on November 21, 2021 as the ship pulled into port after having successfully completed its last interdisciplinary cruise for Oregon State University (OSU). The Oceanus began its 45-year-run of scientific investigations at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in 1976. After a major mid-life refit, the ship was transferred to OSU in 2012, and contributed to the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) off both coasts.
“The Oceanus proved to be a real workhorse for the Academic Research Fleet and also played a pivotal role for the OOI during its initial launch,” said Ed Dever, PI of OOI’s Coastal Endurance Array, who sailed on the ship many times. “While at WHOI, The Oceanus performed some of OOI’s at-sea-mooring test deployments and later the ship was used for the initial deployment of the Coastal Endurance Array off the Oregon coast.”
In spring and fall 2014, after moving to OSU, Oceanus performed the initial deployments of the Oregon and Washington inshore moorings and Washington profiler mooring. The real test for the Oceanus, however, came during 2015, when it was tasked with deploying the full scope of the Endurance Array, including the four large coastal surface moorings at the Oregon and Washington shelf and offshore sites.
Explained Dever, “Thanks to some excellent ship handling, care on the part of the deck crew and a huge assist from some very kind weather, we got the moorings safely in the water using the ship’s crane to deploy the 10,000-pound buoy off the starboard fantail and the heavy lift winch to deploy the 11,000-pound multifunction node (MFN, bottom lander) through the A-frame. The size of the buoys and MFNs meant that Oceanus could only carry one buoy out at a time and the cruise was completed in five legs with some very efficient port stops. By the end of the cruise, it was evident that we would need to move future operations to global and oceans class ships and after one more deployment in fall 2015 (with recoveries carried out on the R/V Thomas G. Thompson), we made that transition.”
[embed]https://youtu.be/pDRagMTDUTk[/embed]After the initial Endurance Array deployments, OOI transitioned to using larger global and oceans class ships needed to recover the bulky coastal surface moorings, with one exception. In spring 2019, with tight schedules on global class ships, UNOLS (University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System charged with ship scheduling) requested that OOI Endurance split the spring mooring recovery and deployment cruise between the R/V Sikuliaq and the R/V Oceanus. The Oceanus ably performed the profiler mooring deployment, anchor recoveries, coastal surface piercing profiler deployments, and glider deployments over five days in April and May 2019.
While not directly working with the OOI, the Oceanus continued to work off Oregon at and around the OOI arrays. Research and student cruises often sampled over the years near OOI’s Endurance and RCA Arrays at the Oregon inshore, shelf, offshore and Hydrate Ridge sites to compare shipboard measurements and OOI time series. This work included CTD profiles, net tows, coring, and sediment trap deployments.
The last Oceanus cruise, in fact, was one such interdisciplinary research cruise led by OSU researcher Clare Reimers, who also served as chief scientist. During its final official outing, the team aboard the Oceanus sampled the outer shelf at the northern end of Heceta Bank, Oregon to help scientists determine any changes that may have occurred to a swath of the margin that was reopened to commercial bottom trawling in 2020 after an 18-year closure. Reimers said, “The R/V Oceanus and crew performed flawlessly, and our science mission was fully completed.”
Added Dever, “What better way to end its long and illustrious career? We at OOI join many others in appreciation of the R/V Oceanus, and the dedication and skills of all who sailed on her and supported ocean science throughout her many years at sea.”
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Special thanks to OOI Data Center Project Manager Craig Risien for sharing the GoPro time lapse of the loading of the Oregon Offshore mooring onto the R/V Oceanus in spring 2015.
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