OOI Installs First Infrastructure in the Atlantic Ocean

Posted on Dec 20th, 2013 with tags americas, Atlantic, first, infrastructure, installs, News by topic, ocean, OO , !ubsea"

The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Program in November installed the first moored infrastructure in the Atlantic Ocean on the continental shelf and slope south of Marthas ine!ard" MA# During this first phase of the Pioneer Array installation, three moorings were deployed" #embers of the OO $oastal and %lobal !cale Nodes &$%!N' team conducted a cruise on the (esearch )essel *norr on No+" 20,2- to deploy the moorings, which will be maintained at this location for appro.imately fi+e years" /he installation included deployment of one $oastal !urface #ooring at the Pioneer $entral site and two $oastal Profiler #oorings at the 0pstream nshore and 0pstream Offshore sites" Outstanding work by the technical team during pre-deployment preparation, the deployment team at sea, and the crew of the Knorr resulted in a very successful cruise, said Al Plueddemann, Chief Scientist on the cruise from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. All elements of the $oastal !urface #ooring at the Pioneer $entral site are operational" /he initial post,deployment assessment indicated that all control and power systems were

wor1ing and that data files from all instruments were being telemetered to the shore station" 2oth the $oastal Profiler #oorings at the 0pstream nshore and 0pstream Offshore sites were deployed without incident" 3owe+er, the wire,following profiler on the 0pstream Offshore mooring was not fully functional" /he a+ailability of spares and a timely response by the deployment team allowed the faulty instrument to be replaced, but unfortunately full function was not restored" 4urther assessment of $oastal Profiler #ooring performance is ongong" /he three moorings contain o+er 30 instruments whose data will be flowing to the $%!N shore,side operations facility and on to the OO $yberinfrastructure ser+ers" Pre, commissioned data are e.pected to be freely a+ailable to the public +ia the OO 5ebsite in 6anuary" We are excited to help the OO move forward with the capability to visuali!e and distribute this information to the community, said Paul Matthias, CGSN Program Manager. /he Pioneer Array will pro+ide ocean and meteorological obser+ations from the highly producti+e continental shelf to across the continental slope, allowing scientists to e.amine se+eral important coastal processes including upwelling, hypo.ia, shelf brea1 fronts, and the role of filaments and eddies in cross,shelf e.change of parameters such as nutrients, heat, and biomass" /he OO , a National !cience 4oundation,funded program, is managed by the OO Program #anagement Office at the $onsortium for Ocean 7eadership in 5ashington, D"$" /he $oastal and %lobal !cale Nodes &$%!N' component of the OO is being de+eloped and constructed by 5oods 3ole Oceanographic nstitution and its partners, !cripps nstitution of Oceanography and Oregon !tate 0ni+ersity" /he OO Program deployed other components of the o+erall infrastructure in the Pacific in the %ulf of Alas1a and on the 6uan de 4uca plate off the coast of 5ashington and Oregon last summer" Press (elease, December 20, 20138 mage8 53O