Ocean Observatory Initiative News Feed

News from Ocean Observatory Initiative

1. Edson 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.”

2. RCA 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.

3. Pioneer 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 Armstrongwas 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.

4. Endurance 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 Sikuliaqand 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 Sikuliaqand 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.            

5. And It’s a Wrap!

   [video width="406" height="720" mp4="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Whats-the-best.mp4"][/video] 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.