Ocean Observatory Initiative News Feed

News from Ocean Observatory Initiative

1. Widespread and Increasing Near-bottom Hypoxia in Pacific NW Coastal Ocean

   Barth et al. (2024) examined the 2021 summer upwelling season off the United States Pacific Northwest coast. Upwelling was unusually strong leading to widespread near-bottom, low-oxygen waters. During summer 2021, an unprecedented number of ship- and underwater glider-based measurements of dissolved oxygen were made in this region. Near-bottom hypoxia, that is dissolved oxygen less than 61 µmol kg−1 and harmful to marine animals, was observed over nearly half of the continental shelf inshore of the 200-m isobath, covering 15,500 square kilometers. A mid-shelf ribbon with near-bottom, dissolved oxygen less than 50 µmol kg−1 extended for 450 km off north-central Oregon and Washington. Spatial patterns in near-bottom oxygen are related to the continental shelf width and other features of the region. Maps of near-bottom oxygen since 1950 show a consistent trend toward lower oxygen levels over time. The fraction of near-bottom water inshore of the 200-m isobath that is hypoxic on average during the summer upwelling season increases over time from nearly absent (2%) in 1950–1980, to 24% in 2009–2018, compared with 56% during the anomalously strong upwelling conditions in 2021. Widespread and increasing near-bottom hypoxia is consistent with increased upwelling-favorable wind forcing under climate change. As part of their analysis, Barth et al. (2024) used NSF OOI glider data from 2021 along the Newport Hydrographic Line along with other data indicated in Fig x.. Near-bottom dissolved oxygen data from each survey as a function of time show the typical decrease of minimum values as the summer hypoxia season proceeds (Fig. x). High DO values are measured by the OOI gliders early in the upwelling season when winds were relaxed or downwelling-favorable early in the upwelling season, and by the Oregon Department of Fisheries and Wildlife (ODFW) survey that focused on very shallow (water depths of 50 m or less), inshore waters. [media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Endurance-Figure.png" link="#"]Figure x Near-bottom dissolved oxygen as a function of time during the 2021 summer upwelling season.[/media-caption] __________________ Reference: Barth, J.A., Pierce, S.D., Carter, B.R. et al. Widespread and increasing near-bottom hypoxia in the coastal ocean off the United States Pacific Northwest. Sci Rep 14, 3798 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-54476-0

2. OOI Data Sonification

   The assumption that quantitative data can be well represented not only in charts and graphs, but by increasingly sophisticated visual displays, is often taken for granted. However, researchers, instructors, and curators of museums and science centers also recognize that even the most sophisticated visual displays are inaccessible to those with low-vision or blindness. There is also the potential for alternative data presentation methods to improve understanding of complex data for sighted individuals. With these considerations in mind, a team led by Dr. Bower (WHOI) has pursued the creation of auditory displays or “data sonifications” using multi-disciplinary U.S. National Science Foundation Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) data sets as the basis. The results to date from the NSF-funded data sonification project are reported in a recent publication by Smith et al. (2024). [media-caption path="https://oceanobservatories.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Data-Sonification-figure.png" link="#"]Figure 1. Time series data from two data nuggets created by Ocean Data Labs that were used for sonification. Surface meteorology during the passage of hurricane Hermine over the Pioneer Array in 2016 (upper). The CO2 flux between ocean and atmosphere for both Pioneer (open circles) and Endurance Arrays during 2017 (lower).[/media-caption] Data sonification involves the mapping of quantitative data from its original form to audio signals in order to communicate complex information content. The project team was interested in using actual ocean data spanning a variety of oceanographic disciplines. Time series data produced by OOI sensors provide an excellent starting point. In particular, the Ocean Data Labs group at Rutgers has reviewed OOI data and created a set of “data nuggets” that are appropriate for sonification (Greengrove et al., 2020). The data nuggets comprise a broad range of oceanographic phenomena observed by OOI sensors, including response to a storm, the diurnal migration of zooplankton, a volcanic eruption, and the flux of CO2 between ocean and atmosphere. The project team used a rigorous approach to developing and refining the auditory presentations. Starting with a set of learning objectives for each data nugget, a multi-step process was used to create the sonification. First, oceanographers were interviewed to establish the important points to be conveyed for a given data nugget. Next, classroom instructors were interviewed to get feedback on the most effective approaches to using sound to explain data properties. A sound designer then created an initial mapping of the data to sound, which was reviewed by a representative group of researchers, instructors, and blind and visually impaired listeners. After additional rounds of refinement and feedback, the prototype sonifications are now available. Two auditory displays utilizing Pioneer Array data (Fig. 1) are available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8162769 and https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8173880 for CO2 flux and storm response, respectively. Other examples can be found in Smith et al. (2024). The sonifications will be evaluated broadly using an on-line survey and by a “live audience” at museums and science centers. This project is unique in exploiting the rich OOI data set and making ocean science highlights available to a broad community of students and the general public. A significant aspect of the work, as pointed out by the authors, is the systematic and inclusive approach used to develop the data sonifications. Results of the museum testing phase in 2024 will be awaited with great anticipation. ___________________ References: Greengrove, C., S. Lichtenwalner, H.I. Palevsky, A. Pfeiffer-Herbert, S. Severmann, D. Soule, S. Murphy, L.M. Smith and K. Yarincik, 2020. Using authenticated data from NSF’s Ocean Observatories Initiative in undergraduate teaching, Oceanography, 33(1), 62-73. Smith, L.M., A. Bower, J. Roberts, J. Bellona and J. Li, 2024. Expanding access to ocean science through inclusively designed data sonifications, Oceanography, 36(4), 96-101.                                            

3. 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.”

4. 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.

5. 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.