Ocean Observatory Initiative News Feed

News from Ocean Observatory Initiative

1. OOI Engages with Broader Earth Science Community at NCAR/UCAR Members’ Meeting

   Early in October, OOI Lead Principal Investigator Dr. Jim Edson attended the annual NCAR/UCAR Members’ Meeting, where leaders from across the atmospheric, oceanic, and Earth sciences gathered to discuss shared challenges and opportunities in advancing community-driven science. The event, hosted by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) which manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), provided an excellent opportunity to connect with colleagues, strengthen partnerships, and highlight how OOI data can contribute to interdisciplinary research across the environmental sciences. Attending as a representative for both the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and OOI, Jim met with peers from oceanographic institutions and universities with strong programs in ocean, Earth, and atmospheric sciences. Conversations focused on expanding collaboration between NCAR and OOI, particularly in areas of data integration and educational engagement. Discussions included potential joint initiatives, such as:

   • Data Sharing and Integration: Exploring ways to link OOI’s data acquisition systems with NCAR’s Geoscience Data Exchange (GDEX) to enhance community access.
   • Field Collaboration: Participation in an upcoming Pioneer Array turnaround cruise, with the goal of launching rawinsonde balloons to study the marine atmospheric boundary layer.

   These efforts demonstrate OOI’s ongoing commitment to fostering partnerships that bridge ocean and atmospheric sciences, supporting both cutting-edge research and the next generation of Earth system scientists. [caption id="attachment_37166" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Dr. Carol Anne Clayson and Dr. Jim Edson at the 2025 NCAR/UCAR Members’ Meeting[/caption]

2. Nine years of water sampling data from the Pioneer New England Shelf Array now Available through BCO-DMO

   OOI’s collaboration with the Biological & Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) continues to expand. A new dataset compiling all discrete water sampling data from the Pioneer New England Shelf (NES) Array from 2013 to 2022 has been archived and is now publicly accessible through BCO-DMO. OOI and BCO-DMO launched this partnership in 2023 to make OOI water sampling data broadly accessible through both the BCO-DMO website and BCO-DMO’s ERDDAP server. BCO-DMO curates oceanographic data for public use in alignment with FAIR data principles, ensuring datasets are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. Distributing OOI water sampling data through BCO-DMO provides several key benefits. The cruise-by-cruise discrete data sheets are concatenated into a single dataset, assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), and served via ERDDAP to enable both user-friendly browsing and machine-to-machine access. In addition, each dataset is accompanied by detailed descriptions of sampling and processing methods and includes README files for every contributing cruise. With the addition of the Pioneer NES Array, BCO-DMO now hosts compiled OOI discrete water sampling datasets from each of the following arrays:

   • Station Papa Array
   • Irminger Sea Array
   • Southern Ocean Array
   • Argentine Basin Array
   • Pioneer NES Array (newly added)

   You can access each of these datasets through thisBCO-DMO project record for all OOI Discrete CTD and Water Sampling Cruise Data, or from the BCO-DMO home page by selectingProjects and searching for“OOI Discrete CTD and Water Sampling Cruise Data.” Figures 1 and 2 provide example plots generated from the nine-year Pioneer NES Array. A Python script (implemented in a Jupyter Notebook availablehere) was used to access the data from the BCO-DMO ERDDAP server, extract variables of interest, apply available quality control (QC) flags and visualize the data. Figure 1 shows profiles of selected variables for successive cruises to give a sense of the depth-time data coverage. Note that the sample depths are generally concentrated in the upper 200 meters of the water column at Pioneer NES since the OOI sampling goal is to validate instruments on the moorings rather than collect comprehensive profile data. Samples at depths greater than the maximum moored instrument depth of 450 m were collected to support mobile asset or collaborative cruise operations on the outer shelf. Figure 2 represents profile variability over time by overlaying all discrete observations for oxygen, salinity and nitrate with the color gradient representing the date of observations. [caption id="attachment_37141" align="alignnone" width="512"] Figure 1. Profiles of oxygen, salinity, and nitrate at the OOI Coastal Pioneer New England Shelf (NES) Array from discrete bottle samples.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_37142" align="alignnone" width="512"] Figure 2. Temporal variability of oxygen, salinity, and nitrate from discrete bottle samples over 9 years depicted as overlaid profiles.[/caption] The discrete water samples are collected in conjunction with standard CTD casts. For several variables (e.g. salinity, chlorophyll, oxygen) this allows comparison between CTD sensors and discrete samples at each depth where a Niskin bottle is closed.  In Figure 3, discrete sample oxygen observations at the 3 coastal surface mooring sites of Pioneer NES in Fall 2021 exhibit good agreement with the CTD rosette-mounted SBE 43 Dissolved Oxygen Sensor. [caption id="attachment_37143" align="alignnone" width="512"] Figure 3. Profiles of discrete sample oxygen and CTD rosette-mounted oxygen observations at the time of bottle closure for comparison.[/caption] Note that target asset namesfor the Pioneer NES array may differ slightly between cruises. For example, "CNSM" (used in Fall 2021) and "CN" (used in Spring 2021) refer to the same station location. Discrete README files within the BCO-DMO dataset and CTD Cast Logs on OOI’s Raw Data Archive can provide useful information to help identify relevant samples.  Figure 4 highlights additional seasonal insights offered by the Pioneer NES dataset through biannual research cruises, usually in the Spring and Fall of each year. The CTD temperature observations at bottle depths show strong seasonal variability as the surface layer transitions from stratified to well-mixed. A similar but more subtle signal also appears below 60 meters. The discrete water sample properties captured during Pioneer NES cruises constitute a long-term record of seasonal changes in water mass properties on the shelf and slope. [caption id="attachment_37144" align="alignnone" width="512"] Figure 4. Hovmöller diagram of seasonal mean sea water temperature in the upper 150 meters of the water column surrounding the array.[/caption] For additional Python scripts to explore OOI Discrete CTD and Water Sampling Cruise Data as distributed by BCO-DMO, see the Jupyter notebooks available in this GitHub repository:https://github.com/WHOIGit/ooi-on-bco-dmo/tree/main/notebooks.

3. Empowering Ocean Research: The Evolution of the OOI Data Center at Oregon State University

   Written by Craig Risien, OOI Data Center Program Manager, and reviewed by Jack Barth, DC Principal Investigator Oregon State University (OSU) in collaboration with Dell Technologies, has led the development and operation of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Data Center since 2021. This facility serves as the backbone of OOI, supporting the collection, management and distribution of scientific data from across the OOI network. Working closely with Dell Technologies, OSU built and configured the OOI 2.0 Data Center – a secure, scalable, and modern computing environment that become the official system of record on July 30, 2021. The transition from Rutgers University was completed without any downtime or disruption to services. Since then, the OSU team has maintained continuous operations with zero unplanned outages. In 2025, OSU and Dell Technologies completed a major upgrade, launching the OOI 2.5 Data Center. This refresh doubled the data storage capacity, increased the network speeds by a factor of four, and greatly expanded the compute capacity, ensuring that OOI can continue to meet the growing demands of ocean data processing and delivery. The upgrade also  significantly enhanced OOI’s cybersecurity by partnering with the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), which provides a geographically remote, immutable backup of all OOI scientific data. The transition from OOI 2.0 to 2.5 was completely in Spring 2024. Today, the OOI Data Center manages approximately 3.3 petabytes (PB) of data and distributes over 200 terabytes (TB) of data each year in response to more than 50 million data requests. To simplify user access, the Data Center adopted CILogon, an NSF and Department of Energy (DOE) supported identity management system. This allows users to securely log in with credentials from their home institutions or identity providers such as ORCID, removing the need for multiple accounts. OOI’s cybersecurity program continues to grow under the guidance of Trusted CI, the NSF Cybersecurity Center of Excellence. In 2022, the Data Center joined the first Trusted CI framework assessment cohort. In 2023, it became a member of the Trusted CI Research Infrastructure Security Community (RISC). In 2024, the team completed a framework reassessment alongside three other NSF Major Facilities, reaffirming its leadership position in cybersecurity. The Data Center also offers a JupyterHub environment that givers researchers and students direct access to OOI data with no downloads required. This free resource supports Python, R, and MATLAB and includes NVIDIA GPUs for AI and machine learning work. JupyterHub has supported multiple community activities, including the 2023 Bio-optics Sensors and 2025 Acoustics OOIFB Summer Schools, the 2025 Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB) Workshop, and numerous undergraduate courses, helping researchers and educators explore OOI data more efficiently. [caption id="attachment_37174" align="alignnone" width="2560"] Credit: Oregon State University (OSU)[/caption]

4. The 2019 marine heatwave at Ocean Station Papa

   (Adapted from Kohlman et al., 2024) Marine Heat Waves (MHW; Hobday et al., 2016) are prolonged periods of extreme ocean sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies. MHWs are typically identified in satellite SST and/or ocean color records; subsurface data and interdisciplinary variables are often lacking. Ocean Station Papa (OSP) provided long-term, interdisciplinary, subsurface data to examine the physical and biochemical characteristics of a MHW in the Northeast Pacific. MHWs may have multi-faceted causes, as well as impacts on primary production and higher trophic levels. A recent paper by Kohlman et al. (2024) examines the 2019 NE Pacific MHW using gridded satellite SST data and in-situ observations from multiple OSP platforms including the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Lab (PMEL) surface mooring, two OOI Flanking Moorings, the Applied Physics Lab (U. Washington) waverider mooring and shipboard samples from OOI and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada. The 2019 MHW was identified in satellite SST data, but the Kohlman et al. study also assessed vertical stratification and the subsurface extent of the temperature signal. The PMEL surface mooring provided temperature and salinity (T/S) down to 300 m. The OOI Flanking Moorings extended the T/S data to 1500 m. The resulting composite time series from 2013-2020 is shown in Fig. 1. Both the extended 2013-2015 MHW and the 2019 MHW are identifiable. Subsurface temperature anomalies during 2013-2014 were strongest above the mixed layer depth (MLD). In the winter and spring of 2017, deeper waters (120–300 m) remained anomalously warm. This anomaly persisted into 2018 due to strong stratification from a fresher surface layer. During the 2019 MHW, anomalously warm waters extended down to 1000 m, whereas the 2013-2015 MHW extended only to about 150 m. The authors used interdisciplinary data available from Station Papa platforms to assess the drivers and impacts of the 2019 MHW. They found that weaker winds and smaller significant wave height prior to the summer of 2019 created favorable pre-conditioning in the form of an unusually shallow winter MLD. During the MHW, they found that dissolved inorganic carbon and pCO2 decreased, while pH increased. Shipboard samples indicated a decrease in nutrients and an increase in primary productivity. Finally, they speculated that the increased productivity may have had an impact on higher trophic levels – more blue whale calls were recorded in 2019 at Station Papa than normal for Aug-Sep. This project shows that the characteristics of MHWs are complex. Sustained, multi-disciplinary, subsurface observations are needed to unravel the drivers, pre-conditioning, characteristics, and impacts of these events. Station Papa, among the longest sustained ocean time series sites, is uniquely suited due to the task due to the collaborative observing effort at the site. [caption id="attachment_37120" align="alignnone" width="512"] Figure 1. Subsurface temperature anomalies at Staton Papa during 2013-2020. Data from the surface to 300 m are from the PMEL surface mooring. Data below 300 m are from the OOI Flanking Moorings. Anomalies are relative to the 1999-2020 Argo climatology. The density-based mixed layer depth (black) and isothermal depth (purple) are overlaid. From Kohlman et al., 2024.[/caption] ___________________ References: Hobday, A.J., Alexander, L.V., Perkins, S.E., Smale, D.A., Straub, S.C., Oliver, E.C.J., et al. (2016). A hierarchical approach to defining marine heatwaves. Prog. Oceanog., 141(0079–6611), 227–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2015.12.014. Kohlman, C., Cronin, M.F., Dziak, R., Mellinger, D.K., Sutton, A., Galbraith, M., et al. (2024). The 2019 marine heatwave at Ocean Station Papa: A multi‐disciplinary assessment of ocean conditions and impacts on marine ecosystems. J. Geophys. Res., 129, e2023JC020167. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JC020167.

5. Submarine canyon sediment transport and accumulation during sea level highstand: Interactive seasonal regimes in the head of Astoria Canyon, WA

   Lahret al. (2025) use in-situ hydrodynamic data from a benthic tripod deployment in the head of Astoria Canyon to show that sediment resuspension and transport during summer is driven by internal tides and plume-associated nonlinear internal waves. Observations of shoreward-directed currents and low shear stresses (<0.14 Pa) along with sediment trap data suggest that seasonal loading of the canyon head occurs during summer. Nearby long-term wave data from the OOI Washington Shelf mooring shows that winter storm significant wave height often exceeds 10 m, driving shear stress capable of resuspending allgrain sizes present within the canyon head. Swell events are generally concurrent with downwelling flows, providing a mechanism for episodic downcanyon sediment flux. This study indicates that canyon heads can continue to function as sites of sediment winnowing and bottom boundary layer export even with a detached, shelf-depth canyon head. As part of this study, Lahr et al. (2025), used data from the OOI Washington Shelf Surface Mooring located 81 km north of the tripod site in Astoria Canyon. The 2019 benthic tripod deployment by Ogston was done as an ancillary activity on the Endurance 11B cruise aboard R/V Oceanus.  The data used were concurrent spectral surface wave and meteorological data near bed current velocity for 2016 (chosen for its complete records).  Figure xx shows the benthic tripod stress overlaid with the OOI Washington shelf mooring stress.  Over the summer, the benthic tripod stress and OOI estimated stress compare well.  Winter stresses (available from OOI mooring only) are much larger than those observed in summer. [caption id="attachment_37116" align="alignnone" width="277"] Figure 1. Shear stress computed from the Astoria Canyon tripod deployment (black) and the OOI Shelf mooring (gray). Panels a) and b) depict relative stress contributions from waves and currents respectively, c) the distribution of total stresses, and d) maximum shear stresses from summer and winter on a Shields diagram. (Figure 3, Lahr et al., 2025)[/caption] ___________________ Reference: Lahr, E.J., A.S. Ogston, J.C. Hill, H.E. Glover, and K.J. Rosenberger (2025). Submarine canyon sediment transport and accumulation during sea level highstand: Interactive seasonal regimes in the head of Astoria Canyon, WA.Marine Geology, no. (2025): 107516.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025322725000416.